Williams County, Ohio - Chapter 2: Early Jurisdiction, 1905

IT WAS not until many years after the close of the American Revolution that the Anglo-Saxon race undertook the project of colonization in the region known as the Maumee Valley, of which Williams county is a component, and as regards population and resources, a very important division. It should not be inferred, however, that the territory contained within the present limits of the county remained unvisited by white men and unknown to them until after the epochmentioned above. While this portion of North America was under the dominion of the French government an extensive trade with the Indians was carried on, and in pursuit of the returns that came from the traffic with the red men the wiley and skillful French traders traveled extensively over this portion of their mother country's possessions. They continued their relations with the natives, notwithstanding that the result of the French and Indian war transferred the right of dominion to the English government, and even for years following the American Revolution they followed their vocation, undisturbed and without competition, save the rivalry existing among themselves. So it is fair to presume that during their many excursions, in quest of trade, the present limits of Williams county were frequently invaded; and as their much traveled route, connecting Detroit with the Wabash river, was through this region,- it can easily be inferred that the natives who then inhabited this section were the beneficiaries or victims, as the case might be, of commercial intercourse with the early French traders.

Good traditional authority exists for the belief that at least one Indian and French trail passed through Williams county. Major Suttenfield and wife passed over it on horseback, after Hull's surrender of the Northwestern army in the latter part of the summer of 1812, on their journey from Detroit to Fort Wayne. But railroad tracks and plow-shares have long since destroyed all vestige of this highway, so often trodden by the once powerful tribes and their eager customers. These commercial adventurers were not pioneers in the true sense of that word, and it is doubtful if they could properly be called advance agents of civilization. Their mission in these parts was neither to civilize the denizens of the forest nor to carve out homes in the western wilderness. "The white man's burden" rested not heavily upon their shoulders and gave them little or no concern, the only motive that fetched them hither being a desire to possess, at as little cost as possible, the wares which the Indians had for sale. This object being attained, they wended their way homeward and the localities which had known them knew them no more. So it remained for the forerunners of Anglo-Saxon civilization, as they led the "march of empire" in a westerly direction, to open this section of country for actual settlement and win from hostile nature - and at times a more hostile foe in human form - homes for themselves and posterity.

Before proceeding with an account of the organization and settlement of Williams county, a brief review of the question of title to lands will be necessary, die word title as here used having special reference to racial dominion or civil jurisdiction. As is well known, the French were the first civilized people who laid claim to the territory now embraced within the state of Ohio, and France exercised nominal lordship over the region until the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, which ended the French and Indian war. Prior to this date the French actually occupied isolated places in the vast extent of territory claimed by them (the south shore of Lake Erie, for instance) but it is an open historical question when such occupancy began. It is certain, however, that there was not the semblance of courts or magistrates for the trial of civil or criminal issues, and hence the chief function of civil government was lacking. And even for some years after the Ohio country passed under the control of the officials of the British government, affairs there were managed by army officers, commandants of posts on the frontier.

Immediately after the peace of 1763 with the French, the Province of Canada was extended by act of Parliament, southerly to the Allegheny and Ohio, rivers. This of course included all of the present state of Ohio, notwithstanding the claims of the colony of Virginia that she had the title to all the land northwest of the Ohio river. This conflict of authority was at its height during the Revolutionary war, and in 1778, soon after the conquest of the British forts on the Mississippi and the Wabash, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, Virginia erected the county of Illinois, with the county seat at Kaskaskia. It practically embraced all the territory in the present states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. But the British held possession of the Ohio country and all the lake region, and in the same year (1778), Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, divided Upper Canada into four districts for civil purposes, one of which included Detroit and the lake territory.

Great Britain had promised the Indian tribes that the whites should not settle north of the Ohio river, and the government of this almost unlimited region was, during English control, exclusively military, with Detroit as the central post. This was the condition during the Revolutionary war, and even after the treaty of peace, in 1783, the same state of affairs continued until after the second, or Jay treaty, in 1795. Early in 1792 the Upper Canadian parliament authorized Governor Simcoe to lay off nineteen counties to embrace that province, and it is presumed that the county of Essex, on the east bank of Detroit river, included Michigan and northern Ohio. While this sup- position is not conclusive, certain it is that some form of British civil authority existed at their forts and settlements until Detroit was given up and all its dependencies in August, 1796.

