Noble County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read), 1887

The Ohio Company

An Advertisement - Tira Company Organized at a >Ieetino in Boston in 1786 - Its Plans and Purposes - Raising Funds - Dr. Manasseh Cutler as Agent Before Congress - Purchase of a Tract of Land on the Muskingum - The Ordinance of Freedom - Dr. Cutler's Part in its Authorship - His Report Accepted by the Ohio Company - Measures Respecting the Proposed City and Colony - Provisions FOR Schools and Churches - Survey of the Lands - The Offer of Donations to Settlers - Embarrassment of the Company - Congress Comes to its Relief - The Purchase as Finally Made - Its Boundaries - The Donation Tract - Final Adjustment OF THE Company's Affairs.

rr^HKOUGH the instrumentality J- of the Ohio Company was founded the city of Marietta - the first permanent English settlement in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. This company was projected by two New England men, heroes of the Revolutionary War, General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper, of Massachusetts. The spirit of adventure, always a prominent trait in the New England character, had naturally been strengthened by the war, and the close of the Revolution found many soldiers, reduced through poverty or bankruptcy through the results of the seven year's struggle, ready to embrace any plan that promised to retrieve their wasted fortunes. Washington and other Revolutionary leaders had long sought to encourage and promote western colonization. The time was now ripe for carrying their wishes into effect. A system of military land bounties for the benefit of all soldiers who should serve through the war had been provided by Congress in 1776. By the provisions of this act a colonel was entitled to receive 500 acres, a lieutenant-colonel 450 acres, and other officers smaller quantities in projwrtion to their rank. A private was allowed 100 acres. In 1780 it was enacted that a major-general should be entitled to 1,100 acres and a brigadier to 850 acres.

" In 1783, seeing that the final reduction of the army must soon take place, the officers to the number of 288, anxious for definite action, petitioned Congress to locate the lands they were entitled to somewhere in the region now known as Eastern Ohio ; but even the great influence of Washington was not able to bring about the object sought, and no legislation aflfecting the interests of the petitioners was enacted. Congress had not yet a }>erfect title to the territory northwest of the Ohio. It must be rememlxjred that the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army did not receive money for their priceless services, but almost value-

In 1784 Virginia ceded to the general government all her claims to the territory northwest of the Ohio, excepting only that tract since known as the Yirginia Military District, lying between the Scioto and the little Miami. This session led to new efforts on the part of the New England officers to obtain some adequate recognition by Congress of the justness of their claims, but without result. At this juncture the plan of buying a tract was presented by Generals Putnam and Tupper. General Tupper was one of the government surveyors appointed by Congress to lay out in townships and ranges that part of the Northwest Territory which is now Southeastern Ohio. He had visited the western country in the performance of his duties in 1785, and doubtless that visit and his favorable report of theregion had its influence on the subsequent purchase of the tract of the Ohio Company on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers.

In January, 1786, General Tupper visited his friend General Putnam at the home of the latter in Rutland, Worcester County, Mass., and as the result of their conference there ap- |)eared in the newspapers of Boston on the 25th of January an address to the i^eople, headed "Information," which read as follows : and who are by a late ordinance of the honorable Congress to receive certain tracts of land in the Ohio country, and also all other good citizens who wish to become adventurers in that delightful region, that from personal inspection, together with other incontestible evidences, they are fully satisfied that the lands in that quarter are of a much better quality than any other known to the Xew England people; that. the climate, seasons, products, etc., are, in fact, equal to the most flattering accounts that have ever been published of them; that being determined to become purchasers and to prosecute a settlement in the countr}', and desirous of forming a general association w4th those who entertain the same ideas, they beg leave to propose the following plan, viz.: That an association by the name of the Ohio Company be formed of all such as wish to become purchaseis, etc., in that country, who reside in the commonwealth of Massachusetts only, or to extend to the inhabitants of other States, as shall be agreed on."

The address further proposed that all favoring the plan should meet at designated places in their respective counties on the 15th of the following month (February) for the purpose of cJioosing delegates, who should assemble at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, on Wednesday, March 1, 1786, "then and there to consider and determine upon a general plan of association for said company."

upon the future of the West, came oflF at the time and place designated. The delegates, among whom were some of the foremost men of the State at that day, wei-e as follows : Manasseh Cutler, of Essex County ; Winthrop Sargent and John Mills, of Suffolk ; John Brooks and Thomas Cushing, of Middlesex; Benjamin Tupper, of Hampshire; Crocker Sampson, of Plymouth ; Rufus Putnam, of Worcester; Jelaliel Woodbridge and John Patterson, of Berkshire, and Abraham Williams, of Barnstable. General Putnam was chosen chairman and Major Winthrop Sargent, secretary. A committee of five was chosen to draft articles of association, which were unanimously ado}>ted on the 3d of March, and thus the Ohio Company formally entered upon its important mission.

-'The design of this association," as stated in the i)reamble of the resolutions, was to raise a fund in Continental certificates for the sole })urpose and to be appropriated to the entire use of purchasing lands in the western territory belonging to the United States, for the benefit of the company, and to promote a settlement in that country." Article I provided that the fund should not exceed $1,000,000 in Continental specie certificates, exclusive of one year's interest due thereon (exce|)t as afterward provided); each share to consist of $1,000, as aforesaid, and also $10 in gold or silver. Article II provided that the whole fund, excej)t one year's interest on the cei*- tiiicates, should be applied to the purchase of lands. The one yeai-'s interest was reserved to be ''applied to the purpose of making a settlement in the country and assisting those who may be otherwise unable to remove themselves thither." The gold and silver was for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the agents of the company and other contingent expenses.

No ])erson was allowed to hold more than five shares in the company's funds. Agents were to be appointed representing divisions of twenty shares each ; and in case the fund was not raised to the projx>sed amount, the agents of divisions, after October 17, 1786, were to be entitled to proceed as if the whole fund had been raised. Five directors were to be chosen, who should have the sole disposal of the company's funds.

