Athens Township (part 18 of 21)

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That the lands in the two townships, appropriated and vested as aforesaid, with the buildings which may be erected thereon, for the accommodation of the president, professors and other officers, students and servants of the university, and any buildings appertaining thereto, and also the dwelling houses and out houses, or other buildings of the tenants or lessees, now erected and built, or which may hereafter be built and erected, on the lands within the said township, shall forever be exempted from all territorial and state taxes. Provided, nevertheless, 'That such exemption shall not exclude them from enjoying and exercising all the rights and privileges which otherwise they would be entitled to, under the eleventh section of this act. Provided, also, That nothingin this section contained shall be construed as an exemption of the land, houses and other property which now is or hereafter may be found or built within the said townships, from the payment of county taxes, rates and levies; but the said land, houses and other property, now or hereafter to be found in said townships, are hereby declared subject to the payment of county taxes, rates and levies, in the county in which the said townships are or shall be situated, anything in this section to the contrary thereof, notwithstanding. And provided, also, That the polls and personal estates of such persons as may and shall live within the said townships, shall be and remain subject to taxation in common with those of other citizens within the territory or state in which the same may be.

SEC. 15. And beit further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the aforesaid corporation, or for the trustees acting under this act as hereinafter mentioned, to lease for a small annual rent, on condition of a capital sum being paid in hand or secured to be : paid, the whole or any part of the house-lots, and out-lots, of five acres in the town of Athens, laid out agreeably to a resolution of the general assembly of the territory, made and approved December the eighteenth, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, by Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Ives Gilman and Jonathan Stone, Esquires, a committee in the said resolution named and appointed for that purpose ; and the capital sum or sums of money, which shall be so received or as much thereof as the corporation shall judge expedient, shall be applied by the trustees to the purpose of erecting buildings for the accommodation of the president, officers and students of the university.

Sec. 16. And be it further enacted, That the before named trustees and their successors, and such others as shall be duly : elected members of the said corporation, be, and they are hereby empowered to elect a president of the said university, whenever they shall judge it expedient.

Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That until a president of the said university shall be elected, and shall have entered upon the duties of his office, and also in all cases of a vacancy or the. absence of the president, the said trustees shall appoint one of their members to preside in their meetings, and all the doings and acts of the trustees, while acting under such circumstances, shall be considered in law as the doings and acts of the corporation, as fully and completely as when the president of the university shall be in office and preside.

Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That the legislature of the territory or the legislature of the state within which the said university is or may be founded, may grant any further or greater powers to, or alter, limit or restrain any of the powers by this act vested in the said corporation, as shall be judged necessary to promote the best interest and prosperity of the said university, with all necessary powers and authority for the better aid, preservation and government thereof.

ered, to fix the time and place for holding the first meeting of the said corporation, of which he shall give notice in writing to each member, at least fourteen days previous to such meeting.

This act was drafted by Dr. Cutler. The original manuscript, differing, however, from the act as passed by the legislature, both in the order of its sections, and in some of its material provisions, is now in the possession of the president of the university. It was sent by Dr. Cutler to Rufus Putnam in July, 1800, accompanied by the following letter, which is so illustrative of Dr. Cutler's ability and sagacity, that we insert it at length:

* Such has been my situation that I could not find leisure to copy a rough draft I had made, many months ago, of an incorporating act, until this day. Whether any part of it will be agreeable, I think is very doubtful. I had long been contemplating a very different kind of constitution. Knowing that the colleges at Cambridge and New Haven had derived essential advantages from having the principal civilians in the states concerned in the government, I had thought of a constitution, in wealthy land holders. I had also wished to have two branches in the government of the university, as checks, in some respects on each other, somewhat like the overseers and board of corporation at Cambridge. But so numerous and insurmountable were the difficulties that rose before me when I regarded the situation of your country, that I was obliged to abandon every idea of a government I had long been contemplating. It may be necessary to make a few remarks upon the enclosed draft :

Section I. As the American congress made the grant which is the foundation of the university, no name appeared to me more natural than American University. The sound is natural, easy, and agreeable, and no name can be more respectable. There is a Columbian college and a Washington college, etc., already in the country, but no American college. I hope the name will not be altered.

Sec. 2. The number of the board of trustees may be thought small; but small numbers feel greater responsibility, do business with more dispatch and generally better, and are less expensive than larger numbers. Dartmouth college has an excellent government, which consists only of the president and ten trustees. The college at New Haven had only ten until connected with civilians. It will be best, on many accounts, to have a vice president. It creates no expense, as he will have no compensation only as a trustee, unless when he acts as president. New Jersey college has found much advantage in having a vice president. The trustees ought to live near the college, and by no means outside of our purchase. There will be many advantages in having the president and vice president members of the board, but I can not now enumerate thesi will readily occur to you.

SEC. 3. The board is the proper body for appointing all officers, and prescribing the duties of such as steward, treasurer, etc., but the duties of all concerned in the immediate govern-

SEC. 4. The board must have the power of preserving and of purifying itself. The presidents and vice presidents, I believe, of all colleges hold their offices during good behavior. Other instructors hold their offices during the pleasure of the government, unless special provision is made by the laws of the college. The power of dismissing, rusticating, and expelling students is generally in the hands of the immediate government of colleges, and regulated by college laws. I thought, in this instance, for some special reasons, it would be best to give this power by act of incorporation, to the board in the first instance; but in such a manner that the board can transfer it to the immediate government of the university, and regulate it by college laws.

There has been found advantage in giving the president the right of nomination; no considerable evil can follow. In many colleges the president has the right of appointing his successor ; but this I should determinedly oppose.

The incorporating act ought to require public commencements. These ought to be held, and, though there are some inconveniences, there are many and important advantages. The colleges in New York and Philadelphia have suffered much for want of them; in the country they are of the greatest importance. 'There has often happened, however, absolute necessity for altering the time and place; I have, therefore, so framed, this article as to admit of alteration.

Sec. 5. The immediate governors and instructors of the university, it is to be presumed, will always be the best judges of the mode and course of education, and of laws best adapted: to the circumstances of the college. I have so constructed this section as to create, in a sense, two branches to the government with a kind of: check on each other.

With respect to every part of the incorporating act, I have aimed, as much as possible, at plain general principles, without descending to particular regulations. But, especially in the course of study, and laws and rules for the immediate government of the university, the incorporating act ought to do no. more than place the whole power in the hands of the board and instructors. For there must be continual variation as experience and circumstances shall dictate, and to be fettered by an incorporating act might prove extremely injurious to the college. It is safe in their hands, for the board and instructors must always feel the highest inducements to establish the best possible regulations ; and they will ever be better judges than a legislature.

But the importance of quarterly examinations is, in my view, so great, and is a regulation so absolutely essential, so apt to be neglected by the government of the university, and so often opposed and resisted by the students, that I would, by all means, insure the practice by making it an article of incorporation.

Sec. 7. To have the two townships as well secured as possible to the board - and as claims to land are liable to so many contests - I thought it would be best to be very particular in describing the title by which the university claims the improvement, and that the disposition of all the funds of the university should be unconditionally within the control of the board, and left wholly to their discretion in applying them. Many colleges have suffered much from having their hands tied, in disposing of the funds to the best advantage, and most for the interest of the institution.

Sec. 8. In all the incorporations granted by the general court of this commonwealth, the amount of the income of real and personal property estate have been, each of them, limited - but to sums far beyond any probability of their ever arising. . Whether other states do the same I know not. If your assembly would not be likely to make any limitation, it might be best, to say nothing about it. But, if they will do it, then forty and fifty thousand dollars can not be too high, as it must be applied to one of the most useful and important purposes to society and to government. The sums sound large, but no one can say to what amount the income of the endowments of this university

SEC. 9. This will be the bugbear. You suggested the idea, though I had often thought of it before. I am in doubt whether the section is clearly and properly expressed, or sufficiently guarded to answer the purpose. But I am in much greater doubt whether it is possible to get any article of this kind inserted in the act. Sure I am it is an object worthy of great exertion to obtain. If those lots and their income were under the direction of the board, it could not fail of rendering them of incomparably more benefit than if they should be placed in the hands of the people. The board will only be the committee for each township, and infinitely better than any committee they can choose. They will have better instructors in their schools, and under better regulations, and the income probably of higher amount than if the people managed the lots themselves. And the ministerial lots may be rendered incomparably more useful. It will tend to prevent sectaries, secure the people from continual contentions among themselves, become a great inducement to entice respectable characters to engage in the ministry, and, in a much greater degree, alleviate the taxes of the people. The lands will also much sooner become productive.

With regard to erecting public buildings for the university, I can not so fully express my mind to you as I would wish. At present, I should think it not best to erect any considerable public building. It will be necessary, in the first instance, to open a Latin school, for I conceive it improbable that any youth can now be found in the country qualified for admission as the students of a college; or, if a freshman class can be formed, it must be small. A building of two stories, pretty large on the ground, in form of a school house, may answer every purpose for some years. I feel an aversion to large buildings for the residence of students, where there are regular families in which they can reside. Chambers in colleges are too often made the secret nurseries of every vice, and the cages of unclean birds,

It must require time to mature plans for large buildings. I will endeavor to attend to the matter, and give you my ideas of public buildings. In the meantime, be assured that I am, with

Manasseh Cutler

It will be noted that additions to, and material alterations in, the draft as submitted by Dr. Cutler, were made before the incorporating act was passed. Section nine of his draft, referred to by him as the ** bugbear;" gave the board of trustees full and separate control of the school and ministerial lots, Nos. sixteen and twenty-nine, with authority to lease or improve the same, the rents and income always to go to the respective townships, etc. The charter as passed contains no similar provision.