The treaty of 1783, which terminated the war of the Revolution, included Ohio within the boundaries of the United States, and the Seventh article of that treaty stated that the King of Great Britain would, "with all convenient speed, withdraw all his forces, garrisons and fleets from the United States, and from every post, place and harbor, within the same." Military posts were garrisoned, however, by British troops, and continued under the dominion of Great Britain for many years after that date. But preparatory to taking possession of it, and in order to avoid collision with the Indian tribes, who owned the soil, treaties were made with them from time to time (of which more is said on a subsequent page), in which they ceded to the United States their title to their .lands. But the territory thus secured by treaties with Great Britain, and with the Indian tribes - and concerning which we had thus established an amicable understanding - was many years sequestered from our possession. The British government urged as an excuse the failure of Americans to fulfill that part of the treaty protecting the claims of British subjects against citizens of the United States; but, from the "aid and comfort" rendered the Indians in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, the apparent prime cause was to defeat the efforts of the United States to extend their power over the country and tribes north of the Ohio, and continue to the British the advantage of the fur trade, which, from their relations with these tribes they possessed. The ultimate result of this international difficulty was the campaigns of 179091-94, ostensibly against the Indians, but substantially against them and their British allies, which bear so intimate a relation to the formal surrender of the country to American control, that they perform an essential part of history and are given in detail in the first volume of this work.

Virginia, however, still adhering to her claim of sovereignty over the Northwestern country, on March 1, 1784, ceded the territory to the United States, and immediately congress entered seriously upon the consideration of the problem of providing a government for the vast domain. Its deliberations resulted in the famous "Compact of 1787," which is also fully discussed and explained in the history of Ohio, which accompanies this volume. It might not be out of place here, however, to call attention to the fact that this compact, in two provisions which were inspired by Thomas Jefferson, guaranteed to all the right of religious freedom and prohibited slavery in the territory. Hence the citizens of Williams county, in common with the citizens of Ohio and those of the sister states that were carved from Virginia's grant, can feel a pardonable pride that never, under any American jurisdiction of this domain, has a witch been burned at the stake or a slave been sold on the auction block.

Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, laid claim to the entire extent of territory, bordering- on the Ohio river and northward, basing their contention upon the assumption that they had conquered it and held it by right of conquest. In 1722, a treaty had been made at Albany, New York, between the Iroquois and English, bv which the lands west of the Alleghany mountains were acknowledged to belong to the Iroquois by reason of their conquests from the Eries, Conoys, Tongarias, etc., but this claim was extinguished by the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded October 22, 1784. The treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, was intended to quiet the claims of the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas and Chippewas, in the Ohio valley. The Sbawanees relinquished their claims under the provisions of the treaties of Fort Finney, January 31, 1786, treaty of Fort Harmar (held by General St. Clair), January 9, 1789, by the treaty of Greenville, and various other treaties from that date until 1818. It is a notable fact that every foot of Ohio soil was acquired from the Indians through treaty or purchase, and, when compared with methods followed in other sections of America, the means employed were decidedly honorable. True, some of these treaties, as for instance the one concluded at Greenville, were entered into at the close of a long and bloody conflict. when the Indians had been conquered and reduced to a condition of helplessness, thus making them obliged to submit to any terms offered by the victors. But when we consider the fact, demonstrated on every page of the world's history, that the tree of civilization does not grow until the soil has been fertilized by human blood, we can excuse the warfare waged against the Indians, and by comparison at least point to those treaties as just and merciful ones.

The Greenville treaty was made by General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, on August 3, 1795, at the close of the Indian war that waged in the Maumee Valley and throughout the state during the years 1790-95. Full particulars of these hostilities, as before stated, are given in the accompanying volume - devoted to the history of Ohio - but the provisions of the treaty comes properly within the scope of the history of Williams county, and will bear repetition. Between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas and the Maumee and Miami, south to the line from Fort Laurens to Laramie's store, the Indians were to retain possession, and besides that they were to hold the title to all the rest of the country, west of a line from Fort Recovery to the mouth of the Kentucky river, and west and northwest of the Maumee, except Clark's grant on the Ohio river and certain reservations about Detroit and the forts in Ohio and other parts of the northwest, with the understanding that when they should sell lands, it should be to the United States alone, whose protection the Indians acknowledged, and that of no other power whatever. There was to be free passage along the Maumee, Auglaize, Sandusky and Wabash rivers and the lake. Twenty thousand dollars worth of goods were at once delivered to the Indians, and a promise was made of $9,500 worth every year forever.