A year elapsed. The projec^tors of the scheme had used their best efforts, yet at the second meeting of the company at Brackett's Tavern, in Boston, March 8, 1787, it was reported that only two hundreii and fifty shares had been subscribed for; Despite this somewhat meager showing the directors seemed satisfied and encouraged, and decided at once to make application to Congress for the purchase of lands. It was stated at this meeting that many persons in Massachusetts, and also in the neighboring commonwealths of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New- Hampshire were "inclined to become adventurers," and were only deterred by the uncertainty of obtaining a sufficient tract of land, collectively, for a good settlement.

General Rufus Putnam, Dr. Manasseh Cutler and General Samuel H. Parsons were chosen directors and especially intrusted with the business of making a purchase of land. The haste for a speedy conclusion of the negotiation then manifested resulted from the fact that other companies were alread}^ forming, and there was a fear that the most desirable lands in the Ohio country would soon be secured by some of those speculative associations. The directors now em}X)wered Dr. Cutler to make a purchase of lands upon the Muskingum. The sequel showed that they could have employed no more competent or trustworthy agent.

liev. Manasseh Cutler, though then but a country parson, settled over a small congregation in Ipswich (now Hamilton), Mass., was a man of genius and the highest culture. He was a graduate of Yale and had taken degrees in law, medicine and di- Tinity. He now assumed the roU of diplomat, and his keenness, shrewdness and sagacity rendered him successful in the highest degree.

Just why lands upon the Muskingum should have been selected in preference to all others then available may not be readily apparent to the student of history. There were, however, many good reasons for the choice made by the Ohio Company. While much of the Northwestern Territory was then known to be infested by hostile Indians, none of these had their homes on the Lower Muskingum, and they visited this locality only occasionally on their hunting expeditions. Fort Ilarmer, built in 1785-86, at the mouth of the Muskingum, also had its influence in drawing the adventurers thither. Thomas Hutch ins, the geographer of the confederation, recommended the Muskingum region as " the best part of the whole western country," and his opinion was identical with that of other explorers, among whom were General Butler, General Parsons and General Tupper. Doubtless the existence of mineral wealth in this part of the country was known to members of the company, and it is also probable that the prospect of establishing a system of water communication between the Ohio and Lake Erie, via the Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga, and between the Ohio and the Atlantic coast by way of the Great Kanawha and the Potomac (a plan commended by Washington before the Revolution), had its influence.

Dr. Cutler started in June from Ipswich and proceeded to New York, where Congress was then in session. He put up his horse "in the Bowery barns," and at once began the business which was to have such an important influence upon the future of the Avhole western country. It is not our purpose to give a Ifistory of his negotiations, but only the results of his mission ; it suffices, therefore, to state that he managed the matter with consummate tact and farsighted wisdom, though his task was no easy one. The Ordinance of Freedom, which was passed while Dr. Cutler's negotiations were pending, received from his hand those noble provisions which have given it its name - those clauses forever prohibiting slavery and encouraging religion, morality and education. Before the act passed (July 13, 1787), the committee having it in charge sent a copy to Dr. Cutler " with leave to make remarks and propose amendments," and the measures mentioned were includeil on his recommendation. This action, while it was a testimonial of the greatest honor to Dr. Cutler, also shows how anxious Congress was to secure his favor and encourage his scheme. " The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio purchase," says a writer who has given much attention to the subject, "were parts of one and the same transaction. The purchase would not have been made without the ordinance, and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an essential condition of the purchase."

The proposed terms of the purchase were submitted to Congress by Dr. Cutler and his associate, Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Ohio Company, and on the 27th of July were adopted without change. They are set forth in the report made by Dr. Cutler to the directors and agents of the Ohio Company at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, August 29, 1787, which wa*s as follows:

" That in consequence of resolves of Congress of the 23d and 27th of July he agreed on the condition of a contract WMth the Boanl of Treasury of the United States for a particular tract of land, containing in the whole as much as the company's funds will pay for should the subscription amount to one million of dollars, agreeably to the articles of association, at one dollar per acre, from which price is to be de<lucted onethird of a dollar for bad lands and defraying the expenses of surveying, etc.

" That the land be bounded on the east by the western boundary of the seventh range of townships ; south by the Ohio ; west by a meridian line to be drawn through the western ca]>e of the Great Kanawha River, and extending so far north that a due east and west line from the seventh rang;e of townships to the said meridian line shall include the whole.

"This tract to extend so farnortherl}^ as to comprehend within its limits, exclusivel}^ of the above purchase, one lot of six hundre<l and forty acres in each township for the purposes of religion; an eijual quantity for the support of schools; and two townships of twenty-three thousand and forty acres each for a university, to be as near the center of the whole tract as may be; which lots and townships are given by Congress and appropriated for the above uses forever; also three lots of six hundred and forty acres each, in every township, reserved for the future disposition of Congress; and the bounty lands of the military associators to be comprised in the whole tract, provided they do not exceeil oneseventh part thereof.

" In consideration of which, a right of entry and occupancy for a quantity of land equal to this sum, at the price stipulated, to be given, and that as soon as the geographer or some proper oflBcer of the United States shall have surveyed and ascertained the quantity of the whole, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars more be paid, amounting in the whole to one million doUai^s, for which the company are to be put in possession of the whole moiety of the lands above described and receive a deed of the whole from the said Board of Treasury."

Thus the Ohio Company secured the refusal for 1,500,000 acres ; but for reasons that will be stated hereafter they finally became possessed of only 964,285 acres. The report of Dr. Cutler having been approved and accepted, it was ordered that the contract be closed. The contract was executed at New York, October 27, 1787, and signed by Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee, of the Board of Treasury, and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, for the Ohio Company. It was, in all its provisions, in accordance with the foregoing report of Dr. Cutler ; and thus the declaration of the ordinance of 1787, '' That schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged/' received practical exemplification.

