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HISTOEY

PORTAGE COUNTY,

OHIO.

Containing A History of the County, its Townships, Towns,
Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, etc.; Portraits of
Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies;
History of the Northwest Territory; His-
tory OF Ohio; Statistical and Mis-
cellaneous Matter, ETC., ETC.

ILLTJSTI^J^TEID.

CHICAGO:

WARNER, BEERS & CO

1885.

<2.

CHICAGO: ^ »)

■ ^— y^" John Morris Company » 'j^ <
*• ^ PRINTERS. Vv

PREFACE.

TN submitting the Histor}' of Portage County to the public, the publishers
-■- trust that it will be received in that generous spirit which is gratified at
honest and conscientious eftbrt. The impbrtance of rescuing from oblivion
and preserving, in a permanent form, the pioneer annals of the county and
its various local communities has been duly appreciated by its citizens,
whose assistance has contributed materially to the success of the work.

In the compilation of the many chapters it has been the earnest
endeavor of our writers to disengage from the great mass of facts those
which relate to the permanent forces of the county, or which indicate the
most enduring featiu'es of its growth and prosperity. Free use was made
of the State reports and county records, as well as of all reliable sources of
information bearing on the history of this section of Ohio, such as Howe's
"Historical Collections," Gen. Lucius V. Bierce's sketches of the first set-
tlements on the Western Reserve, Christian Cackler's reminiscences of pio-
neer times, the late John Harmon's recollections of the war of 1812, Reid's
"Ohio in the War," and the early newspaper files so wisely preserved by
Col. William Frazer, and now in possession of his son Homer C. Frazer, Esq. ,
of Ravenna, who kindly gave our historians free access to said files at all
times. In every part of the county descendants of the pioneers were inter-
viewed, and their recollections carefully sifted and compared. Private
papers and family manuscripts have thus been drawn forth from their hiding
places, and every effort made to glean from the husks of tradition the scat-
tered grains of truth.

For the convenience of its readers the book is divided into four parts:
Part I contains a condensed history of the Northwest Territory. Part II, a
history of the State of Ohio. Part III embraces the general history of
Portage County, its townships, towns and villages. The general history
of the county. Chapters I to XIII inclusive, was written by Mr. R, C.
Brown, of Chicago, 111., and Chapters XIY to XXXIV inclusive were mostly

iv PREFACE.

compiled by Mr. J. E. Norris of the same city; while the complimentary
sketches in Part IV were obtained by a corps of solicitors, and a copy of
each sketch submitted for correction to the subject or his friends, on whom
we have depended for accuracy.

The publishers avail themselves of this opportunity to thank the county,
township, town and village officials, the editors of the several newspapers?
and the members of every profession and calling throughout the county
who in any way assisted the historians in their labors, for their generous
sympathy toward the enterprise. Special acknowledgments are due to
Enos P. Brainerd, Esq., Homer C. Frazer, Esq., Samuel D. Harris, Esq.,
Hon. Marvin Kent and Dr. A. M. Sherman, all of whom rendered impor-
tant aid to the general historian and his assistants in gathering authentic
historical data. We place the volume in the hands of our patrons with the
belief that it will be found a valuable contribution to local historical liter-
ature.

THE PUBLISHERS.

CONTENTS.

PAET I.

HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

PAGE.

Geogiaiiliical I'osition 17

Early Explorations 17

Discovery of the Ohio 2G

English Explorations and Settlements 28

PAGE.

Aiucrican Settlements 53

Division of the Northwest Territory 58

Tecumseh and tlicWarof 1S12 Gl

Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War (11

PART 11.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

History of Ohio ;... 7s

French History 7G

Ordinance of 1787, No. 32 87

Comments upon the Ordinance of 1787, from the

Statutes of Ohio. Edited by Salmon P.

C'hase, and Published in the year 1833 91

The War of 1812 107

Banking Ill

The Canal System 113

Ohio Land Tracts 114

Improvements 119

State Boundaries 121

Organization of Counties 122

Description of Counties 122

Early Events 122

Governors of Ohio 143

Ancient Works 157

Some Genera! Characteristics 160

Outline Geology of Ohio 1G2

Ohio's Rank During the War of the Kebelliou... 165
A Brief Mention of Prominent Oliio (ienerals... 177

Some Discussed Subjects 172

Conclusion isi

PART III.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

OHAPTEPt I.— iNTROnucTORY — Organization —

Area and Population 187-197

Primitive Appearance of the Country —
The Claims of Virginia and Connecticut—
The Connecticut Western Keserve — Dona-
tion of Fire Lands, and Sale of the Balance
to the Connecticut Land Comi)any — Indian
Titles Extinguished — Ordinance "of 1787—
Arrival of the First Surveying Corps at
Conueaut — The Reserve Surveyed into
Townships— Trials and Sulferings of the
Surveyors— Erection of .lett'erson and Trum-
bull Counties — Organization of Franklin
Township— Portage County Erected, and
Selection of its Seat of Justice— First Elec-
tion, and Organization of the County —
Minutes of the First Meeting of the Com-
missioners — Original Townships — Tax
Levies and Collectors of 1808— First Year's
Receipts and Expenditures — Changes in the
AVestern Boundary Line— Present Bound-
aries — Origin of the Name of the County —
The Portage Path — Areas and Townships —
Population Statistics.

CHAPTER II.— Portage County Ninety

Years Ago— Geology 198-217

Portage County Ninety Years Ago — Tim-
ber and Fruit-Bearing Trees and Vines —
Roots and Herbage — Wild Animals, Birds
and Reptiles — Big Hunts — General Topog-
raphy, Streams and Lakes — Geology of
Portage County — Surface Features and De-
posits — Geological Structure — Coal Measures

— Coal No. 1 — Coals Nos. 3 and 4 — Fire Cllay
— Altitudes in Portage County above Lake
Erie.

CHAPTER III.— Archeology— Indian His-
tory 217-228

The Pre-llistoric Races — Mound-Builders
— Their Great Anti()uity— Occupation of the
Country — The Wonderful Monuments
Which They Left Behind Them — Some Evi-
dences of TheirEx-istence in Portage County
- -The North American Indians — Their j->up-
posed Origin— Brief Sketch of Them- In-
dians of Portage County — The Great Trail —
— The Indian Chiefs Bigson, Stignish and
Big Cayuga— Extracts from the Reminis-
cences of Christian Cackler of the Indians
of this Section.

CHAPTER IV.— Pioneers— First Settle-

HENT.s 228-240

The I'ioneers of Portage County — Their
Heroic Perseverance and Privations— New
England Transplanted on the Connecticut
Western Reserve— The First Settlement
Made Within the Limits of Portage County
—First Settlers of Mantua, Ravenna, Auro-
ra and Atwater Townships — Atwater Hall,
the First White Child Born in the County-
First Settlers of Palmyra, Dcerfield, Nelson,
Rootstown, Randolph, Sutfield, Charles-
town, Hiram, Franklin, Shalersville, Edin-
burg, Windham, Paris, Brimtield, Freedom,
Streetsboro and Garrettsville Townships —
The Portage-Summit Pioneer Association.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

CHAPTER v.— Pioneer Days— Habits, Cus-
toms, ETC 241-260

Pioneer Days and Trials — Habitations of
the First Settlers — Furniture, Food and
Medicine^ — Habits, Labor and I)ress — Early
Manners and Customs — Bees and Weddings
— The Hominy lilock and Pioneer Mills —
Prices of Store Goods and Produce — Items
From an Old Cash Book — Mode of Livinfc —
Churches and Schools — Period of the War
of ]8r2^Prices After the War — First Crops
Raised in the County — Agricultural Imple-
ments of the Pioneers, and Subsequent Im-
provements Made in Them — Pioneer Farm-
ing — Cheese and Butter Statistics — First
Stock Brought into the County — Stock Sta-
tistics Since 1840— Statistics of Wheat, Corn,
Oats and Hay— Total Valuation of I'roperly
by Decades — Portage County Agricultural
Societies — Portage County Horticultural
Society.

CHAPTER VI.— Militia— War of 1812 2G0-2S2

First Military Organization on the West-
ern Reserve— War of 1812 and First Call
for Volunteers — John Harmon's Recollec-
tions of the War — Second Regiment Ohio
Militia — Capt. John Campbell's Company of
Volunteers — Camp on Barrel Run — March
to Cleveland, and Embarkation for Lower
Sandusky — Description of the Trip and Ar-
rival — Incidents at the Fort, and Sickness
Among the Soldiers — Departure for the
River Raisin — Hull's Surrender — Start for
Maiden, and Arrival at That Point— Pa-
roled Prisoners— Return Home of the Sick
and Paroled Men — Deaths in the Command
— Alarm Caused by the Surrender — Regi-
mental Record of the Second Regiment —
Response to a Call for Troops in 181-3. — Jlr.
Harmon's Concluding Remarks— The In-
habitants of Portage County Fear an Indian
Invasion — Distresijing Incident of the War
— Re-organization of the Militia— Muster
Days and Sham Fights.

CHAPTER VII.— Internal lMPROVEMENTS.282-297
Internal Improvements— The Great In-
dian Trail— Pioneer Roads of Portage Coun-
ty — Mail Facilities and I^etter Postage —
Stage Routes and Drirers — Canals— Early
Canal Legislation— The Ohio Canal Com-
menced and Completed— Pennsylvania A
Ohio Canal — The Efforts Made to
Have it Built— Its Construction and Com-
pletion—First Boats Arrive at Ravenna-
Subsequent Success of the Enterprise-
Causes Which Led to its Abandonment—
Railroads— Cleveland & Pittsburgh— Cleve-
land A ]\Iahoning Valley— Atlantic ct Great
AVestern— Cleveland, Yonngstown & Pitts-
burgh — Connotton Vallev — Pittsliurgh,
Cleveland & Toledo— The Proposed Clinton
Air Line, and the General Railroad Facili-
ties of the County.

CHAPTER VIII.-Educational 207-309

Education in Ohio— Lands (jranted for
Educational Purposes — Commissioners of
Schools and School Lands in 1822— The
School Lands Sold and a School Fund Estab-
lished — Pioneer Schools, Schoolhouses,
Teachers and Books in Portage County-
How Teachers were Employed and Paid—
An Amusing Agreement— Growth of Edu-
cation—Government and Progress of Schools
Prior to 1851— Schools for Colored Youth
Established — Reorganization of Schools
Under the Laws of 1853— Present Govern-
ment of Schools.

CHAPTER IX.— Official, Political, etc..309-327
Public Officers— Members of Congress-
State Senators— Territorial and State Rep-
resentatives — County Commissioners —
Treasurers— Clerks— Recorders-Auditors-
Sheritls — Coroners — Surveyors — Probate
Judges— Seat of Justice and Public Build-
ings — Prison Bounds- County Infirmary-
Political Statistics of Portage County — First

Election Held, with the Names of the Can-
didates and Voters — Gubernatorial and
Presidential Vote.

CHAPTER X.— Judiciary— Medical 328-344

The Judiciary — Organization of the Court
of Common Pleas in Ohio, and its Subse-
quent Changes — Pioneer Courts of Portage
County — Sessions of 1808-09, and the Juries
and Trials of Those Two Years^Anecdotes
of Pioneer Justice in This County — Com-
mon Pleas Judges — Associate Judges — Prose-
cuting Attorneys — Riding the Circuit — I^io-
ueer Resident and Visiting Lawyers — Brief
Sketches of Leading IMembers of the Bench
and Bar — Present Bar of Portage County —
The Portage County Medical Association.

CHAPTER XL— Noted Criminal Events..3 17-301
The Most Noted Criminal Events in the
History of Portage County — Trials and Sen-
tences of the Culprits— The Alleged Crime
of John McManus— The Murder of Mathews
by Aunghst — The Muider of Cummings by
Harris — The Murder of Catherine McKisson
by Her r>rother-in-l.aw, David McKisson —
The HeatbiuanMauslaugbterCase — Alanson
Baldwin Stabbed to Death by His Nephew,
Lemuel W. Price — Attempted Killing of
Prentiss by Flower — The Shorts-Wilson
Shooting— The Murder of John Rhodeu-
baugh by Jack Cooper and Joel Beery —
Harriet Musson Murdered by Wilson S.
• Roof — Shooting of Alfred L. Ilarris by His
Father — The "Kelso-Montague Case — The
Newell-Roberts Atfair.

CHAPTER XII.— The Press 362-372

The Newspapers of the Past and Present
— Ravenna l'a|)ers — Western Cotirier and the
Western Public A<h:ertiser — Ohio Star — Walch-
miiTi^ /lackei/e Democrat — Western Reserve
Cahinet and Fdiiiity Visitor — Plain Dealer —
Porlai/R Sentinel — Portage Count ii Whig, and
Home Companion and Whi(t — Purtai/i- Couitty
Democrat, Jiepuldican-Democral, and Ravenna
Republican — Independent Press and Reformer
— Hickory Hail and Fusion T/iresher — Arfjus
— Democratic Press — Porlage County Rejiul>-
lican — ^Kent Newspapers — Proposed Frunklin
Gazette — The Omnium Gatherum and its
Successors: Tlie Family Visitor, Literary
Casket, Cuyalioi/a. Reporter, Satuniaij Reriew.
Commercial Bulletin, Saturday llidhtin, and
Kent Saturday lUdletin — Kent iVeim of 1807 —
Present Kent Aews — Garrettsville News-
papers — Garrettsville 3IontIdy Review — Gar-
rettsville Journal — Home Bazar — Atwater
Newspapers — Sharp Sickle — Atwater News.

CHAPTER XIII.— War of the Rebeli.ion..373-391
Portage County in tlio Rebellion —The
Patriotic Feeling of Her People at the Be-
ginning of the Great Struggle for National
Life— Meetings Held to Denounce Treason
and to Support the Government— Enroll-
ment of Volunteers Under the President's
First Call, and Their Departure for Camp
Taylor — Good Work of the Relief Commit-
tees, and Generosity of the Citizens— The
Number of Men Sent into the War by Each
Township, and the Commands in Which
They Served— Official Roster of Commis-
sioned Officers from this County— Amount
of Money Annually I^xpended for War Pur-
poses by Portage County from 1861 to 1805
— Closing Scenes of the War— Public I)em-
onstrations of Great Joy Over its Glorious
Termination— The Rejoicings of the People
Suddenly Turned to (irief by the Assassin-
ation of President Lincoln.

CHAPTER XIV.— Atwater Township 392-399

Arrival of Atwater and Others— Early
Privations— Birth of First Child— Another
Lone Settler — Organization — Marriages and
Deaths— Some Old and New Things— An
Ancient Musket — Early Churches and
Preachers — Schools — Newspapers— Indus-
tries, etc. — Officers and Statistics.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.— Aurora Township 400-405

Ebenezer Sheldon— First Legal Business
— A Lonely Couple— A Moilel Pioneer Wile
— Other Settlers— Early Hardships— Organi-
zation — The Methodist Circuit Pvider— l-'irst
Church and SchDols— First Birth and Death
and Other First Things — Hunters and Hunt-
ing Stories— Early Facts— A Small Meeting
with Large Results — Churches and Schools
— Business, etc. — Statistics.
CHAPTER XVL— Brimfield Township.. ..40.5-411
A Many-named Township— Equalizing
Lands — Explorers and Settlers — Location of
tiie Early Pioneers — Organization and Pol-
itics — Three Clas.ses of First Events — Educa-
tion and Religion — Business Beginnings —
Large Shippers — Resources — Statistics.
CHAPTER XVII. — CiiARLESTOWN Town-
ship 412-415

A Hunter Squatter — First Permanent Set-
tler—The Blandlbrd & Granville Co.— Post-
Bellum Settlers — Fifty-six in Four Families
— Leading First Events — First Birth and
Marriage — First Mills— Schools and ( hurches
— Rev. Caleb Pitkin — Organization — Offi-
cers, Business, etc.
CHAPTER XVIIL— Deekfield Town,ship.416-423
Breaking First Ground — Settlers of ISOO
— The Elys, Days and Divers — A Trip on the
Ma-um-ing — Hardships and Privations —
Great Increase — First Military Company —
After the Organization — A Kcmarkahle
Family — Some Early Facts — Grant's Tan-
nery — Shooting of Diver — Hunters and
Hunting — Early I'reachers and Churches —
Schools, Business and .Statistics.

CHAPTER XIX.— Edinbi-rg Township 424-431

Early Settlement — Abbott and Chapman
— Other Pioneers — Rial JIcArthur and R.
M. JIart — Some Noted Names — Organization
and Officers — The Champion llunt — Old
Time Adventures, Facts and Social JCvents —
Churches and Schools — Edinbnrg Center —
]?usiness, Resources and Statistics.
CHAPTER XX.— Franklin Township and

Kent 431-452

First Settlement — The Haymakers — A
Primitive Mill— Early I'acts and Settlers —
Contest for the County Seat — Low I'rice of
Produce — First Burying Ground — Rceds-
bury — Organization — First Law Suit —
Cackler's (ieese — Important Primitive In-
dustries — Fine Water-Power — The Manu-
facture of Gla.ss — The Twin Villages in 1.S27 —
The Rival Taverns — Early Merchants, etc.,
etc. — Progress of Improvement — y^enas
Kent — Franklin Land Company — The Ca-
nal Outrage — Franklin & Warren Railroad
— Incorporation — Increase of Business —
Standing Rock Cemetery — Names, Ages
and Iieaths of Some Early Settlers — .lohn
Brown — Brady's Leap — Primitive Schools
and Religion — Sketches of the Churches-
Free and Accepted Masons — Odd Fellowship
— other Orders and Societies.

CHAPTER XXL— Freedom Township 452-459

Before the Organization — Charles H.
Paine, the First Settler— A Lone Pioneer —
More Arrivals— First Election — A Thought-
ful Veteran— Paul Larkcom— A Number of
First Things— Churches and Schools- Hor-
ace Greeley's Uncle — The Army Hunt— Sad
Death — Sagacity of a Dog— Business and Sta-
tistics.
CHAPTER XXII.— Garrettsville To^VN-

ship 459-400

Arrival of Col. John Garrett— The First
Mill— Slow Growth— The Dual (iovernment
— Business, Manufacturing, etc. — The Fair
—Churches— Union Schools— Masonic Bo-
dies—Odd Fellowship— Young Meji's Temper-
ance Council — ( cood Templars — Statistics.

CHAP'I'Fi; XXTIL— HiKAM Township 460-475

Who was the First Settler .'—Honey and
Williams— Mason and Tilden— Other Perma-

PAOE.

nent Settlers — The Youngs,Ben jamin Hinck-
ley and Samuel Udall— Many First Events —
Churches and Schools — Hiram College —
President James A. Garfield — Organization
and Origin of Name— The Mormons — Tar-
ring and Feathering Smith and Rigdon —
Rich Land, Beautiful Location and Business.

CHAPTER XXIV.— Mantua Township 47.5-485

First Settler of Portage County — First
Wheat — Amzi Atwater — Elias Harmon —
Other Settlers — Organization — First Birth,
Marriage and Death — Primitive Industries
— A Peculiar Character — Another Queer
One — Judge Atwater's Bear Fight -( 'hurches
andSchools— Business, Soil, etc.— Mantua Sta-
tion — ^Mantua Corners — Masonry — Statistics.

CHAPTER XXV.— Nelson Township 480-494

Coming of the Pioneers — The Mills Broth-
ers — Two Lonesome Families — Important

Arrivals — Heads of Families in 1815 — First

Buildings — First Arrivals and Departui-es^^^"^
Churches and Schools — Taverns, Mills and
Roads — Fiat Juslilia, Ruat Ccelum. — Exploits
of Capt. Mills — Summary— Township Offi-
cers — The Ledges — Statistics.

CHAPTER XXVL— Palmyra Township 495-505

The Vanguard — Pioneer Daniels — Capt.
Baldwin, Truman Gilbert, Artemus Rug-
gles— The (ireat Trail — A Noted Character
— Pioneer Dentistry— A Famous Trapper —
An Irate F. F. V. — "Moses Jabe" Gilbert,
the Contractor — Numerous First Events —
Preacher and Churches — Schools and Teach-
ers — Organization — Palmyra Center — Dia-
mond — Coal Banks — Business, Societies and
Statistics.

CHAPTER XXVIL— Paris Township 505-508

Good Land with a Bad Name — Slow Set-
tlement— Organization— Ch u r c h e s and
Schools — Some First Events — Notable Hap-
penings — McClintocksburg and Newport —
Officers, Business, Resources and Statistics.
CHAPTER XXVIII.— Randolph TowNsniP.511-518
First Two Settlers — Bela Hubbard and
Salmon Ward — The Tide Flows On — Ward's
Four Trips — Oliver Dickinson — First Deaths,
Births and .Alarriages — Initial Industries —
A Few Early Facts— Organization and Offi-
cers — Churches and School.s— Old and New
Incidents — The Hubbard Squash — Randolph
Fair — Underground Railroad— Soil, Streams
and Statistics.
CHAPTER XXIX.— Ravenna Township and

City 518-544

Original Proprietors — The Pioneers — First
Cabin — Benjamin Tappan — First Birth and
Death— Primitive Mills— The Village Site in
ISOG — A Threshing Machine — Laying Out of
the Village— First I'.uilding— Old Burying
Ground — .Schools and Scholars — First Court
House and Jail— Recipe for Clearing off
Stumps— Two Old Structures — An Incident
of 1812 — Pen Picture of Primitive Ravenna
— John Brown's l^'ather — Jesse (irant's Tan-
nery — Some Noted Settlers — Some Early
Facts— Two Notable Raisings— First Sun-
day-School — Sundry Items — Early Merch-
ants — A School Needed— First School Meet-
ing — Growth of the City— Incorporation —
Industries— Banks and Banker.s — Pioneer
Preachers on Religion — First ^Congregation-
al Church, and Rev. C. B. Storrs- Methodist
Episcopal Church— Disciples Church— Uni-
versalist Church — Church of the Immacu-
late Conception— Episcopal Church— Secret
and other Societies— Statistics.
CHAPTER XXX. — Rootstown Township..544-552
The First Cabin— David Root— A Sad
Death— First Wheat Crop- Nathan Muzzy—
A Distillery— An Alien Justice— First Birth
— The Chapmans— First Frame Structure-
Mother Ward— The Fir.st Criminal— Primi-
tive Schools— The Old Grave-yard— Early
Churches— Organ ization and Officers— Noted
Events— Soil, Products and Statistics.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

CHAPTER XXXI.— Shaleesville Town-
ship 552-557

A Pioneer l-'amily— Early Privations-
Some O'ther Settlers— Three Self-made Men
—Silas Crocker, Sylvester Beecher, David
Mcintosh — Organization— Births, Deaths
and Marria^'cs— Muzzy and His Mill— I'irst
Industries— Schools and Churches-War llee-
ord— Incidents and Facts— An Aged Land-
Mark— Business— Resources-Statistics.

CHAPTER XXXII. — Streetsboeo Town-
ship 558-

Rapid Settlement — Some AVell-known
Names— Cleveland & Wellsville Turnpike-
Organization— No Paupers Wanted— I^arly
Liberality and Enterprise— A Few First
Events— Churches and Schools— Business,
Officers, etc.— Statistics.

CHAPTER X X X ITI.—SuFFiELn TowNsniP..563-5G7
A Fine T(i\vnsliip--One Lonely Settler-
Benjamin Italdwiii, and the "Baldwin"
Apple— Other Settlers— Honest .John Fritch
—A Noted Hunter— Two Organizations— A
"Flustrated" Justice— First Mills, Stores,
etc. — Coming of the Germans — First
Churches and Schools— First Birth and
Death— Mogadore—Suffleld Center- A Du-
plex Town, etc.— Statistics, etc.— Business,
Resources and Oiiicers.
CHAPTER XXXIV.— WiNniiAM TowNSniP..5r)7-574
The Becket Land Company— The March
Westward— Some ICaily Settlors— Organiza-
tion and Officers — ( :hurches and I're.achors —
Initial Events of Interest— Primitive Edu-
cators—Building and Enterprise— Business
— Grand Array— Township Otticers— Statis-
tics.

PAKT lY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Atwater Township

Aurora Township

Brimlield Township

Charlestown Township

Deerlicld Township

Edinlmi^ Township

Franklin Township

Freedom /Township '1°

(larrettsvillo Township 723

Hiram Township 741

Mantua Township 7o2

577
593
601
017
G21
r.:'.7
R58

Nelson Township ;^'l

I'almyra Towushij) 777

Paris Township 7S2

Randolph Township 783

Ravenna Township S09

Uootstown Township 862

Shalersville Township 878

Streetshoro Township 885

Suflield Township ^^^

Windham Township 911

PORTRAITS.

... 407
... 541)
.... 418
... 49S
... 499
,... 529

Adams, Horace, SufBeld Township

Atwood, .Toshua, Freedom Towusliip

Bloomfield, Lewis M.. Kandolph Townshii

Boszor, Henry, Brimtield Township

Boszor, Sarah N., Brimlield Township

Brainerd, E. P., Ravenna Township

Carlton, Peter, Mantua Township 376

Carlton, Clarissa, Mantua Township 377

Clapp, Selali S., l''ranklin Township 640

Clapp, Mrs. Marv, Franklin Township 641

Crocker, Silas, Siuilorsville Township 334

f^rocker, Mrs. Cynthia, Slialersvillo Township... 335

Davidson, .lames F., Brimlield Township 600

Day, Luther, Ravenna Township 81

Dewey, George, Franklin Township 438

Dunn, James, Garrettsville 233

Earl, Ebenezer W., Windham Township 682

Eggleston, i ien. Nelson, Aurora Township 509

Foster, Jonathan, Mantua Township 254

Fowler, Heujamin, Nelson Township 540

Fuller, C. C, Nelson Township 203

Gartield, Jaraes A 47

Garfield, Mrs. Lucrelia R 213

Gibbs, Mason, Deevllcld Township 609

Gorby, Thomas, Kandolpli 'I'owiiship 314

Hart, Reuben, Ihimlield I'owiisliip 569

Hartzell, John, Deerlield Township 662

Hawley, E., Paris Township 651

Haymaker, J. D., Franklin Township 323

Hill, William S., Streetshoro Township 467

Jennings, P. U., Mantua Township 387

Kent, Marvin, Franklin Township 183

Kent, Zenas, Franklin Township

King, Joseph D., Ravenna Township

Larkcoin, A. C, Freedom Township

Lyman, Judge Darius, Ravenna Township-
Norton, James, Garrettsville

Ober. R. H., (iarret-tsvillo

Pannelee, Luther II., Franklin Township...

Parsons, Edward, 15rimfield Township

Paulus, William, Suffield Township

Plum, Frederick, Streetshoro Township.,

Powers, Dr. A. M., Rootstown Township..
Price, Dr. Joseph, Randolph Township

Ray, Col. C. H., Mantua Township.

Reed, C. A., Ravenna Township

Russel, Luther, Streetshoro Township

Sawyer, Oliver, Brimlield Township

Sherman, Dr. A. M.. Franklin Township

Smith, E. ("., Garrettsville

Spencer, Oliver, Aurora Township

Stilwell, Barnet, Brimtield Township

Stratton, J. B., Franklin Township

Strickland, Willis, Ravenna Township

Thompson, R. J., Ravenna Township

Tidball, Dr. A.H., Garrettsville

Waggoner, Dr. Joseph, Ravenna Township

Webb, James, Freedom Township

Wilson, Samuel, Suffield Township

AVoodard, James, Franklin Township

Woodbridge, Mrs. INlary A., Ravenna Township.

Woodworth, E. S., Windham Township

Woodworth, Thomas J., Windham Township....

115
520
731
149
203
427
303
589
398
487
620
345
691
243
478
722
223
283
711
580
029
365
671
356
294
560
702
458
. 273
447
, 194

MISCELLANEOUS.

^lap of Portage County 13

Population of the Uiiiied States 69

Area of the United States 69

Area of the Principal Countries in the World... 09

Population of Principal Countries in the World. 69

Population of Ohio by Counties 70

List of Ohio's Governors 72

Population of Portage County by Townships 197

...^

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O H X Q

ff.5 W

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^.7 w.

/?.6 W.

PART I.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

The ITorthwest Territory.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.

When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States
by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the
Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the
United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States
of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of
Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United
States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi
River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary
of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the
Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National
domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the
" New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old " Northwestern
Territory."

In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast,
magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater
in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States,
including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected
eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula-
tion, at the present time, of 18,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one-third of
the entire population of the United States.

Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent
flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far-
stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the
highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent
on the globe.

For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North-
west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United
States.

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New
World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel

18 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than
half his army, the remainder of whom found 'their way to Cuba, thence
to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no
settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that
he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and
disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery
for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize
upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by
DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer
took advantage of these discoveries.

In 1616, four years before the pilgrims " moored their bark on the
wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene-
trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which
run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the
first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from
the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian
envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary,
below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent
result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders
attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes,
nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by
Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude
Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the
Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette
founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two
years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen-
eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the
present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a
grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were
taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken
of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at
Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.

During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St.
Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied —
as all others did then — that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's
children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come.
Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his
king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico
or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe-
dition, prepared for the undertaking.

