Washington County, Ohio - Movements of the Pioneers, 1902

Movements of the Pioneers

Depreciated Currency and Impoverished Public Credit - Bounty Lands - Ohio Company OF Associates - Work of General Rufus Putnam and Rev. Manasseh Cutler - Ordinance of 1787 - Landing at the Mouth of the Muskingum - Industry and Courage of the Pioneers - Other Near-by Settlements - Notes.

The settlement of Ohio differs from that of Kentucky, \\'est Virginia, and Tennessee in this important particular, that the government of the territory and the tenure of land were provided for before the first party of settlers landed on the banks of the Ohio. Hence not only the date of the first settlement but the record of the negotiations which led to that settlement have been carefully preserved. The beginning may be found in the consultations among the officers and soldiers of the American Army in that long period of waiting between the surrender of Cornwallis and the final departure of the British from New York.

After the Continental currency had depreciated until it was not received for more than two and a half cents on a dollar, the step to final repudiation wias easy. The Congress of the Confederation had neither money nor credit. All they could give the officers and soldiers were certificates of final settlement. These certificates were soon in the market at the rate of eight dollars of the face for one -dollar of Spanish silver. At this rate there was little chance for those who had been many years in the army to return to their old homes and go into business. Naturally they began to look to that vast region west of tlie Alleghanies which had been wrested from the British possession by the valor and endurance of American soldiers. Some of the colonies held shadowy claims to portions of this territory and Congress was too weak to resist. That these claims had no good legal foundation is evident from this, - that all the territory between the Ohio and Mississippi had by Act of Parliament, in 1774, been annexed to Canada. It was legally a part of that province until captured by the forces of the United States. This temporary title by virtue of conquest was confirmed, thanks to the wise forethought of Franklin, by the treaty of peace with Great .Britain. Thus the legal title to this vast empire, from which five States have been formed, passed to the United States in their collective capacity. L^nfortunately. however, these States were then held together by a mere rope of sand : Congress had no power to resist the absurd claims of different States, nor to enforce the treaty against the British who for many years continued to hold the territorv south of the Great Lakes.

As a result of these deliberations, 285 officers, nearly all of whom were from England, signed a petition bearing date of June 16, 1783, praying the Honorable Congress that the bounty lands promised to officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary Army be located in the territory between the Ohio River and Lake Erie and^ extending westward 24 miles beyond the mouth of the Scioto. It seems strange that Congress did not at once grant a request which carried with it the assurance of protection on the exposed frontier. But there were many excuses for delay, the chief one being that different States laid claim to parts of the territory. Nearly a year later (April 5, 1784), General Rufus Putnam, impatient of the delay, wtote from Rutland, ;Massachusetts, to General Washington and requested him to name some member of Congress who would favor the movement. He confesses that he dared not expect aid from the Massachusetts or New York delegates, since these States had land of their own to sell. He urges haste because the poverty of the returned soldiers would force them to settle in some place without delay.

RuTLAN-n. April the 5tli. 1784. Dfar Sir: Being unavoidably prevented from attending the genera! meeting of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia as I had intended, where I once more expected the opportunity in person to pay my respects to your I^Ncellciicy, 1 can not deny myself the honor of n'Mrc-ino ymi by letter, to acknowledg:e with gralitude thi.- luu thousand obligations f *^--' Ti;- :!t undrr to your goodness, anid most iingratulate you on your return to doners, to enquire after your health, and t of heaven's blessing may attend vou and y.uir dear lady.

The settlement of the Ohio country, Sir, engrosses many of my thoughts; and much of my time, since I left camp, has been employed in informing myself and others with respect to the nature, situation and circumstances of that country and the pi"obabiIity of removing ourselves there, and if I am to form an opinion on 'what I have seen and heard of this subject there are thousands in this quarter will emigrate to that country as soon as the honorable Ci^ngress makes provision for granting land there, and location and settlement can be made with safety, unless such provision is too long delayed, I mean till (a) majority turn their views another wav, whicli ). the ca-c with many niMre.

V..U -:i-c ,cn.iiil-' ,it tiK nccr-.,ty as well as the propriety nt 'mtli ^-liieer- and ?'0<1kt^ fixing themselves in busnic^s _<iniLuhere a? ^uun :is iiossiblc. as many of them are unable to lie longer on their oars waiting the decision of Congress on cur petition, and therefore must unavoidably tix thcm-elvcs in some ether quarter, which when done, the idea of removing to the Ohio country will pniliably be at an end with respect to most of them. Bcsilcs. the Conunonwealth of Massachusetts have come to a resolution to sell their Eastern Country for public securities, and should their plan be formed and their proposition be made public before we hear anything from Congress respecting our petition, and the terms on which llie lands petitioned for are obtained, it will undoubtedly be much against us by greatly lessening the numlxr of Ohio associates. Another reason why we wish to know as soon as possible what the intentions of Congress are respecting our petition is the ettect such knowledge will probably have on the credit of the certificates we have received in settlement of aecoimts. Those securities are now selling at o.n nie.re than three shillings and six pence and four shilling- on the pound, which in all probability might double, if no more, the moment it was known that government would receive them for land in the Ohio country. From these circrmstances and .nany others which might be mentioned, we are growing quite impatient and the general inquiry now is, when are we going to Ohio? Among others. Brigadier-general Tupper. Lieutenant-colonel Oliver, and Major .Ashley have agreed to accompany me to that country the moment the way is opened for such an undertaking.

I -.hould 'have hinted these things to some members of Congress, but the delegates from Massachusetts, althon.gh e.xcteding worthy men and in general would wish to promote the Ohio scheme, yet if it should militate with the particular interest of this State, by draining her of inhab'tants' especially when she is forming the pUni nf -eiliiig the Eastern Country, I thought they would mt lie very wami advocates in our favor, and I dare nut trust myself with any of the New York delegates whom I am acquainted, because that government are wisely inviting the Eastern people to settle in that State, and as to the delegates of other States, I have no acquaintance with any of them.

These circumstances must apologize for my troubling you on this subject and requesting the favor of a line to inform us in this quarter what the prospects are with respect to our petition and what measures have or are likely to be taken with respect to settling the Ohio country.

I shall take it as a very particular favor, Sir, if you will be kind enough to recommend me to some character in Congress acquainted with and attached to the Ohio cause with whom I may presume to open a correspondence.

General Washington's reply to these inquiries of his old comrade is one of the most precious autographs preserved at Alarietta. It contains so many points of interest that we give all the letter that concerns this subject.

Dkar Sir : I could not answer your favor of the 5lh of April from Philadelphia because General Knox, having mislaid, only presented the letter to me in the moment of my departure from that place. The sentiments of esteem and friendship which breathes in it are exceedingly pleasing and llattering to me, and you may rest assured they are reciprocated.

I wish it was in my power to give you a more favorable acc't of the officers' petition for lands on the Ohio and its wa.ers than I am about to do. After this matter and information respecting the establishment for Peace were my inquiries as 1 went through Annapolis solely directed, but I could not learn that anything decisive had been done in either. On the latter I hear Congress are differing about their powers, but as they have accepted of cessions from Virginia and have resolved to lay out ten new States bounded by latitudes and longitudes, it should be supposed that they would determine something respecting the former before they adjourned; and yet, I very much question it, as the latter is to happen on the third - that is lo-m.orrow.

As the Congress who arc to meet in November next by the adjournment will be composed from an entire now choice of Delegates in each State, it is not in my power at this time to direct you to a proper correspondent in that body. I wi^I; I could - for persuaded I am that to soint such cause as you have assigned may be ascribed the delay the petition has encountered, for surely if justice and gratitude to the army - and general policy of the Union were to govern in this case there would not be the smallest interruption in granting its request. I really fee"! for these gentlemen who by these unaccountable delays (by any other means than those you have suggested) are held in such an awkward and disagreeable state of suspense and I wish my endeavors could remove the obstacles. At Princeton (before Congress left that place) I exerted every power I was master of, and dwelt upon the argument you have used to show the propriety of a speedy decision. Every member with whom I conversed acquiesced in the reasonableness of the petition - all yielded, or seemed to yield to the policy of it, but plead the want of cession of the land to act upon. This is made and accepted and yet matters (as far as they have come to my knowledge) remain in statu quo. * * * more ready to look after personal or local interests than the general good ; there were representatives from Massachusetts who would starve their own soldiers in the hope of compelling them to settle in the "Eastern Country" - that is, the District of Maine - and there were other members from Nenv York who were equally selfish in their desire to hasten the settlement of the Western part of their own State. Hence "the soldiers who wished to begin a settlement northwest of the Ohio could not obtain land on favorable terms. After much negotiation continued for three years, a bond was signed October 27, 1787, between Samuel Osg(X)d, Walter Livingston, and Arthur Lee the "Bond of Treasury" for Congress and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent for the "Ohio Company of Associates," in which the payment of $500,000 by the company was acknowledged and promise was given that when as much more should be paid a deed should be given for 1,500,000 acres of land. This tract was to extend along the Ohio River from the western boundary line of the 7th range to the western boundary of the 17th range and thence no|rthward far enough to include the specified amount.