On the next day after Dr. Cutler made his report to the directors, they, in far-away Boston, mapped out on paper a city at the confluence of the Muskingum and the Ohio, the Marietta that was to be, though no name

^'Eesolved^ That the lands of the Ohio Company may be allotted and divided in the following manner, anything to the contrary in former resolutions notwithstanding, viz.: Four thousand acres near the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers for a city and commons, and contiguous to this, one thousand lots of eight acres each.

" Upon the Ohio, in fractional townships, one thousand lots of one hundred and sixteen and forty-three one hundredths acres, amounting to one hundred and sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty acres.

"In the townships on the navigable rivers, one thousand lots of three hundred and twenty acres each, amounting to three hundred and twenty thousand acres.

"And in the inland towns one thousand lots of nine hundred and ninety-two acres each, amounting to nine hundred and ninety-two thousand acres, to be divided and alloted as the agents shall hereafter see fit."

On November 23 the directors and agents again assembled in Boston, and passed resolutions providing for the fitting out and sending out a party of pioneers to Muskingum. To show what was the equipment and the

"That twenty-two men shall attend the surveyors ; that there be added to this number twenty men including six boat-builders, four house-carpenters, one blacksmith and nine common workmen. That the boat-builders shall proceed on Monday next, and the surveyors rendezvous at Hartford on the first day of January next, on their way to the Muskingum; that the boat-builders and the men with the surveyors be proprietors in the company; that their tools and one ax and one hoe to each man, and thirty pounds' weight of baggage, shall be carried in the company's wagons, and that the subsistence of the men on the journey be furnished by the company; that upon their arrival at the place of destination and entering u{)on the business of their employment the men shall be subsisted by the company, and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars each per month until discharged ; that they be held in the company's service until the first day of July next unless sooner discharged ; and if any of the persons employed shall leave the service or wilfully injure the same or disobey the orders of the superintendent or others acting under him, the person so offending shall forfeit all claim to Avages. That their wages shall be paid the next autumn in cash or lands upon the same terms as the company purchased them. That I small arm, bayonet, six fl^ints, a powder horn and pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one |X)und of balls, and one j)ound of j buckshot. The men so engaged shall i be subject to the orders of the super- ' intendent and those he may apjx)int i as aforesaid in any kinds of business I they shall be employed in, as well for boat-building and surveying as for building houses, erecting defenses, clearing land and ))lanting or other- , wise, for promoting the settlement. And as there is a possibility of inter- ' ruption from enemies, they shall also ! be subject to orders as aforesiiid in I military command during the time of I their employment. That the survey- ; ors shall be allowed twenty-seven dollars j>er month and subsistence while in actual service, to commence upon their arrival at the Muskingum ; that Colonel Ebenzer Sproat, from Rhode Island, Mr. Anselm Tup}>er and Mr. John Mathews, from Massachusetts, and Colonel R. J. Meig^, from Connecticut, l)e the surveyors. That General Rufus Putman be the superintendent of all the business aforesaid, and he is to be obeyed and respected accordingly; that he be allowe<l for his services forty dollars per month and his exj>enses, to commence from the time of his leaving home."

Before following this pioneer party into the western wilds let us hastily sketch the subsequent history and transactions of the Ohio Company.

dence, R. I., in March following. Accordingly, on the 5th of the raonth, the directors and agents having assembled, the lots of the proposed city at the mouth of the Muskingham were drawn by the agents for the respective shareholders. A thousand shares were represented. At this meeting, even before the settlement had begun, such was the zeal of the proprietors to promote education and religion, there was appointed to consider the expediency of employing some suitable j>erson as a teacher in the new colony, a committee, who recommended in their report " That the directors be requested to pay as early attention as possible to the education of youth and the promotion of public worship among the fli^st settlers ; and that, for these impi>rtant services, they employ, if practicable, an instructor eminent for literary accomplishments and the virtue of his character, who shall also superintend the first scholastic institution and direct the manner of instruction." Noble words I And noble were the aims of the founders of the first settlement in Ohio nearly one hundred years ago.

The surveys of the Ohio Company's purchase were ordered by the governor to be suspended after the 20th of September, 1788, until the treaty with the Indians (then pending and subsequently concluded at Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789) could be consummated. This course perhaps prevented serious trouble, as the Indians objected to the survey and were likely to interfere with its progress. The surveys made by the company were in accordance with the ordinance of Congress, passed in 1785, for the survey of the northwestern lands, and the rules therein laid down were carefully observed.

In December committees were sent out to explore lands in the purchase, the character of which the proprietors as yet knew but little, with a vieAv toward deciding upon the location of future settlements. It was recommended that two thousand acres, in one-hundred-acre lots, at the forks of Duck Creek, about fifteen miles from Marietta, be given to twenty settlers ; also, that a tract of six hundred and forty acres be given to encourage the erection of mills on Duck Creek near Marietta.

2. To build a dwelling-house within five years, of the size 18x2:1: feet, eight feet between the floors, and a cellar ten feet square ; a chimney of brick or stone.

Any settler complying with the above rules who kept on the land for five' years a man aiile to bear arms was entitled to receive a deed from the directors. These donation lots were permitted to be issued until October 1, 1789, to any number of persons not exceeding two hundred, making in all 20,000 acres. The settlements were to be made by companies or associations of not less than twenty men to each settlement - this provision being a military precaution to guard against surprises from wandering Indians.

"This mode of settling the new lands of the purchase," says Dr. Hildreth, " was one of the most admirable that could be devised, and showed that the men who planned it were familiar with the cultivation of the soil as well as military affairs. These donation settlements were generally located on the frontiers of the purchase, and served as outposts to guard the more central parts. They formed a military as Avell as an agricultural people, just such as the condition of the country needed. Their requirements as to the character of the improvements on the land were such as would be most beneficial to the settler and ultimately useful to the community. The regulation as to fruit trees made a permanent impression upon the people generally."