On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist-

THE NOKTHWEST TERRITORY. 19

ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of
discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were
astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade
them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as
exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of
frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But,
nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he
was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region
they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which
the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they
separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the
adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and
Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar-
quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the
town, ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows,
which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to
thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in
giving them an abundantf " chase." This was the farthest outpost to
which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the
year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed
in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake.
He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to
Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun-
tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths
of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them
to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on
the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to
witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet
ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage,
returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin,
which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown
waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck
out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were
now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about
to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is
beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June, must have been
clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand
" reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of
France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo
appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could
see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of

20 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

inhabitants, yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under
the fastidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.

On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men
upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in
the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a
village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a
half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most
hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person.
After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to
about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being
satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their coarse
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois,
rowed up that stream to its source and procured guides from that point
to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, " did we see
such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards,
swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River."
The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and
reported their discovery — one of the most important of the age, but of
which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by
the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette
returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them
until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the
mouth of a stream — going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan — he asked
to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe,
he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time
passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found
him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at
prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place
fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving
the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been
called Marquette.

While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in
the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre-
paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun
by him. These were Robert de LaSalle and Louis Hennepin.

After LaSalle 's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see
the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French
trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of
those ages — a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an
expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific,
when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind
of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol-

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 21

lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous
western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to
Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan,
dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that
LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf
of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un-
measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis-
tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.

LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who
warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received
from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev-
alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at
once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on
these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined
by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He
passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and
into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were
some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed
on to Green Bay, the " Bale des Puans " of the French, where he found
a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with
these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors,
started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard
of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear-
ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all the men — thirty working
men and three monks — and started again upon his great undertaking.

By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by
the Indians, " Theakeke," wolf^ because of the tribes of Indians called
by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The
French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee.
*' Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the
country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi-
nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment
no inhabitants. The Sieur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs,
took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi-
ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes
under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village
of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being securely stored,
the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening,
on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have
been the lake of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-tvi, that
is, a place where there are rtiany fat beasts. Here the natives were met
with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent

22 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

some time with them, LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that
place, for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes were
trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and some of his men
were disposed to complain, owing to the hardships and perils of the travel.
He called this fort " Crevecoeur " (broken-heart), a name expressive of the
very natural sorrow and anxiety which the pretty certain loss of his ship.
Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on the
part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men, might well cause
him. His fears were not entirely groundless. At one time poison was
placed in his food, but fortunately was discovered.

While building this fort, the Winter wore away, the prairies began to
look green, and LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to
return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark anew in
the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin the leader of a party
to explore the head waters of the Mississippi, and he set out on his jour-
ney. This journey was accomplished with the aid of a few persons, and
was successfully made, though over an almost unknown route, and in a
bad season of the year. He safely reached Canada, and set out again for
the object of his search.

Hennepin and his party left Fort Crevecoeur on the last of February,
1680. When LaSalle reached this place on his return expedition, he
found the fort entirely deserted, and he was obliged to return again to
Canada. He embarked the third time, and succeeded. Seven days after
leaving the fort, Hennepin reached the Mississippi, and paddling up the
icy stream as best he could, reached no higher than the Wisconsin River
by the 11th of April. Here he and his followers were taken prisoners by a
band of Northern Indians, who treated them with great kindness. Hen-
nepin's comrades were Anthony Auguel and Michael Ako. On this voy-
age they found several beautiful lakes, and "saw some charming prairies."
Their captors were the Isaute or Sauteurs, Chippewas, a tribe of the Sioux
nation, who took them up the river until about the first of May when
they reached some falls, which Hennepin christened Falls of St. Anthony
in honor of his patron saint. Here they took the land, and traveling
nearly two hundred miles to the northwest, brought them to their villages*
Here they were kept about three months, were treated kindly by their
captors, and at the end of that time, were met by a band of Frenchmen,
headed by one Sieur de Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had pene-
trated thus far by the route of Lake Superior ; and with these fellow-
countrymen Hennepin and his companions were allowed to return to the
borders of civilized life in November, 1680, just after LaSalle had
returned to the wilderness on his second trip. Hennepin soon after went
to France, where he published an account of his adventures.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 23

The Mississippi was first discovered by De Soto in April, 1541, in his
vain endeavor to find gold and precious gems. In the following Spring,
De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his wander-
ings, fell a victim to disease, and on the 21st of May, died. His followers,
reduced by fatigue and disease to less than three hundred men, wandered
about the country nearly a year, in the vain endeavor to rescue them-
selves by land, and finally constructed seven small vessels, called brig-
antines, in which they embarked, and descending the river, supposing it
would lead them to the sea, in July they came to the sea (Gulf of
Mexico), and by September reached the Island of Cuba.

They were the first to see the great outlet of the Mississippi ; but,
being so weary and discouraged, made no attempt to claim the country,
and hardly had an intelligent idea of what they had passed through.

To La Salle, the intrepid explorer, belongs the honor of giving the
first account of the mouths of the river. His great desire was to possess
this entire country for his king, and in January, 1682, he and his band of
explorers left the shores of Lake Michigan on their third attempt, crossed
the Portage, passed down the Illinois River, and on the 6th of February
reached the banks of the Mississippi.

On the 13th they commenced their downward course, which they
pursued with but one interruption, until upon the 6th of March they dis-
covered the three great passages by which the river discharges its waters
into the gulf. La Salle thus narrates the event :

" We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three
leagues (nine miles) from its mouth. On the seventh, M. de La Salle
went to reconnoiter the shore of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti
meanwhile examined the great middle channel. They found the main
outlets beautiful, large and deep. On the eighth, we reascended the
river, a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond
the reach of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was here
about twenty-seven degrees. Here we prepared a column and a cross,
and to the column were affixed the arms of France with this inscription :

"Louis Le Grand, Roi de France et de Navarre, regne ; Le neuvleme April, 1682."

The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, and then, after
a salute and cries of " Vive le Roi,'" the column was erected by M. de
La Salle, who, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice the authority
of the King of France. La Salle returned and laid the foundations of the
Mississippi settlements in Illinois ; thence he proceeded to France, where
another expedition was fitted out, of which he was commander, and in
two succeeding voyages failed to find the outlet of the river by sailing

24 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

along the shore of the gulf. On the third voyage he was killed, through
the treachery of his followers, and the object of his expeditions was not
accomplished until 1699, when D'Iberville, under the authority of the
crown, discovered, on the second of March, by way of the sea, the mouth
of the " Hidden River." This majestic stream was called by the natives
" Malhouchia,^^ and by the Spaniards, " la Palissade,^^ from the great
number of trees about its mouth. After traversing the several outlets,
and satisfying himself as to its certainty, he erected a fort near its western
outlet, and returned to France.

An avenue of trade was now opened out which was fully improved. In
1718, New Orleans was laid out and settled by some European colonists. In
1762, the colony was made over to Spain, to be regained by France under
the consulate of Napoleon. In 1803, it was purchased by the United
States for the sum of fifteen million dollars, and the territory of Louisiana
and commerce of the Mississippi River came under the charge of the
United States. Although La Salle's labors ended in defeat and death,
he had not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown open to France
and the world an immense and most valuable country ; had established
several ports, and laid the foundations of more than one settlement there.
" Peoria, Kaskaskia and Cahokia, are to this day monuments of LaSalle's
labors ; for, though he had founded neither of them (unless Peoria,
which was built nearly upon the site of Fort Crevecceur,) it was by those
whom he led into the West that these places were peopled and civilized.
He was, if not the discoverer, the first settler of the Mississippi Valley,
and as such deserves to be known and honored."

The French early improved the opening made for them. Before the
year 1698, the Rev. Father Gravier began a mission among the Illinois,
and founded Kaskaskia. For some time this was merely a missionary
station, where none but natives resided, it being one of three such vil-
lages, the other two being Cahokia and Peoria. What is known of these
missions is learned from a letter written by Father Gabriel Marest, dated
*' Aux Cascaskias, autrementdit de I'lmmaculate Conception de la Sainte
Vierge, le 9 Novembre, 1712." Soon after the founding of Kaskaskia,
the missionary, Pinet, gathered a flock at Cahokia, while Peoria arose
near the ruins of Fort Crevecceur. This must have been about the year
1700. The post at Vincennes on the Oubache river, (pronounced Wa-ba,
meaning summer cloud moving siviftlyC) was established in 1702, according
to the best authorities.* It is altogether probable that on LaSalle's last

* There Is considerable dispute about tliis date, some asserting it was founded as late as 1742. When the
new court house at Vincennes was erected, all authorities on the subject were carefully examined, and 1703 fixed
upon as the correct date. It was accordingly engraved on the corner-stone of the court house.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY 25

trip he established the stations at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. In July,
1701, the foundations of Fort Ponchartrain were laid by De la Motte
Cadillac on the Detroit River. These stations, with those established
further north, were the earliest attempts to occupy the Northwest Terri-
tory. At the same time efforts were being made to occupy the Southwest,
which finally culminated in the settlement and founding of the City of New
Orleans by a colony from England in 1718. This was mainly accom-
plished through the efforts of the famous Mississippi Company, established
by the notorious John Law, who so quickly arose into prominence in
France, and who with his scheme so quickly and so ignominiously passed
away. ,

From the time of the founding of these stations for fifty years the
French nation were engrossed with the settlement of the lower Missis-
sippi, and the war with the Chickasaws, who had, in revenge for repeated
injuries, cut off the entire colony at Natchez. Although the company
did little for Louisiana, as the entire West was then called, yet it opened
the trade through the Mississippi River, and started the raising of grains
indigenous to that climate. Until the year 1750, but little is known of
the settlements in the Northwest, as it was not until this time that the
attention of the English was called to the occupation of this portion of the
New World, which they then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary
among the Illinois, writing from " Aux Illinois," six leagues from Fort
Chartres, June 8, 1750, says: "We have here whites, negroes and
Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There are five French villages,
and three villages of the natives, within a space of twenty-one leagues
situated between the Mississippi and another river called the Karkadaid
(Kaskaskias). In the five French villages, are perhaps, eleven hundred
whites, three hundred blacks and some sixty red slaves or savages. The
three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls all
-told. Most of the French till the soil ; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and
horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can
be consumed ; and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New
Orleans." This city was now the seaport town of the Northwest, and
save in the extreme northern part, where only furs and copper ore were
found, almost all the products of the country found their way to France
by the mouth of the Father of Waters. In another letter, dated Novem-
ber 7, 1750, this same priest says: "For fifteen leagues above the
mouth of the Mississippi one sees no dwellings, the ground being too low
to be habitable. Thence to New Orleans, the lauds are only partially
occupied. New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I
think, than twelve hundred persons. To this point come all the lumber,
bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and bear's grease ; and above all, pork

26 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, as forty
vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans,
plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of
Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At Point Coupee, thirty-five
leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five
or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations. Fifty leagues farther
up is the Natchez post, where we have a garrison, who are kept prisoners
through fear of the Ghickasaws. Here and at Point Coupee, they raise
excellent tobacco. Another hundred leagues brings us to the Arkansas,
where we have also a fort and a garrison for the benefit of the river
traders. * * * From the Arkansas to the Illinois, nearly five hundred
leagues, there is not a settlement. There should be, hower, a fort at
the Oubache (Ohio), the only path by which the English can reach the
Mississippi. In the Illinois country are numberless mines, but no one to
work them as they deserve." Father Marest, writing from the post at
Vincennes in 1812, makes the same observation. Vivier also says : " Some
individuals dig lead near the surface and supply the Indians and Canada.
Two Spaniards now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are
like those of Mexico, and that if we would dig deeper, we should find
silver under the lead ; and at any rate the lead is excellent. There is also
in this country, beyond doubt, copper ore, as from time to time large
pieces are found in the streams.

At the close of the year 1750, the French occupied, in addition to the
lower Mississippi posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at
the Maumee in the country of the Miamas, and one at Sandusky in what
may be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part of the Northwest
they had stations at St. Joseph's on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan,
at Fort Ponchartrain (Detroit), at Michillimackanac or Massillimacanac,
Fox River at Green Bay, and at Sault Ste. Marie. The fondest dreams
of LaSalle were now fully realized. The French alone were possessors of
this vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and settlement. Another
nation, however, was now turning its attention to this extensive country,
and hearing of its wealth, began to lay plans for occupying it and for
securing the great profits arising therefrom.

The French, however, had another claim to this country, namely,' the

DISCOVERY OF THE OHIO.

This " Beautiful " river was discovered by Robert Cavalier de La-
Salle in 1669, four years before the discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet
and Marquette.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITOEY. 27

While LaSalle was at his trading post on the St. Lawrence, he found
leisure to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois.
He not only desired to facilitate his intercourse in trade, but he longed
to travel and explore the unknown regions of the West. An incident
soon occurred which decided him to fit out an exploring expedition.

While conversing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the
Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a
distance that it required eight months to reach its mouth. In this state-
ment the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream.
LaSalle believing, as most of the French at that period did, that the great
rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to
embark in the enterprise of discovering a route across the continent to
the commerce of China and Japan.

He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Gov-
ernor. His eloquent appeal prevailed. The Governor and the Intendant,
Talon, issued letters patent authorizing the enterprise, but made no pro-
vision to defray the expenses. At this juncture the seminary of St. Sul-
pice decided to send out missionaries in connection with the expedition,
and LaSalle offering to sell his improvements at LaChine to raise money,
the offer was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred
dollars were raised, with which LaSalle purchased four canoes and the
necessary supplies for the outfit.

On the 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twenty-four persons,
embarked in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence ; two additional canoes
carried the Indian guides. In three days they were gliding over the
bosom of Lake Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the
Seneca village on the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present
City of Rochester, New York. Here they expected to procure guides to
conduct them to the Ohio, but in this they were disappointed.

The Indians seemed unfriendly to the enterprise. LaSalle suspected
that the Jesuits had prejudiced their minds against his plans. After
waiting a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian
from the Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them
that they could there find guides, and offered to conduct them thence.

On their way they passed the mouth of the Niagara River, when they
heard for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving
among the Iroquois, they met with a friendly reception, and learned
from a Shawanee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks.
Delighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume
their journey ; but just as they were about to start they heard of the
arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved
to be Louis Joliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the West. He

28 THE NORTHrWEST TERRITORY.

had been sent by the Canadian Government to explore the copper mines
on Lake Superior, but had failed, and was on his way back to Quebec.
He gave the missionaries a map of the country he had explored in the
lake region, together with an account of the condition of the Indians in
that quarter. This induced the priests to determine on leaving the
expedition and going to Lake Superior. LaSalle warned them that the
Jesuits were probably occupying that field, and that they would meet
with a cold reception. Nevertheless they persisted in their purpose, and
after worship on the lake shore, parted from LaSalle. On arriving at
Lake Superior, they found, as LaSalle had predicted, the Jesuit Fathers,
Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field.

These zealous disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted
no assistance from St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him their patron
saint ; and thus repulsed, they returned to Montreal the following June
without having made a single discovery or converted a single Indian.

After parting with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Iroquois
viUage at Onondaga, where he obtained guides, and passing thence to a
tributary of the Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as far
as the falls at Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by LaSalle, the
persevering and successful French explorer of the West, in 1669.

The account of the latter part of his journey is found in an anony-
mous paper, which purports to have been taken from the lips of LaSalle
himself during a subsequent visit to Paris. In a letter written to Count
Frontenac in 1667, shortly after the discovery, he himself says that he
discovered the Ohio and descended it to the falls. This was regarded as
an indisputable fact by the French authorities, who claimed the Ohio
Valley upon another ground. When Washington was sent by the colony
of Virginia in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French
had built a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty commandant at Quebec
replied : " We claim the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discoveries
of LaSalle, and will not give it up to the English. Our orders are to
make prisoners of every Englishman found trading in the Ohio Valley."

ENGLISH EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS.

When the new year of 1750 broke in upon the Father of Waters
and the Great Northwest, all was still wild save at the French posts
already described. In 1749, when the English first began to think seri-
ously about sending men into the West, the greater portion of the States
of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were yet
under the dominion of the red men. The English knew, however, pretty

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 29

conclusively of the nature of the wealth of these wildg. As early as
1710, Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, had commenced movements to
secure the country west of the Alleghenies to the EngHsh crown. In
Pennsylvania, Governor Keith and James Logan, secretary of the prov-
ince, from 1719 to 1731, represented to the powers of England the neces-
sity of securing the Western lands. Nothing was done, however, by that
power save to take some diplomatic steps to secure the claims of Britain
to this unexplored wilderness.

England had from the outset claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
on the ground that the discovery of the seacoast and its possession was a
discovery and possession of the country, and, as is well known, her grants
to the colonies extended " from sea to sea." This was not all her claim.
She had purchased from the Indian tribes large tracts of land. This lat-
ter was also a strong argument. As early as 1684, Lord H oward. Gov-
ernor of Virginia, held a treaty with the six nations. These were the
great Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first the Mohawks, Onei-
das, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras were
taken into the confederacy, and it became known as the Six Nations.
They came under the protection of the mother country, and again in
1701, they repeated the agreement, and in September, 1726, a formal deed
was drawn up and signed by the chiefs. The validity of this claim has
often been disputed, but never successfully. In 1744, a purchase was
made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of certain lands within the " Colony of
Virginia," for which the Indians received £200 in gold and a like sum in
goods, with a promise that, as settlements increased, more should be paid.
The Commissioners from Virginia were Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel
William Beverly. As settlements extended, the promise of more pay was
called to mind, and Mr. Conrad Weiser was sent across the mountains with
presents to appease the savages. Col. Lee, and some Virginians accompa-
nied him with the intention of sounding the Indians upon their feelings
regarding the English. They were not satisfied with their treatment,
and plainly told the Commissioners why. The English did not desire the
cultivation of the country, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. In
1748, the Ohio Company was formed, and petitioned the king for a grant
of land beyond the Alleghenies. This was granted, and the government
of Virginia was ordered to grant to them a half million acres, two hun-
dred thousand of which were to be located at once. Upon the 12th of
June, 1749, 800,000 acres from the line of Canada north and west was
made to the Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, 100,000
acres were given to the Greenbriar Company. All this time the French
were not idle. They saw that, should the British gain a foothold in the
West, especially upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent the French

30 THE NOKTHWEST TERRITORY.

settling upon it, but in time would come to the lower posts and so gain
possession of the whole country. Upon the 10th of May, 1747, Vaud-
reuil, Governor of Canada and the French possessions, well knowing the
consequences that must arise from allowing the English to build trading
posts in the Northwest, seized some of their frontier posts, and to further
secure the claim of the French to the West, he, in 1749, sent Louis Cel-
eron with a party of soldiers to plant along the Ohio River, in the mounds
and at the mouths of its principal tributaries, plates of lead, on which
were inscribed the claims of France. These were heard of in 1752, and
within the memory of residents now living along the "■ Oyo," as the
beautiful river was called by the French. One of these plates was found
with the inscription partly defaced. It bears date August 16, 1749, and
a copy of the inscription with particular account of the discovery of the
plate, was sent by DeWitt Clinton to the American Antiquarian Society,
among whose journals it may now be found.* These measures did not,
however, deter the English from going on with their explorations, and
though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict was gathering, and
it was only a question of time when the storm would burst upon the
frontier settlements. In 1750, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio
Company to examine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees,
on the Miami, about one hundred and fifty miles above its mouth. He
afterward spoke of it as very populous. From there he went down
the Ohio River nearly to the falls at the present City of Louisville,
and in November he commenced a survey of the Company's lands. Dur-
ing the Winter, General Andrew Lewis performed a similar work for the
Greenbriar Company. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing
their forts for defense, and in opening roads, and also sent a small party
of soldiers to keep the Ohio clear. This party, having heard of the Eng-
lish post on the Miami River, early in 1652, assisted by the Ottawas and
Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of
the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison.
(They were probably garrisoned in a block house). The traders were
carried away to Canada, and one account says several were burned. This
fort or post was called by the English Pickawillany. A memorial of the
king's ministers refers to it as '" Pickawillanes, in the center of the terri-
tory between the Ohio and the Wabash. The name is probably some
variation of Pickaway or Picqua in 1773, written by Rev. David Jones
Pickaweke."

* The following is a trailslation of the inscription on the plate: "In the year 1749. reign of Louis XV..
King of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallisoniere, com-
mander-in-chief of New France, to establish tranquility in certain Indian villages of these cantons, have
buried this plate at the confluence of the Toradakoin, this twenty- ninth of July, near the river Ohio, otherwise
Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession which we have taken of the said river, and all its
tributaries; inasmuch as the preceding Kings of France have enjoyed it, and maintained it by their arms and
txeaties; especially by those of Eyswick, Utrecht, and Aix La Cliapelle."

THE NORTHWEST TERRITOEY. 31

This was the first blood shed between the French and English, and
occurred near the present City of Piqua, Ohio, or at least at a point about
forty-seven miles north of Dayton. Each nation became now more inter-
ested in the progress of events in the Northwest. The English deter-
mined to purchase from the Indians a title to the lands they wished to
occupy, and Messrs. Fry (afterward Commander-in-chief over Washing-
ton at the commencement of the French War of 1775-1763), Lomax and
Pattou were sent in the Spring of 1752 to hold a conference with the
natives at Logstown to learn what they objected to in the treaty of Lan-
caster already noticed, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June,
these Commissioners met the red men at Logstown, a little village on the
north bank of the Ohio, about seventeen miles below the site of Pitts-
burgh. Here had been a trading point for many years, but it was aban-
doned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize
the treaty of Lancaster, but, the Commissioners taking aside Montour,
the interpreter, who was a sou of the famous Catharine Montour, and a
chief among the six nations, induced him to use his influence in their
favor. This he did, and upon the loth of June they all united in signing
a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its full extent, consenting to a
settlement of the southeast of the Ohio, and guaranteeing that it should
not be disturbed by them. These were the means used to obtain the first
treaty with the Indians in the Ohio Valley.

Meanwhile the powers beyond the sea were trying to out-manoeuvre
each other, and were professing to be at peace. The English generally
outwitted the Indians, and failed in many instances to fulfill their con-
tracts. They thereby gained the ill-will of the red men, and further
increased the feeling by failing to provide them with arms and ammuni-
tion. Said an old chief, at Easton, in 1758 : " The Indians on the Ohio
left you because of your own fault. When we heard the French were
coming, we asked you for help and arms, but we did not get them. The
French came, they treated us kindly, and gained our affections. The
Governor of Virginia settled on our lands for his own benefit, and, when
we wanted help, forsook us."

At the beginning of 1653, the English thought they had secured by
title the lands in the West, but the French had quietly gathered cannon
and military stores to be in readiness for the expected blow. The Eng-
lish made other attempts to ratify these existing treaties, but not until
the Summer could the Indians be gathered together to discuss the plans
of the French. They had sent messages to the French, warning them
away ; but they replied that they intended to complete the chain of forts
already begun, and would not abandon the field.

Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio regard-

32 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

ing the positions and purposes of the French, Governor Dinwiddie of
Virginia determined to send to them- another messenger and learn from
them, if possible, their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young
man, a surveyor, who, at the early age of nineteen, had received the rank
of major, and who was thoroughly posted regarding frontier life. This
personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, who then
held considerable interest in Western lands. He was at this time just
twenty-two years of age. Taking Gist as his guide, the two, accompanied
by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They left Will's
Creek on the 10th of November, 1753, and on the 22d reached the Monon-
gahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to
Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of
the Six Nations. From them he learned the condition of the French, and
also heard of their determination not to come down the river till the fol-
lowing Spring. The Indians were non-committal, as they were afraid to
turn either way, and, as far as they could, desired to remain neutral.
Washington, finding nothing could be done with them, went on to
Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of French Creek. Here the
French had a fort, called Fort Machault. Through the rum and flattery
of the French, he nearly lost all his Indian followers. Finding nothing
of importance here, he pursued his way amid great privations, and on the
11th of December reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here
he delivered Governor Dinwiddle's letter, received his answer, took his
observations, and on the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one
but Gist, his guide, and a few Indians who still remained true to him,
notwithstanding the endeavors of the French to retain them. Their
homeward journey was one of great peril and suffering from the cold, yet
they reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754.

From the letter of St. Pierre, commander of the French fort, sent by
Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, it was learned that the French would
not give up without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made
in all the English colonies for the coming conflict, while the French
finished the fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications,
and gathered their forces to be in readiness.

The Okl Dominion was all alive. Virginia was the center of great
activities ; volunteers were called for, and from all the neighboring
colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac
men were enlisting under the Governor's proclamation — which promised
two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along this river they were
gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent
had come for assistance for his little band of forty-one men, who were

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 33

working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of
the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest.
^ " The first birds of ' Spring filled the air with their song ; the swift
river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of
Spring and the April showers. The leaves were appearing ; a ?ew Indian
scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand ; and all was so quiet,
that Frazier, an old Indian scout and trader, who had been left by Tren
m command, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten
miles up the Monongahela. But, though all was so quiet in that wilder-
ness keen eyes had seen the low intrenchment rising at the fork, and

7llXr}T'^^^^ ^-^ ^^P«- the morning

of the 1 ah of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw
upon the Allegheny a ^ght that made his heart sink-sixty tatteaux and

^;: '^f ;^' — ^''^^ .-^^I^ --' -^ ^-^-^ ^-P -^^ cannon and
T\X . ^ u ^"^'"'"^ ^'' '"PP"^ '^^^^ ^'^ captor, Contrecoeur,

and the next day he was bowed off by the Frenchman, and with his men
and tools, marched up the Monongahela."

The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la
Chapelle,in 1<48, had left the boundaries between the French and
English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show the
French were determined to hold the country watered by the Mississippi
and Its tributaries ; while the English laid claims to the country by virtue
of the discoveries of the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New-
found and to Florida, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The
hrst decisive blow had now been struck, and the first attempt of the
English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands, had resulted
disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed
the fortifications begun at the Fork, which they had so easily captured,
and when completed gave to the fort the name of DuQuesne. Washing-
ton was at Will's Creek when the news of the capture of the fort arrived
He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched him-
self at a place called the "Meadows," where he erected a fort called
by him Fort Necessity. From there he surprised and captured a force of
J^rench and Indians marching against him, but was soon after attacked
m his fort by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the
mornmg of July 4th.- He was allowed to return to Virginia.

The English Government immediately planned fou? campaigns ; one
against iort DuQuesne; one against Nova Scotia; one against Fort
JNiagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred durino- 1755-6
and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions.'
ihe expedition against Fort DuQuesne was led by the famous General
iiraddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those

34 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered such an inglorious defeat. This
occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle
of Mouongahela, or " Braddock's Defeat." The war continued with
various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7 ; when, at the commence-
ment of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then Secre-
tary of State, afterwards Lord Chatham, active preparations were made to
carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year : one,
under General Amherst, against Louisburg ; another, under Abercrombie,
against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third, under General Forbes, against
Fort DuQuesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surrendered after a
desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the
Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie
captured Fort Frontenac, and when the expedition against Fort DuQuesne,
of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was
found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession,
rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the
name to Fort Pitt.

The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of
Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to
reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and General Prideaux was to
capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant
Prideaux lost his life in the attempt. Amherst captured Ticonderoga
and Crown Point without a blow ; and Wolfe, after making the memor-
able ascent to the Plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated
Montcalm, and on the 18th, the city capitulated. In this engagement
Montcolm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Montcalm's successor,
marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of
defeating the English, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was
fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian War. It
resulted in the defeat of the French, and the fall of the City of Montreal.
The Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was
surrendered to the English. This practically concluded the war, but it
was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England
were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and
under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of
the Iberville River, in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same
time Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

On the 13th of September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent
from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post
in the territory. He arrived there on the 19th of November, and sum-
moned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post,
Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 35

French arms, surrendered. Rogers remained there until December 23d
under the personal protection of the celebrated chief, Pontiac, to whom,
no doubt, he owed his safety. Pontiac had come here to inquire the
purposes of the English in taking possession of the country. He was
assured that they came simply to trade with the natives, and did not
desire their country. This answer conciliated the savages, and did much
to insure the safety of Rogers and his party during their stay, and while
on their journey home.

Rogers set out for Fort Pitt on December 23, and was just one
month on the way. His route was from Detroit to Maumee, thence
across the present State of Ohio directly to the fort. This was the com-
mon trail of the Indians in their journeys from Sandusky to the fork of
the Ohio. It went from Fort Sandusky, where Sandusky City now is,
crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to " Mohickon
John's Town " on Mohickon Creek, the northern branch of White
Woman's River, and thence crossed to Beaver's Town, a Delaware town
on what is now Sandy Creek. At Beaver's Town were probably one
hundred and fifty warriors, and not less than three thousand acres of
cleared land. From there the track went up Sandy Creek to and across
Big Beaver, and up the Ohio to Logstown, thence on to the fork.

The Northwest Territory was now entirely under the English rule.
New settlements began to be rapidly made, and the promise of a large
trade was speedily manifested. Had the British carried out their promises
with the natives none of those savage butcheries would have been perpe-
trated, and the country would have been spared their recital.