It does not appear that any effective action was taken under this law of 1802. It is probable that the widely separated residences of the trustees, the difficulty of communication, and the extreme badness of the few roads that existed, operated to prevent action. Doubtless, too, the political excitement of the day had its influence, as the contest. relative to the formation of a state government and admission to the Union, was, at that time, absorbing every other interest.

Resolved, That Samuel Carpenter, James Wells, and Henry Abrams, be appointed commissioners to appraise the land included within the two college townships, in the county of Washington, at itsreal value in its original and unimproved state ; to divide and value said land into four different qualities or rates and make return of the quantity contained in each division, as near as may be, and the value thereof, to the next general assembly on oath. And that the said commissioners also value the land in its present situation, mentioning the number of houses and quantity of cleared land contained within the two townships. j

Resolved, That the trustees appointed by the act entitled an act establishing an university in the town of Athens, be and they are hereby required to report to the next general assembly of this state, what measures they have taken to carry the said act into operation.

Nathaniel Massie Michael Baldwin

SEcTION 1. Be itenacted by the General Assembly, etc., That the commissioners appointed to appraise the two college townships in the county of Washington, by a resolution of the first legislature of the state, viz: Samuel Carpenter, James Wells and Henry Abrams, for eighteen days' service each, in accomplishing said business, be, and they are hereby entitled to receive each for said services, the sum of thirty dollars, to be paid out of the

Elias Langham

326 The Ohio University. contingent fund, to be audited by the auditor and paid out of any monies in the treasury of the state. NATHANIEL MASSIE, Speaker of the Senate. ELIAS LANGHAM, Speaker of the House. Fanuary 27, 1804." On the 18th of February, 1804, the legislature passed another act "establishing an university in the town of Athens," differing in some respects from the original

Sec. 2. Same as in the first act, except change of name and making the governor of the state, president of the board of trustees, ex-officio, and fixing the number of trustees at not less than ten nor more than fifteen.

Sec. 3. Names as the trustees, Elijah Backus, Rufus Putnam, Dudley Woodbridge, Benjamin Tappan, Bazaliel Wells, Nathaniel Massie, Daniel Symmes, Daniel Story, Samuel Carpenter, Rev. James Kilbourne, Griffin Green, Sen., and Joseph Darlinton.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That one or more of the aforesaid trustees (to be appointed by the board for this purpose) shall within six months from the passage of this act, proceed (by the oath of three disinterested and judicious freeholders.) to lay off the lands in said townships (those included in the town of Athens excepted), or such part thereof as they may deem expedient, into tracts of not less than eighty, nor more than two hundred and forty acres, and to estimate and value the same as in their original and unimproved state - for which service such compensation shall be allowed as the treasurer shall think reasonable, to be paid out of the funds of the university ; and having thus laid off and estimated said lands, the trustees, after giving four weeks' notice in the newspaper printed at Marietta, shall proceed to make out leases of the said tracts to such of the present occupants as shall apply for the same within three months after such notice given, and to all persons that shall apply hereafter, for the term of ninety years, renewable forever, on a yearly rent of six per centum on the amount of the valuation so made by the said freeholders ; and the land so leased shall be subject to a re-valuation at the expiration of thirty-five years, and to another re-valuation at the expiration of sixty years from the commencement of the term of each lease, which re-valuation shall be conducted and made on the principles of the first valuation; and the lessee shall pay a yearly rent of six per centum on the amount of the re-valuation so to be made, and forever thereafter a yearly rent equal to and not exceeding six per centum of the amount of a valuation to be made as aforesaid, at the expiration of the term of ninety years aforesaid (which valuation the trustees and their successors are hereby authorized and directed to make): Provided, however, that such last mentioned rent shall be subject to the following regulations, to wit, at the expiration of the aforesaid period of ninety years, three referees shall be appointed, the first by the corporation of the university, the second by the lessees under the provisions of this section of this act, and the third by the two referees thus chosen; or in case either or both of the parties. shall neglect to choose such referee or referees, or said referees shall neglect to choose an umpire, the general assembly at its next session shall appoint such number of referees, not exceeding three, as the case may require, which referees shall meet within a reasonable time,to be agreed on between them, at the town of Athens, and there and then determine on and declare the medium price per bushel of the article of wheat, which determination shall be grounded on a calculation of the average price of said article at the town of Marietta for the five preceding years, which declaration shall be made in writing and entered of record on the books of the corporation; and at the commencement of each and every period of twenty years there- after the amount of rent of such period shall be fixed on and determined, by referees to be chosen upon the principles herein before directed. from a comparison of the aforesaid recorded price of wheat with its average price at Marietta for the five years which shall have been then last past; in which leases shall be reserved a right of distress and of re-entry for non-payment of rent at any time after it shall have been due two months, provided, always that the said corporation shall have power to demand a further yearly rent on the said lands and tenements not exceeding the amount of the tax imposed on property of like description by the state, which rent shall be paid at such time and place, to such person, and collected in such manner, as the corporation shall direct."

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the trustees shall lay off the aforesaid town of Athens, conformably to a plan made out by Rufus Putnam and others, in pursuance of a resolution of the territorial legislature of the eighteenth of December, 1799, with such variations, however, as they may find it expedient to make ; and the same being thus laid off and a plat of the same, with a designation of the uses of the general parts, recorded in the office of the recorder of the proper county, and six weeks' previous notice given in at least two of the newspapers of this state, may proceed to sell, from time to time, at public auction, such of the house and out-lots as they may think. proper, for which lots on payment being made or satisfactory security given, according to the conditions of such sale, they shall execute to the purchasers, respectively, leases for the term of ninety y ears, renewable forever, on an annual rent equal to and not exceeding six per centum of the amount of the purchase money ; which lots with the improvements which may be made on the same shall be subject to such further yearly rent, as may be equal to the tax imposed from time to time, on property of like value and description, by the state ; and they are likewise authorized to deliver a reasonable compensation for the improvements which have made on lands within the town of Athens, to be paid out of the funds of the university."

SEC. 14. Provides that the rent and profits of the land shall be appropriated to the endowment of the university. SEC. 15. Requires the treasurer to give bond.

Sec. 16. Be it further enacted, That the said corporation shall have full power from time to time to contract for and cause to bé erected such buildings as they shall deem necessary, for the accommodation of the president, professors, tutors, pupils and servants of said university, as also to procure the necessary books and apparatus for the use of said university, and shall cause payment therefor to be made out of the funds of the university, and shall reserve such lot or lots in said town of Athens as they may deem necessary for the purpose aforesaid and for the erection of buildings for the use of the town and county.

Sec. 18. Provides that in the absence, &c., of the president &c., one of the trustees may be appointed to preside at their meetings and act in certain cases.

* At a meeting of the trustees of the Ohio University, convened at the house of Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, in the town of Athens, on the first Monday of June, 1804, the day ordered by His Excellency Edward Tiffin, Esq., governor of the state of Ohio, for the first meeting. The following trustees present, viz:

The board elected Governor Tiffin president, Dudley Woodbridge secretary, Eliphaz Perkins treasurer, and adjourned till next day, June sth. This first the college lands. Rufus Putnam and Samuel Carpenter were appointed to lay off and appraise such lands in the two townships as were claimed and occupied. Since the surveying of these townships in 1795, numbers of new settlers had come in and occupied the lands. Some of these were rough and determined characters, and were bent on maintaining possession. To adjust these cases, settle disputed titles, etc., required patience, tact, and wisdom. The parties had either to be mollified and induced to come to terms, or be ejected from the lands. The first business of the board was to adjust the claims of conflicting parties, secure titles and protect the corporation in its rights. These matters, together with the surveying and laying out of lots, classifying dee

We can not refrain from remarking that the meeting of these men, under the circumstances, afforded a high proof of their character - of their appreciation of the value of education, and their honest devotion to the .Welfare of the new country. They had traveled fifty, seventy-five or a hundred miles, by blind paths or Indian trails through dense forests, inhabited only by wild animals, to this embryo village, for the purpose of establishing an institution of learning. It is gratifying, after the lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, to be able to record that, notwithstanding the immense difficulties of the case, their labors, and those of their coadjutors, were ultimately rewarded with complete success.