By subsequent action of Congress the company was relieved from the necessity of making donations out of their own lands to promote settlements.

being made and encouraged by the company's efforts, its own business was involved in well-nigh serious difficulties. Shortly after the formation of the Ohio Company another association, known as the Scioto Company had been organized. Dr. Cutler, while negotiating with Congress for lands for his company, had been entreated to use his influence to obtain a purchase for them. Through his efforts a refusal was secured for a large tract, and under the lead of the Scioto Company's agents a French settlement was made at Gallipolis in 1700. The affairs of the company were badly managed and the settlers were unable to obtain titles to their land until Congress, in 1798, made a grant of the tract, since known as the French grant, situated on the Ohio above the mouth of the Scioto. In 1789 it became apparent that the Ohio Company could not pay for the land embraced in the original contract ; only half the purchase money had been paid and no titles could be secured until the balance was paid ; a number of shares had become forfeited through non-payment. Therefore, in 1790, the directors of the Ohio Company readily availed themselves of an offer made by the Scioto Company to purchase certain tracts of the Ohio Company's lands, including the forfeited shares and a tract on the Great Kanawha. Th'e contract was closed and the Ohio Company' was cheered by the hope of adding to its fiinances by this means. The matter resulted in nothing but blank disappointment.

In the spring of 1792 a panic in New York causeil the failure of Richard Piatt, who was then the Ohio Company's treasurer, and had nearly $50,000 of the funds of the association. At the same time financial disaster overtook the directors of the Scioto Company (by whom as yet no payments had been made to the Ohio Company), and their contract for the purchase of forfeited shares was forfeited and annulled.

At this crisis three of the directors of the Ohio Company, Dr. Cutler, General Putnam and Colonel Robert Oliver petitioned Congress for relief, asking that the 1,500,000 acres be deeded to them for the $500,000 already paid, and that a grant of 100,000 acres in addition be m^de to compensate for the lands which the company had donated to settlers. The prayer of the petitioners Was answered in part by a bill passed April 21, 1792, which provided that a deed be made to the Ohio Company for 750,000 acres for the $500,- 000 in securities already paid ; another for 214,285 (about one seventh of the original purchase), to be paid for in land warrants, and a third for 100,000 acres, to be held in trust and given to actual settlers m lots of one hundred acres each.

May 10, 1792 the President issued three patents to Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver and Griffin Greene in trust for the Ohio Company. With one exception these were the first land-patents issued by the United States. By their provis*^ns the total amount of land conveyed to the Ohio Company was

964,285 acres ; or, including the donation tract, 1,064,285 acres. The boundaries of the tract, as finally fixed by the survey, were approximately as follows :

" Beginning on the Ohio River upon the western boundary line of the fifteenth range of townships, thence running northerly to a point about one mile north of the south line of township number seven; thence west to the western boundary of the sixteenth range ; thence north to the north line of township number sixteen; thence east to a point about one mile east of the western boundary of the eleventh range of township; thence north four miles ; thence east to the western boundary of the seventh range ; thence south to the Ohio, thence along the Ohio to the place of beginning."

Included in the purchase were parts of the present counties of Morgan, Washington, Gallia, Vinton, Jackson, and Hocking, and all of Athens and Meigs.

The donation tract lies in the northeastern part of the above-described territory, and is about twenty-one miles long, and nearly eight miles wide. Its boundaries are as follows : Beginning on the western boundary line of the seventh range of townships, at the northeast corner of the seven hundred and fifty thousiind acre tract; thence running north to the line surveyed by Israel Ludlow at the northern boundary of the original purchase of 1,500,000 acres ; thence west along that line to the tract containing 214,285 acres ; thence south to the boundary of the tract of

The directors of the Ohio Company, as trustees of the donation tract, were recjuired to make, free of expense, deeds in fee simple of one hundred acres to each male person not less than eighteen years of age, who must be an actual settler or a resident within the purchase at the time the conveyance should be made. The donation, although it secured fewer permanent settlers than was expected, greatly aided the Ohio Company, and was the means of attracting many adventurers into the territory. The lands were speculated in to some extent, those who had secured lots before the Indian war selling them to others at its close without having made any actual settlement or improvement.

Under the direction of the Ohio Company and the immediate superintendence of General Putnam the donation tract was surveyed in May, 1793, and by the middle of July 170 lots had been surveyed in nine allotments on the Muskingum and Wolf Creek. During the year a total of 186 lots was drawn; this number represents the whole number of males able to bear arms then residents of the three settlements of Washington County - at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford.

We need not follow the history of the Ohio Company further, having seen it successful, against incalculable disadvantages, in the performance of the mission to which its members voluntarily dedicated themselves. The last meeting of the directors and agents of the company held west of the Allegheny Mountains began at Marietta, November 22, 1795, and lasted till January 29, 1796. Then was made the final division or partition of lands, by which was set off to each share in the company the following lands: First division, one eight acre lot; second division, one three acre lot; third division, one city lot; fourth division, one one hundred and sixty acre lot; fifth division, one one hundred acre lot ; sixth division, one six hundred and forty acre lot, and one two hundred and sixty-tAvo acre lot; total, 1,173 acres to each share. There were then 819 shares classified in sixteen agencies.

Chapter Important Events In Territorial History

The Plans and Purposes op the Ohio Company - Emigration Encouraged - Extract FROM A Pamphlet Published in 1787 - Dr. Cutler's Prediction Concerning the Ohio Country - A Colony Organized - Preliminary Preparations - The Journey Across the Mountains - Down the Youghiogheny and the Ohio to the Muskingum

- Arrival OP the Party at the Site op Marietta, April 7, 1788 - N.«mes op the First Settlers in Ohio - Erection op Campus Martius - Progress of the First Season - Oovernor St. Clair - Organization op the Territory - Washington County Established - Other Early Counties - Territorial Coitrts - The First Townships m the Territory - First Territorial Legirlatltie, 1799 - Names of its Members - Organization of State Government - Opposition - The ** Enabling Act" - The Convention of 1802 - The State Constitution Formed - The State Admitted Into the Union - Progress op the Settlements in Washington County

THE pioneer settlement at Marietta was an important event in the history of the West. Washington County was for several years the seat of the territorial government; it is the parent of all the neighboring counties, and its history is inseparably linke<l with theirs. It is appropriate, therefore, that some account of its origin and progress, and its part in the events which resulted in the formation of the state of Ohio, be included in this volume.