The United States senate ratified the Wayne or Greenville treaty in due time, and northwestern Ohio, north of the treaty line and west of the Connecticut Reserve line, remained unorganized practically until 1820. About the same time (1795) John Jay, as minister to England, concluded his treaty with that country, by the terms of which the British posts were to be abandoned in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes on or before June 1, 1796. The terms not being strictly complied with, in July, 1796, the United States demanded a fulfillment of the treaty and the transfer of authority was accordingly made, General Wayne moving his headquarters thither and displacing the English commander. In the absence of General Arthur St. Clair, who was the Governor of the Northwest Territory, Secretary Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and proclaimed the county of Wayne, which included, besides what is now parts of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, the Indian country in Ohio, the boundary of which on the south was the Greenville treaty line.

The proclamation creating the county of Wavne was issued August 15, 1796, and the boundaries named therein were as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the Portage, between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down the said branch to the forks, at the carrying place above Fort Laurens ; thence by a west line to the western boundary of Hamilton county (which is a due north line from the lower Shawanees town upon the Scioto river) ; thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miarnis of the Ohio and the St. Mary's river; thence by a line also west-northerly to the most southern part of Lake Michigan ; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof (including the lands upon the streams emptying into the said lake) ; thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair and Erie, to the mouth of Cuyahoga river, the place of beginning."

From the organization of the territory, in 1788, it had had no representative government, owing to the restrictions of the "Ordinance of 1787." A reference to this "Compact" will discover to the reader that the legislative function of the territorial government in its first stage of development, and until there should be five thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the district, was lodged in the Governor of the Territory and the judges of the general (or Territorial) court, or any two of the judges and the Governor. But in 1798, a census was taken, which disclosed more than the necessary "five thousand free male inhabitants" in the Territory, and on October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair accordingly proclaimed an election, to be held on the third Monday of December, for the choice of a house of representatives in the general assembly, to which the territory was entitled at that stage of development. The gentlemen chosen at this election met at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799, and organized the first elective legislative body that ever convened within the limits of the Northwest Territory. Twenty-two representatives were chosen by the nine counties then organized, and they constituted the lawmaking power of the territory, when taken in conjunction with a legislative council of five members, who were appointed by the United. States congress.

Wayne county (of which the territory now embraced in Williams was then a part) was represented in this assembly by Solomon Sibley,. Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire and Jacob Visger, all residents of Detroit. The first named, Mr. Sibley, was an exceedingly active and influential member of this assembly and was appointed a committee of one to superintend the printing of the laws of the session. The book as printed is now in possession of the supreme court library in Columbus, and in it Mr. Sibley certifies that he has carefully compared the printed laws with the original enrolled bills, and finds them to agree. During the interim between the adjournment of the first and the meeting of the second session of this legislature, congress passed the act dividing the Northwest Territory and creating the new territory of Indiana. This act legislated Henry Vanderburg, of Vincennes, out of the legislative council, and Mr. Sibley was later promoted to that position. At the election for members of the second legislative assembly, Wayne county chose as her representatives Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire. George McDougal and Jonathan SchiefFlin. The election of the latter two was contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats.

By the above-mentioned act of Congress, which was approved May 7, 1800, the old Northwest Territory was cut in two by setting off Indiana Territory west of the fine of Wayne's treaty, running from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, and thence due north to the Canada line. Hence the above date marks the division of the territory embraced in the states of Ohio and Indiana, the line north of Fort Recovery being located about one and one-half miles east of the present state line. The region east of this line remained under the title of ''The Territory Northwest of the Ohio river," and while bv the provisions of this act the old county of Wayne was considerably reduced in extent, yet its numerical strength as regards population was probably lessened very little. By the United States census of 1800, Wayne county - which it must be remembered included Detroit - contained a population of 3,206. The first, and what proved to be the last, session of the second territorial legislature, convened at Chillicothe, November 23, 1801, and adjourned January 23, 1802 ; and this was the last time that Detroit was represented in an Ohio legislative assembly.