The renowned chief, Pontiac, was one of the leading spirits in these
atrocities. We will now pause in our narrative, and notice the leading
events in his life. The earliest authentic information regarding this
noted Indian chief is learned from an account of an Indian trader named
Alexander Henry, who, in the Spring of 1761, penetrated his domains as
far as Missillimacnac. Pontiac was then a great friend of the French,
but a bitter foe of the English, whom he considered as encroaching on his
hunting grounds. Henry was obliged to disguise himself as a Canadian
to insure safety, but was discovered by Pontiac, who bitterly reproached
him and the English for their attempted subjugation of the West. He
declared that no treaty had been made with them; no presents sent
them, and that he would resent any possession of the West by that nation.
He was at the time about fifty years of age, tall and dignified, and was
civil and military ruler of the Ottawas, Ojibwas and Pottawatamies.

The Indians, from Lake Michigan to the borders of North Carolina,
were united in this feeling, and at the time of the treaty of Paris, ratified
February 10, 1763, a general conspiracy was formed to fall suddenly

36 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

upon the frontier British posts, and with one blow strike every man dead.
Poutiac was the marked leader in all this, and was the commander
of the Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Delawares
and Mingoes, who had, for the time, laid aside their local quarrels to \imt&
in this enterprise.

The blow came, as near as can now be ascertained, on May 7, 176-'^.
Nine British posts fell, and the Indians drank, " scooped up in the hollow
of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton.

Pontiac's immediate field of action was the garrison at Detroit.
Here, however, the plans were frustrated by an Indian woman disclosing
the plot the evening previous to his arrival. Everything was carried out,
however, according to Pontiac's plans until the moment of action, when
Major Gladwyn, the commander of the post, stepping to one of the Indian
chiefs, suddenly drew aside his blanket and disclosed the concealed
musket. Pontiac, though a brave man, turned pale and trembled. He
saw his plan was known, and that the garrison were prepared. Ke
endeavored to exculpate himself from any such intentions ; but the guilt
was evident, and he and his followers were dismissed with a severe
reprimand, and warned never to again enter the walls of the post.

Pontiac at once laid siege to the fort, and until the treaty of peace
between the British and the Western Indians, concluded in August, 1764,
continued to harass and besiege the fortress. He organized a regular
commissariat department, issued bills of credit written out on bark,
which, to his credit, it may be stated, were punctually redeemed. At
the conclusion of the treaty, in which it seems he took no part, he went
further south, living many yeass among the Illinois.

He had given up all hope of saving his country and race. After a
time he endeavored to unite the Illinois tribe and those about St. Louis
in a war with the whites. His efforts were fruitless, and only ended in a
quarrel between himself and some Kaskaskia Indians, one of whom soon
afterwards killed him. His death was, however, avenged by the northern
Indians, who nearly exterminated the Illinois in the wars which followed.

Had it not been for the treachery of a few of his followers, his plan
for the extermination of the whites, a masterly one, would undoubtedly
have been carried out.

It was in the Spring of the year following Rogers' visit that Alex-
ander Henry went to Missillimacnac, and everywhere found the strongest
feelings against the English, who had not carried out their promises, and
were doing nothing to conciliate the natives. Here he met the chief,
Pontiac, who, after conveying to him in a speech the idea that their
French father would awake soon and utterly destroy his enemies, said :
" Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 37

yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves! These lakes, these woods,
these mountains, were left us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance,
and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like
the white people, can not live without bread and pork and beef. But you
ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided
food for us upon these broad lakes and in these mountains."

He then spoke of the fact that no treaty had been made with them,
no presents sent them, and that he and his people were yet for war.
Such were the feelings of the Northwestern Indians immediately after
the English took possession of their country. These feelings were no
doubt encouraged by the Canadians and French, who hoped that yet the
French arms might prevail. The treaty of Paris, however, gave to the
English the right to this vast domain, and active preparations were going
on to occupy it and enjoy its trade and emoluments.

In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to pre-
vent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters
of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fon-
tainbleau, gave to the English the domain of the country in question.
Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States
and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the Great
Lakes, comprehending a large territory which is the subject of these
sketches, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States ; and
twenty years still later, in 1803, Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to
France, and by France sold to the United States.

In the half centur}^ from the building of the Fort of Crevecoeur by
LaSalle, in 1680, up to the erection of Fort Chartres, many French set-
tlements had been made in that quarter. These have already been
noticed, being those at St. Vincent (Vincennes), Kohokia or Cahokia,
Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, on the American Bottom, a large tract
of rich alluvial soil in Illinois, on the Mississippi, opposite the site of St.
Louis.

By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including
all these and other towns of the Northwest, were given over to England;
but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when
Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty of England, established him-
self at Fort Chartres bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage,
dated December 30, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Cath-
olics who worshiped here, and a right to leave the country with their
effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen.
It was shortly after the occupancy of the West by the British that the
war with Pontiac opened. It is already noticed in the sketch of that
chieftain. By it many a Briton lost his life, and many a frontier settle-

38 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

ment in its infancy ceased to exist. This was not ended until the year
1764, when, failing to capture Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt, his confed-
eracy became disheartened, and, receiving no aid from the French, Pon-
tiac abandoned the enterprise and departed to the Illinois, among whom
he afterward lost his life.

As soon as these difficulties were definitely settled, settlers began
rapidly to survey the country and prepare for occupation. During the
year 1770, a number of persons from Virginia and other British provinces
explored and marked out nearly all the valuable lands on the Mononga-
hela and along the banks of the Ohio as far as the Little Kanawha. This
was followed by another exploring expedition, in which George Washing-
ton was a party. The latter, accompanied by Dr. Craik, Capt. Crawford
and others, on the 20th of October, 1770, descended the Ohio from Pitts-
burgh to the mouth of the Kanawha ; ascended that stream about fourteen
miles, marked out several large tracts of land, shot several buffalo, which
were then abundant in the Ohio Valley, and returned to the fort.

Pittsburgh Avas at this time a trading post, about which was clus-
tered a village of some twenty houses, inhabited by Indian traders. This
same year, Capt. Pittman visited Kaskaskia and its neighboring villages.
He found there about sixty-five resident families, and at Cahokia only
fortj^-five dwellings. At Fort Chartres was another small settlement, and
at Detroit the garrison were quite prosperous and strong. For a year
or two settlers continued to locate near some of these posts, generally
Fort Pitt or Detroit, owing to the fears of the Indians, who still main-
tained some feelings of hatred to the English. The trade from the posts
was quite good, and from those in Illinois large quantities of pork and
flour found their way to the New Orleans market. At this time the
policy of the British Government was strongly opposed to the extension
of the colonies west. In 1763, the King of England forbade, by roj-al
proclamation, his colonial subjects from making a settlement beyond the
sources of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. At the instance
of the Board of Trade, measures were taken to prevent the settlement
without the limits prescribed, and to retain the commerce within easy
reach of Great Britain.

The commander-in-chief of the king's forces wrote in 17G9 : " In the
course of a few years necessity will compel the colonists, should they
extend their settlements west, to provide manufactures of some kind for
themselves, and when all connection upheld by commerce with the mother
country ceases, an independency in their government will soon follow.''

In accordance with this policy, Gov. Gage issued a proclamation
in 1772, commanding the inhabitants of Vincennes to abandon their set-
tlements and join some of the Eastern English colonies. To this they

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 39

strenuously objected, giving good reasons therefor, and were allowed to
remain. The strong opposition to this policy of Great Britain led to its
change, and to such a course as to gain the attachment of the French
population. In December, 1773, influential citizens of Quebec petitioned
the king for an extension of the boundary lines of that province, which
was granted, and Parliament passed an act on June 2, 1774, extend-
ing the boundary so as to include the territory lying within the present
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.

In consequence of the liberal policy pursued by the British Govern-
ment toward the French settlers in the West, they were disposed to favor
that nation in the war which soon followed with the colonies ; but the
early alliance between France and America soon brought them to the side
of the war for independence.

In 1774, Gov. Dunmore, of Virginia, began to encourage emigration
to the Western lands. He appointed magistrates at Fort Pitt under the
pretense that the fort was under the government of that commonwealth.
One of these justices, John Connelly, who possessed a tract of land in the
Ohio Valley, gathered a force of men and garrisoned the fort, calling it
Fort Dunmore. This and other parties were formed to select sites for
settlements, and often came in conflict with the Indians, who yet claimed
portions of the valley, and several battles followed. These ended in the
famous battle of Kanawha in July, where the Indians were defeated and
driven across the Ohio.

During the years 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies
and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly estab-
lished between the Alleghanies and the Ohio River, and western land
speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held
in Kaskaskia on July 5, 1773, an association of English traders, calling
themselves the "Illinois Land Company," obtained from ten chiefs of the
Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on
the east side of the Mississippi River south of the Illinois. In 1775, a mer-
chant from the Illinois Country, named Viviat, came to Post Vincennes
as the agent of the association called the " Wabash Land Company." On
the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs, a deed for
37,497,600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested
by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in
the office of a notary public at Kaskaskia. This and other land com-
panies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West ; but all
were frustrated by the breaking out of the Revolution. On the 20th of
April, 1780, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the
" United Illinois and Wabash Land Company." They afterward made

40 THE NORTHWEST TEERITORY.

strenuous efforts to have these grants sanctioned by Congress, but all
signally failed.

When the War of the Revolution commenced, Kentucky was an unor-
ganized countr}', though there were several settlements within her borders.

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time
" Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black in-
habitants — the whites being a little the more numerous. Cahokia con-
tains 50 houses and 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were
east of the Mississippi River, about the year 1771 " — when these observa-
tions were made — " 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230
negroes."

From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and
nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report
made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following
extract is made :

" Near the mouth of the River Kaskaskia, there is a village which
appears to have contained nearly eighty families from the beginning of
the late revolution. There are twelve families in a small village at la
Prairie du Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia Village. There
are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philips, which is five
miles further up the river."

St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time con-
tained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred whites and one
hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country
west of the Mississijipi was now under French rule, and remained so until
ceded again to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the
country including New Orleans to the United States. At Detroit there
were, according to Capt. Carver, who was in the Northwest from 1766 to
1768, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more
than twenty miles, although poorly cultivated — the people being engaged
in the Indian trade. This old town has a history, which we will here
relate.

It is the oldest town in the Northwest, having been founded by
Antoine de Lamotte Cadillac, in 1701. It was laid out in the form of an
oblong square, of two acres in length, and an acre and a half in width.
As described by A. D. Frazer, who first visited it and became a permanent
resident of the place, in 1778, it comprised within its limits that space
between Mr. Palmer's store (Conant Block) and Capt. Perkins' house
(near the Arsenal building), and extended back as far as the public barn,
and was bordered in front by the Detroit River. It was surrounded by
oak and cedar pickets, about fifteen feet long, set in the ground, and had
four gates — east, west, north and south. Over the first three of these

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 41

gates were block houses provided with four guns apiece, each a six-
pounder. Two six-gun batteries were planted fronting the river and in a
parallel direction with the block houses. There were four streets running
east and west, the main street being twenty feet wide and the rest fifteen
feet, while the four streets crossing these at right angles were from ten
to fifteen feet in width.

At the date spoken of by Mr. Frazer, there was no fort within the
enclosure, but a citadel on the ground corresponding to the present
northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Wayne Street. The citadel was
inclosed by pickets, and within it were erected barracks of wood, two
stories high, sufficient to contain ten officers, and also barracks sufficient
to contain four hundred men, and a provision store built of brick. The
citadel also contained a hospital and guard-house. The old town of
Detroit, in 1778, contained about sixty houses, most of them one story,
with a few a story and a half in height. They were all of logs, some
hewn and some round. There was one building of splendid appearance,
called the " King's Palace," two stories high, which stood near the east
gate. It was built for Governor Hamilton, the first governor commissioned
by the British. There were two guard-houses, one near the west gate and
the other near the Government House. Each of the guards consisted of
twenty-four men and a subaltern, who mounted regularly every morning
between nine and ten o'clock, Each furnished four sentinels, who were
relieved every two hours. There was also an officer of the day, who per-
formed strict duty. Each of the gates was shut regularly at sunset,
even wicket gates were shut at nine o'clock, and all the keys were
delivered into the hands of the commanding officer. They were opened
in the morning at sunrise. No Indian or squaw was permitted to enter
town with any weapon, such as a tomahawk or a knife. It was a stand-
ing order that the Indians should deliver their arms and instruments of
every kind before they were permitted to pass the sentinel, and they were
restored to them on their return. No more than twenty-five Indians were
allowed to enter the town at any one time, and they were admitted only
at the east and west gates. At sundown the drums beat, and all the
Indians were required to leave town instantly. There was a council house
near the water side for the purpose of holding council with the Indians.
The population of the town was about sixty families, in all about two
hundred males and one hundred females. This town was destroyed by
fire, all except one dwelling, in 1805. After which the present " new "
town was laid out.

On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of
importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of
Virginia, and the sturdy pioneers of the West, alive to their interests,

42 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY,

and recognizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in
this part of the New World, held steadily to their purposes, and those
within the commonwealth of Kentucky proceeded to exercise their
civil privileges, by electing John Todd and Richard Gallaway»
burgesses to represent them in the Assembly of the parent state.
Early in September of that year (1777) the first court was held
in Harrodsburg, and Col. Bowman, afterwards major, who had arrived
in August, was made the commander of a militia organization which
had been commenced the March previous. Thus the tree of loyalty
was growing. The chief spirit in this far-out colony, who had represented
her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move
unequaled in its boldness. He had been watching the movements of the
British throughout the Northwest, and understood their whole plan. He
saw it was through their possession of the posts at Detroit, Vincennes,
Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them constant and easy
access to the various Indian tribes in the Northwest, that the British
intended to penetrate the country from the north and soutn, ana annihi-
late the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel,
afterwards General, George Rogers Clark. He knew the Indians were not
unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could
the British be defeated and expelled from the Northwest, the natives
might be easily awed into neutrality ; and by spies sent for the purpose,
he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements
might easily succeed. Having convinced himself of the certainty of the
project, he repaired to the Capital of Virginia, which place he reached on
November 5th. While he was on his way, fortunately, on October 17th,
Burgoyne had been defeated, and the spirits of the colonists greatly
encouraged thereby. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at
once entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been
agitated in the Colonial Assemblies, but there was no one until Clark
came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the
scene of action to be able to guide them.

Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his
plan, received, on the 2d of January, two sets of instructions — one secret,
the other open — the latter authorized him to proceed to enlist seven
companies to go to Kentucky, subject to his orders, and to serve three
months from their arrival in the West. The secret order authorized him
to arm these troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand
at Pittsburgh, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.

With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburgh, choosing rather
to raise his men west of the mountains, as he well knew all were needed
in the colonies in the conflict there. He sent Col. W. B. Smith to Hoi-

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 43

ston for the same purpose, but neither succeeded in raising the required
number of men. The settlers in these parts were afraid to leave their
own firesides exposed to a vigilant foe, and but few could be induced to
join the proposed expedition. With three companies and several private
volunteers, Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he
navigated as far as the Falls, where he took possession of and fortified
Corn Island, a small island between the present Cities of Louisville,
Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may
yet be found. At this place he appointed Col. Bowman to meet him
with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route, and
as many as could be spared from the station. Here he announced to
the men their real destination. Having completed his arrangements,
and chosen his party, he left a small garrison upon the island, and on the
2-ith of June, during a total eclipse of the sun, which to them augured
no good, and which fixes beyond dispute the date of starting, he with
his chosen band, fell down the river. His plan was to go by water as
far as Fort Massac or Massacre, and thence march direct to Kaskaskia.
Here he intended to surprise the garrison, and after its capture go to
Cahokia, then to Vincennes, and lastly to Detroit. Should he fail, he
intended to march directly to the Mississippi River and cross it into the
Spanish country. Before his start he received two good items of infor-
mation : one that the alliance had been formed between France and the
United States ; and the other that the Indians throughout the Illinois
country and the inhabitants, at the various frontier posts, had been led to
believe by the British that the " Long Knives " or Virginians, were the
most fierce, bloodthirsty and cruel savages that ever scalped a foe. With
this impression on their minds, Clark saw that proper management would
cause them to submit at once from fear, if surprised, and then from grati-
tude would become friendly if treated with unexpected leniency.

The march to Kaskaskia was accomplished through a hot July sun,
and the town reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort
near the village, and soon after the village itself by surprise, and without
the loss of a single man or by killing any of the enemy. After sufi&ciently
working upon the fears of the natives, Clark told them they were at j)er-
fect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the
great conflict they would, also he would protect them from any barbarity
from British or Indian foe. This had the desired effect, and the inhab-
itants, so unexpectedly and so gratefully surprised by the unlooked
for turn of affairs, at once swore allegiance to the American arms, and
when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accom-
panied him, and through their influence the inhabitants of the place
surrendered, and gladly placed themselves under his protection. Thus

44 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

the two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the English
into the possession of Virginia.

In the person of the priest at Kaskaskia, M. Gibault, Clark found a
powerful ally and generous friend. Clark saw that, to retain possession
of the Northwest and treat successfully with the Indians within its boun-
daries, he must establish a government for the colonies he had taken.
St. Vincent, the next important post to Detroit,remained yet to be taken
before the Mississippi Valley was conquered. M. Gibault told him that
he would alone, by persuasion, lead Vincennes to throw off its connection
with England. Clark gladly accepted his offer, and on the 14th of July,
in company with a fellow-townsman, M. Gibault started on his mission of
peace, and on the 1st of August returned with the cheerful intelligence
that the post on the " Oubache " had taken the oath of allegiance to
the Old Dominion. During this interval, Clark established his courts,
placed garrisons at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, successfully re-enlisted his
men, sent word to have a fort, which proved the germ of Louisville,
erected at the Falls of the Ohio, and dispatched Mr. Rocheblave, who
had been commander at Kaskaskia, as a prisoner of war to Richmond.
In October the County of Illinois was established by the Legislature
of Virginia, John Todd appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Civil Governor,
and in November General Clark and his men received the thanks of
the Old Dominion through their Legislature.

In a speech a few days afterward, Clark made known fully to the
natives his plans, and at its close all came forward and swore alle-
giance to the Long Knives. While he was doing this Governor Hamilton,
having made his various arrangements, had left Detroit and moved down
the Wabash to Vincennes intending to operate from that point in reducing
the Illinois posts, and then proceed on down to Kentucky and drive the
rebels from the West. Gen. Clark had, on the return of M. Gibault,
dispatched Captain Helm, of Fauquier County, Virginia, with an attend-
ant named Henry, across the Illinois prairies to command the fort.
Hamilton knew nothing of the capitulation of the post, and was greatly
surprised on his arrival to be confronted by Capt. Helm, who, standing at
the entrance of the fort by a loaded cannon ready to fire upon his assail-
ants, demanded upon what terms Hamilton demanded possession of the
fort. Being granted the rights of a prisoner of war, he surrendered to
the British General, who could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw the
force in the garrison.

Hamilton, not realizing the character of the men with whom he was
contending, gave up his intended campaign for the Winter, sent his four
Jiundred Indian wan'iors to prevent troops from coming down the Ohio,

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 45

and to annoy the Americans in all ways, and sat quietly down to pass the
Winter. Information of all these proceedings having reached Clark, he
saw that immediate and decisive action was necessary, and that unless
he captured Hamilton, Hamilton would capture him. Clark received the
news on the 29th of January, 1779, and on February 4th, having suffi-
ciently garrisoned Kaskaskia and Cahokia, he sent down the Mississippi
a " battoe," as Major Bowman writes it, in order to ascend the Ohio and
Wabash, and operate with the land forces gathering for the fray.

On the next day, Clark, with his little force of one hundred and
twenty men, set out for the post, and after incredible hard marching
through much mud, the ground being thawed by the incessant spring
rains, on the 22d reached the fort, and being joined by his "battoe," at
once commenced the attack on the post. The aim of the American back-
woodsman was unerring, and on the 24th the garrison surrendered to the
intrepid boldness of Clark. The French were treated with great kind-
ness, and gladly renewed their allegiance to Virginia. Hamilton was
sent as a prisoner to Virginia, where he was kept in close confinement.
During his command of the British frontier posts, he had offered prizes
to the Indians for all the scalps of Americans they would bring to him,
and had earned in consequence thereof the title " Hair-buyer General,"
by which he was ever afterward known.

Detroit was now without doubt within easy reach of the enterprising
Virginian, could he but raise the necessary force. Governor Henry being
apprised of this, promised him the needed reinforcement, and Clark con-
cluded to wait until he could capture and sufficiently garrison the posts.
Had Clark failed in this bold undertaking, and Hamilton succeeded in
uniting the western Indians for the next Spring's campaign, the West
would indeed have been swept from the Mississippi to the Allegheny
Mountains, and the great blow struck, which had been contemplated from
the commencement, by the British.

"But for this small army of dripping, but fearless Virginians, the
union of all the tribes from Georgia to Maine against the colonies might
have been effected, and the whole current of our history changed."

•At this time some fears were entertained by the Colonial Govern-
ments that the Indians in the North and Northwest were inclining to the
British, and under the instructions of Washington, now Commander-in-
Chief of the Colonial army, and so bravely fighting for American inde-
pendence, armed forces were sent against the Six Nations, and upon the
Ohio frontier, Col. Bowman, acting under the same general's orders,
marched against Indians within the present limits of that State. These
expeditions were in the main successful, and the Indians were compelled
to sue for peace.

46 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

During this same year (1779) the famous " Land Laws" of Virginia
were passed. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the
pioneers of Kentucky and the Northwest than the gaining of a few Indian
conflicts. These laws confirmed in main all grants made, and guaranteed
to all actual settlers their rights and privileges. After providing for the
settlers, the laws provided for selling the balance of the public lands at
forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature
sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims, over many
of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity. These
gentlemen opened their court on October 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and
continued until April 26, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided
three ..thousand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor, who
came in the person of Mr. George May, and assumed his duties on the
10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the
next year (1780) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Missis-
sippi commenced. The Spanish Government exacted such measures in
relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States
to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right
to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below
the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side of the river. The settle-
ments in Kentucky were being rapidly filled by emigrants. It was dur-
ing this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the
West in this young and enterprising Commonwealth.

The settlers here did not look upon the building of this fort in a
friendly manner, as it aroused the hostility of the Indians. Spain had
been friendly to the Colonies during their struggle for independence,
and though for a while this friendship appeared in danger from the
refusal of the free navigation of the river, yet it was finally settled to the
satisfaction of both nations.

The Winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusually severe ones
ever experienced in the West. The Indians always referred to it as the
"Great Cold." Numbers of wild animals perished, and not a few
pioneers lost their lives. The following Summer a party of Canadians
and Indians attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possession of it
in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolting
colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the
inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they weie
compelled to abandon the contest. They also made an attack on the
settlements in Kentucky, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable
manner, they fled the country in great haste.

About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress con-
cerning the western lands claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 49

and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this subject finally led New
York, on the 19th of February, 1780, to pass a law giving to the dele-
gates of that State in Congress the power to cede her western lands for
the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress
during the next month, but no steps were taken concerning it until Sep-
tember 6th, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the States
claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body.
This basis formed the union, and was the first after all of those legislative
measures which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December of the same
year, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might
have easily been effected by Clark had the necessary aid been furnished
him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew
that the safety of the Northwest from British invasion lay in the capture
and retention of that important post, the only unconquered one in the
territory.

Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the Coun-
ties of Lincoln, Fayette and Jefferson, and the act establishing the Town
of Louisville was passed. This same year is also noted in the annals of
American history as the year in which occurred Arnold's treason to the
United States.

Virginia, in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d
day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United
States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to, and
the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was
anything farther done until 1783. During all that time the Colonies
were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in
consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements.
Upon the 4th of July, 1773, the first birth north of the Ohio River of
American parentage occurred, being that of John L. Roth, son of John
Roth, one of the Moravian missionaries, whose band of Christian Indians
sufi'ered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the frontier
settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of their
neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity, a
deed which forever afterward cast a shade of shame upon their lives.
For this and kindred outrages on the part of the whites, the Indians
committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1771 and
1772 in the history of the Northwest.

During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and
frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyan-
dots. In these, horrible acts of cruelty were practised on the captives,
many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of the notorious

50 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

frontier outlaw, Simon Girty, whose name, as well as those of his brothers,
was a terror to women and children. These occurred chiefly in the Ohio
valleys. Cotemporary with them were several engagements in Kentucky,
in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who, often by his skill
and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruc-
tion. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the American
banner, and on the 30th of November, provisional articles of peace had
been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her uncon-
querable colonies. Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October
preceding, and the liberty of America was assured. On the 19th of
April following, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was
proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next
September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle
was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West
were as follows : On the north the line was to extend along the center of
the Great Lakes ; from the western point of Lake Superior to Long Lake ;
thence to the Lake of the Woods ; thence to the head of the Mississippi
River ; down its center to the 31st parallel of latitude, then on that line
east to the head of the Appalachicola River ; down its center to its junc-
tion with the Flint ; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and
thence down along its center to the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the cessation of hostilities with England, several posts
were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these
was Detroit, still in the hands of the enemy. Numerous engagements
with the Indians throughout Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whose
lands adventurous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by
the proper treaty.

To remedy this latter evil. Congress appointed commissioners to
treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the settle-
ment of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the
3; ear another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however,
not pushed, and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the Northwest
she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of
December preceding authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded
to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and
the Northwest Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion.
To Gen. Clark and his soldiers, however, she gave a tract of one hundred
and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situated any where north of the
Ohio wherever they choose to locate them. They selected the region
opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the dilapidated village of
Clarksville, about midway between the cities of New Albany and Jeffer-
son ville, Indiana.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 51

While the frontier remained thus, and Gen. Haldimand at Detroit
refused to evacuate, alleging that he had no orders from his King to do
so, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the Spring
of 1784, Pittsburgh was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur
Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian
council at Fort Mcintosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in
appearance. He says :

'' Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who
live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the north of Ireland or
even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being
brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per pound from Phila-
delphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops flour, wheat, skins and
money. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a
priest of any persuasion, nor church nor chapel."

Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and
was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A
land office was opened at Louisville, and measures were adopted to take
defensive precaution against the Indians, who were yet, in some instances,
incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this year,
1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no
entries were recorded until 1787.

The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished. They
held large tracts of land, and in order to prevent bloodshed Congress
adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the
surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the
Ohio, now in its possession.

On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made with the Wabash Indians.
The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made in 1784. That at Fort Mc-
intosh in 1785, and through these much land was gained. The Wabash
Indians, however, afterward refused to comply with the provisions of the
treaty made with them, and in order to compel their adherence to its
provisions, force was used.

During the year 1786, the free navigation of the Mississippi came up
in Congress, and caused various discussions, which resulted in no definite
action, only serving to excite speculation in regard to the western lands.
Congress had promised bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution,
but owing to the unsettled condition of affairs along the Mississippi
respecting its navigation, and the trade of the Northwest, that body had,
in 1783, declared its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could
be concluded between the two Governments.

Before the close of the year 1786, however, it was able, through the
treaties with the Indians, to allow some grants and the settlement

62 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

thereon, and on the 14th of September, Connecticut ceded to the General
Government the tract of land known as the "Connecticut Reserve,"
and before the close of the following year a large tract of land north
of the Ohio was sold to a company, who at once took measures to
settle it.

By the provisions of this grant, the company were to pay the United
States one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction of one-third for bad
lands and other contingencies. They received 750,000 acres, bounded
on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the seventh range of townships,
on the west by the sixteenth range, and on the north by a line so drawn
as to make the grant complete without the reservations. In addi-
tion to this, Congress afterward granted 100,000 acres to actual set-
tlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the resolutions of 1789
and 1790.

While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing
its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance
for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the
cession was made by Virginia, in 1784, a plan was offered, but rejected.
A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition
of slavery, which prevailed. The plan was then discussed and altered,
and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina.
By this proposition, the Territory was to have been divided into states
by parallels and meridian lines. This, it was thought, would make ten
states, which were to have been named as follows — beginning at the
northwest corner and going southwardly : Sylvania, Michigania, Cher-
sonesus,Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Illenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Poly-
potamia and Pelisipia.

There was a more serious objection to this plan than its category of
names, — the boundaries. The root of the difficulty was in the resolu-
tion of Congress passed in October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries
of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles
square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Vir-
ginia and Massachusetts, they desired a change, and in July, 1786, the
subject was taken up in Congress, and changed to favor a division into
not more than five states, and not less than three. This was approved by
the State Legislature of Virginia.

The subject of the Government was again taken up by Congress in
1786, and discussed throughout that year and until July, 1787, when the
famous " Compact of 1787 " was passed, and the foundation of the gov-
ernment of the Northwest laid. This compact is fully discussed and
explained in the history of Ohio in this book, and to it the reader is re-
ferred.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 53

The passage of this act and the grant .to the New England Company
was soon followed by an application to the Government by John Cleves
Symmes, of New Jersey^ for a grant of the land between the Miamis.
This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and,
being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to
the New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury
Board with power to act, and a contract was concluded the following
year.