The Ohio Company was the agency through which the first colony was planted northwest of the Ohio River. Among the most active and enthusiastic members of the company were Generals Putnam, Tupper and Parsons, Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, and it was largely through their influence that the plan of colonization was made successful. After the purchase was concluded

Dr. Cutler anonymously published a pamphlet to advertise the advantages of the Ohio country, and particularly those of the Muskingum region. Some of the prophecies made in this publication were no doubt then received with ridicule, but nearly all of them have proved true. It was asserted that in lifty years theNorth- Avestern Territory would have a greater j)o})ulation than all New England. Another paragraph read as follows: "The current down the Ohio and Mississippi, for heavy articles that suit the Florida and West India markets, such as Indian corn, flour, beef, lumber, etc., will be more loaded than any streams on earth. The distance from the Muskingum to the Mississippi is 1,000 miles; from thence to the sea is 900 miles. The whole course is run in eighteen days, and the passage up these rivers is not so diflicult as has been rei)resente(l.

It is found by late experiments that sails are uSed to great advantage against the current of the Ohio ; and it is worthy of observation that in all probability steamboats will be found to do infinite service in all our river navigation."

The foregoing was written in 1787 and doubtless contained the first published allusion to the subject of steam navigation upon the waters of western rivers. Its author was a man of ripe scholarship, extensive scientific information, and sound judgment.

The proprietors of the Ohio Company succeeded, however, in getting together a sufficient number of adventurers to begin the proposed settlement in accordance with their resolutions of November 23, 1787, already given in the preceding chapter. The first party, consisting of twenty-two men, and including the mechanics and boat builders, left Dan vers, Mass., December 1, 1787, in comnumd of Major Ilaffield White, and on the 23d of January, 1788, arrived at Sum rill's Ferry, on the Youghiogheny River in Pennsylvania, where they were ex}>ected to begin the construction of boats for completing the journey. The other party, consisting of the surveyors and their assistants and others, left Hartford, (^onn., on the 1st of January, under the conduct of Colonel Ebenezer Sproat (they were joined by General Kufus Putnam, superintendent of the colony, at Lsiuterdale Oeek, (m the 24), and after a toilsome winter journey across the Aliet^henies arrive<l at the Youofhiogheny in the middle of February, Here they were disappointed to find that very little progress had been made by the advance party in their preparations, and a delay lasting until the first of April resulted. Then, with three canoes, a flat-boat of about three tons' burden (the " Adelphia") and a galley of about fifty tons' burden (the " Mayflower"), the party embarked upon the "Yough," and procee<led down that stream, the Monongahela and the Ohio to their destination.

About noon on Monday, Aprd 7, 1788, the little party, consisting of forty-seven men (increased to fortyeight by the arrival of Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs on the 12th\ landed on the site of Marietta, where about seventy Indians, warriors, women and children, of the Wyandot and Delaware tribes, received them with manifestations of friendliness. The famous chieftain, Captain Pipe, was among the Indians.

Important Events In Territorial History

Regarding the landing of the adventurers, there is a tradition that an incident which then occurred gave rise to the name "Buckeye," first applied to the early settlers, and afterward to all the inhabitants of the State. It is related that two of the pioneers, on springing to the shore, at once began a contest to see who should inaugurate the improvement by felling the first tree. One selected a hardwood tree and his w^ork was consecjuently difficult. The other applied his axe to a buckeye, and laid it low before his rival made much progress with his work. Another tradition, better authenticated, is to the eflFect that Col. Ebenezer Sproat, a man of large physical proportions, was called by the In dians Iletuck^ or Big Buckeye, and from this the name was made to apply to all the colonists.

It would carry us far beyond our purpose to write a history of the Marietta colony, but in order that the reader may have a full understanding of subsequent events which are properly included within the scope of this work we make a brief sketch of the more notable occurrences in tl>e annals of their work.

During the first summer the pioneers made commendable progress, building cabins, clearing land, planting crops, surveying the company's lands, laying out the streets of the new city, etc. As a measure of defense and protection, unfortunately soon rendered necessary, they began the erection of an elaborate fortress or garrison, large enough to afford refuge to the whole colony in times of danger. Much of the work was performed during the first year, but the whole of Campus Martins, as the defense was styled, was not finished till 1791. It was then pronounced the finest pile of buildings west of the Allegheny Mountains - which was doubtless true.

During the year the Marietta colony was increased by the arrival of eighty four men,several of them l>eing accompanied by their families. The wife of James Owen, who came in June, 1788, was the first woman who settled in the Ohio Company's purchase.

General Arthur St. Clair, the first territorial governor, arrived July 9th. He \vas a native of Scotland, l)orn in 1734. He entered the British army, and being sent to America during the French war, was present at the storming of Quebec. In 1764 he settled at Fort Ligonier, afterward in Westmoreland County, Pa., having been appointed to the command of the fort. He figured prominently in the colonial history of Pennsylvania, and Avas the first prothonotary of Bedford County, which at one time included all of Southwestern Pennsvlvania. At the breaking out of the Revolution he joined the patriots, and was given ci>mmand of a regiment. Snl>seqoently he was promoted to a briga^lier then to a major-general. He represented his district in the Continental Congress and was president of that bfxly. In October, 1787, he was commissioned governor of the Northwest Territory, the commission taking effect in February following. He continued to act as territorial governor until within a few months prece<Ung the formation of the State government, in 1803, when he was removed by President Jefferson. He died in Westmoreland County, Pa., August 31, 181S..