In the Congressional enactment providing for a convention to consider the question of statehood, Wayne county was not permitted to elect delegates, owing to the fact that its population was confined chiefly to Detroit and vicinity, which region it was not intended to include in the proposed new state. This separation, and the ensuing admission of Ohio into the Union of States, left the region of which Williams county is now a part - though technically considered a part of Hamilton - practically under no county jurisdiction: hut as all the vast territory, north of the Greenville treaty line and west of the boundary of the Connecticut Reserve, was as yet the hunting ground of the aborigines, such a condition of affairs entailed no hardship upon anyone.

Among the first acts of the first state legislature, however, was the erection of eight new counties, three of which - Montgomery, Green and Franklin - were extended in jurisdiction to the northern boundary of the State, including all the -Indian country, formerly a part of Wayne county, except a strip south of the Connecticut Reserve. As the first-named was the most western of these three counties, with seat of government at Dayton, it follows that the territory now comprising Williams county then became an unorganized part of Montgomery. The aforesaid act was passed March 24, 1803, and described the boundaries of the new county* of Montgomery as follows :

. "Beginning on the -state line at the northwest corner of the county of Butler; thence east with the lines of Butler and Warren to the east line of section number sixteen in the third township and fifth range; thence north eighteen miles; thence east two miles; thence north to the state line ; thence with the same to the west boundary of the state ; thence south with the said boundary to the beginning, shall compose a third new county, called and known by the name of Montgomery." At this time, 1803, an enumeration of the white males of the state was taken and it was found that the county of Montgomery contained 526 individuals who complied with such description.

On January 16, 1807, the county of Miami was formed out of territory taken from Montgomery county, and as its location was such as to place it immediately north of the organized part of the latter county, thus separating it from the Indian country to the north, the legislature amended the act on January 7, 1812, by the following: "Whereas by the act establishing Montgomery county, the limits of said county were extended to the northern boundary of this state, and whereas by the above-recited act, the limits of Miami county were confined to the Indian boundary line [the Greenville treaty line], leaving a tract of country attached to Montgomery county, over which no jurisdiction can be conveniently exercised - therefore, all that part of the county of Montgomery lying north of the county of Miami, shall be, and the same is hereby attached to the said county of Miami."

By the above act of the legislature, the territory now comprising Williams and other neighboring counties passed under the jurisdiction of Miami county, and it remained so connected for a period of exactly seven years to the day. Upon January 7, 1819, the legislature erected the county of Shelby by the following enactment : "Be it enacted etc., That so much of the county of Miami as lies north of the line beginning on the line dividing Miami and Darke counties, between sections twenty-seven and thirty-four in township ten, range four, and running east with said line to the Great Miami river ; thence across said river ; thence down said river to the middle of the twelfth range, township one, east .of the Miami river, to the section line between sections twenty-one and twenty-two; thence east with said line to Champaign county line ; thence north with said line dividing the counties of Miami, Champaign and Logan, to the Indian boundary line [Greenville Treaty line] ; thence north six miles; thence west to a point so that a line drawn from said point due north will strike the Indian boundary line at the point where the line between the counties of Miami and Darke strikes said line ; thence south with said line between the counties of Darke and Miami to the place of beginning, and also including the United States reservations at Fort St. Mary's, Amanda and Defiance, which shall be known by the name of Shelby ; provided, that the jurisdiction of said county of Shelby shall extend over all that territory lying north of said county and which at this time is included within the jurisdiction of the county of Miami ; and all crimes that shall be committed within the territory aforesaid shall be considered as having been committed within the said county of Shelby."