During the Autumn the directors of the New England Company
were preparing to occupy their grant the following Spring, and upon the
23d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men,
under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six
boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the sur-
veyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hart-
ford and proceed on their journey westward ; the remainder to follow as
soon as possible. Congress, in the meantime, upon the 3d of October,
had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and
to prevent unauthorized intrusions ; and two days later appointed Arthur
St. Clair Governor of the Territory of the Northwest.

AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS.

The civil organization of the Northwest Territory was now com-
plete, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from
the East began to come into the country rapidly. The New England
Company sent their men during the Winter of 1787-8 pressing on over
the Alleghenies by the old Indian path which had been opened into
Braddock's road, and which has since been made a national turnpike
from Cumberland westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled
on, and by April were all gathered on the Youghiogheny, where boats had
been built, and at once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived
on the 7th of that month, and unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded
as the pioneers of Ohio, this little band can justly claim that honor.

Gen. St. Clair, the appointed Governor of the Northwest, not having
yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, written out, and published by
being nailed to a tree in the embryo town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed
to administer them.

Washington in writing of this, the first American settlement in the
Northwest, said : " No colony in America was ever settled under such
favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at Muskingum.
Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know

64 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

many of its settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated
to promote the welfare of such a community."

On the 2d of July a meeting of the director^ and agents was held on
the banks of the Muskingum, " for the purpose of naming the new-born
city and its squares." As yet the settlement was known as the " Mus-
kingum," but that was now changed to the name Marietta, in honor
of Marie Antoinette, The square upon which the block-houses stood
was called '•''Campus Martins;''^ square number 19, ^^ Cajntoliuni ;^^
square number 61, " Cecilia;'' and the great road through the covert
way, " Sacra Via.^' Two days after, an oration was delivered by James
M. Varnum, who with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong had been
appointed to the judicial bench of the territory on the 16th of October,
1787. On July 9, Gov. St. Clair arrived, and the colony began to assume
form. The act of 1787 provided two district grades of government for
the Northwest, under the first of which the whole power was invested in
the hands of a governor and three district judges. This was immediately
formed upon the Governor's arrival, and the first laws of the colony
passed on the 25th of July. These provided for the organization of
the militia, and on the next day appeared the Governor's proclamation,
erecting all that country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the
Scioto River into the County of Washington. From that time forward^
notwithstanding the doubts yet existing as to the Indians, all Marietta
prospered, and on the 2d of September the first court of the territory was
held with imposing ceremonies.

The emigration westward at this time was very great. The com-
mander at Fort Harmer, at the mouth of the Muskingum, reported four
thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between Feb-
ruary and June, 1788 — many of whom would have purchased of the
" Associates," as the New England Company was called, had they been
ready to receive them.

On the 26th of November, 1787, Sj^mmes issued a pamphlet stating
the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to adopt. In
January, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest
in Symmes' purchase, and located among other tracts the sections upon
which Cincinnati has been built. Retaining one-third of this locality, he
sold the other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the
three, about August, commenced to lay out a town on the spot, which
was designated as being opposite Licking River, to the mouth of which
they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington. The naming of the
town is thus narrated in the " Western Annals" : — " Mr. Filson, who had
been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town, and, in respect to
its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 55

were to inhabit it in after days, he named it Losantiville, which, being
interpreted, means : ville, the town ; anti^ against or opposite to ; os, the
mouth ; L. of Licking."

Meanwhile, in July, Symmes got thirty persons and eight four-horse
teams under way from the West. These reached Limestone (now Mays-
ville) in September, where were several persons from Redstone. Here
Mr. Symmes tried to found a settlement, but the great freshet of 1789
caused the " Point," as it was and is yet .called, to be fifteen feet under
water, and the settlement to be abandoned. The little band of settlers
removed to the mouth of the Miami. Before Symmes and his colony left
the " Point," two settlements had been made on his purchase. The first
was by Mr. Stiltes, the original projector of the whole plan, who, with a
colony of Redstone people, had located at the mouth of the Miami,
whither Symmes went with his Maysville colony. Here a clearing had
been made by the Indians owing to the great fertility of the soil. Mr.
Stiltes with his colony came to this place on the 18th of November, 1788,
with twenty-six persons, and, building a block-house, prepared to remain
through the Winter. They named the settlement Columbia. Here they
were kindly treated by the Indians, but suffered greatly from the flood
of 1789.

On the 4th of March, 1789, the Constitution of the United States
went into operation, and on April 30, George Washington was inau-
gurated President of the American people, and during the next Summer,
an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The
President at first used pacific means ; but these failing, he sent General
Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but
was defeated in two battles, near the present City of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were
the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1796, General St. Clair
was appointed in command, and marched against the Indians; but while
he was encamped on a stream, the St. Mary, a branch of the Maumee,
he was attacked and defeated with the loss of six hundred men.

General Wayne was now sent against the savages. In August, 1794,
he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete
victory. This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the
Indians to sue for peace, and on the 30th of July, the following year, the
treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large
tract of country was ceded to the United States.

Before proceeding in our narrative, we will pause to notice Fort
Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati.
Nearly all of the great cities of the Northwest, and indeed of the

56 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

whole country, have had their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures,
known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Pon-
chartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud Cities of Chicago,
Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourishing cities east and west
of the Mississippi. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a
rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of
strongly-built hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks
were a story and a half high, while those composing the officers quarters
were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished.
The whole were so placed as to form a hollow square, enclosing about an
acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles.

The logs for the construction of this fort were cut from the ground
upon which it was erected. It stood between Third and Fourth Streets
of the present city (Cincinnati) extending east of Eastern Row, now
Broadway, which was then a narrow alley, and the eastern boundary of
of the town as it was originally laid out. On the bank of the river,
immediately in front of the fort, was an appendage of the fort, called the
Artificer's Yard. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by
small contiguous buildings, occupied by workshops and quarters of
laborers. Within this enclosure there was a large two-story frame house,
familiarly called the " Yellow House," built for the accommodation of
the Quartermaster General. For many years this was the best finished
and most commodious edifice in the Queen City. Fort Washington was
for some time the headquarters of both the civil and military governments
of the Northwestern Territory.

Following the consummation of the treaty various gigantic land spec-
ulations were entered into by different persons, who hoped to obtain
from the Indians in Michigan and northern Indiana, large tracts of lands.
These were generally discovered in time to prevent the outrageous
schemes from being carried out, and from involving the settlers in war.
On October 27, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain
was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured.

No sooner had the treat}'- of 1795 been ratified than settlements began
to pour rapidly into the West. The great event of the year 1796 was the
occupation of that part of the Northwest including Michigan, which was
this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British
forces. The United States, owing to certain conditions, did not feel
justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit
and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were
called to give them up, they at once complied, and General Wayne, who
had done so much to preserve the frontier settlements, and who, before
the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his head-

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 57

quarters to the neighborhood of the lakes, where a county named after
him was formed, which included the northwest of Ohio, all of Michigan,
and the northeast of Indiana. During this same year settlements were
formed at the present City of Chillicothe, along the Miami from Middle-
town to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators
began to appear in great numbers. In September, the City of Cleveland
was laid out, and during the Summer and Autumn, Samuel Jackson and
Jonathan Sharpless erected the first manufactory of paper — the " Red-
stone Paper Mill" — in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy
houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous
to it, were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians,
Indians and half-breeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that
part of the Northwest.

The election of representatives for the territory had taken place,
and on the 4th of February, 1799, they convened at Losantiville — now
known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and
considered the capital of the Territory — to nominate persons from whom
the members of the Legislature were to be chosen in accordance with
a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly
adjourned until the 16th of the following September. From those named
the President selected as members of the council, Henry Vandenburg,
of Vincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findlay and Jacob
Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. On the 16th
of September the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 24th the two
houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected President
of the Council.

The message of Gov. St. Clair was addressed to the Legislature
September 20th, and on October 13th that body elected as a delegate to
Congress Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes
cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of
Gen. St. Clair.

The whole number of acts passed at this session, and approved by
the Governor, were thirty-seven — eleven others were passed, but received
his veto. The most important of those passed related to the militia, to
the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this pro-
tracted session of the first Legislature in the West was closed, and on the
30th of December the President nominated Charles Willing Bryd to the
office of Secretary of the Territory vice Wm. Henry Harrison, elected to
Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day.

58 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

DIVISION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

The increased emigration to the Northwest, the extent of the domain,
and the inconvenient modes of travel, made it very difficult to conduct
the ordinary operations of government, and rendered the efficient action
of courts almost impossible. To remedy this, it was deemed advisable to
divide the territory for civil purposes. Congress, in 1800, appointed a
• committee to examine the question and report some means for its solution.
This committee, on the 3d of March, reported that :

"In the three western countries there has been but one court having
cognizance of crimes, in five years, and the immunity which offenders
experience attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned crim-
inals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements
in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assist-
ance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * * Xo
minister a remedy to these and other evils, it occurs to this committee
that it is expedient that a division of said territory into two distinct and
separate governments should be made ; and that such division be made
by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, running
directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States
and Canada."

The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its
suggestions, that body passed an Act extinguishing the Northwest Terri-
tory, which Act was approved May 7. Among its provisions were these :

" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the Territory of
the United States northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward
of a line beginning at a point on the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the
Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north
until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and
Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a
separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory."

After providing for the exercise of the civil and criminal powers of
the territories, and other provisions, the Act further provides :

" That until it shall otherwise be ordered by the Legislatures of the
said Territories, respectively, Chillicothe on the Scioto River shall be the
seat of government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the
Ohio River ; and that St. Vincennes on the Wabash River shall be the
seat of government for the Indiana Territory."

Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana
Territory, and entered upon his duties about a year later. Connecticut
also about this time released her claims to the reserve, and in March a law

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 59

"was passed accepting this cession. Settlements had been made upon
thirty -five of the townships in the reserve, mills had been built, and seven
hundred miles of road cut in various directions. On the 3d of November
the General Assembly met at Chillicothe. Near the close of the year,
the first missionary of the Connecticut Reserve came, who found no
township containing more than eleven families. It was upon the first of
October that the secret treaty had been made between Napoleon and the
King of Spain, whereby the latter agreed to cede to France the province
of Louisiana.

In January, 1802, the Assembly of the Northwestern Territory char-
tered the college at Athens. From the earliest dawn of the western
colonies, education was promptly provided for, and as early as 1787,
newspapers were issued from Pittsburgh and Kentucky, and largely read
throughout the frontier settlements. Before the close of this year, the
Congress of the United States granted to the citizens of the Northwestern
territory the formation of a State government. One of the provisions of
the "compact of 1787" provided that whenever the number of inhabit-
ants within prescribed limits exceeded 45,000, they should be entitled to
a separate government. The prescribed limits of Ohio contained, from a
census taken to ascertain the legality of the act, more than that number,
and on the 30th of April, 1802, Congress passed the act defining its limits,
and on the 29th of November the Constitution of the new State of Ohio,
so named from the beautiful river forming its southern boundary, came
into existence. The exact limits of Lake Michigan were not then known,
but the territory now included within the State of Michigan was wholly
within the territory of Indiana.

Gen. Harrison, while residing at Vincennes, made several treaties
with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of lands. The next year is
memorable in the history of the West for the purchase of Louisiana from
France by the United States for 815,000,000. Thus by a peaceful mode,
the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of
country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction
of the Northwest government, and, as has been mentioned in the early
part of this narrative, was called the "New Northwest." The limits
of this history will not allow a description of its territory. The same year
large grants of land were obtained from the Indians, and the House of
Representatives of the new State of Ohio signed a bill respecting the
College Township in the district of Cincinnati.

Before the close of the year, Gen. Harrison obtained additional
grants of lands from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present
limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at
St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of lands were obtained from the

60 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

aborigines. Measures were also taken to learn the condition of affairs in
and about Detroit.

C. Jouett, the Indian agent in Michigan, still a part of Indiana Terri-
tory, reported as follows upon the condition of matters at that post :

" The Town of Detroit. — The charter, which is for fifteen miles
square, was granted in the time of Louis XIV. of France, and is now,
from the best information I have been able to get, at Quebec. Of those
two hundred and twenty-five acres, only four are occupied by the town
and Fort Lenault. The remainder is a common, except twenty-four
acres, which were added twenty years ago to a farm belonging to Wm.
Macomb. * * * A stockade incloses the town, fort and citadel. The
pickets, as well as the public houses, are in a state of gradual decay. The
streets are narrow, straight and regular, and intersect each other at right
angles. The houses are, for the most part, low and inelegant."

During this year, Congress granted a township of land for the sup-
port of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in these
wilds, and the country now comprising the State of Michigan began to
fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year, also,
a law was passed organizing the Southwest Territory, dividing it into two
portions, the Territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of
government, and the District of Louisiana, which was annexed to the
domain of Gen. Harrison.

On the 11th of January, 1805, the Territory of Michigan was formed,
Wm. Hull was appointed governor, with headquarters at Detroit, the
change to take effect on June 30. On the 11th of that month, a fir&
occurred at Detroit, which destro5''ed almost every building in the place.
When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in
ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Rebuild-
ing, however, soon commenced, and ere long the town contained more
houses than before the fire, and many of them much better built.

While this was being done, Indiana had passed to the second grade
of government, and through her General Assembly had obtained large
tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian,
Tecumthe or Tecumseh, vigorously protested, and it was the main cause
of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the
settlers. To obtain a full account of these attempts, the workings of the
British, and the signal failure, culminating in the death of Tecumseh at
the battle of the Thames, and the close of the war of 1812 in the Northwest,
we will step aside in our story, and relate the principal events of his life,,
and his connection with this conflict.

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 61

TECUMSEH, AND THE WAR OF 1812.

This famous Indian chief was born about the year 1768, not far from
the site of the present city of Springfield, Ohio. His father, Puckeshinwa,
was a member of the Kisopok tribe of the Swanoese nation, and his
mother, Methontaske, was a member of the Turtle tribe of the same
people. They removed from Florida about the middle of the last century
to the birthplace of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be
chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecum-
seh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was
declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the
present City of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he
returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana. In
1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door), who had announced
himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, given
them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chief
comes into prominence. He was now about thirty-seven years of age,
was five feet and ten inches in height, was stoutly built, and possessed of
enormous powers of endurance. His countenance was naturally pleas-
ing, and he was, in general, devoid of those savage attributes possessed
by most Indians. It is stated he could read and write, and had a confi-
dential secretary and adviser, named Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, who
afterward became chief of the Pottawatomies. He occupied the first
house built on the site of Chicago. At this time, Tecumseh entered
upon the great work of his life. He had long objected to the grants of
land made by the Indians to the whites, and determined to unite all the
Indian tribes into a league, in order that no treaties or grants of land
could be made save by the consent of this confederation.

He traveled .constantly, going from north to south ; from the south
to the north, everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a
matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect.

Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the move-
ments of the Indians, became convinced that a grand conspiracy was
forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's
plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to the cunning
artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity.

During the year 1809, Tecumseh and the prophet were actively pre-
paring for the work. In that year, Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty
with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians
and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands upon
the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter protest, averring

62 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

as one principal reason that he did not want the Indians to give up any
lands north and west of the Ohio River.

Tecumseh, in Auf^ust, 1810, visited the General at Vincennes and
held a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming unduly
angry at this conference he was dismissed from the village, and soon after
departed to incite the southern Indian tribes to the conflict.

Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chief's headquarters at
Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the
Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this place he went to the
Prophet's town, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile inten-
tions, provided they were true to the existing treaties. He encamped
near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he
was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of
Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken
up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his
brother, the Prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly precipitating
the war, and foiling his (Tecumseh's) plans.

Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison that he was now returned
from the South, and was ready to visit the President as had at one time
previously been proposed. Gen. Harrison informed him he could not
go as a chief, which method Tecumseh desired, and the visit was never
made. In June of the following year, he visited the Indian agent at
Fort Wayne. Here he disavowed any intention to make a war against
the United States, and reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his
people. The agent replied to this ; Tecumseh listened with a cold indif-
ference, and after making a few general remarks, with a haughty air drew
his blanket about him, left the council house, and departed for Fort Mai-
den, in Upper Canada, where he joined the British standard.

In the Summer of 1813, Perry's victory on Lake Erie occurred, and
shortly after active preparations were made to capture- Maiden. On the
27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, set sail for
the shores of Canada, and in a few hours stood around the ruins of Mai-
den, from which the British army, under Proctor, had retreated to Sand-
wich, intending to make its way to the heart of Canada by the Valley of
the Thames. On the 29th Gen. Harrison was at Sandwich, and Gen.
Mc Arthur took possession of Detroit and the territory of Michigan.

The pursuit of Proctor began October 2. He was overtaken on the
5th at the Thames. Tecumseh fell * in that battle and British power
was forever broken, Canada alone being left them, as the Americans had
no orders to follow up their victory eastward. Burr's incipient
insurrection of 1805 was quelled, and the murderer of the eloquent
Hamilton driven from his beautiful island fortress in the Ohio River.

* Supposed at the hands of Col. R. M. Johnson of Kentucky.

THE NORTHWEST TEREITORY. 63

In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a
treaty with the Indians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the
United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built about
Detroit. It was also during this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored
to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby
slavery was excluded from the Northwest Territory. These attempts,
however, all signally failed.

In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory.
This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the western
part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year,
the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hostilities, and
then began the events already narrated.

While this war was in progress, emigration to the West went on with
surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt of New York, the
first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonishment of
the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the
" monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the
close of the first week of January, 1812, it arrived at Natchez, after being
nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake which occurred while on its
downward trip.

The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It
effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not
fully restored until July 22, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Green-
ville, under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States
and the Indian tribes, in which it was stipulated that the Indians should
cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such,
happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty
of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United
States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various
Indian tribes throughout the West and Northwest, and quiet was again
restored in this part of the new world.

On the 18th of March, 1816, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city.
It then had a population of 8,000 people, and was already noted for its
manufacturing interests. On April 19, Indiana Territory was allowed
to form a state government. At that time there were thirteen counties
organized, containing about sixty-three thousand inhabitants. Th« first
election of state officers was held in August, when Jonathan Jennings
was chosen Governor. The officers were sworn in on November 7, and
on December 11, the State was formally admitted into the Union. For
some time the seat of government was at Corydon, but a more central
location being desirable, the present capital, Indianapolis (City of Indiana),,
was laid out January 1, 1825.

64 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

On the 28th of December the Bank of Illinois, at Shawneetown, was
chartered, with a capital of $300,000. At this period all banks were
under the control of the States, and were allowed to establish branches
at different convenient points.

Until this time Chillicothe and Cincinnati had in turn enjoyed the
privileges of being the capital of Ohio. But the rapid settlement of the
northern and eastern portions of the State demanded, as in Indiana, a
more central location, and before the close of the year, the site of Col-
umbus was selected and surveyed as the future capital of the State.
Banking had begun in Ohio as early as 1808, when the first bank was
chartered at Marietta, but here as elsewhere it did not bring to the state
the hoped-for assistance. It and other banks were subsequently unable
to redeem their currency, and were obliged to suspend.

In 1818, Illinois was made a state, and all the territory north of her
northern limits was erected into a separate territory and joined to Mich-
igan for judicial purposes. By the following year, navigation of the lakes
was increasing with great rapidity and affording an immense source of
revenue to the dwellers in the Northwest, but it was not until 1826 that
the trade was extended to Lake Michigan, or that steamships began to
navigate the bosom of that inland sea.

Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk War,
but few hostilities were experienced with the Indians. Roads were
opened, canals were dug, cities were built, common schools were estab-
lished, universities were founded, many of which, especially the Michigan
University, have achieved a world wide-reputation. The people were
becoming wealthy. The domains of the United States had been extended,
and had the sons of the forest been treated with honesty and justice, the
record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous pros-
perity.

BLACK HAWK AND THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

This conflict, though confined to Illinois, is an important epoch in
the Northwestern history, being the last war with the Indians in this part
of the United States.

Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or Black Hawk, was born in the principal
Sac village, about three miles from the junction of Rock River with the
Mississippi, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa or Pahaes ;
his grandfather's, Na-na-ma-kee, or the Thunderer. Black Hawk early
distinguished himself as a warrior, and at the age of fifteen was permitted
to paint and was ranked among the braves. About the year 1783, he
went on an expedition against the enemies of his nation, the Osages, one

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 65

of whom he killed and scalped, and for this deed of Indian bravery he was
permitted to join in the scalp dance. Three or four years after he, at the
head of two hundred braves, went on another expedition against the
Osages, to avenge the murder of some women and children belonging to
his own tribe. Meeting an equal number of Osage warriors, a fierce
battle ensued, in which the latter tribe lost one-half their number. The
Sacs lost only about nineteen warriors. He next attacked the Cherokees
for a similar cause. In a severe battle with them, near the present City
of St. Louis, his father was slain, and Black Hawk, taking possession of
the " Medicine Bag," at once announced himself chief of the Sac nation.
He had now conquered the Cherokees, and about the year 1800, at the
head of five hundred Sacs and Foxes, and a hundred lowas, he waged
war against the Osage nation and subdued it. For two years he battled
successfully with other Indian tribes, all of whom he conquered.

Black Hawk does not at any time seem to have been friendly to
the Americans. When on a visit to St. Louis to see his " Spanish
Father," he declined to see any of the Americans, alleging, as a reason^
he did not want two fathers.

The treaty at St. Louis was consummated in 1804. The next year the
United States Government erected a fort near the head of the Des Moines
Rapids, called Fort Edwards. This seemed to enrage Black Hawk, who
at once determined to capture Fort Madison, standing on the west side of
the Mississippi above the mouth of the Des Moines River. The fort was
garrisoned by about fifty men. Here he was defeated. The difficulties
with the British Government arose about this time, and the War of 1812
followed. That government, extending aid to the Western Indians, by
giving them arms and ammunition, induced them to remain hostile to the
Americans. In August, 1812, Black Hawk, at the head of about five
hundred braves, started to join the British forces at Detroit, passing on
his way the site of Chicago, where the famous Fort Dearborn Massacre
had a few days before occurred. Of his connection with the British
Government but little is known. In 1813 he with his little band descended
the Mississippi, and attacking some United States troops at Fort Howard
was defeated.

In the early part of 1815, the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi
were notified that peace had been declared between the United States
and England, and nearly all hostilities had ceased. Black Hawk did not
sign any treaty, however, until May of the following year. He then recog-
nized the validity of the treaty at St. Louis in 1804. From the time of
signing this treaty in 1816, until the breaking out of the war in 1832, he
and his band passed their time in the common pursuits of Indian life.

Ten years before the commencement of this war, the Sac and Fox

66 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

Indians were urged to join the lowas on the west bank of the Father of
Waters. All were agreed, save the band known as the British Band, of
which Black Hawk was leader. He strenuously objected to the removal,
and was induced to comply only after being threatened with the power of
the Government. This and various actions on the part of the white set-
tlers provoked Black Hawk and his band to attempt the capture of hit>
native village now occupied by the whites. The war followed. He and
his actions were undoubtedly misunderstood, and had his wishes been
acquiesced in at the beginning of the struggle, much bloodshed would
have been prevented.

Black Hawk was chief now of the Sac and Fox nations, and a noted
warrior. He and his tribe inhabited a village on Rock River, nearly three
miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the tribe had lived
many generations. When that portion of Illinois was reserved to them»
they remained in peaceable possession of their reservation, spending their
time in the enjoyment of Indian life. The fine situation of their village
and the quality of their lands incited the more lawless white settlers, who
from time to time began to encroach upon the red men's domain. From
one pretext to another, and from one step to another, the crafty white
men gained a foothold, until through whisky and artifice they obtained
deeds from many of the Indians for their possessions. The Indians were
finally induced to cross over the Father of Waters and locate among the
lowas. Black Hawk was strenuously opposed to all this, but as the
authorities of Illinois and the United States thought this the best move, he
was forced to comply. Moreover other tribes joined the whites and urged
the removal. Black Hawk would not agree to the terms of the treaty
made with his nation for their lands, and as soon as the military, called to
enforce his removal, had retired, he returned to the Illinois side of the
river. A large force was at once raised and marched against him. On
the evening of May 14, 1832, the first engagement occurred between a
band from this army and Black Hawk's band, in which the former were
defeated.

This attack and its result aroused the whites. A large force of men
was raised, and Gen. Scott hastened from the seaboard, by way of the
lakes, with United States troops and artillery to aid in the subjugation of
the Indians. On the 24th of June, Black Hawk, with 200 warriors, was
repulsed by Major Demont between Rock River and Galena, The Ameri-
can army continued to move up Rock River toward the main body of
the Indians, and on the 21st of July came upon Black Hawk and his band,
and defeated them near the Blue Mounds.

Before this action, Gen. Henry, in command, sent word to the main
army by whom he was immediately rejoined, and the v/hole crossed the

THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 67

Wisconsin in pursuit of Black Hawk and his band who were fleeing to the
Mississippi. They were overtaken on the 2d of August, and in the battle
which followed the power of the Indian chief was completely broken. He
fled, but was seized by the Winnebagoes and delivered to the whites.

On the 21st of September, 1832, Gen. Scott and Gov. Reynolds con-
cluded a treaty with the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes by which they
ceded to the United States a vast tract of country, and agreed to remain
peaceable with the whites. For the faithful performance of the provi-
sions of this treaty on the part of the Indians, it was stipulated that
Black Hawk, his two sons, the prophet Wabokieshiek, and six other chiefs
of the hostile bands should be retained as hostages duriijg the pleasure
of the President. They were confined at Fort Barracks and put in irons.

The next Springy, by order of the Secretary of War, they were taken
to Washington. From there they were removed to Fortress Monroe,
"there to remain until the conduct of their nation was such as to justify
their being set at liberty." They were retained here until the 4th of
June, when the authorities directed them to be taken to the principal
cities so that they might see the folly of contending against the white
people. Everywhere they were observed by thousands, the name of the
old chief being extensively known. By the middle of August they
reached Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, where Black Hawk was soon
after released to go to his countrymen. As he passed the site of his birth-
place, now the home of the white man, he was deeply moved. His village
where he was born, where he had so happily lived, and where he had
hoped to die, was now another's dwelling place, and he was a wanderer.

On the next day after his release, he went at once to his tribe and
his lodge. His wife was yet living, and with her he passed the remainder
of his days. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk always re-
mained true to his wife, and served her with a devotion uncommon among
the Indians, living with her upward of forty years.

Black Hawk now passed his time hunting and fishing. A deep mel-
ancholy had settled over him from which he could not be freed. At all
times when he visited the whites he was received with marked atten-
tion. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' reunion in Lee County,
Illinois, at some of their meetings, and received many tokens of esteem.
In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his
annuity from the Government, he contracted a severe cold which resulted
in a fatal attack of bilious fever which terminated his life on October 3.
His faithful wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply
during his sickness. After his death he was dressed in the uniform pre-
sented to him by the President while in Washington. He was buried iu
a grave six feet in depth, isituated upon a beautiful eminence. " The

68 THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a
seat constructed for the purpose. On his left side, the cane, given him
by Henry Clay, was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it.
Many of the old warrior's trophies were placed in the grave, and some
Indian garments, together with his favorite weapons."

No sooner was the Black Hawk war concluded than settlers began
rapidly to pour into the northern parts of Illinois, and into Wisconsin,
now free from Indian depredations. Chicago, from a trading post, had
grown to a commercial center, and was rapidly coming into prominence.
In 1835, the formation of a State Government in Michigan was discussed,
but did not take active form until two years later, when the State became
a part of the Federal Union.

The main attraction to that portion of the Northwest lying west of
Lake Michigan, now included in the State of Wisconsin, was its alluvial
wealth. Copper ore was found about Lake Superior. For some time this
region was attached to Michigan for judiciary purposes, but in 1830 was
made a territory, then including Minnesota and Iowa. The latter State
was detached two years later. In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as a
State, Madison being made the capital. We have now traced the various
divisions of the Northwest Territory (save a little in Minnesota) from
the time it was a unit comprising this vast territory, until circumstances
compelled its present division.

POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

STATES AND
TERRITORIES.

STATES.

Alabama

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts ....

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire.

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina...
Ohio

AREA IN
SQUARE
MILES.

POPULATION.

996,992
484,471
560,247

537,454

125,015

187,748

1,184,109

2,539,891

1,680,637

1,191,792

364,399

1,3^,011

7-.i6,915

626,915

760,894

l,457,.3ol

1,184,069

409, 706

827,922

1,721,295

123,993

42,491

318,300

906,096

4,382,759

1,071,361

2,665,260

MIL'S

R. R.

1882.

1,262,5051,802
8u2,ojo l,o»l
864,694 2,266

194,32

622,700

146,608

269,493
1,542,180
3,077,871
1,978,301
1,624,615

996,096
1,648,69011,714

939,946j 999

648.936 1,021

934,943il,047
1,783,085 1,934

2,274

958

278

793

2,581

8,325

4,764

6,112

3,718

1,606,93/

780,773
1,131,597
2,168,380

452,402
62,266

346,991
1,131,116
5,082,87i;6,278
1,399,750 1,619
3,198,06216,663

4,2fe3
3,390
1,231
4,211
2,310
890
l,0z5
1,753

STATES AND
TERRITORIES.