Preceding Governor St. Clair, two of the judges of the territory, Samuel Holden Parsons and James Mitchell Varnum, and the secretary, Winthrop Sargent, had arrive<l at Marietta. John Cleves Symmes was the other territorial judge.

The governor and judges began the work of organizing the territory by issuing laws for its government, nuKleled after the laws of the older States of the Union. July 25, 1788, they passed a law regulating and establishing tlie militia. Other early acts relate<l to the establishment of the general couit of quarter sessions of the peace, the county court of common pleiis, and the office of sheriff, the probate court, laws rosj)ecting crimes and their punishment etc.

'^By His Excellency, Arthur St. Clair, Esq., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio,

'*To all persons to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Whereas, by the ordinance of Congress of 13th July, 1787, for the government of the territory of the Ignited States northwest of the River Ohio, it is directed that for the due execution of process, civil and criminal, the governor shall make proper divisions of the said territory, and proceed from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out the part of the same Avhere the Indian title has been extinguished into counties and townshi|)s, subject to future alterations as therein sjKHjified. ?sow, know ye, that itapi)earingtome to be necessary, for the purposes above mentioned, that a county should immediately be laid out, I have onlained and ordere<l, and by these presents do ordain and j order, that all and singular the lands lying and being within the following boundaries, viz.: Beginning on the bank of the Ohio River where the western boundary line of Pennsyl-

I vania crosses it, and running ^vith that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga River; thence up said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of Muskingum ; thence down the branch of the forks at the crossings place above Fort Laurens ; thenoe with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage of that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawanese town to the Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto River; thence with that river to the mouth and thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning, shall be ;i county, and the same is hereby erected into a county named and to be called hereafter the County of Washington, and the said County of Washington shall have and enjoy all and singular the jurisdiction, rights, liberties, privileges and immunities whatever to a county belonging and appertaining, and which any other county, that may hereafter be erected and laid out shall or ought to enjoy, conformably to the ordinance of Congress before mentioned.

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Territory to be affixed this twenty-sixth day of July, in the thirteenth year of the Independence of the United States, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty -eight.

The County of Washington, as above established, then embraced about one-half of the present State of Ohio. It remained the only county in the Territory, and practically was the Territory civilly and judicially, until January 2, 1790, when Hamilton County was erected. Between 1790 and 1796 the following counties were organized in the Territory, outside the limits of

Ohio : St. Clair^ Knox and Randolph. Wayne was erected August 15, 1796, embracing parts of the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and all of Michigan. Adams, the next county within the State limits, was erected July 10, 1797. Jefferson followed next, being erected July 29, 1797, largely reducing the size of Washington County, which was further curtailed by the fonnation of Ross, August 20, 17981 Fairfield and Trumbull were erected in 1800, and Helmont in 1801. These were all of the counties formed in Ohio under the Territorial government. After the formation of the State government in 1803 new counties multiplied rapidly. Gallia was formed in 1803 ; Muskingum in 1804 (from Washington and Fairfield); Athens in 1805; Guernsey in 1810; Monroe in 1815; Morgan and Meigs in 1819.

The first court held in the Northwest Territory was the court of common pleas, of Washington County, which convene<l in the Campus Marti us at Marietta, on Tuesday, September 2, 1788. The ceremonies were imposing, and no doubt made an impression upon the minds of the few friendly savages who witnessed them. A procession was formed at "the Point" of citizens and officers from Fort Harmar, by whom the Territorial judges, the governor and the judges of the common pleas court were escorted to the block-house, which was to serve as the court-room.

then on a visit to the colony whose establishment he had done so much to promote, and after the reading of the commissions of the judges, the clerk and the sheriff, the court was proclaimed oi>en for business by the sheriff, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat. Paul Fearing, Esq., was admitted to practice as an attorney, and was the first in the Territory. Colonel li. J. Meigs was the clerk, and General Rufus Putnam, General Benjamin Tupper and Colonel Archibald Crary the judges. No business l>eing brought l)efore the court, it atljourned ffine die.

The county court of common pleas consisted of not less than three nor more than five judges, who received their commissions from the governor, and were authorized to keep a court of record. The court was held twice a year in each county. In 171R) the number of terms was changed to four, and the number of judges increased to seven.

The court of quarter sessions of the peace under the territorial laws was held four times a year in each county, and was composed of justices of the j)eace commissioned by the governor. Not less than three nor more than five justices were especiallv commissioned for holdino; this court. Three could hold sj>ecial courts when required. In 1790 a change in the law increase<l the number of justices to nine in each county, and gjive the court power to divide the county into townships, appoint constables, overseers of the poor, township clerks, and to establish roads. The first term of this court was held in Washington County, at the Campus Martius, Tuesday, September 9, 1788, l)ef()re Justices Rufus Putnam, Itenjamin Tup}>er, Isaac Pierce, Thomas Lord and Return J. Meigs. Then was imjmneled the first grand jury in the Territory. No cases were presented, and the court adjourned without day.

One other court completed the judicial machinery of the Territory. The general couil, for the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, held four sessions a year, for civil and criminal suits, at such |)oints in the Territory as the judges deemed advisable, due notice of the session being given The terms began on the first Monday of February, May, October and December. Process, both civil and criminal, could be returaed at any place in the Territory where they might be convened. They were not obliged to hold more than one court a year in any one county.

In December, 1790, the court of (juarter sessions of Washington County established three townships, which included the three settlements which had been made up to that time.