During all this time, following the Greenville treaty - and during which northwestern Ohio had been placed successively under various jurisdictions - the lands remained in the hands of the Indians with the exception of a very small amount of territory. There were a few United States reservations for military purposes, such as that of twelve miles square at the foot of the Maumee rapids, and of six miles square at the mouth of the river, where Fort Industry, built about 1800, marked the site of the present city of Toledo. But in the main, all of northwestern Ohio was barren of white inhabitants, and so far as the present site of Williams county is concerned, it was, in the language of the young Fourth of July orator, "a howling wilderness." The Indians and what few whites there were in the vicinity of the reservations had continued to live in comparative peace from and after the ending of hostilities by the Greenville treaty. Even during the troublous times, incident to the war of 1812, when Tecumseh was marshalling the men of his race to assist the British forces, there was but little antagonism between the settlers and natives of the region known as Northwestern Ohio. Feelings of security were necessarilyabsent, however, owing to the scenes of war being enacted at nearby points ; and with the news of the great disaster on Raisin river - where an American force numbering 800 was almost annihilated - came a realization of the danger that menaced the settlers. The region of which we write was then included in Miami county and the communication which follows will afford a view of the state of public opiniox therein, following the catastrophe mentioned alxwe : there are a considerable number of Indians of the Delaware tribe, called in by order of General Harrison, and arc now in our county ; that it is but thinly settled on the frontier, distant from a market where provisions can be furnished them, and the people of the neighborhood feel themselves in a dangerous situation in consequence of their being exposed to invasion and depredations from- them, they being contiguous to the enemy; hence every opportunity of conveying information to them of our situation, moving off and joining them, and doing much mischief from their knowledge of our county, etc. This brief petition we would humbly beg your excellency to take into consideration and relieve us from a state of uneasiness and alarm, by having them removed into the interior of the State, where, from its population, they will be awed into submission to the authorities having charge over them, and supported at a much less expense to the government. And we shall as in duty bound, etc.

Occasionally, of course, there were outrages that threatened serious trouble, due to lawless elements in both races and the race hatred entertained by many of the whites ; yet as a rule the Red Men of the Forest pursued their wild and favorite avocations, undisturbed by naught, save what must have been apparent to them - the irresistible and ceaseless march of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The end of his dominion in the State of Ohio was rapidly approaching, and in his thoughtful moments the Indian must have heard, reverberating through the air, in tones that a modern policeman would envy, the laconic and authoritative command - "Move on !"

On November 17, 1807, a treaty was made at Detroit between William Hull, Governor of the Territory of Michigan and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, on the part of the United States, and the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Ottowa, Chippewav, Wyandotte and Pottawatamie nations of Indians on the other part. Under this treaty the following described lands were ceded to the United States : "Beginning at the mouth of the Miami river of the Lakes [Maumee] and running thence up the middle thereof to the mouth of the Great Au Glaize river; thence running due north until it intersects a parallel of latitude, to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron, which forms the river Sinclair; thence running northeast, the course that may be found will lead in a direct line to White Rock, in Lake Huron ; thence due east until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Upper Canada, in said lake ; thence southerly, following the said boundary line down said lake, through River Sinclair, Lake St. Clair and the River Detroit into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the aforesaid Miami river; thence west to the place of beginning."

The western line of this vast extent of territory, which was by the above treaty granted to the United States, passed through the western part of Fulton county and almost exactly located the present boundary line between Ridgeville township, in Henry, and Springfield in Williams county. Extended north from the Maumee, this cession of land comprised a considerable portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan in addition to the Ohio territory, included. The price paid for these lands was $10,000. The reader, in contemplating this vast .domain - covered then with valuable timber and a fertile soil as yet untouched - will doubtless come to the conclusion that Uncle Sam was a shrewd "bargain-driver," and that "Poor Lo" \yas correspondingly "easy." But when we recall that the Greenville treaty bound the Indians to sell the land to no one but the United States, thereby rendering any possible competitor ineligible, the moralist may consider the transaction not quite up to his ethical standard.

-As will readily be seen by the Hull treaty given above, all lands in Ohio north of the Maumee river were by said treaty ceded to the United States government - excepting the territory west of a line running due north from the mouth of the Auglaize river. This exception comprised all of the present county of Williams, the greater part of Defiance and a small portion off the west side of Fulton county. In short, it can be said, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, that the Ohio lands north of the Maumee, which remained in lawful possession of the Indians after the Detroit treaty of 1807, comprised the territory included in the original county of Williams. The only change made in creating the latter division was to straighten the southern boundary line and cause it to run due east and west, instead of following the course of the river.