In his message, at the opening of the third session of the general assembly, December 4, 1804, Governor Tifin gave proper prominence to the topic of schools and education. After general remarks on the subject

« These observations will naturally lead you to inquire whether any, and if any, what improvements are necessary to the act entitled 'an act establishing an university in the town of Athens.' Under this act a quorum of the trustees met in June last, and, so far as their powers extended, carried it into effect ; a committee of two members of the board was appointed to superintend the surveying of such part of the two townships of land, which were appropriated for the university, as might be applied for by those willing to become lessees ; also to superintend the sales of a small part of the town and out-lots, which were designated by the board to be sold as an experiment ; and in exhibit No. 1, I lay before you a communication from

General Putnam*, one of the committee, which shows that the prospects are flattering. But it is necessary to observe, from actual observation, when there, and from information derived from intelligent characters since, that the settlers on these lands were induced to apply for leases, under an impression that the legislature would review the law, and be governed by a more liberal policy. Should it be thought that these lands ought to be valued at a generous price, once for all, and leases be authorized to issue, upon the payment of the legal interest yearly, there can be no doubt but that they would soon be all occupied, and from the sales of the town and out-lots, a sufficient sum would be raised to erect such public buildings as may be immediately wanted; and that the rents of the lands and lots would be sufficient to support the university, answer every purpose for which the donation was originally made, and the state be immediately benefited by the institution.

* [t is further thought, that it would greatly increase the demand for those lands and town lots, as well as prepare the way for the accommodation and comfort of the youths who may be sent to the university, if a new county were erected and its seat established at Athens. This may conveniently be done without injury to the counties adjacent, and, in my opinion, the convenience of that part of the country imperiously demands it."

** General Putnam and Colonel Samuel Carpenter were the committee referred to. The former wrote to Governor Tiffin, November 6, 1804, that the sales of the house and out-lots of the town of Athens amounted to $2,223.50; average of house-lots $43.33}; of the outlots $39. In the south township (Alexander), seventy-five tracts, or 11,000 acres, were applied for. As to the north township (Athens), under the superintendence of Colonel Carpenter, General Putnam was not fully informed; but in August previous, seventy-five applications for leases, covering 8,760 acres, had been made.

* SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That James Denny, Emanuel Carpenter, Jun., Isaac Dawson, Pelatiah White, and Ezekiel Deming, residents of this state, are appointed appraisers. of the two college townships numbered eight and nine, in the fourteenth range of townships within the grant of land made to the Ohio company of associates; and the said appraisers, or any three of them, on oath or affirmation, are hereby required to appraise the townships aforesaid, within nine months, at the present real value, as also in its original and uncultivated state, and make report thereof to the board of trustees of the said university ; and the said trustees shalllease the: same to any persons who have applied, or may apply, agreeable to law, for the term of ninety-nine years, renewable for ever, with a fixed annual rent of six per centum on the appraised valuation: provided, that no lands shall be leased at a less valuation than at the rate of one dollar and seventy-five cents per acre.

Sec. II. Be it further enacted, That the. commissioners aforesaid shall meet on the-first day of April next, at the town of Athens; and shall then proceed to discharge the duties imposed on them by: this act, and the act to which this act is an amendment, and shall perform the same within the time mentioned in this act.

Sec. III. Be it further enacted, That the trustees of the corporation of the said university lands are hereby authorized and empowered to remove, by due course of law, all persons living on said lands, in case such persons refuse or neglect to take leases within six months after the valuation of the lands as aforesaid.

Sec. IV. Be it further enacted, That the secretary of this state shall cause notice to be given, as soon as convenience will permit, to each of the commissioners aforesaid, of their appoint- ment under this act; and the commissioners, respectively, on receiving the notice aforesaid, shall, within a reasonable time thereafter, forward to the governor of this state, their acceptance or declination of the appointment under this act made.

Sec. V. Be it further enacted, That so much of the aforesaid act, passed the 18th day of February, 1804, as is contrary to this act, be and the same is hereby repealed. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.

Michael Baldwin Daniel Symmes

The next year was consumed in settling titles, appraising the lands, and accumulating a small fund with which to begin the actual educational work. The second meeting of the board of trustees was called for November 20th, 1805, but no quorum was present and they adjourned. The third meeting was held April 2d, 1806, when the committee for selling town lots reported,* and other business was transacted relative to titles and leases. At this session it was

Resolved, That. Jacob Lindley, Rufus Putnam, and William Skinner, be a committee to contract with some person or persons for building a house in the town of Athens for the purpose of an academy, on the credit of the rents that will hereafter become due.

At the next meeting, December 25, 1806, the committee reported a plan, and were empowered to contract for a building. The academy building was begun very soon after this, and nearly completed in 1807. It was built of brick and stood almost directly east of the present college buildings and just outside of the present enclosure. It has long since disappeared.

March 2d, 1808, the Rev. Jacob Lindley, Eliphaz Perkins, and Rufus Putnam were appointed a committee to report a.system '' for opening the academy, providing for a preceptor, and conducting that branch of the

Ohio university," and they reported a plan of study and certain regulations at that meeting. A few days later Mr. Lindley was chosen preceptor, and entered on his duties in the spring of 1808.

Section I. Be it enacted, etc., That the trustees of the Ohio university be and they are hereby authorized to lease the appraised lots of land lying in the two college townships, numbers 8 and 9, in the 14th range of townships, of the Ohio Company's purchase, that have been appraised at a less value than one dollar and seventy-five cents per acre, at six per cent. on the appraised value.

they are hereby authorized to appoint appraisers to appraise such parts of the aforesaid townships, as have not been heretofore appraised, whenever they may deem it expedient.

Sec. HI. Be it further enacted, That so much of the act entitled ' an act establishing an-university in the town of Athens,' passed the 21st day of February, 1805, as is contrary to the provisions of this act, be and the same is hereby repealed.

Abraham Shepherd Thos. Kirker

SECTION I. Be it enacted, etc., That all persons residing in either of the two college townships, numbered eight and nine, in the fourteenth range in the Ohio Company's purchase, and holding leases, shall be considered as freeholders..

Sec. II.. Be it further enacted, That the second section of the act entitled * an act supplementary to, etc.,' passed January 17, 1806, which allows a. compensation to the trustees for their services, be and the same is hereby repealed.

cases where the rent of any person or persons has been due for two months, immediately to transmit a certified copy, under his hand and the seal of said corporation, to the collector of the said corporation, of an accurate list of all such delinquents, which list, certified as aforesaid, shall be sufficient power for the said collector to distrain on the goods and chattels of each and every delinquent, and the same to advertise in three public places in the township in which such goods and chattels are distrained, ten days previous to the sale; and the said collector shall then proceed to sell the same at public vendue, and the rent and costs forthwith to pay to the treasurer of said Ohio university, and the overplus, if any, to refund to the delinquent ; and for want of goods and chattels, to re-enter and take possession of the premises for the use of the trustees of the said university as provided by law: and the said collector shall receive the same compensation for his services as sheriffs do in similar cases. Provided, however, that if any- delinquent shall think himself aggrieved, he shall have his action against the said treasurer or collector (as the case may be), or both, and shall recover all damages he may unjustly sustain.

Sec. IV. Be it further enacted, That Eliphaz Perkins, Silvanus Ames, Jehiel Gregory, Abel Miller, Leonard Jewett, and Moses Hewitt, be appointed in addition to the present number of trustees of said Ohio university.

Sec. V. Be it further enacted, That the said corporation shall have power and authority to adjourn to any period they may think proper; and the number of trustees of said university shall never exceed nineteen, nor be less than eleven, any five of whom shall bea quorum to transact any business of said corporation.

Philemon Beecher Thos. Kirker

Great difficulty was still experienced, owing to reasons before mentioned, in getting the board together, and also in collecting the rents on the university lands, in. money and promptly. The next year further changes were made in the board, and the following act

Section I. Be it enacted, etc., That Robert G. Wilson, Jesup N. Couch, John P. R. Bureau, Elijah Hatch, Jun., and Henry Abrams, be and they are hereby appointed trustees of the Ohio university.

Sec. II. Be it further enacted, That the trustees shall have power and authority, until the year one thousand eight hundred and eleven, to receive of any of the lessees in payment of rent, such article or articles of produce as may by them be agreed on at any regular meeting of said trustees; provided it shall not exceed two-thirds of the annual rents.

Sec. III. Be it further enacted, That nine of the trustees of the said university shall hereafter be necessary to form a quorum to transact the business of said corporation, any law to the c on trary notwithstanding.

Sec. IV. Beit further enacted, That the trustees shall have authority to resurvey, or cause to be resurveyed, any large tract of land (at the expense and request of the lessee), and the same to lay off in such lots as they shall think will best promote the interests of said institution.

Sec. V. Be it further enacted, That when a tract of land has been surveyed and leased to one or more persons, and by him or them sold to one or more persons, the parties shall be entitled to receive from the treasurer of said institution, separate leases in their own names, by paying a reasonable compensation therefor, to be agreed on by the trustees at a regular meeting. This act to take effect from and after its passage. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Speaker House of Reps. THOS. KIRKER, Speaker of Senate. February 15th, 1809."

By an act of January 29, 1811, the second section of the foregoing act, relative to receiving produce for rents, was revived and declared to be in force until repealed by future legislation.

By an act passed February 15, 1812, entitled ** an act to authorize the trustees of the Ohio university to issue orders in certain cases and for other purposes," the trustees were authorized to lend any surplus moneys of the university at the rate of six per cent. yearly interest to such persons, on such security and under such conditions as the trustees should determine.

Meanwhile Dr. Lindley constituted the whole faculty, and was laboring faithfully with the grammar school which was now in successful operation. In 1812, Mr. Artemas Sawyer, a graduate of Harvard university, an accomplished linguist and fine general scholar, was appointed an assistant instructor in the academy. In the year 1815, the first degree of bachelor of arts awarded in Ohio was conferred by the Ohio university on Thomas Ewing. He had entered the institution three years previously and pursued his studies with great energy, spending his later vacations in laying out country roads, surveying, etc., to raise means to carry him through.