Marietta Township included townships 1, 2 and 3 in the eighth range, and townships 2 and 3 in the ninth range. Belpre contained townshii)s 1 and 2 in the tenth range, and township 1 in the ninth mnge. Waterford township consisted of townships 7 and 8 in the eleventh range, townships 4 and 5 in the tenth range, and section 33 of township 4 in the ninth

Important Evknts In Tkrritorial History

Subsequently Gallipolis Township was established, extending from the eleventh range to the Sciota, and bounded on the north by a Hne drawn west from the northern line of township 3, range 11. Two townships included the northern part of the county - Warren, west of Pennsylvania, and extending to the lake, and Middletown, west of Warren. These were taken into Jeffei'son County at its formation in 1797. Adams and Salem townshii)s were established in December, 1797. Salem was five miles wide, and extended from the donation tract to the north hne of the county. In December, 1798, the following townships were establishe<l : Another Middletown, embracing nearly all of the present County of Athens; Newton, from the north part of Waterford and extending to the northern line of the County ; and Newport Township.

The government of the Territory, with tl;ie ordinance of 1787 as its foundation, could scarcely be called a "government of the people and for the people," for in reality the people had no voice in it. Its chief officers were appointed by Congress until after the ratification of the constitution, and then by the President, and were accountable only to the general government. But, all things considered, perhaps the system was the best and wisest that could be devised for a vast and remote territory, inhabited onl}^ by Indians, traders, hunters and adventurers, with here and there a struggling colony upon 1 its borders. No government free i from abuses has ever been formulated i by man, and that no arbitrary actions should creep into the administration of affairs in the Northwest no reasonable man could have expected. The nation was fortunate in the choice of the Territorial authorities, and the government served its purpose, giving birth to five great, free States. When the time arrived which enabled the inhabitants to ado])t a State government they welcomed it with eagerness, as has been the case with the people of all the States of later origin.

The first step toward giving the people of the Territory a part in making their laws was taken in 1798. The ordinance of 1787 provided as soon as there should be " 6,000 free male inhabitants of full age " in the Territory they should be entitled to a general assembly, to consist of the governor, legislative council and a house of representatives, the representatives to serve two years and the council for five. The manner of selecting the council was as follow^s : As soon as the representatives were elected, the governor was required to appoint a time and place for them to meet and nominate ten persons, " residents in the district and each possessed of a freehold in five hundred acres of land," and return their names to Congress ; from this number Congress must choose the five members.

Governor St. Clair, having ascertained that the Territory contained the requisite number of voters, issued a call for an election of Territorial representatives. The proclamation, issued October 29, 1798, ordered the election to be held on the third Monday of the following December. The representatives elected were Return J. Meigs, Paul Fearing, Washington County; Wilh'ara Goforth, William McMillan, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell, Isaac Martin, Hamilton County; Shadrach Bond, St. Clair County ; John Small, Knox County ; John Edgar, Randolph County; Solomon Sibley, Jacob Visger, Charles F. Chabert de Joncaire, Wayne Countj^; Joseph Darlington,Nathaniel Massie, Adams County ; James Pritchard, Jefferson County ; Thomas Worthington, Elias Langham, Samuel Findlay, Edward Tiffin, Ross County.

The legislature met at Cincinnati, January 22, 1799, and nominated ten men for the legislative council. The five chosen by the national government were Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati, Hamilton County; Henry Vandenburg, of Vincennes, Knox County; Robert Oliver, of Marietta, Washington County ; James Find lay of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville, Jefferson County.

1799, at which time it was prorogued by the governor to meet at Chillicothe (which had been made the capital by act of Congress May 7, 1800), on the first Monday in November,

1800. At the Cincinnati session, the legislature passed thirty bills, of which the governor vetoed eleven. William Henry Harrison was elected a delegate to Congress, receiving one more vote than his rival, Arthur

St. Clair, Jr. A petition was introduced, from a number of Virginia officers, asking permission to remove their slaves into the Virginia Military District. The Ordinance of Freedom rendered their prayer futile. At the November session William McMillan was chosen a delegate to Congress, to fill the vacancy causeil by the resignation of General Harrison, who had been appointed governor of Indian Territory (formed May 7, 1800, and included the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and a part of Michigan).

The second and last TerritoriiU legislature convened at Cincinnati, November 23, 1801. Ephriam Cutler and William Rufus Putnam were the representatives from Washington County. Edward Tiffin, of Ross County, was speaker, and Robert Oliver of Washington County, president of the legislative council. The representatives from Washington County opposed the formation of a State government, which about this time began to be discusse<l. Putnam made a speech at a supper in Cincinnati at which he proposal the toast, *' The Scioto - may its waters lave the borders of two gi^etit States." This sentiment aroused the violent opposition of the Chillicothe j>eo})le, who favored the formation of a State with its present limits, or at least, extending westward to the Miami, with their town as its capital. The boundary proposed by Putnam was generally favored by his constituents, and had it been adopted would have delayed the State organization considerably, as the ordinance of 1787

The opposition to the formation of a State came from a small minority and was strongest in Washington County. On the 17th of June, 1801, a meeting was held at Marietta, attended by delegates from the several townships of the county, who adopted resolutions, afterwards forwarded to their representatives in the general assembly, declaring that, in their opinion, "it would be highly impolitic and very injurious to the inhabitants of this territory to enter into a State government at this time." There were several reasons for this opinion. First, they argued that taxes would be increased without corresponding benefits ; that the expenses of the State government would fall most heavily upon the inhabitants of the Ohio Company's purchase, while the Congressional lands would be exempt from taxation. The expenses of the territorial government were chiefl}" paid out of the National treasury, and a State government once formed, this aid would cease. Secondly, the Washington County people were on the weaker or Federalist side in politics, and could hope for no offices under the State. This considenition may have had no weight with the majority, but undoubtedly some were influenced by it. Thirdly, there was the ho])e that two States might sometime be formed of the territory now included in Ohro, and that Marietta might be the capital of the eastem one.

The discussion of the project reached Congress, and the i)assage of the "enabling act" was violently opposed by Paul Fearing, of Washington County, territorial delegate; but the act became a law April 30, 1802. By it the boundaries of the State were defirted, and the holding of a convention for the formation of a State government was authorized.