For ten years longer this status of affairs continued, but on September 29, 1817, a treaty was "made and concluded at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie," between Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, commissioners of the United States, on the one part, and the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware. Shawanees, Pottawatomies, Ottawas, and Chippeway tribes of Indians. By the stipulations of this treaty, contained in the first article, the Wyandots ceded to the United States their lands south of the- Maumee river. In Art. 2, "The Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippeway tribes of Indians," ceded the land described within the following boundaries : "Beginning where the western line of the State of Ohio crosses the River Miami of Lake Erie, which is about twenty-one miles above the mouth of the Great Auglaize river ; thence down the middle of the said Miami [Maumee] river, to a point north of the mouth of the Great Auglaize river ; thence, with the western line of the land ceded to the United States by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807, north forty-five miles ; thence west so far that a line south will strike the place of beginning; thence south to the piace of beginning." The consideration paid for the above was an annuity of $1,300 for fifteen years to the Pottawatomies, $1,000 for fifteen years to the Ottawas, and $1,000 for fifteen years to the Chippewas. These three tribes were then the inhabitants of the Williams county territory and they were to receive their annual stipend at Detroit. It will be noticed that this cession included nearly, if not all. of the present county of Hillsdale, in Michigan, but the northern boundary of Ohio was then in dispute and destined to be a subject of contention for a score of years to follow.

The subsequent treaties that were made with the Indians provided for the purchase of their lands in the reservations by the United States and their removal west of the Mississippi; and the fact remains, which is of some historical importance, that Williams was among the last of the present county divisions of the state to pass legally from the control of the Red Man to the dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race. The last Indian title extinguished was that of the Wyandots, whose lands in the reservation at Upper Sandusky, and in. the county >vhich bears their name, was offered for sale by the United States in the autumn of 1845. The several Indian tribes were paid various sums of money in annual payments, and were required to vacate the country and migrate west. The last of them to make the journey were the Wyandots, but after the treaty of 1819, the northwestern part of Ohio was open to settlement and the Indians who remained did so as tenants by sufference of their white brothers.

the United States in 1829. The Wyandots ceded theirs by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, they being the only Indians then remaining in the State. The commissioner on the part of the United States was Colonel John Johnston, who had the honor of making the last Indian treaty in Ohio - a State, every foot of whose soil has been fairly purchased by treaties from its original possessors. The Wyandots left for Kansas in July, 1843, and numbered at that time about seven hundred souls."

On the admission of Ohio to the Federal Union, the public domain, under the conditions named in the charter, was variously classified. The principal divisions were as follows: 1. Congress Lands; 2.

It is not necessary to enter into details regarding these various divisions, except so far as the territory embraced within the scope of this work is affected. Congress Lands are so-called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are or may be, from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the expense of the National Government. The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. In addition to these divisions, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast quarter section, southeast quarter section, etc. And again, by a law of Congress which went into effect in July, 1820, these quarter sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter section and west half quarter section, containing eighty acres each. It was not until after the war of 1812-15, and the conquest of the Indian territory north of Wayne's treaty line, that surveys were ordered in the northwest section of

Ohio. For this tract a base line was run on or near the forty-first parallel of latitude, corresponding to the south line of the Connecticut Reserve. The ranges were numbered east from the first meridian, being the west line of Ohio, and the towns numbered north and south from the base. Williams county, it will be seen, was included in the reservation known as ''Congress Lands," and it might be added that the land within its limits was sold by the Federal government at the statutory price of $1.25 per acre.

Early provisions were made for the support of free schools, and Congress reserved one thirty-sixth part of all lands lying northwest of the Ohio river for their maintenance. These lands, together with other Congressional reservations for the public welfare, became, in later years, the subject of much political speculation, and in many instances were perverted by designing persons from the real purposes intended. Much fruitless legislation resulted, because of the private or personal interests of individuals, without materially enhancing the interests of education. Passing through the varied experiences of speculation, as the early years of statehood passed, the question of school lands was finally systematized by the appointment of honest and conscientious commissioners, and the lands thus became the nucleus of the present magnificent school fund of the state.