In 1815, the success of the university was thought to be so far assured, and the necessity for increased facilities was so apparent, that the trustees resolved to erect a new college building. June 4th, 1816, a committee, consisting of Jacob Lindley, Eliphaz Perkins, and J. Lawrence Lewis, appointed in September previous, reported to the board that, after due advertisement and consultation with an architect, they had contracted with William T. Dean for 370,000 bricks at $4.50 a thousand; with Christopher and Daniel Herrold for 27,964 feet of lumber, to be delivered and piled up during the summer, at $1.12 per hundred feet; with Messrs. Bingham & White for stone; with Pilcher & Francis for laying the foundation of the rough stone and making the window and door sills, and with Wm. and James Wier for digging the cellar - which last was already completed. The corner stone of the building, now known as the center college, was laid in the summer of this year. The work was pushed forward as : rapidly as the condition of the treasury would permit, and the building was completed in 1817. The two wing buildings were built in 1836.

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to draft a petition to the legislature praying for a grant of a lottery to assist in building a college house for the university. Messrs. Putnam, Hildreth, and Perkins appointed.

WhHEREAs, the diffusion of science and literature has ever been found to be auspicious to the interests of liberty and the purity and permanence of republican institutions.

Section I, Be tt enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Obio, That Eliphaz Perkins, Dudley Woodbridge, Jun., William R. Putnam, John P. R. Bureau, Joseph B. Miles, William Skinner, and Edward W. Tupper, any four of whom shall form a board for transacting business, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, with full power and authority to raise by lottery, a sum of money not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, to be appropriated to defray the expense of completing the college edifice lately erected at Athens, and to purchase a library and suitable mathematical and philosophical apparatus for the use of the Ohio university.

Sec. II. Be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, before they shall proceed to the sale and disposal of the tickets in said lottery, shall enter into sufficient bonds, in the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to the treasurer of the state of Ohio and his successors in office, with condition that they will well and truly apply the moneys to the payment of the prizes that shall be drawn in said lottery: provided the payment thereof shal] be requested within one year after the drawing of said lottery ; also that they will faithfully pay over to the treas- urer of the Ohio university the surplus of said moneys, to be by the trustees of said university applied to the purposes specified in the first section of this act; and that in case of failure to draw said lottery within the time limited in this act, the said commissioners shall cause to be refunded to the purchasers, severally, all moneys which they shall have received for tickets in said lottery. And the said bond shall be lodged in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas, in the county of Athens, and on such bond or office copy thereof, suit or suits may be instituted by any person or persons interested for any breach thereof.

Sec. III. Be it further enacted, That the said commissioners are hereby authorized and required to take bond and security from all persons to whom they may deposit for sale, the tickets in said lottery, conditioned that such persons shall justly account for the value of the tickets by him or them received, or return the same; and such bond shall be made payable to the said commissioners by name, and the survivors of them, and if the conditions of any such bond shall be broken, the obligees therein named, or their survivors, may sustain an action thereon, to recover the value of the tickets not accounted for.

Sec. IV. Be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, when they shall have sold and disposed of such a proportion of tickets as shall, in their opinion, render expedient the drawing of said lottery, shall proceed to draw the same publicly, having given due notice thereof, by publication in one or more newspapers printed at Marietta, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Washington City, and Chillicothe, setting forth the time and place of said drawing.

Sec. V. Be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, when about to proceed to the drawing of said lottery, shall be duly sworn by some judge of the supreme court, or of the court of common pleas, to the faithful discharge of the several duties appertaining thereto, and shall also appoint a clerk who shall be sworn to keep a true and impartial account of the drawing.

Ohio university are hereby authorized to allow to said commissioners and clerk, a reasonable compensation for their respective services in the management and drawing of said lottery.

Sec. VII. Beit further enacted, That the drawing of the said lottery shall be completed by the commissioners aforesaid, within three years from the passage of this act.

This scheme was never carried out. In fact, the commissioners never, so far as can be learned, took any action under the law, and it became a dead letter. It is, however, illustrative of the views which obtained in the state at that day on the subject of lotteries. About this period, and during a few years prior, they were authorized by the legislature for various purposes, such as educational movements, road or river improvements, etc., but shortly after this they were prohibited by law, and public sentiment in Ohio has been, since that time, wholly against them.

In 1819 (Mr. Sawyer having ceased his connection with the institution some time before this), Professor Joseph Dana was brought in as teacher of languages. Mr. Dana was a fine classical scholar, and his fitness for the chair of languages was pre-eminent.

Section I. Be it enacted, etc., That it shall be the duty of the president and trustees of the Ohio university, at their first meeting after the taking effect of this act, to appoint three disinterested freeholders as appraisers, whose duty it shall be (after taking an oath faithfully to perform the duties of their appointment), to appraise all such tracts of land, belonging to said institution, as have reverted back to said board, either by re-entry or otherwise, which appraisal shall be made according to the present value of said tracts of land, in money, and the said appraisers shall make out a list of all such tracts of land by them so appraised, together with the appraised value of each tract, which list they shall return to the office of the secretary of the board of trustees.

SEC. II. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the president and trustees to lease all or any part of said tracts of land agreeably to the provisions of the acts of February 21st, 1805, and of January 23d, 1807, and it shall be the duty of the president and trustees, whenever hereafter any tract of land, which has been appraised and leased, shall revert back to the board, either by (re-entry or otherwise, to have them appraised and leased as directed in this act.

Joseph Richardson Allen Trimble

stituted as follows: Rev. James Irvine, president and professor of mathematics; Joseph Dana, professor of languages ; Rev. Jacob Lindley, professor of rhetoric and moral philosophy; Rev. Samuel D. Hoge, professor of natural sciences, and Henry D. Ward, academical preceptor.

From this period may be dated the complete working system and large usefulness of the university. Literary societies had been organized some years before; the nuclei of three respectable libraries - a college library, a library of the Athenian, and one of the Philomathean literary society - had been formed, philosophical apparatus secured, and a fine cabinet of minerals begun.

The institution has had its times of prosperity and depression, but, during the last half century, it has, in the aggregate, accomplished noble results, and sent forth from its halls a large number of able and active | men.

At the present time the university is with difficulty sustained, and its condition is no credit to the state. It has an able and faithful corps of instructors, who, in spite of difficulties, are laboring, not without success. But the institution should have state aid. It was the design of the Ohio Company, and the purpose of congress to make it a richly endowed university - the most richly endowed at that time of any in the United States, But, by mismanagement and trickery, it has been, through a series of years, cheated of its revenues. It should have a large income from its original endowment, and that without, in the least degree, burdening the lessees of these lands. The state owes it to the fathers of the university who founded it with prayers and amid difficulties, such as we little comprehend, that it shall not be permanently kept out of its rights by legal technicalities; and we can not doubt that the people and the legislature of Ohio will eventually come It will be a disgrace to them if the first university founded west of the mountains and around which **memories cluster thick as flowers," shall be allowed to fall into decay and disappear from the land for the want of aid which it has a right to expect and demand.

Elijah Backus, of Marietta, from 1804 till 1806. Gen. Rufus Putnam, x < & if "ES ZA: Dudley Woodbridge, n K « e «7 1993: Benjamin Tappan, ** Steubenville, de ES (BOR: Bazaleel Wells, K x e x «T8098. Gen. Nathaniel Massie, " Chillicothe, " a * 1808. Daniel Symmes, * Cincinnati, « ue 6 1808. Rev. Daniel Story, * Marietta, vs e «804 Samuel Carpenter, " Lancaster, ss dá -382H Rev. James Kilbourne, * Worthington, d & * 31820. Griffin Greene, * Marietta, ic s * 1808. Joseph Darlington, " West Union, ss e GCSE et William Creighton, * Chillicothe, * 80$ "18993 Gen. Joseph Buell, * Marietta, A e CES quas Benjamin Tupper, " Zanesville, SC d e 8r Rev. Jacob Lindley, * Waterford, K x eu gs Michael Baldwin, * Chillicothe, e t * 180g.

Chapter Viii

which the county was divided on its organization, originally included the territory which now forms eleven townships, viz: Bedford, Scipio and Columbia townships of Meigs county; Vinton, Clinton, Madison, Elk and Knox of Vinton county; and Lee, Lodi and Alexander of Athens county. Its territorial extent was the same as that of Ames and just twice that of Athens. The township was located and surveyed in 1795. Athens and Alexander being the ''college townships," were generally spoken of in connection, and, as Alexander lay south of Athens, it was for a long time familiarly designated as ''Southtown." Among the residents of Alexander as early as 1805 were Robert Ross, William Gabriel, Amos Thompson, Enos Thompson, Edward Martin, Isaac Stanley, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Thomas and Isaac Brooks, Matthew Haning, Thomas and John Armstrong, Jared, Israel and Martin Bobo,

Caleb Merritt, Joel Lowther, Michael Bowers, William Strond, Esquire Bowman, Abner Smith, Charles and Isaiah Shepherd, Thomas Sharp, and Richard and William Reeves. The population of the township in 1820 was 854; in 1830 it was 882; in 1840 it was 1,451; in 1850 it was 1,735; in 1860 it was 1,675. Hebbardsville,* pleasantly situated in the western part of the township, is the principal center of population.