STATES.

Oregon

Pennsylvania ....

Khode Island

South Carolina..

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia....
Wisconsin

Total States ..

TERRITORIES.

Arizona ,

Colorada

Dakota

Districtof Columbia

Idaho

Montana

New Mexico

Utah

Washington

Wyoming

Total Territories

Aggregate of U. S... 2,915,203

AREA IN
SQUARE
MILES.

95,244
46,000
1,306
29,385
45,600
237,504
10,212
40,904
23,000
53,924

1,950,171

113,916
104,500
147,490
60
90,932
143,776
121,201
80,056
69,944
93,10"

965,032

POPULATION.

90,923

3,521,791
217,353
705,606

1,258,520
818,579
330,551

1,225,163
442,014

1,054,670

38,113,253

9,658
39,864
14,181
131,700
14,999
20,595
91,874
86,786
23,955

9,118

442,730

174,768
4,282,891

276,531

995,577
1,542,359
1,591,749

332,286
1,512,565

618,457
1,315,497

MIL'S
R. R.

1882.

40,440

135,177
177,624
32,610
39,159
119,565
143,963
75,116
20,789

38,555,983 50,155,783

689
6,690

211
1,483
1,973
5,344

915
2,193

711
3,441

557

265
231
975
908
479
533

PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

POPULATION AND AREA.

COUNTRIES.

POPULATION

China

British India

Russia

United States — with Alaska

German Empire

Turkey

Austria and Hungary ,

France

Japan

Cxreat Britain and Ireland..,

Italy

Egypt

Spain

Mexico

Brazil

Persia

Sweden and Norway

Belgium <

Roumania

Portugal

Dominion of Canada

Netherlands

Switzerland

Peru ,

Bolivia

Chili

Venezuela

Greece

Denmark

Argentine Confederation ....

Servia

Guatemala.

Ecuador

Liberia

Hayti

San Salvador

Uruguay

Nicaragua

Honduras

San Domingo

Costa Rica

380,627,183

254,899,516

98,297,407

50,442,066

45,234,061

42,213,400

37,786,246

37,405,240

35,925,313

35,262,762

28,452,639

16,952,000

16,625,860

10,025,649

9,883,622

7,653,600

6,497,245

5,519,844

5,290,000

4,348,551

4,324,810

4,114,077

2,846,102

2,699,945

2,300,000

2,223,434

2,075,245

1,979,305

1,969,039

1,859,685

1,700,211

1,252,497

1,066,137

1,050,000

800,000

554.785

438,245

3.50.000

350,000

300,000

180,000

1881
1881
1879
1880
1880
1881
1880
1881
1879
1881
1881
1875
1877
1881
1872
1881
1881
1880
1878
1878
1881
1881
1880
1876

1881
1881
1880
1869
1880
1881
1875

1878
1880

AREA OP
SQUARE
MILES.

4,413,788

1,425,723

8,387,816

3,602,990

212,091

2,396,692

240,942

204,092

148,700

120,879

114,296

1,406,250

182,750

743,948

3,287,963

610,000

293,848

11,373

48,307

36,510

3,470,392

12,648

15,992

503,718

207,350

439,120

25,041

13,784

1,204,486

20,850

41,830

248,372

14,300

10,204

7,225

73,538

49,500

39,600

18,045

26,040

CAPITALS.

Pekin

Calcutta

St Petersburg (1881)

Washington

Berlin

Constantinople

Vienna

Paris

Yeddo

London

Florence

Cairo

Madrid

Mexico

Rio de Janiero

Teheran

Stockholm

Brussels

Bucharest

Lisbon

Ottawa

Amsterdam

Geneva

Lima

La Paz

Santiago

Caraccas

Athens

Copenhagen

Buenos Ayres (1881).......

Belgrade

Santiago de Guatemala.

Quito

Monrovia

Port au'Prince

San Salvador

Montevideo

Managua

Tegucigalpa

San Domingo

San Jose

POPU-
LATION.

2,000,000
500,000
876,575
147,293

1,122,360
800,000

1,103,857

2,269,023
200,000

4,764,312
169,000
250,000
397,690
315,996
274,972
200,000
168,775
350,000
221,805
246,343
27,412
328,047
68,320
101,488

387,081

60,000

63,374

234,850

289.925

27,000

55,728

70,000

13,000

22,000

18,500

73,353

8,000

12,000

10,000

2,500

POPULATION OF OHIO BY COUNTIES.

The State

Adams

Allen

Aahland

As ti tabula...

Athens

Auglaize ...

Belmont

Brown

Butler

Carroll ... .
Champaign .

Clark

Clermont ...

CUnton

Columbiaua
Coshoctou ..
Crawford . . .
Cuyahoga ..

Darke

Dertance

Delaware ...

Erie

Fairfield

Fayette

Franklin

Fulton

Gallia

Geauga

Greene

Guernsey ...
Hamilton ...

Hancock

Hardin

Harrison

Henry

Highland

Hocking

Holmes

Huron

Jackson ..
.Jefferson..

Knox

Lake

Lawrence
Licking ..

Logan

Lorain

Lucas.

Madison

Mahoning

Mirion

Medina

Meigs

.Mercer

Miami

Monroe

Montgomery.

Morgan

Morrow

Muskingum .

Noble

Ottawa

Paulding

Perry

Pickaway . .

Pike

Portage

Preble

Putnam

Richland

Koes.

Sandusky ...

Scioto

Seneca

Shelby

Stark

umniit

Trumbull ...
Tuscarawas .

Union

Van Wert . . .

Vinton

Warren

Washington .

Wayne

Williams

Wood

Wyandot

7382
6338

20329
13356
21746

8479
9.i33
15820

22033
7086

6328
3717

16633
6316

10292

10529
9292
31764

12308
2130

66T5
3746
18531
8326

3499
11861
3181

3082
4480

8851
4645
15999
5297

17824

8429
13149

4253
10095
10237

9169

20619

852

5750

2106
12406

15546
8328
1996

17837
10425
11933

12281
578

14584
9787

28827
17867
27142

12131
13114
20466
11436
35f92
11161

4791
10373

6204

11504

24786
8182
14741

9733

15813
14801
18036
52317
813
210
20916
262
16»45
4008
9135
13.'J41
5941
22489
17085

5367
20869
6440
5696

6190

6551
7560
6158
1110
12807
8768
24362
11800

29334

161
13970
16001
6024
18826
16291

230
24(Xt6
24068
285 1

5159
3671
26588

26153

1429'<

3192

21468
11731
23333
387
1102

13183
9079

23724
19109

30901
22715
28173
1S108
16721
16882
23106
15719
40:i7S
21590
13152
26506
13282

22060
12599
31924
10984
25049

ViUi

16297
175-28
27748
60145

9986

4598
20099

2503
22269

9741
18088
23933

9744
25030
29579
13719

9738
35096
14015
18467

9382

9025

14765
18352
11452
8277
19688
18521
31938
20852

38749

2248
1034
19344
19725
7626
22965
19482
5189
44532
27460
10182
11192
18128
12154
34*03
22560
38107
25631
8422
1577

23141
20823

4465
5357

1980329

18883
12109
23813
28767
18215
11338
34600
27332
30789
17685
19782
22178
30155
18838
33621
25674
18177
48099
20276

6966
21817.
18568
30264
12726
42909

7781
17063
17827
21946
30438
156844
16751

8251
20157

3434
25781
14119
20452
26203
12719
29133
28872
14654
15246
38846
19162
26086
12363
10015
23735
12618
24441
17971

7712
24999
28351
38218
28585
20280
45049

3308
1766
20775

2vm

10953
24419
21736
7221
30879
32074
14305
18428
27104
13958
398;8
27485
30490
31761
12204
4793
9353
25560
29540
32981
8018
9157
11194

2339511

2665260

20309
19185
22951
31814
21364
17187
36398
29958
35840
15738
22693
25300
33034
21461
32836
25032
23881
78033
26009
11886
2390-.>
24474
30533
15935
50361
14043
32043
15817
26197
24474
216410
22886
13570
19110

8901
27773
17057
20589
26616
17941
26115
27735
15576
2.3249
37011
20996
29744
25831
13015
25894
15490
22517
26534
14104
29959
25741
52230
22119
20445
44416
20751

7016

4945
19678
23469
131)43
24208
21820
12808
31158
35071
21429
24297
30868
17493
42978
27344
30656
32463
16507
10238
13631
2690-2
36268
321183
166a3

17886
13,596

20750
23623
21933
32517
23768
20041
39714
30802
39912
14491
24188
32070
54268
21914
38299
2360U
25556

13-2010
3-2278
15719
25175
28188
31138
17170
63019
17789
25545
14190
28038
2.3838

260370
23847
18714
18682
14028
29133
179-25
18177
28532
21759
29188
26333
15935
31380
35756
230-28
30308
46722
15633
31001
16184
20(»2
81465
17254
3-2740
25779
64006
20363
18583
44886
19949
13364
8544
18453
24875
15447
.24584
21809
17081
32516
37097
25503
29302
308-27
20748
52508
34674
38659
33840
18730
15823
1S027
26689
40609
.351 16
20991
24396
18553

PART II

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO,

GOVERNORS.

From the organization of the first civil government in the Northwest Territory, of which the State of Ohio
was a part, until the year 1884.

Term, Two Years.

NAME.

Hamilton.

Ross

Adams

Arthur St. Clair (1)

Charles W. Byrd (2)...,

Edward Tiffin (3)

Thomas Kirker (4)

Samuel Huntington Trumbull .

Return Jonathan Meigs (5)..}Washington..

Othniel Looker* Hamilton

Thomas Worthington jRoss

Ethan Allen Brown (6) , Hamilton

Allen Trimble* JHighland

Jeremiah Morrow Warren..

Allen Trimble

Duncan McArthur

Robert Lucas

Joseph Vance ,

Wilson Shannon

Thomas Corwin

Wilson Shannon (7) ...
Thomas W. Bartley*...

Highland ...

Ross

Pike

Champaign.

Belmont

Warren

Belmont

Richland

1788-1802

1802-1803

1803-1807

1807-1808

1808-1810

1810-1814

1814

1814-1818

1818-182.2

l.<^22

1822-1826

1826-1830

1830-1832

1832-1836

1836-1838

1838-1840

1840-1842

1842-1844

1844

NAME.

Mordecai Bartley Richland

William Bebb JButler

Seabury Ford (8) .Geauga

Reuben Wood (9) Cuyahoga

William Medill (10) 'Fairfield

Salmon P. Chase jHamilton

William Dennison iFranklin

David Tod Mahoning,

.John Brough (11) iCuyahoga

Charles Andersonf jMontgomery....

Jacob D. Co.x Trumbull

Rutherford B. Hayes Hamilton

Edward F. Noyes iHamilton

William Allen iRoss

Rutherford B. Hayes (12)....|Sandusky

Thomas L. Youngf Hamilton

Richard M. Bishop Hamilton

Charles Foster jseneca

George Hoadly Hamilton

1844-1846
1846-1849
1849-1850
1850-1853
1853-1856
1856-1860
1860-1862
1862-1864
18G4-1865
1865-1866
1866-1868
1868-1872
1872-1874
1874-1876
1876-1877
1877-1878
1878-1880
1880-1884
1884-

(1) Arthur St. Clair, of Pennsylvania, was Governor of the Northwest Territory, of which Ohio was a part,
from July 13, 1788, when the first civil government was established in the Territory, until about the close of
the year 1802, when he was removed by the President.

(2) Secretary of the Territory, and was acting Governor of the Territory after the removal of Gov. St.
Clair.

(3) Resigned March 3, 1807, to accept the office of United States Senator.

(4) Return Jonathan Meigs was elected Governor on the second Tuesday of October, 1807, over Nathaniel
Massie, who contested the election of Meigs on the ground " that he had not been a resident of this State for
four years next preceding the election as required by the Constitution," and the General Assembly, in joint
convention, decided that he was not eligible. The office was not given to Massie, nor does it appear from the
records that he claimed it, but Thomas Kirker, Acting Governor, continued to discharge the duties of the office
until December 12, 1808, when Samuel Huntington was inaugurated, he having been elected on the second
Tuesday of October in that year.

(5) Resigned March 25, 1814, to accept the office of Postmaster-General of the United States.

(6) Resigned January 4, 1822, to accept the office of United States Senator.

(7) Resigned April 13, 1844, to accept the office of Minister to Mexico.

(8) The result of the election in 1848 was not finally determined in joint convention of the two houses of
the General Assembly until January 19, 1849, and the inauguration did not take placa until the 22d of that
month.

(9) Resigned July 15, 1853, to accept the office of Consul to "Valparaiso.

(10) Elected in October, 1853, for the regular term, to commence on the second Monday of January, 1854.

(11) Died August 29, 1865.

(12) Resigned March 2, 1877, to accept the office of President of the United States.
* Acting Governor. Succeeded to office, being the Speaker of the Senate.

t Acting Governor. Succeeded to office, being the Lieutenant-Governor.

HISTOEY OF OHIO.

IT is not our province in a volume of this description, to delineate the chronol-
ogy of prehistoric epochs, or to dwell at length upon those topics pertaining
to the scientific causes which tended to the formation of a continent, undiscov-
ered for centuries, by the wisdom and energy of those making a history of the
Old World, by the advancement of enlightenment in tne Eastern Hemisphere.
Naturally, the geological formation of the State of Ohio cannot be entirely
separated from facts relative to the strata, which, in remote ages accumulated
one layer above the other, and finally constituted a "built-up" America, from
a vast sea. The action of this huge body of water washed sediment and what-
ever came in its way upon primitive rocks, which were subjected to frequent
and repeated submersions, emerging as the water subsided, thus leaving a
stratum or layer to solidify and mark its number in the series — a system of
growth repeated in trees of the forest — in those descernible rings that count so
many years. The southeastern part of North America emerging a second
time from the Silurian Sea, which extended west to the Rocky Mountains and
north to the primitive hills of British America, a succession of rock -bound,
salt-water lakes remained. These covered a large portion of the continent, and
their water evaporating, organic and mineral matter remained to solidify., This
thick stratum has been designated by geologists as the water-lime layer. This
constitutes the upper layer of rock in the larger portion of the west half of
Ohio. In other sections it forms the bed rock.

Following the lime-rock deposit, must have been more frequent sweeps of
the great sea, since the layers are comparatively thin, proving a more speedy
change. During this scientific rising and falling of the sea, other actions were
taking place, such as volcanic and other influences which displaced the regular-
ity of the strata, and occasionally came out in an upheaval or a regular perpen-
dicular dip. A disturbance of this character formed the low mountain range
extending from the highlands of Canada to the southern boundary of Tennes-
see. This "bulge" is supposed to be the consequence of the cooling of the
earth and the pressure of the oceans on either side of the continent. Geolo-
gists designate this as the Cincinnati arch. This forms a separation between
the coal fields of the Alleghanies and those of Llinois.

Passing over several periods, we reach the glacial, during which the topog-
raphy of the continent was considerably modified, and which is among the
latest epochs of geology, though exceedingly remote as compared with human

74 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

history. Previously, a torrid heat prevailed the entire Northern hemisphere.
Now the temperature of the frigid zone crept southward until it reached Cincin-
nati. A vast field of ice, perhaps hundreds of feet thick, extended from the
north pole to this point. As this glacial rigor came southward, the flow of
the St. Lawrence River was stopped, and the surplus water of the great lake
basin was turned into the Ohio and Mississippi. This glacial sea was by no
means stationary even after its southern limit had been reached. It possessed
the properties of a solid and a fluid. Its action was slow but powerful, grind-
ing mountains to powder and forming great valleys and basins. Separating
into two glacial portions, one moved toward the watershed north of the Ohio
River ; and, continuing westerly, it hollowed out the basin of Lake Erie and
crushed the apex of the Cincinnati arch. From this point, it turned south-
ward and swept with a regular course through the Maumee and Miami Valleys
to the Ohio River. The southern border constantly melting, and flowing toward
the Gulf of Mexico, the great field was pressed forward by the accumulations
of ice in the northern latitudes. Thus for ages, this powerful force was fitting
the earth for the habitation of man. The surface was leveled, huge rocks
broken and reduced to pebbles, sand, clay, etc., other soil and surface-material —
■while the debris was embedded at the bottom. In some sections, as the ice
melted and freed the bowlders and rocks, the lighter material was swept away.
The glacier moving forward, and the forces proving an " equilibrium," the
edge of this ice-field was held in a solid stronghold, and the material thus de-
posited forms a ridge, called by geologists "terminal moraine," first exemplified
in Ohio by the "Black Swamp," in the Maumee Valley.

The most extreme rigor of this period beginning to wane, the ice of the
Maumee and Miami Valleys began to move slowly forward, toward the north,
reaching the points now termed Hudson, Mich.; Fort Wayne, Ind., and Kenton,
Ohio — reaching somewhat further south than Lima and Van "Wert. The edge of
the glacier was defined in outline by the present western border of Lake Erie, and
parallel with it. Climatic influences " acting and counteracting," the glacial
force was concentrated, the Maumee A^alley being subjected to a grinding proc-
ess, and a deposit of material going on, which now forms the boundary of the
"Black Swamp." As our readers are aware, the waters of the St. Joseph and
St. Mary's meet at Fort Wayne, and their united waters form the Maumee ;
thence the turn is northwest, and, wearing an outlet through the ridge, it
reaches the head of Lake Erie.

The torrid zone yet gaining the ascendency, the ice-fields continuing their
reverse motion, and retreating toward the north, the basin of the great lakes
was formed ; and the blocks of ice melting therein, a vast sea of fresh water was
formed, which gradually overflowed a portion of Canada and Michigan, But
the St. Lawrence, that important outlet, was under the restraint of an ice
blockade, and the surplus water of the fresh sea was turned into the Ohio and
and Mississippi.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 75

Later, mountains of ice-float were drifted from the north by winds and cur-
rents, into temperate latitudes, and melting, deposited rocks, stones and general
debris. Following the iceberg-drift, came the permanent elevation above the ocean-
level. The St. Lawrence outlet was formed. The inland sea was assuming its
division into lakes. The united waters of Erie and Huron flowed through the
IVabash Valley and into the Ohio, until, through some agency, that section was
dry, and the lakes drained in another direction. The action of the glacial
period in the Erie basin vicinity created what is known as the " Niagara lime-
stone," by grinding upper strata and drifting the debris elsewhere. This seems
to have occurred at intervals, exposures being made in Seneca, Sandusky and
Wood Counties, and beneath the axis of the Cincinnati arch. Oriskany lime-
stone is also available in another stratum, which has been brought to the surface.
Again, there is a carboniferous stratum of limestone, and along the Maumee is
a thin exposure of the Hamilton limestone and shale.

A glacier having both fluid and solid properties, it will readily be compre-
iended that obdurate projections of rock resisted its action, and created currents
in other directions, for its forces. When this specified epoch had ceased to be,
Ohio was a rough, irregular and crude mixture of ridges and knobs and pinnacles,
which were " leveled up " and finished by iceberg-drift and inland-sea deposits.
This settled and accumulated, and the work of hundreds af years produced a
beautiful surface, its inequalities overcome, the water having receded and " terra
£rma" remaining. A deep bed of clay, sufficiently compact to hold the germs
of organic matter, and sufficiently porous to absorb moisture, was especially
adapted to encourage the growth of vegetation. These seeds had been brous^ht
by the winds and waves and natural agencies, and now began to produce plants
and shrubs, which withered to enrich the soil, after scattering broadcast seeds
that would again perpetuate verdure. Worms, land crabs and burrowing ani-
mals assisted in the creation of soil, while the buffalo, deer and bear followed,
as soon as forestry appeared. Decomposed foliage and fallen timber aided in
the great work of preparing the present State of Ohio for the habitation of man.
Prairie, marsh, forest, rivers and lakes were formed, which, in turn, were modi-
:fied and prepared for a grand destiny by other influences.

In glancing over the compiled histories of Ohio, those containing details of
her early struggles, afflictions and triumphs, we are especially impressed with
its near and sympathetic relation with the great Northwest, and the republic of
the United States of America. From the early years when white men built
their rude cabins in the then tangled wilderness, to the opulent and magnificent
present of this united nation, Ohio has been stanch, loyal and earnest, both
in action and principle.

We shall endeavor to trace the history of the State concisely and accurately,
according to the data given by the most reliable historians. We are obliged to
glean the prominent events only, our space being limited, compared with the
multitudinous interests connected with this important part of the United States.

76 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

FRENCH HISTORY.

All through early French history, is the fact especially prominent, that in
their explorations and expeditions, they united piety and business. They were
zealous in sending out their missionaries, but they were always attended by
traders and those who were as skilled in the world's profit and loss, as their
companions were in propagating Christianity.

Prior to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers upon Plymouth Rock, the
Upper Lakes were visited by the French, and records prove that during the first
half of the seventeenth century, a vagabondish set, working in the interests of
the fur company of New France, understood the geographical position of the
lakes and their tributary streams. M. Perrot, an intelligent explorer, made
overtures of peace to the Indian tribes around these bodies of water, and
efiected a treaty, which, it is claimed, established the right for the French, in
the name of their king, to hold the place near St. Mary's Falls. They further
assert that the Mississippi was discovered by the French from Lake Superior,
but this is not authenticated, and Father jNIarquette and ]M. Joliet are accepted
as the first who found this large stream, in 1763. The good missionary won
his way with his patient and sympathetic nature.

Ohio was, like the other portions of the West, originally in the possession
of aborigines or Indians. Of their origin, many suppositions are advanced,
but no certainties sustained. From practical evidences, the Mound-Builders
were active in Ohio, and here as elsewhere, their work marked retrogression
rather than advancement. The territory of Ohio was claimed by the French,
and included in that wide tract between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, held
by them under the name of Louisiana. Before the year 1750, a French trad-
ing-post was established at the mouth of the Wabash, and communication was
established between that point and the Maumee, and Canada. Between the
years 1678 and 1682, the intrepid La Salle and Father Hennepin, assisted by
Fondi, an Italian, with a small band of followers, inaugurated a series of
explorations about the great lakes and the Mississippi, building forts on their
way and planting the French priority. In 1680, La Salle erected a stockade at
the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, which was a general rendezvous for mission-
aries, traders and explorers, besides constituting a primitive "stock exchange."

The English colonies were at this time east of the Alleghanies, while the
French were establishing themselves west of this range, gaining an entrance
north and south, the two portions separated by hostile and barbarous foes.
La Salle's spirit of adventure led him into new fields, but Father Hennepin
was detailed to investigate that part of the world now known as the State of
Ohio. The records assert that he published a volume containing an account of
his observations "in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean,"
in 1684, together with maps of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat
of the larger streams in Ohio.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 77

Apparently, the French more speedily comprehended the value of their
advantages in the New World than^the English, and vigorously inaugurated and
sustained commercial and religious projects. They were essentially benefited
by the mediation of the Catholic priests between settlers and Indians, this
really earnest class everywhere ingratiating themselves with the savages. The
Order of Jesuits were very vigorous, and representatives were stationed at every
trading-post, village and settlement. The English colonists engaged mostly in
agriculture, while the French toot a lively interest in the fur trade with the
natives, probably from their former settlement in Quebec and thereabouts, where
the climate is advantageous for this business. This added to the influence of
the priests, and the natural assimilation of French and the Indians, through
the tact and amiability of the former, the French possessions gained more
rapidly than the English or Spanish. They courted their daughters and
married them. They engaged in feasts and trades, and took advantage of
those unimpeded times to extend their dominion with surprising celerity. A
chain of trading, missionary and military posts extended from New Orleans to
Quebec, by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, thence via Mackinaw and
Detroit to Lakes Erie and Ontario. This route was shortened thereafter by
following the Ohio River to the "Wabash, following the latter upward, and
down the Maumee to Lake Erie.

About the same time, and to check the advancement of the French, the
Ohio Company was formed by the English. This was an outgrowth of the
contest between these two nations for the ascendency, whether empire, settle-
ment or individual. After thirty years' peace between these two nations,
"King George's War" opened the campaign in 1744, but terminated in 1748,
the treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle unfortunately omitting a settlement of any division
of claims in America. The English, French and Spanish were the first to
enter America, and the right of possession by each monarch or empire was
held by right of a first discovery. The only right that England could advance
regarding Ohio was that the portion of the Six Nations found in the Ohio
Valley had placed some of their lands under British jurisdiction, and that other
portions had been purchased at Lancaster, Penn., by means of a treaty with
the same nations. All this was strenuously denied and ignored by the French.
Thus several conflicting influences swept carnage over fair Ohio. The Indians were
allied to one side and the other, and were against each other. The Indians and
French would advance against the English, and they, in retaliation, would
make a raid into the Indian territory and overcome a French settlement.
Whenever they could as well, Indians would take the cause in their own keep-
ing and fight each other. The wide, verdant fields of Ohio were drenched
ghastly red under a glowing sun, and the great forests echoed moans from the
dying and distressed. The English colonists had partially overcome their
deprivation, caused by a struggle for subsistence, and means to guard against
the savages — this distress augmented by campaigns against Canada — ^by their

78 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

increased numbers and wealth, but were now alarmed by the French rule in
America, which gained so rapidly, unmolested as it was by Indian raids and
other devastating circumstances. A constant conflict was going on between
Lake Erie and the Upper Ohio. Atrocities and massacres were committed
indiscriminately, which opened the way for a desperate class of marauders and
villains from the colonies and European States. These people enlisted with
the Indians on either side for the purpose of leadership and plunder. Every
fortification, trading-post and settlement was garrisoned or deserted, and the
ground between the Alleghanies and the Maumee became a conflict field, rife
with thrilling deeds, sacrifice and adventures, the half never having been
chronicled, and many heroes falling uncrowned by even a lasting memory, since
during these times the people kept few annals, and cared less for historical
memories than anything on earth. They were living, and dying, and struggling,
and that was more than they could carry through safely. The French formed
a road from the Ohio River to Detroit, via the foot of the Lower Rapids of the
]\Iaumee, and the foot of the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky.

The Ohio Company obtained a charter under English views, from the
British Government, with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio. The
English now reverted to the times of the Cabots, and protested that by right
they held the entire country between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, bounded
by those parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic coast settlements. France
claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and tributaries, the great lakes
and their tributaries, the area being west of the Alleghanies. Ohio was thus
included in the disputed tract.

The Ohio Company was formed in 1748, by a number of Virginians and
Londoners, two brothers of George Washington taking conspicuous parts in the
movement ; Thomas Lee was especially active. When the surveys were begun,
the Governor of Canada entered vigorous protests, and indicated his displeasure
by a prompt line of posts from Erie to Pittsburgh, named respectively, Presque
Isle, Le Boeuf, Vedango, Kittaning and Du Quesne. The latter was begun
by the English, captured by the French, and by them completed.

The first English settlement of which we can find traces was a block-house
at Piqua, about the year 1752. It was attacked, and a bitter struggle ensued,
resulting in the death of fourteen of the assailants. Those within the garrison
suffered severely, many being burned, and the remainder captured and dis-
patched to Canada.

In 1753, the French and Indian war actively began. It did not extend
beyond the American continent until 1756, when the home governments took
an interest in its progress beyond encouraging their respective colonists to pur-
sue the war-path to a direful finale for their adversaries. For four years, the
French captured and conquered, spreading terror wherever they went, and
they followed every Englishman that set his foot on Ohio soil to the death.
We may state that these people had not retained their civilized habits, and

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 79

constant association with savages had embued them with barbarous methods of
warfare which were sickening and revolting to the English, and to which they
could not resort. It is highly probable that French success was vastly brought
about by these means, together with the assistance of their Indian allies. In
1758, when the English hope was almost exterminated, the elder Pitt being
placed at the head of the administration, a new and energetic system was
inaugurated, wise measures instituted, and military science triumphed over
savage cunning and French intrigue. The first brilliant English achievement
was the conquest of Canada. When the home governments interfered, the
war assumed the character of a French and English conflict, regardless of
Indian right, yet the tribes continued to participate in the carnage.

A certain Christian, Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, located upon
the Muskingum, near Beavertown. Heckewelder consented to become his
associate. The Indians receiving them kindly, under conditions that Post
should serve as tutor, this missionary began clearing a field for the purpose of
planting corn for sustenance. This did not accord with Indian logic. They
had stipulated that he teach and he was planting corn, which to them was a
signal of the coming of other whites, the building of a fort and encroachments
upon the Indians. They referred to the French priests, who were in good
physical condition, did not till land, but were in charge of the Great Spirit
who provided for them, a conclusive proof to them that when divine work was
acceptable to the Great Spirit, priests were somehow sustained by other than
the plans which disturbed their great hunting-grounds. However, they
allowed him a small space, and he remained with them, preaching and teaching
during the summer of 1762, when, accompanied by one of the principal chiefs,
he returned to Lancaster, Penn., where a treaty was concluded. On his return
to his post, he was met by Heckewelder, who imparted the tidings that friendly
Indians had warned him that the war was about to sweep over their section,
and destruction awaited them if they remained. The mission was accordingly
abandoned. This failure was not so bitter as the English effort to sustain their
trading-post in 1749, on the Great Miami, afterward called Laramie's store.
It pursued a feeble existence until 1752, when a French raid upon the Twig-
twees and English colonists proved fatal.