That this was for the times a very hard bargain is evident from the subsequent action. The land was yet in dispute, still claimed by Indians wdio were incited by British agents to prevent any settlement north of the Ohio; the first movement, even if there were no enemy, must have been the most expensive for the emigrants: yet afteni this time the land on which, Cincinnati now stands was sold at about 17 cents an acre and even after Wayne's victory and the treaty of peace, a township of better land was sold in New Connecticut at 15 cents an acre. In 1790 it was proposed in Congress to sell land in Ohio at 20 cents an acre. The certificates which the Ohio Company used in paying for their land were the hard earnings of the soldiet and Congress should therefore have received them at face value.

who were actually jealous of the veterans who had fought for independence; they denounced the Order of the Cincinnati as something dangerous and through tlieir representati\'es forced the soldiers who had spent many years in the thankless task of defending the country to accept a hard hargain. Congress actually hought up its own promises to pay at 80 per cent, belowl par, and the soldiers were compelled to bear the loss.

It may he. asked, - Why did the pioneers select a tract about the mouth of the Muskingum ? We must remember that in the wilderness the large streams were the only highways. From the point they selected, the Ohio, Muskingum, Little Muskingum. Duck

'Creek and the Little Hocking formed the radii of two-thirds of a circle. Besides, the pioneers knew something of the land they were bu}-ing. John Mathews, a nephew of 'Gen. Rufus Putnam, had been a surveyor engaged in laying out the first seven ranges from the Pennsylvania boundary. His letters and journal show that he had also learned much ^iDOUt the land along the Muskingum and Hocking rivers. (Note A.") Captain Hutchins, Geographer General of the L'''nited States, who had gone through the Eastern part of this territory, also advised a selection of land on tlie [Nluskingiun.

There was yet another reason : Fort Harmar had been erected in 1785 by United States troops under Major Douehty on the west l^ank of the Muskingum at its junction with the Oliin. Part of this spot is now occupied bv what is known as the "Fort School" where five or six hundred children of ^larietta are trained to lie intelligent and useful citizens. Thus this sacred ground still serves as a defense of the republic. The school teacher has taken the place of the soldier and assumed some of his duties.

So much of the land once co\-ered I-)}' the fort has been washed away that even the well which is supix)sed to have stood near the middle is now marked by a heap of stones that lie

But let us return to New England and learn what this Ohio Company of Associates was, and what steps had been taken to organize a settlement. On the 25th of January, 1786, there was published an article signed by General Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper "to inform all officers and soldiers who have served in the late war and who are by an 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 incontestable evidences, they are fully satisfied that the lands in that quarter are of a much better quality than anv other known to New England people." (Note B.)

The suggestion was made that delegates from each county of IMassachusetts meet to form an association. Accordingly on the ist of March. 1786. 11 men, - Winthrop Sargent. John Mills. Manasseh Cutler. John Brooks. Thomas Gushing. Benjamin Tupper. Crocker Sampson, Rufus Putnam, John Patterson, Jahlaliel Woodbridge and Abraham Williams, - met at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in the town of Boston. General Putnam was elected chairman and Major Sargent, secretary. Thus in true American fashion the meeting was organized and the original record written in a

I Arrangements were made for organizing a company of 1,000 shares. Each share was to represent a paid-up capital of $1,000 in soldiers' certificates and $10 in gold or silver. The certificates were to be used in the purchase of land ; the specie, in meeting current expenses.

meeting of the Ohio Company at Bracket's tavern in Boston, at whicli time it was reported that 250 shares liad been subscribed. Of the five directors provided by the articles of agreement, three were then elected : Gen. Samuel H. Parsons, Gen. Rufus Putnam and Rev. Manasseh Cutler. The most important work of that board of directors was left with Rev. Mr. Cutler. In the summer of 1787 he wait to New York, where he met the members of Congress and had many conferences about the business of the company. On the 13th of July. Congress passed that celebrated "Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio." There have lieen many hot disputes concerning the auth^ir-hiii nf this historic paper. It contains prnNisinns suggested long before bv Jefferson ; it was presented by Nathan Dane, with whom Dr. Cutler was in conference the first day after reaching New York, and the bill before it was passed was showli to Cutler who suggested many amendments. All but one of these amendments were adopted. In its final form this great ordinance secured this territory forever to the Union : it provided that the land should be free from the contaminating touch of slavery, and that there should be religious freedom. It also contained these words which should be familiar to every pupil in Ohio : "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." The same month an ordinance was passed, authorizing tlie sale of a large tract of land which, if full payments had been made as originally contemplated, would have been bounded by a line beginning on the Ohio River about se\-en miles above ^Marietta, thence northward almost to the northeast corner of Guernsey County, thence west to the Scioto River in Delaware County, thence down the Scioto and up the Ohio to the place of beginning. In fact only about onefifth of this tract was sold to the Ohio Company, the northwest corner of whose purchase is a little to the east of Logan, Ohio, including all of Athens and Meigs counties, the greater part of Washington and Gallia and small portions of adjacent counties. From this tract, two townships, six miles square, were reserved for the support of a university, section 16 in each township wlas devoted to the maintenance of schools, and section 29 was "to be appropriated for the purposes of religion." Three sections in each township were reserved for the future disposal by Congress.

Many insinuations against Rev. Manasseh Cutler have been made because he consented to the proposed ordinance for the purchase of nearly 6,000,000 acres when the organization of the Ohio Company provided for the investment of but $1,000,000 in land. The most that can be charged against him from the evidence is a case of "log-rolling," which has not yet been proved a criminal act in it- ' self. He found it impossible to secure the i consent of Congress to the purchase about the ^luskingum unless his company would nominally assume the purchase of a much larger tract, the greater part of wihich was really to be bought by another organization, afterward called the Scioto Company, in which he says in his diary "many of the principal characters in America are concerned." At that time when the Ohio Company was making the purchase of a million and a half acres about the jNIuskingum, it seemed good policy for them to encourage another settlement near their own. It also seemed equally advantageous to the poverty-stricken general government to take this ready way of paying ofif a part of its debt by the sale of a larger tract of waste land. The subsequent disasters which befell the Scioto Companv cast a reproach upon all its transactions, but its early history gives no proof of intent to defraud the government.

The records of the Ohio Companv show that the general plan of a city to be located at the mouth of the ]\Iuskingum had been adopted before the pioneers left ^Massachusetts. But the direction and position of the streets and squares were evidently modified lay the discovery that another city lay buried Ijeneath the dense forest. Rectangular and circular mounds, long lines of earthworks, proved that a race well advanced in civilization and numerous enough to co-operate in vast undertakings had once lived about the Muskingum. With something of awe. the hardy surveyors looked at these relics of a people whose very name had been forgotten and when they laid out the new city, they so arranged the streets as to leave the largest mounds untouched. Three of these vet remain in lots reserved for the public : the circular mound gives its name to the cemetery in which General Putnam, Commodore Whipple and many other heroes now rest ; the two platform mounds have been reserved as parks. About a mile from the Ohio, there were two parallel lines of earthwork, apparently constructed to protect the passage from the fortified town to the Muskingum. This has been called in modern times the Sacra Via. but it has not been held sacred enough to save the old walls of earth from the shovel of the vandal.

Landing At The Mouth Of The Muskingum

In the fall of 1787, Gen. Rufus Putnam was selected to lead the first party from Massachusetts to Muskingum, as the new country was then called. The task was no easy one. First, he must collect a hardy band who could be builders, boatmen, surveyors, woodmen, hunters, farmers, or soldiers, as occasion demanded. These must go by land to the headwaters of the Ohio, there build their own boats and then proceed down the river to their destination. (Note C.) No wonder, then, that the trip and the building took the entire winter and that the nioneers did not reach their new home until the 7th of April. 1788. (Note D.) This day is celebrated year by year at Marietta, and the very spot where the first party of 48 men landed has been marked

The list of the first party has been preserved in the handwriting of Gen. Rufus Putnam and the names have been carved on the monument erected where they landed. General Putnam has also left the record of the men who came within the first year - 89 in all - a few of whom brought their families. The next year the whole number of men who came to settle was 153 and in 1790 there were 165 men and 31 families. (Notes E and F.) For the next four or five years there was little increase in the number of permanent settlers. The total population, scatetred for 30 miles along the Muskingum and Ohio, from Waterford to Belpre, probably did not, at the end of seven years, exceed 1,000. It was a hard task to transplant New England to what was then the far West.

Of these settlers General Washington said, "No colon}' in America was ever founded under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."

At least 50 of these pioneers had been soldiers in the Revolution. First among them was Rufus Putnam, one of the junior officers, who by faithful service from Bunker Hill to the close of the war had risen from the rank of lieutenant-colonel to that of brigadier-general. For nearly 40 years he was the most prominent figure in local history. Hither came also a son and grandsons of Ma j. -Gen. Israel Putnam, whose descendants have borne an honorable part in the history of our State and country.