Jeremiah Clements and Israel Bobo, noted as hunters in the early settlement of the county, killed in one season sixty-five bears in one neighborhood, included in the site of the present town of Hebbardsville. The same men were fond of whisky, and, to get a supply, took a horse-load of bear skins to the Ohio river and traded for a barrel of the desired article. The next difficulty was how to get it home. They finally cut two poles from the forest and formed a sort of drag to be drawn by the horse, the largest ends of the poles resting on the ground. The barrel of whisky was then secured between the poles and thus dragged through the woods to Alexander township, where they lived. This was the first barrel of whisky ever brought into Alexander. In after years the use of it became common and greatly the fashion, but at the present time it is not kept for sale at any place in the township.

neer church. At a very early day they built a meeting house at "Centre Stake," and the Presbyterians not long after built one near the site of the present Cumberland Presbyterian church. There are now in the township three Methodist churches, three Free Will Baptist, one Old School Presbyterian and one Cumberland Presbyterian. Near the latter church is located the principal cemetery in the township, which is being tastefully improved. Pleasanton, situated in the eastern part of the township, on the road between Athens and Pomeroy, is a thrifty settlement, containing about twenty-five families. Simon Pierce built the first house here about 1817. Other settlers located here from time to time, and in 1851 a post office was established and the place called Pleasanton.

The early records of the township were destroyed by fire in the house of John McKee in 1827 or 1828, but as nearly as can be ascertained the first trustees were Caleb Merritt, John Brooks, and Thomas Sharp, and Caleb Merritt the first justice of the peace.

Thomas Armstrong, botn April 2, 1777, in Greene county, Pennsylvania, came to Athens county in 1799, and settled in Alexander township, where his son, Elmer Armstrong, now lives. Mrs. Alice Armstrong, wife of Thomas, was also a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, and daughter of Col. Wm. Crawford,

In March, 1799, Mr. Armstrong and wife, with their first child, then three months old, accompanied by Charles Harper, wife and child, put their movable goods, consisting in part of furniture, live stock, etc., and forty young apple trees, into a flatboat at the mouth of Muddy creek, on the Monongahela river, and set out for the northwestern territory. Landing at the mouth of the Hockhocking, in April 1799, the women and children, and live stock, were sent forward from this point by land to Athens, while the goods, provisions, etc., were poled up the river by Messrs. Armstrong and Harper in a pirogue. There was no road from Athens to Alexander (their destination), but the woods being tolerably open, they made "a rig" from poles, to which a horse was hitched, and thus their goods were hauled out. Provisions were scarce, and the new settlers depended mainly on hunting for meat, and on the skins of the wild animals, which the men very generally used, forclothes. Mr. Armstrong himself was never much of a hunter, but frequently received a share of the meat and skins for packing the game home for the hunters on his horse. The manner of packing bears and deer was to take the entrails out, skin the nose of the animal for a crupper for the horse, place - the skin on the back of the horse, tying the skin of the fore-legs around his breast; then put on a second one, with the two flesh sides together. Buffalo skins were cut in strips and used for bed cords, and for harness ''tugs" in hauling. On one occasion, Mrs. Armstrong saw the dogs pursue a deer on to the ice in the creek, near the house, when, there being no man at hand, she hastened down with an ax and butcher's knife, and, the deer being helpless on the ice, killed it with the ax and cut its throat with the knife. The skin of this deer was dressed, made into gloves by Mrs. A., and sent to her friends in Pennsylvania.

In her youth, Mrs. Armstrong spent some time in a fort, which was on her father's farm, near Carmichaeltown, Pennsylvania. During that period the indians were peaceable, and, for a time, committed no hostilities. But, one Sabbath morning, the Reverend John Corbley, a Baptist minister, started to church, a short distance from the fort, and, when returning to the house for something which had been fotgotten, he and the family were furiously set upon by Indians. The savages instantly killed the wife and babe, and scalped the two daughters. Mr. Corbley and two boys made their escape into the fort. Col. Crawford immediately went with a party in pursuit. He did not overtake the Indians, but found the woman and child dead, and the two girls yet alive. They were carried into the fort, their wounds dressed, and both recovered, married, and raised families, and a daughter of one of them is now

In the summer of 1799, Mr. Armstrong prepared to erect a substantial log house on his place. On such occasions, the settlers from far and near were expected to assemble and aid in the labor. It was also an occasion of much mirth and good feeling; the slender news of the settlement was discussed, and there was a general interchange of neighborly offices. Among others who came to assist Mr. Armstrong at his ''raising" were John Thompson, then a prominent citizen of the township, but long since dead, and Wm. Gabriel, Matthew Haning, and Thomas Jones, who settled in Alexander in 1798 and 1799.

Mr. Armstrong was for several years lister of taxes in Alexander, and collector of college rents. He was also sheriff of the county, and held other positions of trust in the community. He died October 22, 1853.

Elmer Armstrong, youngest son of the preceding, was born in Alexander township, January 17, 1812, and now lives on the farm which his father settled upon in 1799. One of the apple trees, brought from Pennsylvania by his father in 1799, and planted on the place that year, is still living - measures seven feet seven and a half inches in circumference, and rarely fails to bear a good annual crop of apples. Mr. Armstrong married the daughter of Levi Booth, formerly of Alexander, and has one son and two daughters. He has for many years been well known as a prosperous farmer and successful dealer in live stock.

Samuel L. Blake, born in. Middletown, Middlesex county, Connecticut, in 1779, removed in 1816 to Alexander township, where he lived the rest of his life. He was a thorough farmer, a man of excellent character and sound judgment, and assisted largely in molding the society of the township. He died March 16, 1859, leaving a large number of descendants, some of whom are well known in the county.

A large family of Hibdards, originally from Vermont, came to Athens county at an early day. Elisha and John in 1816, Alanson and Elias and their sister Pamela (afterwards Mrs. Sabinus Rice), in 1817, and Dr. James S. Hibbard in 1823. The Rev. Ebenezer Hibbard, eldest brother of this family, who was pastor of a church in Vermont forty years, came to Alexander township in 1831, and settled at Hebbardsville, giving his name, slightly altered, to the village. He preached in this neighborhood some time, and then removed ta

Capt. Amos Northrop, born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, December 19, 1796, came to this county in the autumn of 1814, and ultimately settled in Alexander township, where he still resides in the town of Hebbardsville. In early life Capt. Northrop developed some military taste. He served in the war of 1812, and, after coming to this county, was captain of the the county, and also coroner, which last position he has held for a number of years. Though in his seventythird year he is an active and efficient man.

William Sickles, born in Pennsylvania, May ist, 1802, came to Athens county in 1805, with his father's family, and settled on the Thomas Grim farm in Waterloo. After two years they removed to Alexander and settled on the Peter Long farm, where they lived about twentythree years, and afterwards several years again in Waterloo. When a young man Mr. Sickles has killed as many as five deer in one day. In one autumn he killed in the aggregate forty-nine deer. Joseph Bobo, of Lodi, and Abram Gabriel each killed in that season the same number - forty-nine. He remembers when there was but one house on the road between Alexander and the present town of Jackson, then called Scioto Salt Works. He has ground a great many bushels of corn in a hand mill made of two stones; the upper one revolved on the lower by means of a short handle let into the edge.

In the year 1817 Yohn M. Chase, a native of Danville, Maine, moved to the county, and settled as a farmer in Alexander township, where he resided till his death in 1860. Of his family two sons and four daughters are now living in this and the adjoining county of Meigs.

William Gorsline, born on Long Island, New York, in 1755, came to Athens county and settled in Alexander township in 1817. He brought with him a family of three sons and three daughters, of whom only one (Mr. J. M. Gorsline, of Lee township) survives. Mr. Gorsline was a man of fine intelligence. He died July

Abram and Jacob McVey, brothers, came to Athens from Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and settled in Alexander township. Some of their descendants are still living in the county. About the same time a large emigration from Washington and Greene counties, Pennsylvania, came to Athens and settled mostly in Alexander. Among them were Joseph Post, Moses, William and John Patterson and their families, Jacob and David Cook, Dennis Drake, Peter Vorhes and family, of whom five sons are living in the county, John Gray, Elijah Brown and his sons Henry and Jerry, Lawrence Blakeway, Cephas and Zenas DeCamp, John Winget, Joseph Barmore, William Russell, David Pierce, John Cowan, John Brownlee, Ziba Lindley, Sen., and family, Elisha Jolly, William E. Bane, Absalom Conkey, John Clutter, Daniel Espy, Solomon Leighty, Amzi Axtell, Edward Fletcher, Samuel Lively, Wil- liam Hoaglan, Abram Enlow, Joseph Parker, Ludlow Squires, Hezekiah Topping, and Henry Carey. They formed a valuable class of citizens, distinguished for which the county was divided on its organization in 1805. The county included then more than twice its present area, and Ames comprised the territory which now forms the townships of Marion and Homer in Morgan county ; Ward, Green, and Starr in Hocking county, and Trimble, York, Dover, Bern, and Ames in Athens county. The settlement of Ames was begun about a year after that of Athens, and the first settlers were Judge Ephraim Cutler and George Ewing, with their families. In the summer of 1797 Ephraim Cutler, one of the original associates of the Ohio Company, finding that a considerable portion of his Jands lay on the waters of Federal creek, in the sixth township, of the thirteenth range, and being desirous to visit them and fix their location, explored a way and cut a horse path through the wilderness from Waterford on the Muskingum, to what is now Ames township. He was with his little family, had come from western Virginia to the Ohio Company's purchase in 1794, and had lived till the close of the Indian war in one of the block houses of the Waterford settlement. In the autumn of 1797 they made a second visit to and more thorough exploration of Mr. Cutler's lands. This time they were accompanied by Captain Benjamin Brown who had. recently arrived in the colony from Massachusetts. Mr. Ewing and Capt. Brown each owned one hundred acres of land in the company's '' donation " tract on the Muskingum, which they exchanged with Mr. Cutler for land on Federal creek, agreeing to assist him in forming a settlement. They found a fertile region, heavily timbered, well watered, and abounding in game. Traces of the buffalo and elk showed that they were not yet exterminated, and deer, bears, wild turkeys, and smaller game were found in great abundance. Wolves and panthers were very numerous, and continued for many years to be a source of annoyance and danger.