The convention met at Chillicothe in November, 1802. The delegates were as foil )ws : Joseph Darlington, Thomas Kirker and Israel Donaldson, from Adams County ; James Caldwell, from Belmont County ; Francis' Dunlady, John Paul, Jeremiah Morrow, John Wilson, Charles W. Byrd, William Goforth, John Smith and John Reily, from Ilamill ton County ; Kudolph Bair, John Milligiin and George Humphrey, from Jefferson County; Edward Tiffin, Nathaniel Massie, Thomas Worthington, Michael Baldwin, and James Grubb, from lloss County ; Samuel Huntington, from Trumbul. County ;Ephraim Cutler, Rufus Putnam, Benj. Ives Gilman, and John Mclntire from Washington County- Edward Tiffin was elected president, and Thomas Scott secretary of the convention.

When the question was put as to whether it was expedient to form a constitution and State government at that time, only Ephraim Cutler, of Washington County, voted in the negative.

By far the most imix)rtant worii of the convention was the defeat of a provision authorizing slavery in the State. In spite of the ordinance of

1787 such a measure was introduced, and came near being adopted by the committee having charge of preparing a bill of rights. But here Ephraim Cutler, the son of the author of that famous clause in the Ordinance of Freedom, "Xeither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the territory," interposed, and, by the aid of otiier wise men, defeated the measure.

The convention, which met upon the 1st, adjourned on the 29th of No vember, having completed its work and formed that instrument which stood for half a century as the fundamental law of the State of Ohio. The constitution was never submitted to the people either for approval or disapproval, but became a law solely by act of the convention - a fact somewhat remarkable, since the convention had been called by Congress without having taken the opinion of the inhabitants upon the question. Ohio was first recognized as a State by Congress February 19^ 1803. Its first legislature met on March 1, 1803, and the formal organization of the government took place two days later. The legislature continued to meet at Chilhcothe until 181G (with the exception of two sessions, 1810 11 and 1811-12, which were held at Zanesville), when Columbus became the capital of the State.

The winter of 1788-89 was long and severe. The Ohio River froze up in December, and no boats passed either to or from Marietta till March. Provisions were scarce, and the game had been mostly killed off in the surrounding country by the Indians, so that wild meat was procured with difficulty. Before navigation was resumed many of the i)eople lived for weeks with little or' no meat and without bread, their food consisting of boiled corn, or coarse meal, ground in hand-mills. In 1790 the inhabitants of the county suffered again fi'om scarcity of food. Small-pox prevailed at Marietta early in 1790, and at Belpre in 1793. But in spite of all drawbacks the settlements slowly but surely gained in strength and prosperity.

In the winter of 1788-89 ah association of about forty members was formed at Marietta for the puq^ose of forming a new settlement, and the Belpre colony .wi\s the result. The settlers began moving to their farn)s in April, 1789. The outbreak of Indian hostilities found the settlement with but two strongly built I log blockhouses. In January, 1791, I eleven more were built, making thirteen in all. They were arranged in two rows, along the river, and the whole was inclosed by palisades. I The defence when complete was I styled "Farmers' Castle," and the United States flag was raised upon one of the principal blockhouses, I where sentries were posted at night, ready to discharge a small cannon in case of alarm. About two hundred and twenty persons inhabited the garrison, seventy of whom were able bodied men. Later in the war (1793) two other garrisons, known respectively as Goodale's and Stone's, were built in the vicinity of the castle, which had been found too small to accommodate all who required its shelter.

Waterford settlement on the Muskingum was begun in April, 1789, by a second association, consisting of thirty-nine members, who in {iccordance with the Ohio Company's resolutions, were to receive lands for settling. A part of the company were to locate on Wolf Creek, about a mile above its mouth, for the purpose of erecting mills. " The main body of the donated lands," says Hildreth, " lies on the east side of the Muskingum; and that portion of it bordering on the river was divided into lots of ten or fifteen acres each, for the purpose of making the settlement more compaxjt, and the inhabitants near to each other for mutual assistance and defense in times of danger from the Indians; while the other portion of the hundred acres was located at a grtjater distance.'' These lots commenced where the town of Beverly now stands, and extended down the river about two miles.

On the west side of the Muskingum, in a tend of Wolf Creek known as the peninsula, another village was laid out in lots of five acres each. For the protection of the settlement two blockhouses were built, one on the east and the other on the west side of the river. After the commencement of hostilities Fort Frye, on the east side of the Muskingum about half a mile below the site of lieverly, was erected. It was com pleted in March, 1791.

Wolf Creek mills, the first in the territory, according to Dr. Hildreth, were erected the year the Waterford settlement was begun, by Colonel

Robert Oliver, Major IlaflBeld White and Captain John Dodge. The mills (a grist mill and sawmill) were built during the year 1789, but were not completed and ready for operation until March of the following year. The crank for the sawmill was made at Xe\v Haven, Conn., transported across the mountains on a packhorse to Sumrill's Ferry, and brought thence by water. The stones, of conglomerate rock, were quarried in Laui^l Ilill, near Brownsville, Pa., and were used more than fifty years. They were not suitable for grinding wheat, but served well for grinding corn, of -which, it is said, the mill would grind a bushel in four minutes. About the mill there grew up a settlement of al>out thirty people, all of whom fled to the neighboring blockhouses when the news of the Big Bottom massacre reached them. The mill was resorted to by the people of Marietta and Waterford both before and after the w^ar, and for maqy years did a thriving business. During the Indian war it was not suffered to lie idle. Parties of twenty or thirty men sometimes went up with their grain in boats, a part of them marching by land to watch for Indians. While the mill was in operation sentries were posted round about to give warning of danger, but during the whole war the mill was undisturbed by the savages. But one other settlement was founded under the auspices of the Marietta colonists prior to the Indian war - the ill-fated colony at Big Bottom, of which we shall proceed to speak in the following chapter.