Next among the leaders was Commodore Whipple, the first naval commander of the Revolution and the first to sail a ship down the Ohio and ^Mississippi. Rev. Manasseh Cut-

As the leaders of this party were soldiers, some of them well acciuainted with the treacherous character of the Indians, it was natural that they would seek a suitable spot and fortify it. Such a place they found wliere the high ground approaches the Muskingum River at what is now the corner of Washington and Second streets in Marietta. Here they erected the Campus Martius, a stockade or parallelogram of vertical logs set so deep in the earth that some of the pieces have been dug up in recent years and preserved as relics. Veterans have seen such defenses around Knoxville, Tennessee, and in Alexandria, Virginia. The position chosen could not have been defended against artillery from the towering hill on the other side of the Muskingum but the pioneers knew wdiat kind of an enemy they had to meet; so they selected a position close to the river, their only highway. Within this stockade they built cabins and offices. Here Rev. Manasseh Cutler in August and September, of that year conducted divine services; here the first court was opened September 2, 1788; here also the first school was taught by Maj. Anselm Tupper and the first Sunday-school, by Mrs. Mary B. Lake, whose grave at Rainbow was co\'ered a few years ago b}- a mound of flowers placed there by the Sunday-school Association of Ohio. A monument, the gift of the Sunday-schools of this State, now marks her grave and commemorates her work.

A task of equal importance with that of preparing for defense, was the providing of the means of subsistence. With three utensils the pioneers could provide for their wants in the wilderness: with the rifle they could find game; with the axe they could construct their houses, fortifications, and boats, with it they could also girdle the large forest trees, and with the hoe they could dig out the smaller bushes and prepare the soil for planting corn. Their diligence in this work was often mentioned by the officers and soldiers at Fort Harmar. Before many weeks a hundred acres had been cleared and planted in what was then known as the "big cornfield" and which lay in the bottom land between the Campus Martius and the Ohio. A triangular piece of land on the east side of the Muskingum at its mouth was also protected by a log fence or stockade and thus the New Athens had its New Piraeus but there were no long walls to connect them - nothing m fact but the Muskingum River and a rough path along its bank.

For more than six years there was no mail route and no post-office. Letters could only be sent by private messenger. One settler, who had made so much progress in farming that he wished to- have a yoke of oxen, could find no other way of procuring them than to buy them in New England and have them driven all the way to Ohio. At .first the new region wasi known as Muskingum, and the little town as Adelphi, but in the summer of 1788 the officers of the Ohio Company adopted the name' of Marietta in honor of "Her Majestv of France" Marie Antoinette. (Note G.)

The long road through the wilderness did not deter the pioneers from transplanting the best they could find in New England. We have seen how they brought the school and the church with them. They also brought law and order, for the Ordinance of 1787 provided for a temporary government which liad power to adopt laws from any State, and Governor St. Clair was sent as the highest executive officer. (Note H.)

Many officers and soldiers who came to Marietta had been members of a 1 raveling lodge of Freemasons which, chartered in Massachusetts in 1775, had kept up its organization to the close of the war. Work was resumed at Alarietta and so it happens that American Union Lodge of Marietta is No. I in Ohio.

A few years ago George Dana showed the writer a liardy old apple tree which, he said, was the parent of all the Putnam or Roxbury russets found in Ohio. This hardy variety has proved to be one of the strongest to resist the ravages of the pests which have destroyed many of the more rapid growers.

The settlers also brought with them the old-fashioned method of account in pounds, shillings, and pence, which they continued to use in book accounts, at least, until the beginning of the next century. These pounds, shillings, and pence were not the sterling kind, but the money of account used in the colonies and a shilling in one colony meant a very different thing from what it did in another ; thus to know whether it was one-sixth, one-eighth or two-fifteenths of a' dollar, we must first learn from what one of the old colonies the account comes. Usually the Pennsylvania rate prevailed in the new settlement ; that is, a Spanish dollar w2i.i counted at seven shillings and six pence, or 90 pence. Hence as the pioneers began to translate their accounts into Jefiferson's new-fangled money they would reduce the bill to pence and divide by 90. Thus a workman charged General Putnam one dollar and thirty-five ninetieths a hundred for some lumber, and in 1796 the Ohio Company paid John Matthews one hundred and twent\--one dollars and eighteen ninetieths. It took the people a long while to learn the new way of counting by the decimal system. (Note I.) In fact, it made very little difference to the pioneers whether they wrote dollar or shilling for they rarely saw either. The most of their trading was done by barter. The first library bought by the settlers on Federal Creek was called the "Coonskin Library." because it was purchased with the furs which the young men had collected for that purpose.

In our day when even in the country districts the neighboring store can furnish us articles of necessity or luxury from every quarter of the globe, when car-loads of tropical fruits are as common as wheat or corn, it is hard to realize how destitute the pioneers were of sonie of the simplest necessities of life. At first the salt, which was brought over the mountains on pack-horses and then by boat down the Ohio, was sold to those who could afford to buy it, at $8 a bushel. After a few years a salt spring near Chandlersville, in Muskingum County, was discovered, and a company was formed to purchase kettles and convey them to the place. These the shareholders could use in rotation and the surrounding forest furnished an abundance of fuel. Even then it was a long, tedious process to boil down the weak solution, so that salt was still worth $4 a hundred. At these primitive salt-works the Duke of Orleans, afterward known as Louis Philipp, spent a night, as the guest of Ephraim Cutler. This same Mr. Cutler gives a vivid picture of his mode of travel in 1799 from what is now Ames township of Athens County to Wolf Creek Mills.

"By the first of May we had cut down the trees standing on about one acre, and had the logs ready for a cabin, when a rain fell sufficient to raise Federal Creek so as to admit large pirogues to come within two miles of my place. I started at once with my two men and Samuel Brown for Waterford, with the purpose of having our goods brought round by water. When we came to Wolf Creek on our way, it was so swelled by the late rains as to be impassable. We found a large bitter-nut hickory tree standing near the creek, which we cut down, and peeled off the bark from about thirty feet of the trunk : and with the bark of the leather wood, which grew there in abundance, we sewed up the two ends ; then smeared the slippery inside with earth, so that we could stand up in it, and launched it into the creek. We made some paddles of the wood of the hickory tree, and went aboard our craft. Finding it a better boat than we expected, instead of crossing the stream, as we aj: first intended, we concluded to use it to convey us down to Wolf Creek Mills, fifteen miles below. The current bore us on at a good speed. Presently we saw a bear on the bank about to swim the creek. Ha\ing a rifle on board, we sliot him and, landing, cai^etully placed our prize in our frail canoe. This, with four persons, was rather too heavy a load, and the leatherwood strings threatened to give out. I laid myself down and. grasping my hands around the bow of our boat, remained in that position, holding it firmly together, until we arrived with our cargo safely at the mills."*

As long as they lived, the first settlers used to recall with gratitude the kindness of Isaac Williams, who settled in Virginia opposite Fort Harmar, in the site that now bears the name of Williamstow!n. In thel fall of 1789 an early frost, had so injured the corn that the next spring was a time of great privation. Mr. Williams had a surplus. This he refused to sell to speculators who were eager to buy up his corn at $1 a bushel, but to each family he would sell a few bushels at half the price he had been offered.

Following close upon the settlement on the [Muskingum was another between the Great and the Little Miami. In 1787 John Cleves Symmes made a contract with Congress for the purchase of 1,000.000 acres between these two rivers. He failed to pay for the whole, and therefore secured patents for a little less than one-third of the pro]50sed amount. The first party to occupy land in this purchase was led by Maj. Benjamin Stiles. They landed at the mouth of the Little Miami in November, 1788, and founded the town of Columbia. A second party, under Matthias Denman and Robert Patterson, landed opposite to the mouth of the Licking in December, 1788. and some one proposed the name of Losanteville for a town which was never laid out. The etym.ologv of the name is variously inteqjreted.

Symmes. He landed at North Bend. The names Symmes was proposed for the town about to be built there but it has ever since been known as North Bend. In June, 1789, a detachment of soldiers under the same Major Doughty who had built Fort Harmar came to the "land opposite the mouth of the Licking" and built Fort Washington. A.round this fort grew up the town which soon bore the name of Cincinnati in honor of that order of "embattled farmers" founded by the officers of the Revolutionary Army. It has been asserted that the name was suggested by Governor St. Clair. For nine years the two towns Marietta and Cincinnati were the only countyseats in what is now Ohio, and the only counties were Washington and Hamilton. In the Northwest Territory there were two others : Knox, now the State of Indiana, with seat of justice at Vincennes: and St. Clair or Illinois, with Kaskaskia for its county town.

Almost from the beginning of the settlement bet\\ieen the Miami s, the settlers were harrassed iby Indians. Within the first year the savages made three attacks, killed four men, wounded others, captured one prisoner and carried oft' much plunder.