The result of their second visit to the valley of Federal creek was a determination to locate there. Mr. Ewing brought his family out in March, 1798, and settled on what is now known as the Thomas Gardner farm. It was nearly a year later that Judge Cutler and Capt. Brown brought their families over from Waterford. The domestic effects and portable property of the two families were loaded into large canoes and sent, in charge of Capt. Brown, down the Muskingum and Ohio rivers to the mouth of the Hockhocking, and up that stream to Federal creek, a distance of about eighty miles. The women and children, on horse back, were escorted by Mr. Cutler through the pathless woods and over the hills to their new home. In a narrative written a few years later Mr. Cutler thus refers to this

* T, with four horses, took Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Cutler and all our children to go twenty miles through an entire wilderness to our new home. Night overtook us before we were able to cross Sharp's fork of Federal creek, and we were obliged to encamp. We experienced a very rainy night. The creek in the morning was rapidly rising. I hurried, got Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Cutler and the children, with the baggage and horses, over the creek, all except A. G. Brown,* then a child three or four years old, whom I took in my arms, and as I stepped on a drift of flood-wood, which reached across the creek, it broke away from the bank. We were in danger, but a gracious Providence preserved us and we got safely across. We arrived at our camp, near, where we built our cabin, May 7th, 1799."

Mr. Cutler settled on lands now owned by his son, Mr. William P. Cutler, and Capt. Brown on the farm where Daniel Fleming now lives. In May, 1800, Silvanus Ames, afterward known as Judge Ames, came from Belpre with his family and settled near Mr. Cutler on the farm which he occupied till his death in 1823.

Deacon Joshua Wyatt came with his family about the same time and settled on the farm in section I now owned by the heirs of George Wyatt. All of these men bore a large part in the early history of Amesville. Their wives, too, were persons of solid minds and superior culture. The writer remembers to have heard Mrs. Ames, who had been tenderly reared in the familv of a New England clergyman, but whose energy and character were equal to any occasion, describe the hardships of her tedious journey from Massachusetts to Ohio, in the year 1799, which she made all the way on horseback, carrying an infant in her arms. Mrs. Cutler and Mrs. Wyatt were also women of great excellence; the former died in 1809, and the latter a few years later.

A pioneer settlement is fortunate if its founders cultivate at the beginning a respect for law and order, due regard for the ordinances of religion, and a healthy desire for literary culture. These early influences eon to be permanent, and the character of a community for generations is often fixed for good or evil by the forces dominant at its birth. Amesville, not less than the sister settlement at Athens, was favored in this regard.

"Schools of an elevated character," says Ephraim Cutler, "were soon established. Two gentlemen, graduates of Harvard college- - - Mr. Moses Everett, son of the Rev. Moses Everett, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and

For some time the youth enjoyed no other means of acquiring knowledge. Mr. Cutler took the United States Gazette, at that time the only newspaper taken in the settlement ; and that, except by fortunate accident, did not arrive much oftener than once in three months." Steps were taken, at an early day, to form a circulating library. In 1803 the inhabitants of Ames assembled in public meeting to consider the subject of roads, which, having been disposed of, the intellectual wants of the settlement became a topic of discussion. They were entirely isolated and remote from established schools and libraries, and felt keenly the necessity of providing some means for their own and their children's mental improvement. The establishment of a library was suggested, and all agreed that this was the readiest way to meet the case, provided funds could be raised and the books obtained. The scarcity of money seemed an almost insuperable obstacle. We can form little idea at this day of the almost total dearth of any medium of exchange which existed in our pioneer settlements. The little transactions of the colony were carried an almost wholly by barter and exchange in kind. Very little more produce was ratsed than each family needed, and, indeed, there was no market for any surplus. Judge A. G. Brown says that, soon after they settled in Ames, his older brother raised a little crop of hemp, which they took in a canoe down Federal creek and the Hockhocking, and up to Marietta, where adds: ''So scarce was money that I can hardly remember ever seeing a piece of coin till I was a well-grown boy. It was with difficulty we obtained enough to pay our taxes with and buy tea for mother - as for clothes and other things, we either depended on the forests for them, or bartered for them, or did without." In this great scarcity of money the purchase of books for a library seemed like an impossibility; but the subject was canvassed by the meeting, and it was resolved to attempt it. Before the end of the year, by dint of economy, and using every ingenious device to procure necessary funds, a sum of money was raised. Some of the settlers were good hunters, and, there being a ready cash market for furs and skins, which were bought by the agents of John Jacob Astor and others, these easily paid their subscriptions. At all events, the movement was successful, and the money was paid in. Esquire Samuel Brown was just ready to make a business trip to New England. He was going in a light wagon, and took with him a quantity of bear-skins and other furs, which he designed exchanging in Boston for such goods as were needed in the settlement. The money was placed in his hands, and he was deputed to make the first purchase of books for the embryo library - the first in Ohio. . He was furnished with letters to the Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris (a gentleman country a short time before), and the Rev. Dr. Cutler, who accompanied Mr. Brown to Boston and selected a valuable collection of books. This was the first public library formed in the northwestern territory, though not, as some have supposed, the first incorporated. The "'Dayton library society" was incorporated February 21, 1805; a library "at Granville, in the county of Fairfield," January 26, 1807; one at Newtown, Hamilton county, February 10, 1808, and the ** Coon-skin library," as it has been familiarly called of late years, was incorporated, under the name of the " Western library association," by an act passed February 19, 1810. But, that to Athens county belongs the honor of having given birth to the first library created in the territory of the northwest, does not admit of any doubt. The original record of the association is before us, entitled *Laws and regulations of the Western library association, founded at Ames, February 2, 1804." The preamble to the articles sets forth that, "considering the many beneficial effects which social libraries are calculated to produce in societies where they are established, as a source both of rational entertainment and instruction, we, the subscribers, wishing to participate in those blessings, agree to form ourselves into a society for this purpose, under the title of the Western library association, in the town of Ames. Furthermore, at a meeting of the said association, at the house of Christopher Herrold, on Thursday, the 2d of February,

1804, agreed that the following articles be adopted as the rules of the society." The shares were $2. 50 each, and each share paid a tax of twenty-five cents a year. Among the founders and original stockholders, whose names are subscribed to the articles, were the following, viz.: Ephraim Cutler, four shares; Jason Rice, two; Silvanus Ames, two; Benjamin L. Brown, one; Martin Boyles, one; Ezra Green, one; George Ewing, one; John Brown, Jun., one; Josiah True, one; George Ewing, Jun., one; Daniel Weethee, two; Timothy Wilkins, two; Benjamin Brown, one; Samuel Brown, 2d, one; Samuel Brown, Sen., one; Simon Converse, one; Christopher Herrold, one; Edmund Dorr, one; George Wolf, one; Nathan Woodbury, one; Joshua Wyatt, one; George Walker, one; Elijah Hatch, one; Zebulon Griffin, one; Jehiel Gregory, one; George Castle, one; Samuel Brown, one, etc. Among the subscribers in later years appear the names of Dr. Ezra Walker, Othniel Nye, Sally Rice, Nehemiah Gregory, Thomas Ewing, Jason Rice, Lucy Ames, John M. Hibbard, Seth Child, Ebenezer Champlin, Elisha Lattimer, Cyrus Tuttle, Pearly Brown, Robert Fulton, R. S. Lovell, Michael Tippie, James Pugsley, and others among the early residents of Ames.

December 17th, 1804, a meeting of the shareholders was held at the house of Silvanus Ames, and Ephraim Cutler was elected librarian. It was also "'voted to accept fifty-one books, purchased by Samuel Brown."