A European treaty now excluded the French from any rights to make
treaties with the Indians, and the English, in their flush of victory after Pitt's
succession, assumed the authority over Indians and lands. The savages did
not accept the situation with anything resembling the gentle spirit of resigna-
tion, and the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, led the several tribes into a general war
against the intruders. It was no longer Freuch and English, but Indian and
English, the former being instigated and assisted many times by the French,
now despei-ate and unscrupulous in a mad spirit for revenge.

The intention of the Indians was to drive the whites east of the mountains,
destroying their numerous strongholds in Pennsylvania and Virginia, if they

80 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

failed in their hope of utteriy exterminating them. Pontiac had effected a
consolidation of the tribes ranging from Mackinaw to North Carolina, thus
being enabled to swoop down upon all the settlements simultaneously. A
deadly beginning was made in the Ohio Valley, and only two or three English
traders escaped out of the one hundred and twenty located in that vicinity.
The forts at Presque Isle, St. Joseph and Mackinaw, were captured amid scenes
of slaughter too terrible to perpetuate in description. The years 1763 and
1764 were literally drenched in human carnage and anguish. Ohio was a
great field of crime, murder, pain and horror. The expeditions of Bradstreet
and Bouquet crushed the war in 1764, and Pontiac with his Ottawas removed
to the Maumee and settled. English settlement now progressed with great
rapidity, but this was destined to be disturbed in 1774, by the action of Lord
Dunmore, who led an expedition against the tribes of the Ohio country, termi-
nated by his treaty on the Scioto plains. At this period, the colonists were not
in strict harmony with England, and the spirit of revolution was spreading
every day.

When Lord Dunmore made his treaty, the affirmation was made and gained
ground that he, being a thorough loyalist, had compromised under such terms
as held the Indians British allies against the settlers. Directly following this
treaty, was the deliberate murder of a number of Indians, near Wheeling,
including the family of the great chief, Logan — which inaugurated retaliating
atrocities.

In the year 1773, July 4, the first white child was born within the
present limits of Ohio, and was christened John L. Roth, son of a Mora-
vian missionary. All the settlers of these Moravian towns on the Muskingum
were made prisoners in September of the same year. Heckwelder was tran:-
ported to Detroit, but English tyranny failed to find any evidence against him
or his colaborers, and they were reluctantly released, and returned to their fam-
ilies in Sandusky. Poverty added to their sufferings, and in the forlorn
hope of finding a remnant of their property at the old settlements, which might
assist in mitigating their necessities, they wearily went thitherward. They
began gathering their grain, but the Wyandots attacked them, and many lives
were lost. Frontiersmen had also grown jealous of them, and a body of about
ninety marched out together, for the fiendish purpose of pillaging, slaughtering
and laying waste all Moravian towns and posts. With the wily insidiousness of
savages, they went about their diabolical plan. The Moravians were cordial and
bade this band welcome, when they reached their towns in the guise of friend-
ship. Williamson, the leader, and the gleaners, were called from the fields,
when, to the dismay of these trusting and frank people, they were all bound,
and only fifteen out of the marauding band of ninety were in favor of even
sparing the lives of these hapless men, women and children. Forty men,
twenty-two women and thirty-four children were then cruelly and heartlessly
murdered, their sufferings laughed to scorn, and the last sound that fell on their

•CpL PliJ, C;

^UX\AAJt-r>- C^

O^,

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 83

ears was exultant derision. Succeeding this tragic event was the expedition
against the Indian towns upon the Sandusky. The hostile Indians had been
making frequent incursions upon the settlements of Western Pennsylvania and
Virginia, destroying both life and property. There seemed to be no bounds
to their bloody work, and it became necessary, for the peace and safety of the
settlers, to take some measures to prevent their outrages. Accordingly, in
May, 1782, Gen. William Irvine, who was then commander of the Western
Military Department, with headquarters at Fort Pitt, called a council of the
officers of his department to meet at Fort Pitt. At this meeting it was de-
cided to form and equip a body of men, and make an expedition into the
Indian country. Upper Sandusky, then the rendezvous of the hostile Wyan-
dots, Delawares, Shawanese and Mingoes, was to be the point of attack.

Col. William Crawford led the expedition, which counted 480 men. Warn-
ing had in some manner reached the towns, and the troops found them de-
serted. But the Indians were incensed, and their wrath had not driven them
to hiding-places, but to a preparation to meet their foes. They fought desper-
ately, and Crawford's troops were defeated and scattered, many being capt-
ured, and among them Col. Crawford himself. It is hardly probable that
Crawford could justly expect much mercy at the hands of his captors. Ac-
counts state that Crawford implored the aid of Girty, and at last secured a
promise to use his power to obtain the Colonel's pardon. However, this was of
no avail, and it is doubtful whether Girty was disposed to intercede. The
prisoners were tortured and put to death, and Crawford's agonies were pro-
tracted as long as possible. Dr. Knight managed to disable the Indian who
had him in charge, and made his escape to the settlements, where he related
the result of the expedition and the tortures of the captured.

On October 27, 1784, a treaty was concluded at Fort Stanwix, with the
sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onei-
das and Tuscaroras, and the Six Nations then ceded to the Colonial Govern-
ment all claims to the country west of a line defined by the western boundary
to the Ohio — thus rendering the Indian claim to a large portion of Ohio lands
practically extinct.

Although the French and Indian war was a series of heart-rending events,
it was a serious and remarkable school of discipline for the untrained troops
which soon engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. On the fields of Ohio, many
valuable officers, who earned distinction in the war of independence, learned
their first lessons in intrepid valor.

During the Revolution, the colonial troops were engaged east of the mount-
ains, and western settlements and frontier people were left alone to defend
themselves and their property against encroachments and attacks.

The Indian tribes again became belligerent, and united with the English
against the " Americans." The latter held a line of posts along the Upper
Ohio, while the British were stationed in the old French strongholds on the
lakes and the Mississippi. The unscrupulous whites and Indians ranged at ran-
dom between this boundary and the Cuyahoga, thence southerly to the Ohio,

84 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

thus including the Scioto and Miami Valleys. Southeastern Ohio constituted
"the neutral ground."

Gen. Clarke's expedition, although chiefly confined to Indiana and Illinois,
greatly influenced the settlement of Ohio. His exploits and the resolution of
his troops were chiefly instrumental in holding the country west of the Alle-
ghanies, and insuring its possession by the United States during the Revolution.
The British had been emphatic, in the Paris treaty, at the time of the settlement
of the French and English difficulties, in demanding the Ohio River as the
northern boundary of the United States. The American Commissioners relied
upon Gen. Clarke's valor and energy in holding the country west of the Alle-
ghanies, which he had conquered, and the British Commissioners were compelled
to give their consent, under civil and military measures. In 1783, by the
treaty of Paris, at the close of the Revolutionary war, the English relinquished
all rights to the fertile territory between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi,
and the United States held undisputed possession.

January 10, 1786, Gens. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper circulated a
pamphlet, proposing the formation of a company for the purpose of settling the
Ohio lands, and soliciting the attention and consideration of all those desiring a
future home and prosperity. A meeting was also called, to assemble during the
following February, and select delegates to represent each county in Massachu-
setts. These dignitaries should convene during the month of March, at the
" Bunch of Grapes " tavern, in Boston, for the purpose of definitely forming the
association, and adopting such measures as would benefit all directly interested.
The Meeting and " convention " followed, and the subscription books were opened.
One million dollars, chiefly represented by Continental certificates, was the
price of the land. The shares were valued at $1,000 each, and there was a
division of a thousand shares. The first payment was to be |10 per share, this
money to be set aside for such expenses as might accrue. A year's interest was
to be devoted to the establishment of the settlement, and those families who
were unable to incur the expense of moving were to be assisted. Those who
purchased shares to the number of twenty were entitled to a representation by
an agent, who was permitted to vote for Directors. This plan matured and was
acted upon during the following year. It may be that the action of Connecti-
cut, in ceding her territorial claims to the General Government, with few excep-
tions, greatly encouraged this new undertaking. That tract was, until recently,
designated the " Western Reserve " — an extent 170 miles from the western
boundary of Pennsylvania, and parallel thereto, being reserved.

On October 27, 1787, a contract was made between the Board of the Treas-
ury, for the United States, and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, agents
for the Directors of the New England Ohio Company, for the purchase of a tract
of land, bounded by the Ohio, and from the mouth of the Scioto to the inter-
section of the western boundary of the seventh townships, then surveying ;
thence by said boundary to the northern boundary of the tenth township from

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 85

the Ohio ; thence, by a due west line, to the Scioto ; thence, by the Scioto, to
the beginning.

However fertile and attractive Ohio was known to have been, settlement did
not gain rapidly after the close of the war with England, although the United
States has gained her freedom. It was more than six years after Cornwallis
laid down his sword, before a white settlement was formed on the Ohio side of the
river. The French and Indian war had incited the English to be jealous of her
colonial conquests, and mistrusting their loyalty, they had, so soon as the French
claims were annulled, taken measures to crush all colonial claims also, and a
royal proclamation rescinded all colonial land grants and charters, holding all
the country west of the sources of the Atlantic rivers under the protection and
sovereignty of the king of Great Britain, for the use of the Indians. All white
persons were forbidden to remain or settle within the prescribed limits. Parlia-
ment then attached this tract to Quebec, and the English Government felt assured
that the thirteen colonies were restricted and held secure east of the Alleffhanies.

The result of the war between the colonies and England did not constitute
an Indian treaty. Although England signed over her title and right, the sava-
ges held the land and ignored all white agreements, one way or the other.
Whenever an attempt at settlement was undertaken, Indian depredations proved
disastrous. The tribes were encouraged by the English fur traders, and the
English commandant at Detroit incited them to destroy all Americans who
attempted to usurp the rights of red men.

Added to this serious difficulty was the unsettled debate regarding State
claims, which rendered a title precarious. A treaty, signed at Fort Mcintosh,
previous to the war, and authenticated, shows that during the conflict the Dela-
wares and Wyandots occupied the Indian and British frontier, on the southern
shore of Lake Erie, from the Cuyahoga to the Maumee, and from the lake to
the sources of its tributaries. Later, these two tribes ceded to the United
States "the neutral ground," by warranty deed, and by quit-claim, the terri-
tory south and west of the described tract, set apart for their use.

By special measures, the grant of Congress in the matter of the Ohio Com-
pany extended to nearly 5,000,000 acres, valued at $3,500,000. The original
Ohio Company obtained 1,500,000 acres, the remaining being reserved by indi-
viduals, for private speculation.

The same year. Congress appointed Arthur St. Clair, Governor, and Win-
throp Sargent, Secretary, of the Territory.

Fort Harmar had previously been built, at the mouth of the Muskingum,
and in 1788, a New England colony attempted the "Muskingum settlement,"
on the opposite side, which was afterward named Marietta. In July, 1788, the
Territorial officers were received in this village, and there established the first
form of civil government, as set forth in the Ordinance of 1787. Three United
States Judges were appointed, and Courts of Common Pleas, Probate and
Justice were established.

86 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

If the stormy times were supposed to be of the past, that composure was
rudely broken by the utter disregard of the Shawnee and other Indian tribes,
who soon induced the Delawares and Wyandots to repudiate their consent in the
matter of settlement. The miseries of frontier horrors were repeated. The
British commandant at Detroit instigated many of these hostilities, yet the
American Government took honorable action in assuring the English represent-
ative that American military preparations in the West was not an expedition
against Detroit, or other British possessions, although the possession of Detroit
by that nation was in direct opposition to the treaty of 1783. Gov. St. Clair,
to avert the direful consequences of a border war, dispatched a Frenchman,
Gameline, to the principal Indian towns of the Wabash and Maumee countries,
to request them to meet the United States agents, and make a compromise for
the benefit of both parties, at the same time reiterating the desire of the General
Government to adhere to the Fort Harmar treaty. The Miamis, Shawnees,
Ottawas, Kickapoos and Delawares received this representative kindly, but
declined the wampum sent by the Governor, and deferred giving an answer
until they had considered the subject with the " father at Detroit."

Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawnees, informed the Frenchman that the Indi-
ans doubted the sincerity of the Americans. The new settlement on the Ohio
was a proof that the whites intended to crowd further and further, until the
Indians were again and again robbed of their just right. He then emphatically
asserted that unless the north side of the river was kept free from these inroads
there could be no terms of peace with the Shawnees, and many other tribes.

Blue Jacket was unusually intelligent and sagacious, and expressed himself
eloquently. He was persistent in his determination to engage in the war of
extermination, should the white settlements continue north of the Ohio.

These overtures were continued, but they failed in producing any arrange-
ment that permitted the whites to locate north of the Ohio.

Congress called upon Kentucky and Pennsylvania to lend the aid of their
militia. Gen. Harmar was instructed to destroy the Miami villages at the
head of the Maumee. Late in the fall of 1790, he executed this order.

The Indians had stored a large quantity of provisions, in expectation of a
campaign, and this dependence was devastated. Without authority, and with
undue carelessness, he divided his army and attempted to achieve other victo-
ries. He more than lost what he had gained. . Two raids upon the Wabash In-
dians, thereafter, proved successful, but the campaign under Gov. St. Clair was
not calculated to establish peace or obtain power, and was deemed but little less
than a failure.

The year 1792 was a series of skirmishes, so far as a settlement was con-
cerned, but 1793 succeeded well enough to convene a meeting of United States
Commissioners and representatives of the hostile tribes, at the rapids of the
Maumee. It is highly probable that a satisfactory treaty might have been
arranged, had it not been for the intervention and malicious influence of the

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 87

British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Col. McKee, his assistant Capt.
Elliott, and the notorious Capt. Simon Girty, who instigated the savages to
deeds more horrible than their own barbarisms.

It was evident that a severe struggle must ensue, and Capt. Wayne, in
1792, appointed to the command of the Western army, was called upon to con-
duct the campaign. He exhibited his wisdom in the beginning, by preparing
his men in military discipline and fully equipping them before marching to meet
a savage foe in a wilderness. Various causes detained the army, and it was not
until the fall of 1793, that the force marched from Fort Washington (Cincin-
nati) to begin the battle.

It was already late in the season, and, before any progress had been made,
the army went into winter quarters at Greenville, on a branch of the Big
Miami.

In the mean time, the Ohio Company had not matured its practical " settle-
merit plan," although a generous grant had been obtained. In 1792, they
received a clear title to 750,000 acres of land, for which the full price had pre-
viously been paid, in Continental currency. Congress set aside 214,285 acres
as army bounties, and 100,000 acres to actual settlers. The two latter appro-
priations joined that of the Ohio Company.

There had been numerous conventions, discussions and other fruitless
attempts to somehow form a plan for the government of the Northwest Terri-
tory, but it was not until July 13, 1787, that an ordinance was passed, and that
was the result of Dr. Cutler's efforts. Every State sustained its measures.

This ordinance was the foundation of the constitution of the future State of
Ohio, and indeed, permeates the entire Northwestern creed.

ORDINANCE OF 1787.— No. 32.
An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, Northwest of
THE Ohio River.

Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said Territory, for the pur-
pose of government, be one district; subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future cir-
cumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates of both resident and non-resident
proprietors in the said Territory, dying intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among their
children and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased
child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them. And
when there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal
degree ; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall
have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parent's share; and there shall in no case be a
distribution between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to the widow of
intestate, her third part of the real estate, for life, and one-third part of the personal estate ; and
this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in fall force until altered by the Legis-
lature of the district. And until the Governor and Judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter
mentioned, estates in said Territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed
and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age), and attested by three
witnesses ; and real estate may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed and
sealed, and delivered by the person (being in full age) in whom the estate may be, and attested

88 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or
the execution thereof duly proved and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates,
courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose. And personal property may be trans-
ferred by delivery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of
the Kaskaskias, St. Vincent's and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed them-
selves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the
descent and conveyance of property.

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed from time to time, by
Congress, a Governor whose commission shall continue in force for a term of three years, unless
sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein,
of a thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office.

There shall be appointed from time to time by Congress, a Secretary whose commission shall
continue in force for two years, unless sooner revoked. He shall reside in the district, and shall
have a freehold estate therein in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It shall be
his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the Legislature, and the public records
of the district, and the proceedings of the Governor in his executive department, and transmit
authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months, t« the Secretary of Congress.
There shall also be appointed a court to consist of three Judges, any two of whom to form a
court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction and shall reside in the district and have each
therein a freehold estate in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of their office, and their
commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.

The Governor and Judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district
such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the
circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time, which laws shall be
in force in the district until the organization of the General Assembly therein, unless disapproved
by Congress. But afterward, the Legislature shall have authority to alter them, as they shall
think fit.

The Governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and
commission all officers in the same, below the rank of general officers. All general officers shall
be appointed and commissioned by Congress.

Previous to the organization of the General Assembly, the Governor shall appoint such mag-
istrates and other civil officers in each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the
preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the General Assembly shall be
organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regulated and
defined by the said Assembly, but all magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise
directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the
Governor.

For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force
in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal or civil, the Governor shall
make proper divisions thereof, and he shall proceed from time to time as circumstances may
require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extin-
guished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be
made by the Legislature. So soon as there shall be 5,000 free male inhabitants of full age in the
district, upon giving proof thereof to the Governor, they shall receive authority with time and
place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General
Assembly. Provided, That for every 500 free male inhabitants, there shall be one representative,
and so on progressively with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the right of representa-
tion increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five. After which, the
number shall be regulated by the Legislature. Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified
to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three
years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three
years, and in either case, shall likewise hold in his own right in fee simple 200 acres of land
within the same.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 89

Provided, Also, that a freehold in 50 acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of
one of the States, and being a resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years' resi-
dence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative.

The representatives thus elected, shall serve for the term of two years. And in case of the
death of a representative or removal from office, the Governor shall issue a writ to the county or
township for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of the
term.

The General Assembly or Legislature shall consist of the Governor, Legislative Council, and
a House of Representatives. The Legislative Council shall consist of five members, to continue
in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress ; any three of whom to be a quorum.
And the members of the Council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit :

As soon as representatives shall be elected, the Governor shall appoint a time and place for
them to meet together, and when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the district,
and each person in a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of
whom Congress shall appoint and commission as aforesaid. And whenever a vacancy shall hap-
pen in the Council by death or removal from office, the House of Representatives shall nominate
two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress, one of
■whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years,
four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the Council,
the said House shall nominate ten persons qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to
Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the
Council five years, unless sooner removed. And the Governor, Legislative Council and House
of Representatives shall have authority to make laws in all cases, for the good government
of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this Ordinance, established and
declared.

And all bills having passed by a majority in the House, and by a majority in the Council,
shall be referred to the Governor for his assent. But no bill or legislative act whatever, shall be
of any force without his assent. The Governor shall have power to convene, prorogue and dis-
solve the General Assembly, when in his opinion it shall be expedient.

The Governor, Judges, Legislative Council, Secretary, and such other officers as Congress
shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office. The Gov-
ernor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the Governor.

As soon as a Legislature shall be formed in the district, the Council and House assembled
in one room, shall have authority by joint ballot to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall
have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during this temporary gov-
ernment.

And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which forms
the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are created ; to fix and establish
those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter
shall be formed in said Territory. To provide for the establishment of States, and permanent
governments therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal Council on an equal footing
■with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest.

It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall
be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people, and States in
said Territory, and forever remain unaltered unless by common consent, to wit:

Article II. The inhabitants of said Territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the
"writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people
in the Legislature, and of judicial procedure according to the course of common law. All per-
sons shall be bailable, except for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident or the pre-
sumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unreasonable punishment shall be
inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers
or the law of the land. And should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common
preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation

90 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property, it is under-
stood and declared that no law aught ever to be made or have force in the said Territory,
that shall in any manner whatever interfere with or effect private contracts or engagements bona
fide and without fraud, previously formed.

Art. III. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The
utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians ; their lands and property shall
never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they
shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress. But
laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs
being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

Art. IV. The said Territory and the States which may be formed therein, shall ever remain
a part of the confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of confedera-
tion, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and
ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled conformable thereto. The inhabitants and
settlers in said Territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be
contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of the Government, to be apportioned on
them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments
thereof shall be made on the other States, and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid
and levied by the authority and directions of the Legislature of the district or districts or new
States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The Legisla-
tures of those districts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil
by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find neces-
sary for securing the title in such soil to the bona-fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on
lands the property of the United States, and in no case, shall non-residents be taxed higher than
residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St Lawrence, and the carry-
ing places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free as well to the inhabi-
tants of the said Territory as to the citizens of the United States and those of any other States
that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor.

Art. V, There shall be formed in said Territory not less than three, nor more than five,
States, and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and
consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit : The western State in
the said Territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Wabash Rivers ; a direct
line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent, due north to the Territorial line between the
United States and Canada ; and by the said Territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Missis-
sippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vin-
cent to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great
Miami to the said Territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned
direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania and said territorial line. Provided, however, and it is further
understood and declared, that the boundaries of those three States shall be subject so far to be
altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one
or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn
through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States
shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the
Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all respects what-
ever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government. Provided,
The constitution and government so to be formed, shall be represented, and in conformity to the
principles contained in these articles ; and so far as it can be consistent with the general interest
of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be
a less number of free inhabitants than 60,000.

Art. VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory,
otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
Provided always. That any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 91.

claimed in one of the original States, each fugitive may be lawfully claimed and conveyed to the
person claiming his or her labor or services as aforesaid.

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid. That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784,
relative to the subject of this ordinance, be and the same are hereby repealed and declared null
and void.

COMMENT BY S. P. CHASE 1833.

It would be difficult to find a more comprehensive review of the founda-
tions of our system of laws than is given in the " Preliminary Sketch of the
History of Ohio," by this distinguished representative of the bench and the
bar of America. The work is now out of print, and is not easily obtained;
besides, its great author has passed away; so these extracts are made more
with a view of preserving old historical literature, than of introducing new ;
furthermore, the masses of the people have never had convenient access to the
volumes, which, for the most part, have been in the hands of professional men
only. The publication of the work first brought its compiler before the public,
and marked the beginning of that career which, during its course, shaped the
financial system of our country, and ended upon the Supreme Bench of the
nation.

"By the ordinance of 1785, Congress had executed in part the great national
trust confided to it, by providing for the disposal of the public lands for the
common good, and by prescribing the manner and terms of sale. By that of
1787, provision was made for successive forms of Territorial government,
adapted to successive steps of advancement in the settlement of the Western
country. It comprehended an intelligible system of law on the descent and
conveyance of real property, and the transfer of personal goods. It also con-
tained five articles of compact between the original States, and the people and
States of the Territory, establishing certain great fundamental principles of
governmental duty and private right, as the basis of all future constitutions and
legislation, unalterable and indestructible, except by that final and common
ruin, which, as it has overtaken all former systems of human polity, may yet
overwhelm our American union. Never, probably, in the history of the world,
did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed
the anticipations of the legislators. The ordinance has been well described, as
having been a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, in the settlement and
government of the Northwestern States. When the settlers went into the
wilderness, they found the law already there. It was impressed upon the soil
itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest. The purchaser of land
became, by that act, a party to the compact, and bound by its perpetual cove-
nants, so far as its conditions did not conflict with the terms of the cessions of

the States.

*********

This remarkable instrument was the last gift of the Congress of the old
confederation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious

92 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

labors. At the time of its promulgation, the Federal Constitution was under
discussion in the convention ; and in a few months, upon the organization of
the new national government, that Congress was dissolved, never again to re-as-
semble. Some, and indeed most of the principles established by the articles of
compact are to be found in the plan of 1784, and in the various English and
American bills of rights. Others, however, and these not the least important,
are original. Of this number are the clauses in relation to contracts, to slavery
and to Indians. On the whole, these articles contain what they profess to con-
tain, the true theory of American liberty. The great principles promulgated
by it are wholly and purely American. They are indeed the genuine princi-
ples of freedom, unadulterated by that compromise with circumstances, the
effects of which are visible in the constitution and history of the Union.

The first form of civil government, provided by the ordinance, was now
formally established within the Territory. Under this form, the people had no
concern in the business of government. The Governor and Judges derived
their appointments at first from Congress, and after the adoption of the Fed-
eral Constitution, from the President- The commission of the former officer
was for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked ; those of the latter
were during good behavior. It was required that the Governor should reside
within the Territory, and possess a freehold estate there, in one thousand acres
of land. He had authority to appoint all officers of militia, below the rank of
Generals, and all magistrates and civil officers, except the Judges and the Sec-
retary of the Territory ; to establish convenient divisions of the whole district
for the execution of progress, to lay out those parts to which the Indian
titles might be extinguished into counties and townships. The Judges, or any
two of them, constituted a court with common law jurisdiction. It was neces-
sary that each Judge should possess a freehold estate in the territory of five
hundred acres. The whole legislative power which, however, extended only to
the adoption of such laws of the original States as might be suited to the cir-
cumstances of the country, was vested in the Governor and Judges. The laws
adopted were to continue in force, unless disapproved by Congress, until re-
pealed by the Legislature, which was afterward to be organized. It was the
duty of the Secretary to preserve all acts and laws, public records and executive
proceedings, and to transmit authentic copies to the Secretary of Congress
every six months.

Such was the first government devised for the Northwestern Territory. It
is obvious that its character, as beneficent or oppressive, depended entirely upon
the temper and disposition of those who administrated it. All power, legisla-
tive, judicial and executive, was concentrated in the Governor and Judges, and
in its exercise they were responsible only to the distant Federal head. The
expenses of the Government were defrayed in part by the United States, but
were principally drawn from the pockets of the people in the shape of fees.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 93

This temporary system, however unfriendly as it seems to liberty, was,
perhaps, so established upon sufficient reasons. The Federal Constitution had
not then been adopted, and there were strong apprehensions that the people of
the Territory might not be disposed to organize States and apply for admission
into the Union. It was, therefore, a matter of policy so to frame the Territorial
system as to create some strong motives to draw them into the Union, as States,
in due time.

The first acts of Territorial legislation were passed at Marietta, then the
only American settlement northwest of the Ohio. The Governor and Judges
did not strictly confine themselves within the limits of their legislative author-
ity, as prescribed by the ordinance. When they could not find laws of the
original States suited to the condition of the country, they supplied the want
by enactments of their own. The earliest laws, from 1788 to 1795, were all
thus enacted. The laws of 1788 provided for the organization of the militia ;
for the establishment of inferior courts ; for the punishment of crimes, and for
the limitations of actions ; prescribed the duties of ministerial officers ; regu-
lated marriages, and appointed oaths of office. That the Governor and Judges
in the enactment of these laws, exceeded their authority, without the slightest
disposition to abuse it, may be inferred from the fact that except two, which
bad been previously repealed, they were all confirmed by the first Territorial
Legislature.

*********

At this period there was no seat of government, properly called. The
Governor resided at Cincinnati, but laws were passed whenever they seemed to
be needed, and promulgated at any place where the Territorial legislators hap-
pened to be assembled. Before the year of 1795, no laws were, strictly speak-
ing, adopted. Most of them were framed by the Governor and Judges to
answer particular public ends ; while in the enactment of others, including all
the laws of 1792, the Secretary of the Territory discharged, under the author-
ity of an act of Congress, the functions of the Governor. The earliest laws,
as has been already stated, were published at Marietta. Of the remainder, a
few were published at Vincennes, and the rest at Cincinnati.

In the year 1789, the first Congress passed an act recognizing the binding
force of the ordinance of 1787, and adapting its provisions to the Federal Con-
stitution. This act provided that the communications directed in the ordinance
to be made to Congress or its officers, by the Governor, should thenceforth be
made to the President, and that the authority to appoint with the consent of
the Senate, and commission officers, before that time appointed and commis-
sioned by Congress, should likewise be vested in that officer. It also gave the
Territorial Secretary the power already mentioned, of acting in certain cases,
in the place of the Governor. In 1792, Congress passed another act giving to
the Governor and Judges authority to repeal, at their discretion, the laws by

94 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

them made ; and enabling a single Judge of the general court, in the absence
of his brethren, to hold the terms.

At this time the Judges appointed by the National Executive constituted the
Supreme Court of the Territory. They were commissioned during good
behavior; and their judicial jurisdiction extended over the whole region north-
west of the Ohio. The court, thus constituted, was fixed at no certain place,
and its process, civil and criminal, was returnable wheresoever it might be in
the Territory. Inferior to this court were the County Courts of Common Pleas,
and the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. The former consisted of any
number of Judges, not less than three nor more than seven, and had a general
common-law jurisdiction, concurrent, in the respective counties, with that of
the Supreme Court ; the latter consisted of a number of Justices for each
county, to be determined by the Governor, who were required to hold three
terms in every year, and had a limited criminal jurisdiction. Single Judges of
the Common Pleas, and single Justices of the Quarter Sessions were also
clothed with certain civil and criminal powers to be exercised out of court.
Besides these courts, each county had a Judge of Probate, clothed with the
ordinary jurisdiction of a Probate Court.