The next settlement was made at Gallipolis, a name suggested in France before the colonists started from their fair home. The misfortunes of these colonists, enticed into the wilderness by the roseate pictures of the wily promoter Joel Barlow, demand for their vivid portrayal the genius of another Longfellow. To understand the history of Gallipolis we must go back to the Scioto Companv. This company had in 1788 sent Barlow to Paris to [ sell 3,000,000 acres of land and induce French i settler.- to come over. In February, 1790, about 600 emigrants sailed from Havre for Alexandria, Virginia. Thence their route lay through Winchester, Virginia, and Brownsville, Pennsylvania. \Mien their \-essels arrived at Alexandria, they learned a little of the perils which confronted them and that even the title to the lands they had purchased was not good.

In despair some gave up the journey and j settled in the East. About 400 crossed the [ mountains and found quarters at Gallipolis in the cabins, prepared under the direction of Maj. John Burnham, who had been sent thither by General Putnam. The centennial anniversary of that event was fittingly celebrated at Gaflipolis, October 19, 1890. Among the French settlers were many workmen whose skill excited the wonder of the hardy frontiersman. There were goldsmiths and watchmakers, sculptors and glassblowers. Some of their work went down the river to New Orleans and other choice pieces were brought up the Ohio. The beautiful gardens and vineyards were greatly admired by General Putnam and John Heckewelder, who visited Gallipolis in 1792. But there was an accumulation of disasters to blight the fair prospects of the settlement. First, the Indian war disturbed it as had also happened on the Miami and the Muskingum. Then the French Revolution, the greatest of all political and social revolutions, had destroyed the property of some who had promoted the French emigration, and their losses hastened the financial failure of the Scioto Company. Many of the settlers at Gallipolis moved away. A few came to Marietta where their descendants still live. So many French settlers had deserted Gallipolis before 1795, that when General Putnam was called to divide and allot the 24,- 000 acres of land of the "French Grant," - a tract on the Ohio above the mouth of the Scioto, - only 93 persons over 18 years of age reported to draw their share. A very interesting history of the Gallipolis settlement has .recently been published by Hon. William G. Sibley.

A little later. General Putnam was directed to survey and locate another settlement - one which had been begun in 1773 but which had been destroyed in 1782, and remained utterly destroyed for about 16 years.

recall the heroism of the Moravians who came to the upper waters of the Muskingum long before the settlement was begun at Marietta. As early as 1762 John Heckewelder commenced his missionary career about the heads of the Tuscarawas. In the spring of 1773 he came down the Ohio with a party of Christian Indians, who in 22 canoes were seeking- a peaceful home beyond the reach of the savage frontiersman. They went up the Muskingum beyond the present site of Coshocton and founded Gnadenhutten (The Tents of Grace). Unfortunately they were between the British and Americans in time of a bitter war - a war in which many Indians were taking part on one side or the other. Hence the poor Christian Indians were persecuted by all parties, and at last in 1782, at the very time when a British officer was sending orders for them to leave their pleasant corn-fields, the crowning atrocity of the war was consummated by a party of Americans from Mingo who murdered 93 unresisting prisoners.

In 1798 the self-sacrificing missionary Zeisberger returned with a little band of Christian Indians to the banks of the Tuscarawas, where Congress had granted them 12,000 acres of land. About the same time Heckewelder and many Moravians from Pennsylvania returned and made new homes at Gnadenhutten, where on the 12th of August, 1900, the Moravian Church of that place celebrated its looth anniversary. Tuscarawas is a good Indian name: yet when we recall the noble heroism of missionaries and martyrs, we regret that the legislature did not adopt for that country the name first proposed. Moravia. (Note J.) - in the summer of 1786 to assist in the survey of the lands lying west and north of the Ohio River. Mr. Mathews was to receive for his services two shillings - about 25 cents - a day and rations. Evidently he was not there for the wages alone. He had a keen eye for good farming land and he noted very carefully where it could be found as he tramped across the territory that now forms Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson and Belmont counties.

Saturday, (July) 29th, Arrived at Pittsburg about 3 o'clock P. M., found the surveyor had goan down the Ohio to Little Beve Creek. Received directjcns from Gen'l Tupper by Col. Shairman to go down the river, Col. Shairman being to set out immediately for Beaver Creek. We cross the Monongehala and road about a mile and Yz and put up for the night.

Monday. 31st. Arrived at camp on the E bank of the Ohio this njorning where the surveyors are waiting for the troops from "Mingo who are (to) assist them on their survey.

August 15th. Crossed the river this day with Capt. Hoops to begin the jnd raing of townships. Camp'd 5 miles from the river - on the E and Wi line. On coming the line I found the land hilly and uneven e.xcept near the Ohio and of an excellent quality many of the side hills most fit for grazing and the tops of the ridges level and excellent for wheat.

Sept. 1st, 1786. Major Hoops having been for some time in a bad state of health and growing more unwell, concluded this morning to leave the line and return to camo at Little Beaver, .\ccordingly decamped at g a. m. and .got as far as the 5th mile post on the N bn'mdarv of the 2 raing.

^ Saturdav, Sept. 2nd. Arrived at Little Beaver at .3 o'clock P M. Found the surveyors had all left camp except Gcn'l. Tupper. Capt, Morris and Mr. Duffev.

^londay. nth. The second mile is through a large swamp coming from the S. E. and running northwestwardly. The soil deep and mirey in many places but when cleared it will make excellent low medow.

^ 14th. ,^ o'clock A. M. Mr. Tupper and myself with a bnnt?r left .Major Sargent's camp in order to fall in with Gcn'l. Tupi)er on the geographers' line who we found encamped near tlie end of the 6th raing.

Sunday, i/th I went to a camp of Indians who were returning from Fort Mcintosh to their town. They were encamped 80 rods above us on the creek. They were about eighteen in number, men and women. They had rum with them and had a drunken frolic the night before, but appeared decent and friendly.

Monday. i8th. 10 o'clock Genl. Tupper began his raing and our camp moved to west about 3 miles, to another large branch of the Tuskarawas. called Nimeshilling. .After we had run 34 of a mile an express arrived from Major Hamtramck's camp at Little Beaver and brought information that the Indians were assembling at the Shawanees towns and intended making a general attack on the surveyors. Capt. Hutchens and Gen'l. Tupper thought it unsafe to proceed any further. Information iwas inmiediately sent to Capt. Morris who had got about one mile and a half on the west boundary of the 7th raing.

Oi» the 25th and 26th Mr. Mathews was going down the Ohio to see his friend. Wm. Greathouse, who seems to have lived on the Virginia side, not far from Mingo.

27th. .\rrived at Mr, Greathouse; about one o'clock P. M. He has a good farm and lives decently. The country through which I came is hilly except on the river and creek bottoms but in general rich and capable of producing Indian corn. hemp. flax, wheat, rye. oats, barley, etc., likewise large quantities excellent eood mowing. It is considerably settled and though the inhabitants do not yet live in affluence they have ^ great plenty of the immediate necessities of life, '

Oct, 3rd, 1786, This day I had an offer of teaching a school the ensuing winter and coilsideritig the improbability of the surveyors going to business again this year I though best to accept it.

5th. r went to Esqr, McMachans (which is about six'miles below Mr, Greathouses) and found that the surveyors were principally collected there and were determined to continue part of the rainges and was to l>e escorted by the whole of Maj. Hamtramck's detachment. Ha'ving an inclination to take another tour in the woods and a school house not being ready, I engaged to go with Major Sargent to the 5th raing, below the old iMingo town and took the route of Crofford's trail which leav>:s the river at the upper end of the Mingo bottom. Encamped at night about 2 miles from Mingo town. Our party consisted of the survej'or and hh assistants and a captain and 24 men as escort. The Mingo bottom contains some thousands of acres and is very fine land. Indian Cross Creei'C runs through it. After ascending the point of the ridge from the bottom the land is exceedingly rich, and forms gentle inequalities and most beautiful situations for farms.

30th. About noon our packhorsemen returned from looking after their horses and informed that they were not to be found and that the Indians had stolen them (except one poor horse) which was evident from several corroborating circumstances. The Indians who stole our horses were about six in number. They lay part ot the night within about 8a rod? of camp and we suppose took our horses about eleven o'clock in the evening. They likewise stole a buckskin out of a brook within one hundred yards of camp. It was evident they had been lurking round us for several days. On information of our horses being stolen, Capt. Heart immediately began building a blockhouse on the most advantageous ground in the vicinity of our camp.

31SI. We dispatched a man this morning for Major Hamtramck on Indian Weeling rivulet informing of our situation and requesting more horses so ^lat we might proceed on our raing.

Nov. 3d. The man who was sent to Major Hamtramck's camp arrived with only three horses, which will not h^ sufficient to move our baggage without going twice. Maior Sargent i)roposes proceeding on the south houndcry of the township on the morrow.