At the annual meeting held at the house of Ephraim Cutler, January 7th, 1805, the committee reported that they ''have received pay for thirty-two shares, amounting to $82.50, of which they have laid out $73.50 for books." For this year Benjamin Brown, Ephraim Cutler and Daniel Weethee were elected the committee of managers, and Ephraim Cutler librarian. '' Voted that the thanks of this association be transmitted, post paid, to the Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, for his assistance rendered in the selection and purchase of the books which constitute our library." The list of this first purchase of books is before us. It contains '' Robertson's North America;" '' Harris' Encyclopedia," 4 volumes; **Morse's Geography," 2 volumes; *Adams' Truth of Religion;" ''Goldsmith's Works," 4 volumes; ''Evelina," 2 volumes; 'Children of the Abbey," 2 volumes; "Blairs Lectures;" ''Clark's Dis- courses;" ''Ramsey's American Revolution," 2 volumes; ''Goldsmith's Animated Nature," 4 volumes; *Playfair's History of Jacobinism," 2 volumes; * George Barnwell;" ''Camilla," 3 volumes; ** Beggar Girl" 3 volumes, &c. Later purchases included *Shakspeare;" "Don Quixote;" ''Locke's Essays," "Scottish Chiefs," * Josephus," **Smith's Wealth of Nations," "Spectator," **Plutarch's Lives," "Arabian Nights," ''Life of Washington," &c. In 1807 John Brown was elected librarian, and William Green, Thos.

librarian. In 1809 John Brown, Benjamin Brown and Seth Fuller were elected managers, and John Brown librarian. In 1811 (under the incorporating act) Silvanus Ames, Ezra Green and George Ewing were chosen directors, Seth Fuller, treasurer, and Benjamin Brown, librarian. In 1812, '13 and ' 14 the same officers were re-elected. In 1815 Seth Fuller, Geo. Walker and Ezra Green were chosen directors, John Brown, 2d, treasurer, and Benjamin Brown, librarian. From 1816 to 1820 the directors were Seth Fuller, Josiah True and Ezra Green. Benjamin Brown was librarian during 1816 and 1817, and Dr. Ezra Walker during 1818 and 1819.*

*A somewhat fanciful account of the formation of this library has heretofore appeared in print styling it the ** Coon-skin library," and stating that the first purchase of books was made wholly with the furs and skins of wild animals. Some hunting adventures supposed to have occurred in the pursuit of skins are,given, and the founders of the library appear rather in the light of literary Nimrods, with whom the chase was an intellectual pastime, and every crack of whose rifles brought down a volume of poems or history. The account we have given is the correct one, our facts having been obtained from one of the surviving founders, and from the records. Certainly some coon skins were sold to raise money by some of the subscribers; and doubtless some hemp, grain, deer or bear-skins, and whatever else would fetch a price; but the sobriquet of **Coon-skin library'? was only invented comparatively a few years since. "The literal truth about this event is sufficiently interesting, and that we have given.

the formation and early history of this, the first public library formed in the state of Ohio, because of the interesting nature of the event, and because nearly all of the founders of the library have descendants still living in the county, who will read with pride of the part their ancestors took in establishing an institution which worked such great and lasting good. The library received additions from time to time, until there were finally accumulated several hundred volumes - a considerable library for the place and period. Many years later it was divided, and part taken to Dover township (where some of the original stockholders lived), where it formed the nucleus of another library,

Ames township was sold by the shareholders in the year 1860 or 1861 to Messrs. J. H. Glazier, A. W. Glazier and E. H. Brawley, and they afterwards sold it to Mr. William P. Cutler, of Washington county (son of Judge Ephraim Cutler), who still has it in his possession.

In the year 1798 Samuel, John and Thos. McCune, three brothers, and David, Jacob and Peter Boyles, came from Pennsylvania and settled temporarily on the Hockhocking, on what is now N. O. Warren's farm, where they remained till 1802, when they removed to the township of Ames and settled within half a mile of the present village of Amesville. George Ewing, Jun., brother of Thomas Ewing, married a daughter of this David Boyles. The three McCune brothers, as also two of the Boyles brothers, were strong, athletic men, and great hunters, sometimes killing, it is said, twelve or fourteen deer and three or four bears in a day. John McCune was something of a mechanic, and used to repair the guns of his neighbors. On one occasion a man brought his gun to be mended and borrowed McCune's gun to use in the meantime. Before repairing the gun McCune went out with it to kill some game. Coming unexpectedly on a bear, he tried to shoot it, but the gun failed to go off, when the bear, as if seeing his advantage, made for the hunter. McCune, unlike his gun, went off. He ran as fast as he could for some distance, the bear closely pursuing, and Mc- Cune trying every few rods to fire his gun, which, however seemed to like the situation, and refused to be discharged. After running about half a mile, a neighbor's dogs came to his assistance, and Bruin was driven off but not killed. Wolves were, of course, very abundant at that time, and killing a wolf was a common occurrence. The wife of John McCune seeing something pass the door of their cabin one evening which she took for a dog, set their own dog upon it, and, at the same time stepping out of the door, found it was a large black wolf. Arming herself with a pitchfork that stood within reach, she and the dog kept up a running fight of several rods and finally killed the wolf.

Utr Run

fired at and wounded the old bear, and then, wishing to see his dog kill one of the cubs, laid down his gun and. hissed his dog on to attack the cub - the old bear and other cub beating a retreat. Boyles, becoming interested in the fight between his dog and the cub, had approached near them, when he was disagreeably startled by seeing the old bear return, brought by the cries of the cub, and place herself between him and his gun. He was preparing to make the best battle he could with his hunting knife, when McCune, hearing his call for help, hastened to the spot and dispatched the bear by a bullet from his rifle. The sons of the McCune brothers still live in the county, and, like their fathers before them, have been famous hunters and contributed much toward ridding the settlement and eastern part of the county of the wild game and ''vermin" that so annoyed the early settlers. Jacob McCune, one of the sons of John McCune, a few years since, on the occasion of a squirrel hunt, killed in one day one hundred and three grey squirrels, and Samuel McCune, his brother, killed eighty-three.

The year 1805 was a year of unexampled drought, and a scarcity almost amounting to a famine prevailed through all the settlements of this region. The inhabitants of Ames and Athens townships lived almost exclusively during the winter of 1805-6 on the meat of

In 1806 or 1807 Joab Hoisington settled in the township, and in 1807 Azor Nash, an eccentric character, | well known here in early times. Elijah Latimer and Obediah Clark came about the same time. The latter, who married a sister of Thomas Ewing, had been a fifer in the army, and used to play the violin at the country dances in Ames.

The first school taught in the township was in a cabin on the old Cutler place, in 1802, by Charles Cutler, a graduate of Harvard college, and eminently qualified for teaching. At an exhibition given at the close of the term, when the children recited dialogues or other pieces committed for the occasion, Thomas Ewing and John Brown, two of the pupils, spoke the dialogue of Brutus and Cassius, from Shakspeare. In 1804 a log school house was built on Silas Dean's place, near the present village of Amesville, and close by the site of the late George Walker's store. Moses Everett, a graduate of Harvard, taught the first quarter in this house. General John Brown taught here in 1807. The next school house was built in 1811, on Silvanus Ames' farm, and for several years served as a meeting house and school house for the settlement. Sophia Walker, then recently from Vermont, taught the first quarter in this house, and Dr. Ezra Walker, her father, taught here in the winter of 1811-12.

An incident connected with early preaching among the pioneer settlements may be mentioned. A neighborhood in the lower settlement in Ames township, in which ' Squire John Brown lived, secured the services of Elder Asa Stearns, a Free Will Baptist, to preach for them once a month during the year, to be paid with with Ebenezer Currier, at Athens, to take the whisky and allow him therefor twenty-four dollars, to be credited to him toward the farm he had bought of Judge Currier. The contract was faithfully carried out on all hands, Elder Stearns visiting his little congregation every third Saturday of each month during the year, at the end of which he received his salary in whisky and made the transfer of it as agreed to Judge Currier.

The Rev. J. H. Hopkins, an early resident of Ames, says: Among the pioneers of Methodism here were Gulliver Dean and wife, Mr. Haight, Judge Walker's family, the McCunes, &c. The class formed at Ames, early in this century, was ministered to at first by Mr. Austin Thompson and Mr. Dickson, local preachers, and the Rev. Messrs. Ferree, Baker, R. O. Spencer, Henry Fernandez, and Abraham Lippett, Athens circuit, preached to them. A great many years ago, when William Miller first published his lectures on the prophecies concerning the second coming of Christ, some of our people became very much alarmed to think the

. quite a good woman too, no doubt, but possessed of a large share of credulousness, and consequently ready to - gulp down almost anything that came from the mouth of Mr. Miller touching the signs of Christ's coming and the end of the world. She awoke one winter night, the weather extremely cold; quite a deep snow had fallen, and the roads and sledding were fine. The wind was blowing hard, and a lot of old clap-boards that had been loosely thrown down near the house, were flapping and making quite a noise. She shook the old man and told him to arise, for the day of judgment had come, or at least that Gabriel and his angels were at hand. The old man raised himself up a little and said: 'Old woman, what put this into your head? you are always anticipating some wonderful event.' 'It must be so,' was the reply, 'for I have been listening for some time to the rumbling of Gabriel's chariot wheels.' The old man told her just to lie down and be quiet, for said he, 'Gabriel is too wise a creature ever to come to our

In early times much attention was given to militia organizations. The first organization in the eastern part of the county was made at the house of Judge Ames, in 1803, when Silvanus Ames was elected captain, Josiah True, of Dover township, lieutenant, and Samuel Brown, of Ames, ensign. The first company muster in the same neighborhood was in 1804. At the next elec- tion of officers, in 1808, John Brown was made captain and George Ewing lieutenant. John Brown was subsequently advanced to major, colonel and brigadier general, to which last pasition he was elected in 1817, the brigade being composed of Athens, Morgan, Washington, Meigs, Gallia, and Vinton counties. The first battalion muster was held at Athens in 1805. Another was held a short time afterward on Esquire Daniel Stewart's place in Rome township, and a third on Wm. Henry's place in Canaan. Regimental musters were held annually for many years at Athens, and Colonel Jehiel Gregory, of Athens, was the first colonel; after him came Silvanus Ames, Edmund Dorr, John Brown, Charles Shipman, Calvary Morris, Absalom Boyles, Nathan Dean, Ziba Lindley, Jun., Charles Cutler, Jonas Rice, and Amos Thompson.