Such was the original constitution of courts and distribution of judicial
power in the Northwestern Territory. The expenses of the system were
defrayed in part by the National Government, and in part by assessments upon
the counties, but principally by fees, which were payable to every officer con-
cerned in the administration of justice, from the Judges of the General Court
downward.

In 1795 the Governor and Judges undertook to revise the Territorial laws,
and to establish a complete system of statutory jurisprudence, by adoptions
from the laws of the original States, in strict conformity to the provisions of
the ordinance. For this purpose they assembled at Cincinnati in June, and
conti^nued in session until the latter part of August. The judiciary system
underwent some changes. The General Court was fixed at Cincinnati and Mari-
etta, and a Circuit Court was established with power to try in the several coun-
ties, issues in fact depending before the superior tribunal, where alone causes
could be finally decided. Orphans' Courts, too, were established, with jurisdic-
tion analogous to but more extensive than that of a Judge of Probate. Laws were
also adopted to regulate judgments and executions, for limitation of actions,
for the distribution of intestate estates, and for many other general purposes.
Finally, as if with a view to create some great reservoir, from which, whatever
principles and powers had been omitted in the particular acts, might be drawn
according to the exigency of circumstances, the Governor and Judges adopted
a law, providing that the common law of England and all general statutes in
aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of James I, should be in full
force within the Territory. The law thus adopted was an act of the Virginia
Legislature, passed before the Declaration of Independence, when Virginia was

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 95

yet a British colony, and at the time of its adoption had been repealed so far as
it related to the English statutes.

The other laws of 1795 were principally derived from the statute book of
Pennsylvania. The system thus adopted was not without many imperfections
and blemishes, but it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period
after its first establishment, ever had one so good.

And how gratifying is the retrospect, how cheering the prospect which even
this sketch, brief and partial as it is, presents I On a surface covered less
than half a century ago by the trees of the primeval forest, a State has grown
up from Colonial infancy to freedom, independence and strength. But thirty
years have elapsed since that State, with hardly sixty thousand inhabitants, was
admitted into the American Union. Of the twenty-four States which form
that Union, she is now the fourth in respect to population. In other respects
her rank is even higher. Already her resources have been adequate, not only
to the expense of government and instruction, but to the construction of long
lines of canals. Her enterprise has realized the startling prediction of the
poet, who, in 1787, when Ohio was yet a wilderness, foretold the future connec-
tion of the Hudson with the Ohio.

And these results are attributable mainly to her institutions. The spirit of
the ordinance of 1787 pervades them all. Who can estimate the benefits
which have flowed from the interdiction by that instrument of slavery and of
legislative interference with private contracts? One consequence is, that the
soil of Ohio bears up none but freemen ; another, that a stern and honorable
regard to private rights and public morals characterizes her legislation. There
is hardly a page in the statute book of which her sons need be ashamed. The
great doctrine of equal rights is 'everywhere recognized in her constitution and
her laws. Almost every father of a family in this State has a freehold interest
in the soil, but this interest is not necessary to entitle him to a voice in the
concerns of government. Every man'may vote ; every man is eligible to any
office. And this unlimited extension of the elective franchise, so far from pro-
ducing any evil, has ever constituted a safe and sufficient check upon injurious
legislation. Other causes of her prosperity may be found in her fertile soil, in
her felicitous position, and especially in her connection with the union of the
States. All these springs of growth and advancement are permanent, and
upon a most gratifying prospect of the future. They promise an advance in
population, wealth, intelligence and moral worth as permanent as the existence
of the State itself. They promise to the future citizens of Ohio the blessings
of good government, wise legislation and universal instruction. More than all,
they are pledges that in all future, as in all past circumstances, Ohio will cleave
fast to the national constitution and the .national Union, and that her growing
energies will on no occasion, be more willingly or powerfully put forth, than in
the support and maintenance of both in unimpaired vigor and strength."

96 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

INFLUENCE OF THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

The passage of this ordinance, since known as the " Ordinance of 1787/'
was immediately followed by an application to the Government, by John Cleves
Symmes, of New Jersey, in behalf of the country, between the Miamis, and a
contract was concluded the following year. The Ohio Company were exceed-
ingly energetic in inaugurating settlements. Gen. Putman, with a party of
forty-seven men, set out on an exploring expedition, accompanied by six boat
builders. On the 1st of January, 1788, twenty-six surveyors followed, from
Hartford, Conn. They arrived in Ohio on the 7th of April, 1788, and their
active energy founded the permanent beginning of this great Western State*
When we review the dangerous experiments that have been made, in this land
west of the Alleghanies, the horrors which had overwhelmed every attempt, we
can faintly realize the stalwart courage that sent these men on their way, and
sustained them in their pioneer hardships. With characteristic vigor, they
began their little town. Enthusiastic and happy, they did not rest from their
toilsome march over the old Indian roads, but kept busily at work to estab-
lish an oasis in this wide expanse of wilderness, before they should take nec-
essary ease to recuperate their strength.

The wise men met on the 2d of May, and the little town was named
Marietta. Situated as it was, in the midst of danger, they had used precaution
to build and equip a fortified square, which was designated Campus Martins ;
Square No. 19 was Capitolium, and Square No. 61 was Cecelia, and the main
street was Sacra Via.

Marietta was especially fortunate in her actual "first families." Ten of the
forty-eight men had received a thorough college education ; the remaining were
individuals of sterling merit, honorable, and several had already attained reputations
for superior excellence of abilities. Patriotic and brave, the settlement certainly
possessed a foundation that promised well for the future. The following 4th of
July was an auspicious event, and the Hon. James M. Varnum was the eloquent
orator of the occason.

The opening of the court, on the 2d of September, was a solemn ceremonial,
the High Sheriff leading with drawn sword, followed by citizens, with an escort
of officers from Fort Harmar, the members of the bar, the Governor and Clergy-
men, the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas — Gen. Rufus Putman and
Benjamin Tupper — all these constituted an imposing spectacle, as they pro-
gressed over a path which had been cut through the forest to Campus Martins
Hall, the edifice of law and order.

The Judges took their seats, a prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Cutler,
and immediately the Sheriff, Col. Ebenezer Sprout, proclaimed the response,
and the court of impartial justice was convened.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 97

This ceremonial was, perhaps, made all the more impressive by the presence
of several powerful Indian chiefs, who had journeyed to Marietta for the pur-
pose of making a treaty.

The settlement now increased rapidly, new cabins were erected constantly.
On the 17th of December, a society event occurred, in the form of a grand ball,
fifteen ladies being present.

John Cleves Symmes had contracted for 2,000,000 acres of land, and suc-
ceeded in obtaining his grant, but circumstances prevented him from meeting
his part of the obligations, and the specification was reduced to 1,000,000.
After vain attempt to make his payments, a settlement was finally effected for
248,540 acres, and Symmes was prepared to dispose of clear titles to new-com-
ers. In 1788, a town was established within the boundaries of his grant, at the
mouth of the little Miami, known as Columbia, and in the early part of 1787
another was formed opposite the mouth of the Licking River, by name Losanti-
ville, analyzed by a frontier scholar — ville, the town ; anti, opposite to ; os, the
mouth of; L, Licking.

Judge Symmes had projected building his main town at North Bend. This
plan was frustrated by reason of Ensign Luce — who had been commissioned by
Gen. Harmar to erect a fort — deciding that North Bend was not suitable for the
purpose. He selected Losantiville for the purpose, and Fort Washington was
the result. In 1790, Gov. St. Clair was called to inspect the settlement, and
proceeded to organize Hamilton County, at the same time calling the town
Cincinnati.

It will be remembered that Connecticut ceded most of her western lands to
General Government, retaining, however, a minor portion. As the settlements
began to increase on the "Virginia Reserve" and between the Scioto and Miami
Rivers, all those holding claims were not disposed to part with them, while
others were anxious to secure grants for the purpose of speculation, rather than
the advancement of civilization. The Scioto Company was a questionable ad-
herent of the Ohio Company, and began operations, which resulted well, what-
ever their purpose may have been.

Gen. Putnam cleared the land and directed the building of 100 dwellings and
six block-houses. During 1791, the colony arrived, consisting of 500 persons.
Only ten of these were tillers of the soil. Viscount Malartie ventured into the
wilderness, but instead of settling, joined Gen. St. Clair's army, and was ulti-
mately his aid-de-camp. Indian conquests were not to his taste, and he soon
returned to France. This new colony was essentially French, and its location
was Gallia County. The name " Gallipolis " was selected.

These settlers, being unaccustomed to severe toil, and disinclined to learn
its hard lesson, soon became demoralized, through deprivation and absolute
want. Congress came to their aid with a land grant of 24,000 acres, but few
of them cared to enter claims, and soon all traces of the old town were lost, and
its inhabitants scattered.

98 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Gen. St. Clair having become unpopular, through repeated failures in Indian
campaigns, and Gen. Anthony Wayne having wintered at Fort Washington,
the spring of 1793 was opened by a march of the army, well disciplined and
led by "Mad Anthony," on a campaign that must crush the rapidly increasing
depredations of the Indians, notwithstanding which these new settlements had
been made. All winter, Gen. Wayne had dispatched scouts, spies and hardy
frontiersmen on errands of discovery, and his plans were, therefore, practically
matured. His army cut its way through the forests, gathering horses, provis-
ions, etc., as they marched, and finally came nearly up to the enemy before dis-
covery. They again returned to Fort Washington, as the Commander-in-Chief,
under the order of the Executive, had proclaimed inaction until the Northern
or British Commissioners and Indians should convene and discuss the situation
and prospects. Gen. Wayne, meantime, drilled his men at " Hobson's Choice,"
a place near Fort Washington.

The Commissioners came from Detroit, and assembled at Capt. Matthew
Elliot's house, at the mouth of the Detroit River.

A meeting was called at Sandusky, and twenty Indian representatives were
present, to argue the grounds of a treaty. Simon Girty acted as interpreter,
and has been vehemently accused of unfaithfulness in this trust, since he did
not advocate the adjustment of matters on any grounds. The Indians reiterated
their rights and wrongs, and offered to receive the half of the purchase money,
provided the actual settlers would accept it as the price of the land, move away,
and leave the original owners the proud possessors of their lands. The Govern-
ment would then expend less money than they would have done in a full Indian
purchase, or a long and cruel war. This being out of the question and rejected,
a decided specification was made that the Ohio boundary was to be obliterated,
and a new one adopted, that encompassed a mere fraction of territory. This
was also rejected. The Indians indignantly bade the Americans to go back to
their father, and they would return to their tribes.

The council was terminated in confusion. It is highly probable that some
settlement might have been made, had it not been for English influence which
instigated the savages, in the hope of ultimately making conquests for them-
selves. The commander at Detroit evinced great uneasiness whenever there
was a shadow of an opportunity for a peaceful understanding.

On Christmas Day, 1793, a detachment of the army encamped on the
identical ground made memorable by St. Clair's horrible defeat. A reward was
offered for every human skull that was found, and 600 were gathered. The
bones of the victims were removed from the spot where they built Fort Recovery.
This point was left in charge of Alexander Gibson.

Early in the year 1794, Lord Dorchester addressed the Commissioners in
behalf of the English. Even at this time. Gen. Wayne, to avoid the terrors of
a great war, again made overtures of peace, dispatching Freeman, Trueman and
Hardin, all initiated in savage tactics, on errands of mercy — and the three men

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 99

were inhumanly murdered. The English went so far as to order Gov. Simcoe
to erect a fort, in April, 1794, on the Rapids of the Maumee, thus rousing the
Indians by a bold proof that they had espoused their cause. In May, the
Spanish, who were ever jealous of colonial encroachments, were willing to aid
in a general raid against the Americans.

In June, a scouting party from Fort Recovery, fell into an Indian ambush
and suffered severely, their foes following them to the very entrance. The siege
continued for two days. It was plainly evident that white men augmented the
Indian force ; ounce balls and buck-shot surely came from their rifles. Again,
the Indians immediately began a search beneath the logs where pieces of artillery
were hidden during the great battle of St. Clair, but fortunately. Fort Recovery
had the use of them and they accomplished much.

On July 26, Scott joined Wayne at Greenville, with 1,600 mounted
Kentuckians, and on the 28th, the legion took up its line of deadly march.
Halting at Girty's Town, they built Fort Mary's, later on Fort Adams. Throw-
ing the enemy off their guard by feints and counter-marching, the troops surprised
the Indians, and without the slightest resistance took possession of their villages
at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee. They found provision in
abundance, and tarried a week building Fort Defiance.

Again Gen. Wayne would have made terms of peace, on the principle of the
Government to arrest bloodshed, but the Indians were rendered cruelly intent
on war by an addition of a body of British militia from Detroit, and by regulars
stationed at a fort they had built on the left bank of the river, below the rapids,
called Fort Miami. The "Fallen Timber" ground was selected as the field
for a battle by the savages, in the expectation that the trees cast down by a
tornado and there remaining, would seriously impede American progress.

August 15th, Wayne marched down the river, and at Roche de Boeuf, erected
a fortification for their stores and luggage, naming it " Fort Deposit." On the
20th, the American army began the attack. Maj. Price and Maj. Gen. Scott
.were heroic in their assistance, and after a sharp, deadly conflict, the enemy
was routed, fleeing in confusion, and leaving their dead and wounded strewn
thickly over the field. The savages were pressed to the front always, and when
the carnage was painful, the British troops not engaged looked on coolly from the
fort and offered no assistance, aiding their own, however, when possible. Gen.
Wayne being an ardent soldier, was apt to forget his position, and impetuously
place himself constantly in danger. Lieut. Harrison is reported to have
requested the General not to forget to give him field orders, in his own partici-
pation in the battle, and to have received the reply that the standing order was
always to charge hayonets.

Notwithstanding the treaty of 1783, and the fact that the British were tres-
passing, they encroached upon the Ohio soil, and essayed to vindicate their
action by discarding American claims and recognizing the Indian rights, whereby
they might seek their own colonization and make treaties.

100 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Maj. Campbell was in command at Fort Miami, and when he saw the sava>
ges being cut down almost mercilessly, he not only refrained from offering aid,
but when, in their desperate retreat, they attempted to enter the fort for pro-
tection, he ordered the doors closed in their faces.

On the following day, Campbell sent a message to Wayne, demanding a
reason for hostile action, adding that Great Britain was not now at war with the
United States. He received a characteristic reply.

During the Revolution, Detroit was an important British point, and the
Maumee was its outlet. Therefore, the English clung tenaciously to this pos-
session, giving, as it did, the advantage of the great fur trade. The English
Government evidently regretted ceding so much of her territory in the West,
and were searching for an excuse to quarrel and attempt to regain at least a part
of what they had lost. Their policy was to sustain the bitter hatred between
the Indians and the Americans.

The settlement of the Maumee Valley had been rapid, but the very name
was an agony of remembrance of frightful massacres and atrocities. Col.
McKee, the British Indian agent, and his assistant, Capt. Elliott, were from
Pennsylvania, but being Tories, they had assimilated with the Indians. They
joined the Shawnee tribe and married Indian wives, and made their fortunes
thereby, through British appointments to secure the savage interests. The
Indians were directly served by McKee and Elliott, with ammunition and sup-
plies, during the Wayne conflict.

Several skirmishes ensued, but severe weather approaching, the troops
moved for quarters, and on the 14th day of September, they attacked the Miami
villages, captured them with provisions and stores, and erected a fort, leaving
it in charge of Lieut. Col. Hamtramck. With cheers and rifle-shooting, this post
was named Fort Wayne. The main army marched into Greenville and went into
winter quarters.

Wayne had achieved a brilliant victory, but his success did not overcome his
practical reasoning, and he was unwilling to subject his men to a severe winter's
campaign unless necessity was peremptory.

Gov. Simcoe, Col. McKee and a few of the most savage Indian chiefs
attempted to rally the Indians for a new attack. Gov. Simcoe, of Detroit, was
aware that the mounted volunteers under Wayne had been allowed to return
home, and that the term of service of a portion of the " Legion " was about to
expire.

The British and Indians held a conference, but the latter were weary with
fighting for the glory of the Great Father at Detroit, and did not enter into the
plan. The winter proved most poverty stricken to them, the English failing to
supply them, and their crops and sustenance having been destroyed by Wayne.
They were then fully prepared to listen to the faintest signal from Wayne to
conciliate affairs, and the Wyandots and Delawares were the first to confer with
him on the subject. Their position was exposed and they had suffered severely.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 101

They soon influenced other tribes to consider the question. As a mass, they
were convinced of their inability to overcome the Americans, and had become
impatient and disgusted with the duplicity of their British friends, who had not
hesitated to sacrifice them in every instance, and who deserted them in their
hour of distress. United, they sued for peace. Terms were made, and about
the 1st of August, the famous Greenville treaty was ratified and established,
and the old Indian war in Ohio terminated.

The Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies,
Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskias were thus
conciliated. The old Indian boundary line, settled upon at the Fort Mcintosh
treaty, was retained, and the southwestern line was prolonged from old Fort
Recovery, southwest of the Ohio River.

" The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and
the lands of the said Indian tribes shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga
River, and thence run up the same to the portage between that and the Tus-
carawas Branch of the Muskingum ; thence down that branch to the crossing-
place above Fort Laurens ; thence westerly to a fork of that branch of the
Great Miami River (running into the Ohio), at or near which fork stood Lar-
amie's store — Mary's River, which is a branch of the Miami that runs into Lake
Erie ; thence a westerly course to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of
the Wabash ; thence southwesterly on a direct line to the Ohio, so as to inter-
sect that river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky or Cuttawa River."

This boundary line has, ever since this memorable treaty, been a prominent
landmark, and may now be traced as the southern boundary line of Stark, Ash-
land, Richland and Marion Counties, and the northern line, in part, of Tuscar-
awas and Knox. Old Fort Recovery was located in Mercer, near the Indiana
line. Laramie's store was in Shelby.

Within the Indian Reservation, the United States held sixteen distinct sec-
tions of land, for the purpose of military posts, so arranged that the Govern-
ment had full right of way north and west.

The "Joy treaty " between England and the United States was ratified early
in 1796, and the British were obliged to vacate Detroit and Fort Miami, and recall
the fact that they had no claim or right to either points. Gen. Wayne received
them, and accompanied by Gov. St. Clair, proceeded to Detroit. Here the lat-
ter laid out a county, calling it Wayne, and designated Detroit as its seat of
justice. This was the fifth county in the Northwest Territory, north of the
Ohio River. Washington County, with Marietta as a seat of justice, was first
established ; next Hamilton, with Cincinnati as a county seat. Wayne County
was organized in 1796, and included about twenty-six of the present counties,
in the northwest part of the State, covering about a quarter of its area, besides
parts of Indiana and Michigan.

In other parts of the State, the population was rapidly increasing. In May,
1795, the Legislature authorized a committee to institute measures for the

102 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

disposal of their Western lands. The Virginia and Connecticut Reservations
required some action on the part of Government, inasmuch as ceding a portion
and re-selling had in a measure disturbed free titles. Fifty-six persons negoti-
ated and purchased lands, receiving quit-claim titles and entire rights. They
re-sold to John Morgan and John Caldwell and Jonathan Bruce, in trust. Thus
3,000,000 acres were prepared for settlement. Upon the quit-claim deeds of
these representatives, the full title of lands included within the old Western
Reserve rests.

Judge Symmes began his active operations in 1796, and by the close of
1797 all lands east of the Cuyahoga were laid out in townships, five miles square.
The agent of the Connecticut Land Company was Gen. Moses Cleveland, and in
his honor the leading city in the Reserve was named. Some townships were
retained for private sale, and others were disposed of by lottery, in 1798.

Wayne's treaty led to the formation of Dayton, and the peopling of that
section. A difficulty arose regarding the original Symmes grant and its modifi-
cation. Symmes had sold land titles, in good faith, beyond his vested power,
and Congress was now called upon to adjust these claims and titles. Seventeen
days after the Wayne or Greenville treaty, St. Clair, Wilkinson, Dayton and
Ludlow contracted with Symmes for seven and eight ranges, between the Mad
and Little Miami Rivers. November 4, 1795, Mr. Ludlow laid out Dayton.

During the years 1790 and 1795, the Governor and Supreme Judges of the
Northwest Territory had published sixty-four statutes. Thirty-four of these
were ratified at Cincinnati, for the purpose of forming a complete statutory. It
was termed the " Maxwell Code."

Mr. Nathaniel Massie founded a town on the Scioto, which was called
Chillicothe. The Iroquois treaty had previously invited settlement, and embryo
towns had begun as early as 1769, under the protection of the Connecticut
Company. A land company was organized in Hartford, Conn., in 1795, sending
out forty-three surveyors to divide the townships of that part of the Western
Reserve, east of the Cuyahoga, five miles square. The first resident of the town
of Cleveland was Mr. Job Stiles and family, and Mrs, Stiles was the mother of
the first white child born on the Reserve. Some other parts of the territory
progressed more rapidly in population.

Along the Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, towns began to spring up, which
might perhaps better be termed farming settlements.

Cincinnati was increasing, and in 1796, had reached 100 cabins, 15 frame
houses and 600 persons, with prospects for a firm future.

The Virginia Military Land District was between the Little Miami and
Scioto, and was rapidly increasing in population.

Mr. Massie was unceasinsr in his efibrts to advance the West, and laid out
Manchester, offering inducements that could not fail to attract settlers.

Ebenezer Zane procured a grant in consideration of opening a bridle path
from the Ohio River at Wheeling, over the country via Chillicothe, to Limestone,

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 103

in Kentucky. The year following, the United States mail was taken over
this route.

The comparatively tranquil condition of the country and the inducements it
had to offer encouraged a rapid settlement of the Territory. A prominent
feature of the early growth of Ohio was the general prevalence of reliable,
stanch principle. The people were of the good colonial stock.

In 1800, Chillicothe was denominated the seat of the Territorial govern-
ment, and the first stone edifice in the State was begun in this town, soon after
this appointment. About this time, a serious difficulty suddenly occurred to
those individuals who had taken lands on the Western Reserve of Connecticut.
That Eastern power had, it is true, ceded a part of her claim to the General
Government, and had stipulated for the sale of certain other tracts. At the
same time, the State had not signed away her jurisdiction over some sections of
her claim, and those unfortunate people in and about Dayton found themselves
without any government upon which they might depend in a case of emergency.
The matter was, accordingly, presented to the Territorial government, which
interceded with the Eastern State, and, sanctioned by the Assembly at Congress,
Connecticut relinquished her jurisdiction in 1800.

Cleveland was an important point, and was growing in the mean time. How-
ever, it had suffered exceedingly from the ravages of fever and ague. For a
period of two months, there was not an individual, but a boy thirteen years
of age, able to procure food for the others. Flour was out of all rational con-
sideration, and the meal upon which they lived was pounded by hand. In
1799, Williams and Myatt erected a grist-mill at the falls, near Newbury.

A startling agitation occurred in 1801, which in these days would cause but a
ripple in the political sea, but happening during a time when legislative dignity
and state authority were regarded with reverential awe, it created the most
intense feeling. Great indignation was openly expressed.

The Governor and several legislators felt that they had been insulted in
the performance of their respective duties, at Chillicothe, while the Assembly
was in session in 1801. No measures being taken by the authorities at the
capital to protect the Executive, a law was passed removing the seat of govern-
ment to Cincinnati.

This circumstance led to a general consideration of the advantages of a
State government, and a popular desire was expressed for a change in this
respect. Gov. St. Clair had fallen into disfavor through his failure as a military
leader and his failures in the Indian campaigns, and from his assuming powers
which were not vested in him, especially the subdivision of counties. He was
also identified with the Federal party, which was not popular in Ohio. The
opposition was strong in the Assembly, but was in the minority in the House of
Representatives. The boundary question was agitated at the same time. The
intention was to thus effect the limits of Ohio that a State government would
necessarily have to be postponed. Against this measure, Tiffin, Worthington,

104 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Langham, Darlington, Massie, Dunlavy and Morrow strenuously objected. After
considerable discussion, Thomas Worthington obtained leave of absence from
the session, and journeyed to Washington in behalf of a State government. It
was obvious that the Territory, under the ordinance, was not entitled to a
change. Massie suggested the feasibility of appointing a committee to address
Conoress on the subject. This the House refused to pass.

An effort was then made to take a census, but any action on this subject
was postponed until the next session.

During all this ineffectual struggle, Worthington was doing his best in Wash-
ington, and succeeded so well that on March 4, a report was made to the House
in favor of the State government. This report was made on a basis that the
census, in 1800, summed up over 45,000 for Ohio.

April 30, Congress passed a law carrying into effect the views expressed on
this subject. A convention met on November 1. Its members were generally
Jeffersonian in their views. Gov. St. Clair proposed to address them as their
chief executive magistrate. Several members resolutely opposed this action,
insisting upon a vote, which, through courtesy and not a sense of right, resulted
in permitting him to address them. He advised the postponement of the State
government until the original eastern portion of the State was suflBciently pop-
ulated to demand this right. Only one, out of thirty-three, voted to sustain
the Governor in these views.

The convention agreed to the views of Congress. November 29, the agree-
ment was ratified and signed, as was the constitution of the State of Ohio.
The General Assembly was ordered to convene the first Tuesday of March, 1803.

This was carried into effect. A constitution was framed for the new State,
adhering to the Ordinance of 1787. The rights and duties of citizens were
plainly set forth, and general business was transacted. The new State consti-
tution was signed by :

Edward Tiffin, President and Representative from Ross County.

Adams County — Joseph Darlington, Israel Donalson, Thomas Vinker.

Belmont County — James Caldwell and Elijah Woods.

Clermont County — Philip Gatch and James Sargent.

Fairfield County — Henry Abrams and Emanuel Carpenter.

Hamilton County — John W. Brown, Charles Willing Byrd, Francis Dun-
lavy, William Goforth, John Gitchel, Jeremiah Morrow, John Paul, John Riley,
John Smith and John Wilson.

Jefferson County — Rudolph Blair, George Humphry, John Milligan, Nathan
Updegraff and Bezaleel Wells.

Ross County — Michael Baldwin, James Grubb, Nathaniel Massie and F.
Worthington.

Washington County — Ephraim Cutler, Benjamin Ives Gilman, John Mc-
Intyre and Rufus Putnam.

Thomas Scott, Secretary.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 105

The first Legislature of the State, under the new constitution, created eight
new counties, viz., Gallia, Scioto, Franklin, Columbiana, Butler, Warren,
Greene and Montgomery.

The first State officers were : Michael Baldwin, Speaker of the House ; Na-
thaniel Massie, President of the Senate ; William Creighton, Secretary of
State ; Col. Thomas Gibson, Auditor ; William McFarland, Treasurer ; Return
J. Meigs, Jr., Samuel Huntington and William Sprigg, Judges of the Supreme
Court ; Francis Dunlavy, Willis Silliman and Calvin Pease, Judges of the Dist-
rict Court.

The General Assembly held a second session in December, at which time
the militia law was revised, also giving aliens equal proprietary rights with native
citizens. The revenue system was modified and improved. Acts authorizing
the incorporation of townships were passed, and for the establishment of coun-
ties. Furthermore, Jacob White, Jeremiah Morrow and William Ludlow were
authorized to locate a township for collegiate purposes, according to previous
specified terms of Congress. The Symmes grant and the college specification
collided materially, but the irregularity of the former was not to create any
inconvenience for the latter. Mr. Symmes had in good faith marked ofi" this
township, but circumstances preventing the perfection of his plans, that lapsed
with the others, and the original township was now entered by settlers.

Accordingly, thirty-six sections, west of the Great Miami, were selected,
and are now held by the Miami University.

Gov. St. Clair, notwithstanding his unpopularity, was re-appointed.

Ohio was under a system of government which guaranteed the best improve-
ments ; her Legislature being composed of her best statesmen, and the laws
passed having the general interest of the people embodied in them.

A bill was passed, appropriating the net proceeds of the land lying within
said State, sold by Congress after the 20th day of June, 1802, after deducting
all expenses incident to the same, to be applied to the laying-out of roads,
leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic to the Ohio, to
the said State, and through the same ; such roads to be laid out under the
authority of Congress, with the consent of the several States through which the
road shall pass. In conformity with these provisions, steps were taken, in 1805,
which resulted in the making of the Cumberland or National road.

Burr, at this time, began an organization for the ostensible purpose of
making a settlement on the Wachita, but his party being armed and his plans
not being frankly disclosed, an investigation proved that his real design was a
mutinous revolt against Governmental powers, and to gratify his ambition by
founding his own kingdom in Mexico, and defeating the Spanish. If success
crowned his efforts, his ultimate victory was to rupture the Union by forcing the
Western States to withdraw from their allegiance. By gaining an influence
over the noble but misguided Blennerhasset, he established his headquarters on
his island in the Ohio. The history of Burr's expedition is already well known.

106 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

The final capture by Gov. Tiffin, of ten boats loaded with stores, on the Mus-
kingum, and four near Marietta, decided the fate of this scheme, and Burr was
finally arrested and put on trial May 22, 1807.

The advancement of the settlement of the State was in no manner impeded,
and towns sprang up, farms were laid out, and all other improvements inaugu-
rated which tended to a permanent prosperity.