4tb. Major Sargent this morning concludes to leave the wood as soon as he has run the south boundary of the rih townsliip. Tl.c land we run this day is level and excellent wheat land, principally timbered with white oak. 'Ihe waters are the branches of Mc- Machan's rivulet which empties into the Ohio below Weeling.

Sth. At sundown we arrived at the mouth of Buffalo one mile from Esqr. McMachan's. Capt. Hutchens camped at the river and I went to Es(ir. McMachan's where I tarried all night.

nth. I went to Mr. Harmon Greathcuses. father of my good friend ^!r. Wm. Greathouse, wdiere I found a number of the neighhr.rs seated in social glee round a heap of corn. The inspiring juice of rye had enlivened their imaginations and had given their tongues such an exact balance that they moved with the greatest alacrity, while relating scenes of boxing, wrestling, hunting, etc. At dusk of evening the corn was finished and the company retired to the house where many of them took such hearty draughts of the generous liquor as quite deprived them of the use of their limbs. Some quarreled, some sung, and others laughed, and the whole displayed a scene more diverting than edifying. At 11 o'clock all that could walk went home and left three or four round the fire hugging the whiskey bottle and arguing very obstinately on religion. Jt which i left them and went to bed.

On February 4th, 1787, Mr. Mathews went to Fort Steuben, to act as commissary, He had to issue supplies to aibout 100 men and this duty seems to have left him little time to keep a journal, but there are brief entries, chiefly about the weather, until April 21st, when the record closes abruptly. In April, 1788, he was one of the pioneers to begin the settlement at the mouth of the IMuskingum and in 1796 he removed to what is now Muskingum countv.

"On the 25th day of January, 1786, appeared in the public prints a piece styled "Information,"' with signatures of the Generals Putnam and Tupper, of the late American army, in substance, as follows :

Information

The subscribers take this method to inform all officers and soldiers who have served in the late war, and who are by an ordinance of the Honorable Congress to receive certain tracts of land in the Ohio Country, and also all othei good citizens who wish to become adventurers in that delightful region ; that from personal inspection, together with oilier incontestable evidences, they are fully satisfied tliat the lands in that quarter are of nnich ])etter quality than any other known to New England people. That the climate, seasons, produce, etc., are. in fact, equal to the most flattering accounts which have ever been published of theiu. That lieing determined to become purchasers, and to prospcule a settlement in this country: and desirous of forming a general association with those who entertain the :;anip ideas, they have t.i propose the following plan. vi;'. : That an association liv the name of the Ohio C.-.mpany be formed of all n-'ch as wi,h to become purchasers, 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).

Th^it in oi-der to bring such a company into existence, the subscriliers propose, that all persons who wish to promote the .scheme should meet 'within their respective counties ( except in two instances herein- I after mentioned), at ten o'clock A. M. on Wednesday the 15th of February next ; and that each county or meeting, there awembled. choose a delegate, or delegates, to meet at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in Boston, Essex. At Captain Webb's, in Salem, Middlesex; at Bradish's. in Cambridge, Hampshire ; at Fc.meroy's, in North Hampton. Plymouth; at Bartklfs, in Plymouth, Barnstable. Dukes and Nantucket counties ; at Howland's, in Barnstable. Bristol; At Crocker's, in Taunton. York: at Woodbridgc's in N. York, Worcester; at Patch's, in Worcester. Cumberland and Lincoln; at Shattuck's, in Falmouth, Berkshire; at Dibble's, in I.enox.

"In consequence of the foregoing, on the 1st day of March, 1786, convened at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, in Boston, as delegates from several of the counties of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to consider of the expediency of forming an association or company to purchase lands and make a settlement in the western country, the gentlemen whose names are underwfritten :

"From the very pleasing description of the western country gi\'en by Generals Putnam and Tupper and others, it appearing expedient to form a settlement there, a motion was made for choosing a committee to prepare the draught or plan of an association into a company to the said purpose, for the inspection and approbation of this convention. Resolved in the affirmative.

"Also, resolved, That this committee shall consist of five. General Putnam, Mr. Cut-' ler. Colonel Brooks, Major Sargent, and Captain Gushing were elected.

Article_ 1st. - That the fund shall no: exceed one million of dollars, in Continental specie certificates, exclusive of one year's interest due thereon (except as lic-reafter provided ^ and that such share or subscription shall consist of one thousand dollars, as aforesaid, and also ten dollars in gold or silver, to be paid into the hands of such agents as the subscribers may elect.

Article 2d. - That the whole fund of certificates raised by this association, e.^cept orie year's interest due thereon, mentioned under the iirst article, shall be applied to the purchase of land.- in some one of the proposed States northwesterly of th" river Ohio, as soon as those lan.'s are surveyed, and exposed for sale by the C(initiii<siniier; M ConLrre-s, according to the ordinance of tli.v, ])-->-. v,:',v ,:, ,,;,,, el th- 20th of May. 1785; or on [ii\ ,. ' lii ii in.iy \<v adopted by Congress, not le" .n'i\ ' ^' : . ,he ciinii)any. The one year's intere-I -hal' - .' \'< ilv pm-posc of making a settlement in the cmnitr}". a)id a-M^tiiiy tho-e who may he otherwise unal)le to renirixc tlieiii-ehe, thither. The gold ar.d silver is for dclrayin,^ the txpenses of those persons employed as agent? ni purcha,-Ning the lands, and Other contingent charges that may arise in the prosecution of the business. Thf surplus, if any. to be appropriated as the one year's interest on the certificates.

.Article .|lh --'I'li.ai the jiroieciUion of the company's desiiJii- ni.a\ Ik ilu lea-t ex|)eii-ive. and at the same tune, the -ul.-ciiliei', anil agents as secure as possible, the propriel'ir- ..f n\enty -hare> -hall constitute one oint their agent, and lation. or otherwise,

Article stb. - That the agent shall make himself accountable to each suliscriber for certificates and moneys leceived bv duplicate receipts (one of which shall be lodged with the secretary) ; that the whole shall be appropriated according to vhose articles of association, and that the subscriber shall 'receive his just divided according to quality and quantity of land.s purchased, as near as possibly nia> lie. by lot drawn in person or through proxy; ane tliat .lee<l- .if conveyance shall be executed to indienhi.il Mili^er-liers. by the aeents. rimilar to those lie .-hall receive from the directors.

Article 6th. - That no person shall be permitted to hold more than five shares in the company's funds, and no subscription for less than a full share will be admitted; but 'this is not meant to prevent those who can not, or choose not. to adventure a full share from associating among themselves, and by one of their number subscribing the sum requircc',.

Article 7th. - That the directors ^hall have the sole disposal of the company's fund, for the purposes before mentioned: that they sliall. liy themselves or such person or persons as they may thmk iirnpcr t^i entrust witli the Inisiness, purchase landi lur the luncfit r.f the company, where, and in such way, cither at puhHc or private sale, as they shall judge will be most advantageous to the company. They shall also direct the application of the one year's interest, and gold and silver mentioned in the first article, to the purposes mentioned U!ider the second article, in such way and manner .is they shall think proper. For those purposes, the directors shall draw -on the treasurer from time lo tinid, making themselves accountable for the application of t!ie moneys, agreeably to this association.

.\rticle Sth. - That the agents, being accountable to the subscribers for their respective divisions, shall appoint the directors, treasurer and secretary, and fill up all the vacancies which mriy happen in these offices respectively.

Article Qth. - That the agents shall pay all the certificates and moneys received from subscribers into the iiands of the treasurer, who shall give bonds to the agents, jointly and severally, for the faithful discharge of his trust; and also, on his receiving certificates or moneys from any particular agent, shall make himself accou liable therefor, according to the condition of his bonds.

Article loth. - That the directors shall give bonds, jointly and severally, to each of the agents, conditioned that the certificates and moneys they shall draw out of the treasury shall be applied to the purposes stipul.ited in these articles; and that the lands purchased for the company shall l>e divided among them within three months, from the completion of the purchase, by lot. in such manner as the agents or a majurity of them shall agree; and that, on .-uch division-- being made, tlie directi.>rs -hail execute deeds to the agents, respectively, for the proportions which fall to their divisions, correspondent to those ithe directors may receive from the comniissioners of Congress.

Arl'cL" nth. - Provided, that whereas a sufficient number of subscribers may not appear to raise the fund, to the sums proposed in the first aiticle, and thereby the namlier ol divisions may not be completed, it is therefore a.greed that Uie agiilts of divisions of twenty shares each shall, after the 17th day of October next, proceed in the same manner as if the whole fund proposed had been raised.

Article 12th. - Provided, also, that whereas it will be for the common interest of the company, to obtain an ordinance of incorporation from the Honorable Congres.:, or an att of incorporation from some one of the States of the Union (for which the directors shall make application), it is therefore agreed, that in case such incorporation is obtained, the fund of the company (and, consequently, the shares and divisions thereof) may be extended to any sum. for wdiich provision shall be made in said ordinance or act of incorporation, any thing in this association to the contrary notwiths'.anding.