We will now return and take up events incidental to the formation, organization and development of Williams county. On February 12, 1820, the General Assembly of the state formed and gave names to fourteen counties, which they carved out of the territory lying north of the Greenville Treaty line and west of the boundary line of the Connecticut Reserve. In selecting names for these counties the legislature evidently referred to the galaxy of Revolutionary patriots, for among them we find such cognomens as Allen, Hancock, Henry, Marion, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert, Williams and others. The last three were of course chosen in honor of the captors of Major Andre, who by their heroic act prevented the surrender of West Point and defeated a treasonable plot at a critical time during our country's struggle for independence. The statute providing for the formation of these counties was entitled, "An Act for the erection of certain counties therein named," and it read thusly:

"Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of the lands lately ceded by the Indians to the United States, which lies within this State, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into fourteen separate and distinct counties to be bounded and named as follows:" (It here proceeds to give the boundaries and names of thirteen of the counties, and continues) : "Fourteenth, to include all of the first, second, third and fourth ranges north of the third townships north in said ranges, and to run north with the same to the State line, and to be known bv the name of Williams."

Williams county, as will be seen by the description, was erected in the extreme northwestern corner of Ohio, having its northern boundary on Michigan and its western on Indiana. The northern boundary of the county then, as well as the northern boundary of the state, was seriously in dispute, owing to the conflicting claims of Ohio and the territory, of Michigan, the former claiming the Harris line and the latter the Fulton line as the true boundary which separated them. The strip of land between these lines comprised the present townships of Northwest, Bridgewater, Madison and Millcreek, in Williams county. The western, southern and eastern boundaries, however, were clearly defined, and therefore Williams county as originally carved out comprised not only all of its present territory (with the four townships named above in dispute), but all of Defiance county, excepting the townships of Adams, Richland, Highland, and a portion of Defiance, and a part of each of three townships - Gorham, Franklin and German - now in Fulton county. Its area then, including the disputed townships, was about 720 square miles, and its population, according to the census of 1820, was 387; but, in fact, we would be safe in saying that at that time the present limits of the county possessed not a white inhabitant.

Although the county of Williams was created by the above mentioned act of the legislature, in 1820, yet it remained unorganized, so far as governmental functions were concerned, until a few years later. The act creating the fourteen counties provided for the organization of only two of them - Wood and Sandusky - and it provided that "the counties of Hancock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding and Williams shall be attached to the county of Wood" for civil purposes. It provided further, "that the temporary seat of justice for said county of Wood shall be fixed at the town of Maumee, until commissioners shall be appointed by the General Assembly to fix the permanent seat of justice." This legislation by further provision of the same act went into effect on April 1, 1820, and from that date the seat of justice of the counties of northwestern Ohio was in the ancient and historical town of Maumee, where it remained for about three years and then crossed the river to Perrysburg.* At a session of the Board of Commissioners of Wood county, held March 19, 1823, it was ordered "that so much of the township of Waynesfield as is included in the organized county of Wood, and lying and being on the south of the south channel of Maumee river, from the west line of the county to the line between the original surveyed township, in Nos. 1 and 4, in ihe United States reserve; thence, the north channel to the state line, be set off and organized into a township, by the name of Perrysburg." The seat of justice was then established at Perrysburg; but this was of concern to Williams county for only a short time, as in a few months she was destined to blossom forth as a fully organized county, and be given civil jurisdiction over a surface that now embraces portions of six well settled and prosperous counties.

Of the Indian tribes inhabiting the Maumee valley when the first definite knowledge of the country was acquired, the Miamis were the most prominent, while the Wyandots and Ottawas were represented in fewer numbers. Later, other tribes made their appearance, particularly in that part which is now Williams county, and it was with the Pottawatamies, Ottawas and Chippewas that the pioneers of this immediate section had to deal. These three tribes had possession at the time of the final treaties, and it was with them that negotiations were made providing for the Indian exodus. They were slow to join with the tide of westward emigration, however, and for many years afterwards, wandering bands would annually visit their old hunting grounds in Williams county, and their intercourse with the settlers came to be regarded more as an occasion of pleasant remembrances than of dread or danger. Some pleasant .friendships were formed between the pioneer families and the former owners of the land which the pale-face was tilling.