General John Brown was lister of lands for Ames township in 1807, in connection with which he recalls the following anecdote. As his quaint style can not be improved, we give his own words: "In 1807 I was elected lister (an office somewhat like the present assessor) of Ames township, which at that time was about thirty miles east and west, and twelve or fourteen miles north and south, while the inhabitants were few and far between. In discharging that duty I learned how hard it is to levy taxes so as to give satisfaction to all. At that time the tax on all horses three years old, in April preceding, was forty cents per head; on all cattle varicate, sometimes the man of the family was not at home, and the woman did not know, &c. One old lady I found fully posted. I had looked about the place and found they did work with two yoke of cattle; but the woman said these were 'late calves' - would be three years old during the summer. There were several cows evidently giving milk, but, somehow, none but the bell cow was old enough for me. Out of a lot of three or four horses only one was three years old. I quizzed the old lady about the singularity of nearly all the colts and calves in the settlement coming after April. 'Ah,' said she, 'you are a single man and young yet, but you wi// learn that Providence arranges these things. That was a clincher, and I left."

The same year the county commissioners appointed him collector of the resident land tax, and the following is a copy of the land tax duplicate as levied by him that year for the whole township:

The first election for township officers in Ames was held June 1, 1802 (nearly three years before the organization of the county), at the house of Silvanus Ames, and resulted as follows:

Nathan Woodbury, George Ewing and Samuel Brown, trustees; Daniel Weethee, clerk; Josiah True and Samuel Brown, overseers of the poor; Nathan Woodbury, Joseph Pugsley and John Swett, fence viewers; George Wolf and Christopher Herrold, house appraisers; Daniel Converse, lister; Samuel Brown and Benjamin Brown, supervisors; Daniel Converse and Silvanus Ames, constables.

Benjamin Brown, Silvanus Ames and Daniel Weethee, trustees; George Ewing, clerk; Nathan Woodbury and Joshua Wyatt, overseers of the poor; Benjamin Brown, John Brown and Samuel Brown, fence viewers; Jacob Boyles and Edmund Dorr, house appraisers; Josiah True, lister; William Brown, John Brown and Josiah True, supervisors; William Brown and Josiah True, constables.

The original township of Ames contained three hundred and sixty square miles - more than one fourth of ' the territorial area of Rhode Island. By the formation of new townships and counties at intervals during forty years, her extensive domain has been reduced to six miles square - the limits of a regular surveyed township. Ames has not kept pace with some other parts of the county in population, being now ninth in that regard; but in respect of the character of her population, business enterprise, moral and educational movements, etc., she is second to none.

Amesville, handsomely located and well built, is a thriving and interesting village. One of the best academies in the county is located here. It originated in a meeting of the citizens held in November, 1852, to consider their educational wants, when George Wyatt, Robert Henry, J. T. Glazier, James Patterson, and A. S. Dickey, were appointed a committee to report a plan for organizing a seminary. They reported on the 25th of that month, and this action was followed in due time by the incorporation of **The Amesville Academy."

The school has been exceedingly well sustained, and is one of marked usefulness. Its teachers have been Mr. J. P. Weethee, from 1854 to 1856; P. B. Davis, from 1856 to 1857; A. C. Kelly, from 1857 to 1858; Mr. McGonagle, from 1858 to 1860; E. P. Henry, from 1860 to 1861; J. H. Doan, from 1861 to 1862; J. M. Goodspeed, from 1862 to 1864; Miss L. M. Dowling, from 1864 to 1866. The present teachers are the Rev. H. C. Cheadle, principal, and Miss M. G. Keyes, assistant, under whose management the school is growing in popularity and usefulness.

Ephraim Cutler, known in the early history of Athens county as Judge Cutler, was the oldest son of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, and was born at Edgartown, Duke's county, Massachusetts, April 12th, 1767. He did not receive a collegiate education, but, being an industrious reader, he acquired during youth considerable mental culture, 'and a large store of useful knowledge. From the age of three years he lived with his grandparents, at Killingly, Connecticut, both of whom he was wont to mention in after life with great respect and affection. His grandfather was a pure and pious man, and an ardent patriot. In a sketch written long afterward,

* [ well remember that the express with the news of the battle of Lexington, which was the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, came directly to my grandfather's house in the night after the battle. He was in bed, and I slept with him. He arose immediately and fired his gun three times, which was, doubtless, the agreed signal, as it was universally expected that there would be an attack from the British. Before sunrise he, with fifteen others, had started for the battlefield. Before leaving he gave a particular charge to his housekeeper to provide carefully for the wants of any soldier who might call during his absence."

In 1787 Mr. Cutler married Miss Leah Atwood, of Killingly, a lady whose great worth and excellence of character were for many years well known in Athens county. After his marriage he engaged for a few years in mercantile pursuits at Killingly. In 1795 he accepted the agency of the Ohio Company, in which he had been a shareholder from the beginning, and, on the 15th of June in that year, set out with his wife and four children for the company's purchase in the northwestern territory. The journey was made in the usual way of that time - in wagons across the mountains to the headwaters of the Ohio, and thence down the river in a small flat boat. While descending the river they lost two of their children, Hezekiah, the youngest, and Mary, the eldest, whose remains were buried in the forest on the banks of the beautiful river. They arrived at Marietta, September 18, 1795, having been more than three months on the way, and thirty-one days on the river. At Marietta Mr. Cutler lay sick for several weeks in the block house. As soon as he was able they proceeded to the garrison at Waterford, where they remained till the spring of 1799. The circumstances of his removal to and settlement in Ames, in 1799, are narrated elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Cutler brought with them to their new home four children - Nancy and Charles, born in New England, and Mary and Daniel, born in Waterford. All of these, except Charles, are still living. Nancy, now Mrs. Carter, lives in Franklin county, Ohio. Mary, Mrs. Gulliver Dean, lives in Ames township, near the old Cutler homestead. Daniel lives in Kansas and is an intelligent and prosperous farmer.

For the next few years Mr. Cutler devoted himself with great energy to developing the interests of the Ohio Company, and of the Amesville settlement in particular, taking a leading part in all the social, political and educational movements of the day. During the first year of his residence in the territory he had been commissioned by Governor St. Clair captain of the militia, justice of the peace, judge of the court of quarter sessions and of the court of common pleas. He was appointed by the territorial legislature, at its first session, one of the seven commissioners to lease the school and ministerial lands in each township of the Ohio Company's purchase. In September, 1801, while living in Ames, Judge Cutler was elected to represent Washington county in the territorial legislature. At this legislature, which sat at Chillicothe, the question of the formation of a state government came up, and Judge Cutler and his colleague, William R. Putnam, doing this they represented the wishes of their constituents, who were opposed to forming a state government so soon. This vote made them for a short time very unpopular in Chillicothe, and for two nights a mob threatened to attack the house where they boarded. In September, 1802, still living in Ames, Judge Cutler was chosen as one of the four delegates from Washington county to the convention to form a state constitution. In this convention, and in the framing of the first constitution of Ohio, he exercised a large influence. Article III, establishing the judicial system of the state, was almost wholly shaped and drafted by him. But the greatest service rendered by Judge Cutler in this convention was his determined opposition to the introduction of slavery into the state of Ohio; for, strange as it may seem, a strong effort was midde to fasten this system on the state, notwithstanding the positive language and the solemn compact of the ordinance of 1787. There were delegates in the convention who, representing the sentiments of settlers from slaveholding states, claimed that the ordinance was in the nature of a contract, and was not binding till its terms had been accepted by the new state; and, consequently, that if she chose to reject any portion of the proposed terms, it was competent for her to do so, while adopting her fundamental law and becoming a state. We have not space to describe the contest in detail. A determined effort was made by the party referred to to plant slavery on the soil of Ohio, and the great name and influence of Thomas Jefferson were used to further the attempt.* Judge Cutler stood in the breach, and with all his power and great persistency battled against this movement. His friends rallied around him; he was finally successful, and to Ephraim Cutler more than to any other man posterity is indebted for shutting and barring the doors against the introduction into Ohio of the monstrous system of African slavery.

Mr. Cutler also took a leading part in framing and securing the passage of secs. 3, 25 and 26 of article VIII of the constitution, relating to religion and education.

In December, 1806, Judge Cutler removed from ` Athens to Washington county, settling on the Ohio river about six miles below Marietta. Here his first wife died in 1807. In 1808 he married Sarah Parker, a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Four of the children by this marriage are still living, the only son, William P. Cutler, being esteemed among the first men