Article t^th. - That all votes under this association may be given in person, or by proxy, and in numbers justly proportionate to the stock holden, or interest represented.

After adopting the articles of association, which constituted the Ohio Company, a committee of three was appointed, "to transact the necessary business of the company until the directors are chosen."

At a meeting of the agents and directors of the Ohio Company, held at "Cromwell's Head" tavern, in Boston, the 21st day of November, 1787, it was resolved, among other things, "That the house lots shall consist of ninety feet front and one hundred and eighty feet in depth," and "that the centre street crossing the city be one hundred and fifty feet wide." At this meeting it was t>rdered "That no more subscriptions for shares be received after the first of Januarv". and that they adjourn to the first Wednesday in March next, to meet at Providence. Rhode Island, for the purpose of drawing the eight-acre lots, which are directed to be surveyed by that time."

At a meeting of the directors of the Ohio Company, at Bracket's tavern in Boston, November 2T,. 1787, it was ordered, "that four surveyors be employed, under the direction of the superintendent, hereinafter named ; that twenty-two men shall attend i the surveyors ; that there be added to this number twenty men, including six boat builders, four house carpenters, one blacksmith, and nine common workmen, in all forty-eight men. That the boat builders shall proceed, on Monday next, and the surveyors rendezvous at Hartford. the 1st day of January next, on their way to the Muskingum; that the boat builders and men, with the surveyors, be proprietors in the company ; that their tools, one axe 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 their journey be furnished by the company ; that upon their arrival at the place of destination, and entering upon the business of their employment, the men shall be subsisted by the company, and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars (eachj per month, until discharged; that they be held in the company's service until the 1st 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 wages ; that their wages shall be paid the next autumn in cash, or lands, upon the same terms as the company purchased them; that each man furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a powder horn and pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of balls, and one pound of buckshot. The men so engaged shall be subject to the orders of the superintendent, and those he may appoint as aforesaid, in any kinds of business they shall be employed in, as well for boat building and surveying, as for building houses, erecting defenses, clearing land, and planting or otherwise, for promoting the settlement. And as there is a possibility of interruption from enemies, they shall also be su::)ject to orders as aforesaid in military command, during the time of their employment. That the surveyors shall be allowed tw^enty-seven dollars per month and subsistence, while in actual service, to commence upon their arrival at the Muskingum ; that Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, from Rhode Island. Mr. Anselm Tupper, and Mr. John Mathews, from Massachusetts, and Colonel R. J. Meigs from Connecticut, be the surveyors; that Genera! Rufus Putnam be the superintendent of all the business aforesaid, and he is to be obeyed and respected accordingly ; that he be allowed for his services forty dollars per month and his expenses, to commence from the time of his leaving home."

To enable General Putnam to execute the business of the company, the directors furnished him with a commission, embracing full power to do and transact all matters necessary for the progress of the settlement. A meeting of the directors and agents was held on

The agents then present represented 1,000 shares and they proceeded to draw for the eight-acre lots which had been surveyed in the \-icinity of the newi city, at the mouth of the Muskingum River. At this meeting it was resolved, that a committee, composed of Rev. Mr. Cutler, General Varnum and Colonel May, "consider and report upon the expediency of employing some suitable person as a public teacher, at the settlement now making by the Ohio Company." They reported - "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 first settlers ; and that for these important purposes, they employ, if practicable, an instructor eminent for literary accomplishments, and the virtue of his character, who shall also superintend the first scholastic institutions, and direct the manner of instruction, and to enable the directors to carrv into execution the intentions expressed in this resolution, the proprietors, and others of benevolent and liberal minds, are earnestly requested to contribute by voluntary donation to the forming a fund to be solely appropriated thereto.''

Under this resolution the directors authorized Mr. Cutler to search out and employ some suitable person to fulfill the intentions of the company. He engaged Rev. Daniel Story, then a young man who had been but a short time in the ministry, to go on to I\Iarietta, as a preacher of the gospel, where he arrived in the course of the next vear.

Fort Pitt. .Kpri! 26. 178S. Sir : - T am now upon my tour to Venango, .ind shall ascend the Alleghany to-morrow, in order to visit Captain Heart's posit. I left Muskingum on the 6th instant -md on the /th met General Putnam and part of the Ohio Company. Be assured, Sir, that every assistance and protection that is in our power shall be rendered to this company. 1 make not the least

but a flourishing settlement will soon take place, as thev are indirstrious. and quite a different set of peoplo from these frontier men. I waited with great impatience for the arrival of General Putnam, and it would have afforded me peculiar pleasure to have been personally present with him, but Alajor Doughty, -who commands during my absence, will (agreeably to your letter of instructions) give them every necessary .ass.1 stance.

Your favor of the 20th of February came to hand a fev/ days since, and I find by its contents thait Mr. Plumer has .ilarmed the people with respect to the Indians very mu.ch. and perhaps he is not to blame, for had 1 given heed to the opinion, at least pretended opinion, of people at Pittsburgh and its vicinity, I certainly should not have come down without an army for my protection. However, we made no delay on that account : that the Indians are dissatisfied on account of Congress or the Conuuissioncrs of Congress at the several treaties which have been held conlsidering these lands .is the property of the United States in consequence of the part the Indians took in the war and the treaty of peace with Great Britain is true; they have told Congress so in a spirited, manly letter addressed to that honorable body by Joseph Brant, in which he assures them that unless the wrongs are redressed and the lands fairly purchased, the Indians will certainly go to war (and I believe they will be as good as their word).

In consequence of this application of Brant's. Congress has promised them a treaty which was to have been holden about this time, but I am fold that the Indians have informed Ckivernor St. Clair that they are to hold d great council amon.g themselves about the middle of June near St. Dusky. From these circumstances it is probable Governor St. Clair will not be ^ble to see them till July, when I have no doubt everything will be settled to general satisfaction.

At present we do not think ourselves perfectly secure from them on account of a few lawlc-^ liamlitti made up of Mingoes, Shawnees and Cuiokecs who reside at present on the waters of the Scioto. They are a set of thieves and murdering rascals, but from any ether quarter iwe are under no apprenhension at pesent. The Delawares and Wiyandots visit us almost very day and appear very friendly ; relying on it, as I believe, that Governor St. Clair at the treaty will have power and inclination to do them complete j ustice.

You wish to be informed if.it will be prudent for families to move on in the spring and summer. I answer, by all means; for let the treaty end how it may, the sooner they get in the way of cultivating their land and rais.ing provisions the better. The constant coming in of new settlers and the troops which will be kept in the country by Congress will ^ive us Ti good market for many years. The little scouting parties of Indians, if they are never won to be our friends, can never do any considerable injury; on the other hand, should there be a general Indian war this will be a place of general rendezvous for an army. So that in all human probability the settlement can never fail of the protection of government.

It will give you pain and no pleasure to detail our march over the mountains or our delays afterward on account of the bad weather or other misfortunes. I shall only observe that I arrived at Major White's on the Youghiogheny River the 14th of February, no boats built, no boards or plank in readiness, no person capable of building a house, much less a boat, among the party, mill froze up and no boards to be had. He had, however, three canoes, such as they were, on the stocks and five of his men sick with the smallpox, which they took by inoculation.

On the first day of April in the afternoon we left the Youghiogheny, and arrived at Fort Harmar the 7th. being obliged to [ J at Harmar and Buffalo Creek on our way to take in provisions, etc. Our whole fleet consisted of the Union Galley of 45 tons burthen designed to pass and repass fiom between this and Buffalo or Cross Creek to bring down letters, the Adelphi ferry boat, burthen 3 tons, for the use of the settlers at the port, and three log canoes of different sizes.

On our arrival here the surveys commenced immediately, but a series of rainy weather and being obliged to survey so much more than we expected in order to obtain lands suitable to cur purpose, prevented our completing our plans till yesterday. The city lots will be ready to draw 1iy the first Wednesday of July, as proposed, but the others will not. It was Gen'l. Knox's advice and I shall not presume to survey any more till after the treaty.

The men have most of them been employed these odd days in clearing land for themselves, which they will plant next week. The rest have been doing the same for the company. The whole quantity of corn ftlanted I expect will be about 100 acres. As soon as this work is over we shall turn our attention to building houses, and boats suitable to prosecute the survev with.

As to the mode of conveying, letters, I have hit on none yet to convey from this to Philadelphia or from Ihence to this place that could be depended on. Perhaps we may find out some in the course of the summer.

The expense has rose much beyond our calculation and if the treaty concludes favorably the survey must no doubt be pushed till late in the fall. Of oonsequence more money will be wanted, but I expect Generals Parsons and Varnum will be on soon : will therefore not propose anything on the subject.

The winter in this quarter was severe, indeed, the most so known for many years. But I can only add the situation of the city plat is the most delightful of any I ever saw-, and those traces of ancient walls.

List Of The First Party Of Pioneers

The letter of General Putnam is dated from Adelphi, the proposed name of the town at the mouth of the Muskingum. In some printed copies of this letter as well as in some local histories the name is spelled Adclphia, and this is said to be the form which had been suggested by Manasseh Cutler, but General Putnam writes it very distinctly in a number of places "Adelphi." For a long time the settlements in what is now \Vashington County were known by the general name of Muskingum. This name often appears on the dates and superscriptions of old letters and was occasionally used by writers in the East, well on into the present century.

A List Of The Emigrants Of

i^Thc list docs not include the members of the first pioneer party ivho arrived April 7th, which appear on the engraving of the autograph list of Gen. Riifiis Putnam, herewith presented.)

It seemed, even to the old folks, a vast enterprise to go 800 miles into a savage country, as it was then called. There were three ox-wagons with two yoke of oxen tO' each', and General Putnam's two-horse carriage and one saddle horse.

W'e were eight weeks on the journey. I was then eight years old - too young tO' rem;emher much about the journey'. I think we did not travel on the Sabbath, for I distinctly remember that we tarried at Bethle- Tiem, Pennsylvania, and attended public worship. This was a settlement of people of the Moravian Church .

Near Simrell's Ferry, on the Youghiogheny River, we waited a few davs till the boats were finished, which General Putnam had engaged the summer pre\'ious when he was reluming from Ohio to New England.

It was slow tedious work on the river - often getting aground, when all the men from boats had to unite to shove the boat over the shoal place.

At length Ave arrived at Marietta about nine o'clock in the mornine - I cannot tell the day. The first resident of ^Marietta that I knew was Colonel Bent. He came into the boat to welcome us. His house was on Front street, though the streets were not distinguished from other parts of the great cornfield which covered most of the town. Large o-irdled trees were standing all along from the Point to the Campus JMartius.

The records of the Ohio Company show when, and where the official name Marietta was given in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette. "At a meeting of the Directors of the Ohio Company on the 2nd day of July, 1788, and continued by adjournment to the 14th day of August, on the banks of the Muskingum and near the confluence of that river with the Ohio,'' among many other resolutions passed -\vas the following:

Ohio and Muskingum be called Marietta. That the Directors write to His Excellency, Compte Moustiers, informing him of their motives in naming the city, and requesting his opinion whether it will be advisable to present Her Majesty of France a public square.

On the 9th day of July, Governor St. Clair arrived at Fort Harmar, escorted by a detachment of troops under Major Doughty, who had gone up to Pittsburg some days before for that purpose. He was received with military honors, and a salute of 14 guns. The 15th of July, as appears from the journal of Paul Fearing, was agreed upon for his first appearance before the citizens of the territory. At five o'clock, P. M., he came over from Fort Harmar in the government barge, escorted by the officers of the garrison, and the secretary, Winthrop Sargent, Esq. He was recei\ed in the bowery by General Putnam, the judges of the Territory, and the principal inhabitants of the new colony. Tlie secretary read the ordinance of Congress forming the Northwest Territory, the governor's commission, the judges', and his own. He was then congratulated on his welcome arrival at the seat of government by General Putnam, and three cheers closed the ceremonies of the day.

We. reposing special tru^t and confidence in your integrity, nrudence, and ability, have constituted and aiipoinii-d. and bv tlie^e presents dn constitute and appoint yu. the ~ih1 Aitlinr St. Clair, ( .nvernor, in and .'lar 'In- imitMry of the I'nited Slater of America. iiMii;i.\.^i -f ilie river Olno: and cnnnnander-in-chief !: a rein; to order, rule, and govern the

I-^;, . :. ', III Ordinance for the Government of the Ternn i\ .1 'iie I'nittd States, Northwest of the River Ohio," uliieh 1- hereto affixed; and we do hereby give and .!>r:ini to y,.u. the said Arthur St. Clair, all the power-, antlu.rities. and prerogatives assigned to the governor of the said territory in and by the said ordinance, .\nd we do strictly enjoin all persons to pay due obedience to this, our coinmission. This commission to take effeot from the ist day of February, 1788, and to contiinie in force for the term of three years thereafter, unless soo'ner revoked by Congress. In testimony, &c.

Commission Of One Of The Judges

We, rcprosing special trust and confidence in your wisdom, uprightness and antegrity. have constituted and appoint, .-^nd by these presents do constitute and appointed you, the said Samuel Holden Parsons, one of the judges in. and over the territory of the United States noriliwest of the river Ohio, with full power and authority, in cr^niunctinn with one or more of the judges of <ai(l lu-ninry, to form a court, with all the powers and authoraie^ incident to a court having a common law jurisdiction, and to 'exercise all such powers, and perform and execute all the duties directed by the ordinance of the 13th July, 1787, entitled, "an Ordinance for the Go\ ernment of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio," which is hereto affixed ; giving to you, the said S. H, P., all the powers and authorities'assigned to a judge of the said territory, in and by the ordinance aforesaid; and we do enjoin all persons to pay due obedience to this our commission. This commission to continue and be in force, during good behavior, or during the existence of the government established by the ordinance aforesaid. You residing within the said territory. In testimony, &c.

The two other judges were James Mitchel Varnum, from Philadelphia, and John Cleves Symmes, of New! Jersey. Mr. Symmes had not arrived, but was expected on soon. Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory, was a native of Boston, but latterly a citizen of Xew Hampshire.

The judges who succeeded these in the Territory, were S. H. Parsons and J. C. Svmmes. re-appointed by the President, with the ad\ice and consent of the senate, and William Barton, in place of J. M. Varnum, deceased, August 20, 1789. In September,

1790, Gen. Rufus Putnam succeeded S. PL Parsons, deceased. Joseph Gilman was made a judge in place of General Putnam, who had received the office of surveyor general of United States lands, December 22, 1796; February 12., 1798, R. J. ]\reigs, Jr., in the place of G. Turner, resigned. Judges Symmes, Ciilman and Meigs were in office when the General Assembly of the Territory convened in September. 1799. (Chase's Stat, of Ohio.)

judges at Marietta. The more important of ] these early acts were: "A law regulating and j establishing the militia," July 25, 1788; also "a law for establishing general Courts of Quarter Session of the peace ( and therein of the powers of single justices), and for establishing County Courts of Common Pleas (and therein of the powers of single judges, to hear and determine upon small debts and contracts) ;" also a law for the establishing of the office of sheriff, and the appointment of sheriffs. The Court of Quarter Session was held four times a year in each county, and was composed of the justices of the peace, nominated and commissioned by the governor. Not less than three, nor more than five of these justices were especially named in a general conimission, for holding the said Courts of Quarter Session. Three of them might hold special courts when required, one of them being of the quorum. In the year 1790, the number of justices was increased to nine in a county, and it received authority to divide the counties into townships, to appoint constables, overseers of the poor, clerks of townships, and to establish public roads.

The County Courts of Common Pleas were composed of not' less than three nor more than five persons, commissioned by the governor, and authorized to hold and keep a court of record. This court convened twice a year, in each county, at the place where the Quarter Sessions were held. In 1790 the periods were increased to four in a. year and the judges to seven. A sheriff was appointed by the governor for each county, who took the oath of allegiance to the United States, and of office, and gave a bond of $4,000. He had ample authority to suppress riots, keep the peace, arrest criminals. &c. (Pub. Aug. 23, 1788.) A Court of Probate was established, composed of a single judge for the settlements of estates, recording of wills, &c. This court was opened four times in a year, and oftener if necessary. (Pub. Aug. 30, 1788.)

inal suits, at such points in the Territory as the judges deemed most coiKkicive to the public good, they giving timely notice of tlieir sitting. The periods were the first jMondays of February, IMay, October, and December. Process, both civil and criminal, could be returned to this court 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. ( Pub. at Marietta, Aug. 30. 1788; Chase's Stat, of Ohio.)

The law respecting crimes and their punishment, published on the 6th of September, 1788, shows that the principles of justice, morality and good order, were deeply impressed on the hearts and minds of the Governor and judges. The section for the suppression and prervention of profanity, irreverent and obscene language, with the closing one for the sacred observance of the Christian Sabbath, are worthy of all praise, and the particular motive of modern law makers. In accordance with the usage of that period, the punishment for theft and minor offenses consisted of fines, whipping, confinement in the stocks, and binding out to hard labor for a limited time, where the ofifense had been often repeated and the offender unable or refused to make restitution. For this purpose every county was provided with a pillory, whipping post, and stocks, in addition to the jail. These emblems of justice were continued in Marietta, as a terror to evil-doers, as late as the year 181 2, or until the period of the introduction of the present penitentiary system.

Old-Time Currency

Bundles of bills and receipts written more than a hundred years ago do not seem very inviting to the general reader, but a little careful study of these old papers will help us to understand the confusion of currency prevailing in the United States before the decimal system came into genera! use. This system was recommended by Jefferson as early as

1783 and in July, 1785, the fSpanish) dollar was adopted as the unit. That this dollar was familiar to the pioneers, in lioth their old home and their new, is evident from many papers, of which the following is a fair example: .

Coventry, .^pril 23d. 1770. For Value Received in cash and obligations of my mother I. the subscriber, do promise to pay Father- In-L.a\v William Anthony, two hundred and fifty good Silver Spanish Mill Dollars on demand with interest I'll Pi^id. Witness my hand,

In the new settlement in Ohio, Arnold Clarke and John Tracy enter into a contract January 31, 1789. Clarke agrees to clear lots 123 and 136, plant them as specified, and hoe the crop. For this service Tracy promises to pay "twenty Spanish mill dollars." to find the seed, and to "pay the customary rate for hoeing and weeding."

A few other coins were brought with the emigrants. In an inventory of the propertyleft by Gen. James Varnum taken at Marietta, January 24, 1789, under the item "Cash" w;e find

About the same time, probably a few days later, the following note was sent to Mr. Greene, who had charge of the estate, by an Indian trader, Thomas Gibson :

Dear Sir: I am much pres-ed tJiis morning for some hard cash and if you would be so good as to lend me three half Joes far a few days I will be much obliged to you and have sent by the bearer some Ohio Orders as a deposit until I pav von. I am. Dear S:r.

The Johannes, an old Portuguese coin, was worth at that time about eight dollars, but in the inventory quoted above, a "half Johannes" is estimated at that amount. Perhaps thev were really half-doubloons.

cents. Until the close of the century, the usual "money of account" was in pounds, shillings and pence. For example, here is a bill presented by General Varnum's physician:

In January, 1792, Griffin Greene charges Daniel Alayo for boarding 52 weeks, 19 pounds and 10 shillings. The bill is paid in flour at 30 shillings per barrel, in laibor at 3 shillings per day, in corn at 2 shillings per bushel, and in wheat at 4 shillings 6 pence. In these two accounts, pounds, shillings, and pence merely served on paper as a convenient and familiar form of memorandum, while the real exchanges were made by barter. When it came to the settlement of accounts with merchants in the Eastern cities, the process was not so simple. For example, John Mathews receives a bill froin William Duer of New York, October II, 1791, amounting to 89 pounds, 2 shillings, which is translated, since Mr. Mathews is a public officer, into United States currency, as $222.74 - at the rate of eight shillings for a dollar. On Noveinber 29th of the same year a bill from Mr. Frank of Philadelphia, calling for 19 pounds, 13 shillings, is translated $52.46 - at the rate of 7 shillings 6 pence for a dollar.

A bill of D. Woodbridge, Jun., & Co., for ,5 pounds 13 shillings is paid February 11, 1800, by Griffin Greene with a county order for $18.84 - at the rate of six shillings for a dollar. To understand this seeming confusion we must go back to colonial history. Through the abuse of credit, the accounts kept in pounds, shillings, and pence had depreciated at different rates.

Hence, when an account was received from an Eastern market, it was necessary to translate the pounds, shillings, and pence according to the standard of the State from which it came. Fifty years ago the arithmetics used in this State still contained rules for translating this State money of account into United States currency.

Although the official accounts were tnade out in the newlly devised decimal system, the writers continued to think in pounds, shillings and pence, not of the sterling kind, but in the New York, Pennsylvania or Virginia money of account. This can be proved by the form of many old records, but a few will serve as illustrations :

At a Justice's Court held in Marietta this first day of October, 1789, Benjamin Tupper and others as supcr\isors of highways complainants against Josiali White and Lake Websiter for not working on the highways a warrant being granted, the said White and Webster were brought before Griffin Greene and Isaac Pierce, two of the Justices for the County of Washington in the Western Territory^ - and after hearing the parties with their evidence, do adjudge that the said White and Webster pay sixty-ninetieths of a dollar each as a fine to be laid out in work on the highways, and Cost of Court Taxed at three dollars and thirtysix ninetieths to be paid equally between them and to stand committed until costs is paid.

Why ninetieths of a dollar? Evidently the worthy justices mentally placed the fine at five shillings Pennsylvania currency, in which 7 shillings 6 pence, or 90 pence, are equal to one dollar. This is no conjecture. On the back of a bill for hauling goods in

1795, at the rate of 16 shillings a hundred, the "full solution," as the examiners say, still appears. The shillings are inultiplied by 12, the result divided by 90 and the quotent is given as dollars.

In February, 1789, Hezekiah Flint presents a mill for "Two hundred and fifty-seven feet of boards at One Dollar and thirty-five ninetieths per hundred feet."

1796, he says the agents of the Ohio Company had resolved, "That the balance due from John Mathews, 'being one hundred and twenty-one dollars and eighteen ninetieths, be remitted as some compensation for losses by the Indians while sun'eying for the Ohio Company."

Thus by slow steps the grown-up boys of the last centuiw learned to use our decimal currency. We need not wonder at this when we see how easy and simple metric system' is neglected by the English-speaking nations, who will not give up the antiquated methods of weighing and measuring inherited from the dark ages. Even now the English supremacy in trade is threatened in some places on account of this ultra conservatism.

Among the papers left by General Putnam is a "Plan of a Tract containing 4,155 acres, viz. : 4,000 acres being a Grant tO' the Society of United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the heathen, and 155 acres being the waters of the ri\-er Muskingum, within which tract is included the old and the new towns of Schoenbrun with the cornfield and so forth,

Philadelphia, March 17, 1797. Dear Sir: Bishop Ettwein, President of the incorporated Society of Brethren in the United States, associated for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, has written me on the nth instant, that the Directors of the Societj-, being very desirous to have surveyed the kinds granted to the Society on the Muskingum, comprehenrling the Christian Indian towns of Salem, Gnadenhutten and Schoenbrun, that those Indians may resume their seittlements there without delay, have appointed Messrs. John Heckewelder (whom you know I and William Henry, Esq. (a member of the Society and a very worthy man), their deputies to attend the survey of those lands and the subdivision thereof to accommodate ithe settlers.

About the same time Bishop Ettwein wrote to General Putnam : "The said Society having ,some material concerns in the locating of the lands on the Miuskingum, I beg leave to- inform you of some few facts respecting the same. In the year 1788 the Honorable Congress then assembled gave to the United Brethren, by their ordinance, in trust for the Christian Indian Congregations, the three desolated Indian towns, viz. : Schoenbrun, Gnadenhutten and Salein, \\ith a certain quantity of land to each of them, as by the said ordinance, of which you will receive a copy per Mr. Heckewelder, will appear. At the same time the proper ofiicers of Congress informied me and some other gentlemen then with me, that, in behalf of the said Christian Indian Congregations, we had not only a prior right, but indeed a positive right by former possession to locate the lands so allotted by Congress to each of the said towns, as we thought proper, pro\-ided it was run in straight lines."

tioned this to the Sec'y of St^te Col. Pickering requesting him to advise us unto whom we were to apply to get these lands surveyed. His answer (yet confidentially) was, that a Commission of General Surveyor of the western and military lands was now on the way to Gen. Putnam at Marietta.

Now, as we are all in hopes that you have accepted the appointment, we wish you 'to let us know at what time and place I and such as are to attend the sur\'ey may set cut and meet you. I do not expect that we need leave home during the winter, neither could my constitution admit me to endure winter fatigues. But at any time in the spring I should be ready. My nearest way would be from Wheeling, where I would need but encamp one night in the woods between that and Gnadenhutten. it being no more than 50 miles.

The Ordinance of Congress of 1788 directs the three Moravian towns to be firsit surveyed before the military grants, pnd the intention of that Congress was (and so they directed it to be done) that we should have the lands surveyed so as it suited us best for settlement, even in Parallelograms, with the river running through each tract, but the lines were all to be north, east, south, and west. It was also understood by Congress last session that the river was to run through each tract, and we wish upon the whole to have it surveyed to best advantage.

Bethlehem, Jan. 7, 1797. I entertain some hopes ithat Gnadenhutten and Salem may be joined together. I fear we shall not get one good mill site on the three tracts: those streams falling within the tracts bcini; .-nia!l and nearly dry half the stmimer. Sugar Creek alujve the upper town is an excellent mill stream. White Water, though a large stream, is too deep and dead. I shall await your further orders respecting setting out and meeting you.

Bethlehem, Feb. i6th, 1797. Having understood of Mr. Carey from Marietta, who passed through this place yesterday, that it was possible Gen. Putnam would be m Philadelphia soon, and having a great desire to meet the General in Philadelphia in order to consult him with respect to some matters respecting our Muskingum g'rants, I would take it as a kindness if you would inform him of this and request him to send me a line by post from Philadelphia on his arrival ; as also the place he lodges at. Our people are anxious to commence a settlement on the Lands on Muskingum, and I hope the dissatisfaction prevailing at present among the Indians on account of the bad goods they received (as related to me by Mr. Carey) will soon be done away.