In 1808, Tecumseh left Greenville to join the Prophet on the banks of the
Tippecanoe, a tributary of the Upper Wabash, on a tract of land granted herein
by the Pottawatomies.

The Indians were virtually by treaty allowed but a small proportion of land
within the boundaries of the State, and were maintaining peaceful attitudes
toward the whites, with exceptional border depredations, which were settled by
mutual understanding.

Although the United States had gained independence, and was treating with
England as with other foreign powers, the British persisted in violating the
national rights of the United States, impressing American seamen into the
British service, seizing American vessels engaged with France in trade, and
otherwise violating the rights of an independent nation, at peace with the Brit-
ish power.

The mission upon which Henry was sent by the British, to create disturb-
ance between the States, and thus broken, to weaken the strength of the Gen-
eral Government, added fuel to the fire, and united indignation cried for war.

British agents again bargained with the Indians of the Wabash and Maumee
Valleys, desiring them to inaugurate another war upon the western sections and
to make a desperate attack upon the settlements south of the lakes. The Brit-
ish agent at Maiden negotiated in rifles, powder, ball, merchandise, lead, blank-
ets and shirts. The Indians were inspired again with the hope that the whites
would be driven back, and that all the country north of the Ohio would again
revert to them.

The Canadians in league with the English, gave the savages unlimited
quantities of whisky, which naturally aroused their fierce natures to acts of
violence and blood. It is highly probable that the use of liquor was the main
cause of the deterioration of the best traits of the Indian character, after the
Revolution. Again, many unscrupulous men upon the frontier did not hesi-
tate to commit the most merciless crimes against the Indians, such was the
prejudice against them, and the courts invariably failed to indict them for these
atrocities. This error on the part of the Americans served to influence the
savages against them.

At this time, the seats of justice were distant over a hundred miles each
from the other, uninhabited tracts frequently extending between them which were
absolute wildernesses. The routes were in many cases difficult and circuitous.

As early as 1808, there was a mail communication for the people on the
Lower Maumee, many days elapsing between the arrivals and departures of

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 107

the same, however. Horace Gunn was the carrier. Benoni Adams brought
the news from Cleveland to the same point, his trip requiring a fortnight. It
must be remembered that this journey was mostly made on foot. The Black
Swamp could not be traversed in any other manner.

THE WAR OF 1812.

The war of 1812 can be called a continuation of the Revolution, with all
justice. Although rumors had reached Ohio, that active preparations were
being made for general action, no official tidings had been sent to Hull, com-
mandea'-in-chief of the Western forces.

The Secretary of War, instead of sending a special messenger directly to
Hull, communicated with the post adjacent, depending upon a continuation of
the news from that point. At the same time, advices were sent the British
post at Maiden and Detroit. Hull sent out a packet with official papers, stores,
etc., the day previous to that on which the official intelligence arrived that an
open rupture existed between the two powers, and this was of course captured.

The Western forces marched to Detroit and crossed over to Sandwich, pre-
paratory to attacking Maiden, a post most favorable for the transportation of
stores, troops, etc. which was therefore considered valuable.

Peter Minard first gave the news to the settlers of the Maumee. He had
heard from a Delaware chief, who assured him a general massacre was to take
place in the valley. Maj. Spaffijrd paid no heed to this "idle fear," until a
few days thereafter a messenger came to his quarters, reporting a band of fifty
Pottawatomies on the march to join the hostile tribes near Maiden. They had
plundered and burned Monclova, and had nearly reached the rapids.

The Major, with his family and settlers, immediately launched a barge on
the river and were able to reach old Fort Miami just as the savages reached
Maumee City. They could plainly witness the flames that devoured their old
homes. They kept on their way in their miserable craft, until they reached
Milan, where they learned that the entire country was in danger.

Although the Indians were defeated in the battle of Tippecanoe in the fall
of 1811, they plotted vigorously with the English for the invasion of Ohio.-

Gen. William Hull marched from the southwestern part of the State
directly north, crossing the counties of Champaign, Logan, Hardin, Hancock
and Wood, establishing military posts along the route and cutting a way
through the wilderness of the unsettled portions. He crossed the Maumee on
the 1st of July, and marched to Detroit.

Hull was evidently actuated in his succeeding disgraceful failures by two
fears — lack of confidence in the ability of his troops, and the belief that they
might desert him in action. He proclaimed freedom, and a necessity of sub-
mitting to the Canadians under existing circumstances. He held out induce-
ments to the British regulars to desert their cause and essayed to pacify the
savages, but he accomplished nothing beyond jeopardizing the American cause

108 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

and disgracing his army. His men became restless. Col. Miller and Col.
Cass were delighted when detailed on scouting expeditions, and did not hesi-
tate to attack advancing squads of the enemy. At last, an attack was made on
the Niagara frontier, and Hull speedily abandoned his project and collected his
forces at Detroit.

Meantime, Col. Proctor had reached Maiden, and quickly perceiving the
advantao-e of a post at that point, whereby he could cut off supplies and starve
Hull into subjection, he massed his forces about this section, captured Van
Horn and his two hundred men, and withstood the attack of Miller, although
he gained nothing by so doing. Again Hull displayed his weakness by recall-
ing his forces from further molestations.

Gen. Brock, however, reached Maiden on the 13th of August, 1812, and
began war preparations.

Gen. Dearborn placed a force on the Niagara frontier, but an armistice was
made with the British. Hull dispatched a third party under McArthur, to
open communications to the Raisin River.

Gen. Brock appeared at Sandwich and began to erect batteries, which Hull
would not allow to be molested. The result was, that on the 26th of August
Detroit was surrendered to the enemy, and not a blow had been struck in its
defense.

By this dastardly act, 1,400 brave men who had not been permitted to
make a single effort to sustain the American cause, were surrendered to 300
English regulars, 400 Canadians and their Indian allies. Gen. Hull was, in
consequence of this series of "mistakes," accused of treason and cowardice,
and convicted of the latter. By the middle of August, the British had gained
the control over most of the Northwestern Territory.

The appointment of William Henry Harrison to the position of com-
mander in chief of the Western forces, was most opportune. He speedily
raised a vigorous army, and advanced by three routes to the foot of the rapids.

Gen. Harrison commanded the right wing, and marched by the way of Upper
Sandusky, where he located his depot of supplies. Gen. Tupper commanded
the center. Fort McArthur, in Hardin County, being his base, while Gen. Win-
chester marched from Fort Defiance down the Maumee to the foot of the rapids.

A large force of British and Indians moved up the left bank of the Mau-
mee toward Fort Wayne, and Gen. Harrison, to intercept them, marched to
the confluence of the Auglaize with the Maumee.

Harrison was aware that the enemy would be also hemmed in by Win-
chester. The weather was rainy, and the prospects were that a most unfortun-
ate season was to follow the expected engagements. Harrison heard that
Winchester had reached Fort Defiance, and that the Indians and British were
retreating down the Maumee. He followed, and marched to Winchester's
camp, where he arrived in season to quell a mutiny under command of Col.
Allen, of the Kentucky troops.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 109

In January, 1813, Winchester had reached the rapids, where he received
tidino-s that Frenchtown was menaced and exposed. Without orders, he sent a
party to the rescue, which defeated the enemy. The weather was intensely
cold, and the company lay within eighteen miles of Maiden, where the enemy
was collected in full force, consequently re-enforcements must be dispatched
immediately or the town again left to its fate.

Winchester then marched with a force of 259 men, and upon arriving at
nightfall, insisted upon remaining on open ground, although warned repeatedly
that this would be a most dangerous experiment.

In the morning, he was surprised by the enemy, massed directly before
him, with a battery within three hundred yards of his camp, and a shower of
bombs, balls and grape-shot falling among his exposed troops, and the yells of
Indians reminding him of his fatal error. Lewis, who led the party out in the
beginning and had apprehended the danger, bravely defended himself behind
garden pickets, Winchester was defeated on the 22d of January, 1813, and
the Indians were permitted to massacre the prisoners and the settlers.

Harrison fell back to the foot of the rapids. On the 1st of February, he
began the construction of Fort Meigs. On the 27th of April, Proctor and
Tecumseh attacked this fort, and laid siege with the full expectation of success.
The stipulation was that Gen. Harrison was to be delivered to Tecumseh.
While the balls and bombs were making havoc with the fort, the Indians were
climbing trees and pouring a galling fire down upon the troops. Gen. Proctor
invited Harrison to surrender, which was politely declined, with the assurance
that the British General would have the opportunity to distinguish himself as a
■soldier before such a proceeding was enacted.

Gen. Clay was descending the Maumee with 1,200 Kentuckians in flat
boats. Orders went from Harrison that 800 men should land on the left bank,
take and spike the British cannon, and then to enter the fort, from which
soldiers were to issue to assist the re-enforcements.

Capt. Hamilton was to pilot Gen. Clay to the fort, cutting their way
through. All succeeded, Col. Dudley taking the batteries and spiking the
cannon. But his men, too much elated by their success, against orders, and
against the repeated expostulations of Col. Dudley, insisted on pursuing the
Indians. Col. Dudley would not desert them. This act proved their ruin.
By a decoy, they were led into a defile which proved an ambush, and the men
found themselves surrounded by savages, without means of escape.

A most frightful massacre began, and every man would have fallen had not
Tecumseh sternly forbidden the cowardly carnage. One of his principal chiefs
ignored this order, and the next instant the great warrior buried his hatchet in
his head. The brave Col. Dudley was, however, tomahawked and scalped.

There were no immediate signs that the fort would be surrendered, and the
siege was raised on the 9th of May. It was renewed on the 20th of July, and
abandoned a few days later. The enemy decided this stronghold was invulnerable.

110 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

On the 1st of August, the enemy proceeded to Fort Stevenson, at Lower
Sandusky, garrisoned by 150 men under Maj. Croghan. The fort had the
use of but one piece of cannon. The enemy with Tecumseh's Indians num-
bered 3,300 strong, with six pieces of cannon.

Gen. Proctor again tendered the offer to surrender, adding that a refusal
would only bring about a useless resistance, and a massacre by the Indians.
The reply was, that before the fort went over to the British, not an American
would be left to be massacred, as they should hold out to the last man. Proc-
tor opened fire. The first movement was an assault upon the northwest angle
of the fort, as if to make a breach and thus carry the works. The command-
ant strengthened that point by bags of sand, and during the night stealthily
placing his one cannon in a concealed position, he filled it with slugs.

The following day, the fire again swept the northwest corner, and, evening
approaching, a column of 350 men swept up within twenty yards of the walls.
They were met by the musketry, which had little effect, and the ditch was soon
filled with men.. The next instant the hidden cannon, so placed as to sweep
the ditch, suddenly began action, and the surprised assailants quickly recoiled,
and the fort was saved, with the loss of only one man.

The next morning, the enemy had disappeared, evidently in haste, as guns,
clothing and stores were left behind. They had lost over one hundred and
fifty men by this useless attempt. Croghan had previously received orders to
evacuate the fort from Gen. Harrison, and his determination to hold the position
merited Harrison's reprimand and remand of commission. Such was the sev-
erity of military law. However, the rank of Colonel was immediately conferred
upon him by the President, for his gallantry. The ladies of Chillicothe pre-
sented him with an elegant testimonial in the shape of a sword.

It was decided to make a naval warfare effectual in the recovery of the
Northwestern Territory, and accordingly vessel-building began under Commo-
dore Perry's supervision.

The British looked upon this proceeding with derision, fully intending tO'
use these boats for their own purpose. They publicly proclaimed their intention.

By the 1st of August, 1813, Commodore Perry set sail a flotilla, the Law-
rence and the Niagara, of twenty guns each, with smaller vessels following.
Some difficulty was encountered in launching the larger vessels, on account of
the shallowness of the water.

Perry's first destination was Put-in-Bay, thirty miles from Maiden, where
the British fleet lay under the guns of the fort. On the 10th of September,
the British fleet — exceeding the American by ten guns — under Commodore
Barclay, appeared off Put-in-Bay, distant about ten miles. Perry immediately
set sail. The wind shifting, the Americans had the advantage.

Perry hoisted the Union Jack. A general preparation was made for the
conflict. An ominous silence settled over all as the fleets approached. A
bugle sounded on the enemy's ship Detroit, and a furious fire was opened upon

♦HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. Ill

the Lawrence. The frightful and desperate battle that ensued is so familiar
that it is not necessary for us to repeat its details. It forever remains in his-
tory as a prominent, desperate struggle that turned the tide most decisively in
favor of the Americans. Hand to hand, for three hours, this furious struggle
surged, resulting in a pronounced victory for the Americans.

Commodore Perry immediately requested parole for his severely wounded
antagonist, Commodore Barclay. Capt. Elliott was at this engagement highly
commended by Perry for his bravery.

Gen. Harrison now made preparations to follow Proctor, and reached Mai-
den on the 27th of September.

Proctor had retreated to Sandwich, and thence Harrison followed him,
overtaking the enemy on the 9th of October, on the bank of the Thames. An
engagement ensued, which was not particularly marked in its events, but which
practically terminated the war in the Northwest.

Tecumseh fell during this battle, and his death disheartened the savages to
such an extent that they were willing to make terms of peace. Accordingly
a treaty was concluded on the 22d of July, 1814, with the Wyandots, Dela-
wares, Shawnees, Senecas and Miamis, the tribes engaged in hostilities.

Again Ohio was able to turn her attention to the improvements within her
own boundaries. Weary and disabled though she was, her ambition and
energy were unimpaired. The struggle had been severe, but a grand reward
had been won, and peace and independence belonged to these sturdy, earnest,
pioneers.

In 1815, a town was founded near Fort Meigs, and, in 1816, Gen. John
E. Hunt and Judge Robert A. Forsythe located at Maumee.

BANKING.

Up to the year 1817, Ohio had no banking system, and on the 28th of
January of that year, the United States Bank opened a branch at Cincinnati,
and yet another during the following October at Chillicothe. These branches
found a large amount of business to transact, and while being of assistance in
various ways to the State, also received a fine revenue themselves. The State
therefore resolved upon a tax levy, and, in 1819, the branches were to pay
$50,000 each, and the State Auditor was authorized to issue his warrant for
the collection of the same.

The bank branches demurred, but the State was decided, and the banks
accordingly filed a bill in chancery, in the United States Circuit Court, setting
forth reasons whereby their prayer that Ralph Osborn, State Auditor, should
be restrained from making such collection, should be seriously considered.

Osborn being counseled not to appear on the day designated in the writ, an
injunction was obtained, with the security given in the shape of bonds from the
bank, to the amount of $100,000. On the 14th of September, the bank sent a
commissioner to Columbus, who served upon the Auditor a copy of the petition

112 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

for the injunction, and a subpoena to make an appearance before the court
on the first Monday in the following January. Osborn submitted both the
petition and the injunction to the Secretary of State, with his warrant for col-
lecting the tax. Legally, the matter was somewhat complicated.

The Auditor desired the Secretary of State to take legal advice, and if the
papers did not actually amount to an injunction, to give orders for the execu-
tion of the warrant.

The decision was that the papers did not equal a valid injunction. The State
writ for collection was therefore given over to John L, Harper, with directions
to enter the banking-house and demand the payment of the tax. In case of a
refusal, the vault was to be entered and a levy made upon the amount required.
No violence was to be used, and if force was used to deter the act, the
same was to be reported to a proper magistrate and an afiidavit made to that
fact.

On September 17, Mr. Harper went about his errand, taking with him T.
Orr and J. MacCollister. After securing access to the vault, a demand was
made for the payment of the tax. This was promptly refused, and a notice
given of the granting of the injunction. This was disregarded, and the officer
seized $98,000 in gold, silver and notes. This was placed in charge of the
State Treasurer, Mr. H. M. Curry.

The officers were arrested and imprisoned by the United States Circuit
Court, and the money returned to the bank. The case was reviewed by
the Supreme Court, and the measures of the Circuit Court were sustained. The
State, therefore, submitted. In the mean time, the Legislature had prepared
and passed a resolution, as follows:

Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That in respect to the powers of the
Governments of the several States that compose the American Union, and the powers of the Fed-
eral Government, this General Assembly do recognize and approve the doctrines asserted by the
Legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in their resolutions of November and December, 1798,
and January, 1800, and do consider their principles have been recognized and adopted by a
majority of the American people.

Resolved further, That this General Assembly do assert and will maintain by all legal and
constitutional means, the rights of States to tax the business and property of any private corpo-
ration of trade, incorporated by the Congress of the United States, and located to transact its
corporate business within any State.

Resolved further. That the bank of the United States is a private corporation of trade, the
capital and business of which may be legally taxed in any State where they may be found.

Resolved further. That the General Assembly do protest against the doctrines that the politi-
cal rights of the separate States that compose the American Union and their powers as sovereign
States, may be settled and determined in the Supreme Court of the United States, so as to con-
clude and bind them in cases contrived between individuals, and where they are, no one of them,
parties direct.

The bank was thus debarred from the aid of State laws in the collection of
its dues and in the protection of its rights. An attempt was made to effect a
change in the Federal constitution, which would take the case out of the
United States Courts. This, however, proved ineffectual.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. IIS

The banking system in Ohio has, by reason of State surveillance, not been
subjected to those whirlwind speculations and questionable failures which have
marked many Western States, in the establishment of a firm basis upon which
a banking law could be sustained, with mutual benefit to the institution and the
people.

THE CANAL SYSTEM.

In the first part of 1817, the Legislature considered a resolution relating
to a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. No action was taken and
the subject was not again agitated until 1819. Gov. Brown appointed three
commissioners in 1820, for the purpose of employing an efficient engineer and
such assistants as he deemed necessary, for the purpose of surveying a practical
route for this canal. The commissioners were restricted in their actions until
Congress should accept a proposition in behalf of the State, for a donation and
sale of the public lands lying upon and near the route of the proposed canal.
A delay was thus occasioned for two years.

In 1822, the matter was referred to a committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives. This committee approved and recommended the employment of the
engineer. They furthermore added illustrations to prove the feasibility of the
project.

James Geddes, a skillful engineer of New York, was in due time appointed
to the position and instructed to make the necessary examinations and sur-
veys.

The surveys were made, and estimates given of the expenses, which docu-
ments were laid before the Legislature at several sessions.

In 1825, an act was passed providing for the internal improvement of the
State by navigable canals. Directly thereafter, the State set vigorously about
the work of constructing two canals, one leading from the Ohio to Lake Erie,
by way of the valleys of the Scioto and Muskingum, the other from Cincinnati
to Dayton.

The first canal-boat from Cincinnati to Dayton, reached her destination in
1829, on the 25th of January. This outlet of communication was extended
to Lake Erie, and was completed in 1845. The largest artificial lake now
known is on the elevation between the Ohio and the lake, in Mercer County,
and supplies the St. Mary's feeder of the Miami Canal, about three miles dis-
tant, eastwardly. This reservoir is about nine miles long, and from two to
four broad.

Two walls of earth, from ten to twenty feet high, were formed, on the east
and west, which united with the elevations north and south, surrounded this
basin. When the water was admitted, whole farms were submerged, and the
"neighbors" complained lest this overflow should tempt miasma. So great
was the excitement, that over one hundred and fifty residents of the county
united, and with shovels and spades, made a breach in the embankment.
Many holding prominent positions in the county were engaged in this work.

114 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

and all laid themselves liable to the State laws, which made the despoiling of
public works a penitentiary offense.

The matter was taken up by the courts, but a grand jury could not be
found in Mercer County to find a bill of indictment.

The oflBcers who had charge of the work, ignored the law requiring the cut-
ing and saving of the timber on lands appropriated, for canal reservoirs. ■ The
trees were ruthlessly girdled, and thousands of acres of valuable timber that
might have been highly desirable in the building of bridges, etc., were
destroyed. However, an adjustment was finally effected, and the work was
prosecuted with the entire approbation of the people, who were convinced that
convenient transportation was to be desired.

OHIO LAND TRACTS.

After the Indians relinquished all claims against the lands of those States
west of the Alleghanies, as they had been obtained by conquest, the United
States, as a government, owned the soil. When Ohio was admitted into the
Union, a stipulation was made that the fee simple to all the lands within its
boundaries, with the exception of those previously sold or granted, should vest
in the General Government. At the present writing, but few tracts remain
that can be called " public lands." In this, as in other States, tracts are des-
ignated by their pioneer signification or the purpose to which they were origi-
nally devoted. In Ohio, these tracts are known as :

Congress Lands.

Symmes' Purchase.

15.

Maumee Road.

United States Military.

Refugee Tract.

16.

School Lands.

Virginia Military.

10.

French Grant.

17.

College Lands.

Western Reserve.

11,

Dohrman's Grant.

18.

Ministerial Lands.

Fire Lands.

12.

Zane's Grant.

19.

Moravian Lands.

Ohio Company's Purchase.

13.

Canal Lands.

20.

Salt Sections.

Donation Tract.

14.

Turnpike Lands.

The lands sold by the direct officers of the Government, under the direc-
tion of Congress, according to the laws, are known as Congress lands. They
are properly surveyed, and laid out in townships six miles square, under the
direction of the Government, and the expense incurred settled by Congress.
These townships are subdivided into sections, containing 640 acres. One sec-
tion is reserved, in every township, for educational purposes, to be utilized in
any manner approved by the State as being the best to aid the cause for which
they are assigned.

The Western Reserve will be remembered as the tract originally belonging to
Connecticut. It lies in the northeast quarter of the State. A half-million acres
were donated by the old Eastern State, when her claim was in force, to sufferers
from fire during the Revolutionary war, which created the name, " fire lands."
Many settled here whose homes were destroyed by the British during the war.

It will be remembered, that on account of discoveries by subjects of empires,
in the New World, the " Old World " kings laid claim to different portions

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 117

of the young continent. At that period, European knowledge of American
geographical positions and limits was exceedingly meager, which occasioned
several wars and more discussions. These Old-World sovereigns also assumed
the authority to sell or present tracts of land to their subjects, in those terri-
tories they deemed their own.

King Charles II of England granted to his loyal subjects the colony of
Connecticut, in 1662, placing with them a charter of right to all lands within
certain prescribed boundaries. But these " boundaries " frequently conflicted
with those of others, and sometimes extended to the Pacific Ocean, or " South
Sea," as it was then termed. Connecticut, by her original charter rights, held
all lands between the forty -first and forty-second parallels of north latitude, and
from Providence Plantation on the east, to Pacific Ocean on the west, except-
ing the New York and Pennsylvania colonies. As late as the establishment of
the United States as an independent government, those colliding claims fre-
quently engendered confusion and warm discussion between the nation and
Connecticut, regarding the original colony claim. This was compromised by
the national claims being relinquished in regard to the territorial claim in Ohio,
and Connecticut holding the 3,800,000 acres described as the " Western Reser-
vation." The Government held the right of jurisdiction.

In 1796, Congress set aside a certain division of land, to satisfy the claims
of officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war. It includes the 2,500,000
acres between the Greenville treaty line and the Congress and refugee lands,
and "VII ranges of townships," on the east, and the Scioto River, west. This
constitutes the " Military Tract." The " Virginia Military Tract " lies between
the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, and extends south to the Ohio.

James I, in his authorized charter to the Virginia colony, in the year
1609, made rather visionary boundary lines, sweeping over the continent, west
of the Ohio River, " of the north and south breadth of Virginia." Virginia
reconciled the matter by relinquishing all her claims northwest of the Ohio
River, with the exception of a tract for the purpose of donating the same to her
troops of the Revolution — their claims demanding such a return in some section.
Unfortunately, this tract was not regularly surveyed, and conflicting " lines "
have given rise to litigation ever since that stipulation was made.

The Ohio Company's Purchase has already been described — as has the
Symmes Purchase.

The Refugee Tract covers an area of 100,000 acres, extending eastwardly
from the Scioto River forty-eight miles, in a strip of country four and one-half
miles broad, north to south. Columbus, the capital of the State, is situated in
the western portion. This land was donated by Congress to those individuals
who left the British dominions and rule, during the Revolution, and espoused
the American cause.

The French Tract borders on the Ohio River, in the southeastern quarter
of Scioto County. It includes 24,000 acres, and was ceded to those French.

118 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

families that lost their claims at Gallipolis, through invalid titles ; 1,200 acres
were added, after the above grant of 1795.

Dohrman's Grant includes a section, six miles square, in the southeastern
portion of Tuscarawas County. It was granted to Arnold Henry Dohrman, a
Portuguese merchant, as a token of appreciation of the aid and shelter he ren-
dered American cruisers and vessels of war, during the Revolution.

The Moravian Lands were originally grants by the old Continental Con-
gress, in 1787, and confirmed by the act of the Government Congress, in 1796,
to the Moravian Brethren, of Bethlehem, Penn., in sacred trust, and for the
use of those Indians who embraced Christianity and civilization, desiring to live
and settle thereon. These three tracts include 4,000 acres each, and are situ-
ated in Tuscarawas County. In 1823, the Indians relinquished their rights to
the 12,000 acres in this county, for 24,000 acres, in a territory designated by
the United States, together with an annuity of $400.

Zane's Tracts included a portion of land on the Muskingum, whereon Zanes-
ville was built ; another at the crossing of the Hocking, on which Lancaster is
located ; and yet another on the left bank of the Scioto River, opposite Chilli-
cothe. These grants were made to Ebenezer Zane, by Congress, in 1796, as a
reward for opening a road from Wheeling, Va., to Maysville, Ky. In 1802,
Mr. Zane received three additional tracts, one square mile each, m considera-
tion of being captured and held a prisoner, during the Revolutionary war,
when a boy, by the Indians. He lived with these people most of his life, secur-
ing many benefits for the Americans. These tracts are located in Champaign
County.

The Maumee Road Lands extend the length of the road, from the Maumee
River, at Perrysburg, to the western limits of the Western Reserve, a distance
of forty-six miles — in a strip two miles wide. This includes about 60,000
acres. These lands were ceded by the Indians, at the treaty of Brownstown, in
1808. The original intention of Congress was to mark a highway through this
strip, but no definite action was taken until 1823, whe a the land was ceded to
the State of Ohio, under an obligation that the State make and sustain the pro-
jected road, within four years after the transfer.

The Turnpike Lands extended over 31,360 acres along the western side of
the Columbus & Sandusky Turnpike, in the eastern parts of Seneca, Craw-
ford and Marion Counties. They were designed for the transportation of mail
stages, troops and other United States property, free from toll. The grant was
made in 1827.

" The Ohio Canal Lands " comprise about 1,000,000 acres, set aside for the
purpose of canal construction.

When Ohio was admitted to the LTnion, a guarantee was given that the State
should not tax Government lands until they should have been sold for five years.
That the thirty-sixth part of all territory within the State limits should be de-
voted to educational purposes, for the general benefit of the population. In

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 119

order to secure tracts which would prove available, and thus insure returns,
they were selected in small lots. No. 16 was designated as the sectional portion,
in each township of Congress lands, the Ohio Company's and Symmes Pur-
chases, the United States Military Lands, the Connecticut Reserve, and a num-
ber of quarter townships. These school lands were selected by the Secretary
of the Treasury.

The college townships are thirty-six miles square. A section, thirty-six
miles square, in the center of Jackson County, in the vicinity and containing
the Scioto Salt Licks, was also reserved by Congress, together with a quarter-
mile township in Delaware County. This swept over 27,040 acres. In 1824,
Congress authorized the State to sell these lands. The proceeds were to be
devoted to literary requirements, such as might be specified by Congress.

IMPROVEMENTS.

We have heretofore briefly alluded to the canal system of Ohio, which in
the beginning caused considerable anxiety to settlers directly in the course of
its survey. The Legislature passed the " Internal Improvement by Navigable
Canals " act, in 1825, and the work was immediately inaugurated and hastened.
The " Ohio Canal " extends from the lake to the Ohio, and the " Miami " con-
nects Cincinnati with Dayton. The latter was completed to Toledo in 1844, a
length of 493 miles. Its total cost, including reservoir cutting and feeders, was
$7,500,000. The Ohio Canal was finished in 1833.

During the construction of these canals, the curiosities which have attracted
antiquarians and scientists, in the State of Ohio, were found in various places.
Relics were discovered that must have belonged to a giant race. Nearly 3,000
graves were found, of the " mound type." *

A third canal was begun in 1836, reaching from Walhonding, in Coshocton
County, to Roscoe, its length being twenty-five miles, involving an expense of
$610,000. This was completed in 1842. The Hocking Canal, between Car-
roll, in Fairfield County, and Athens, in Athens County, a distance of fifty-
six miles, was also cut, about the same time, at a cost of nearly $1,000,000.

The Muskingum improvements were also being carried forward. Locks and
dams were requisite for the perfection of navigation in this water-course, from
Dresden to Marietta, a distance of ninety-one miles. This added an expense
of $1,630,000 to the call for improvement appropriations. To the Miami Canal
was added a feeder, known as the Warren County Canal — extending from
Franklin to Lebanon, which was not completed, although over $250,000 were
expended in its construction as far as it went.

Railway transportation was a subject which engrossed the attention of those in-
terested in State perpetuity and general prosperity. About the year 1831, the Leg-
islature received applications for railway charters. The first one granted was the
" Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland Railroad," on June 5, 1832. The " Sandusky,
Mansfield & Newark Railroad " obtained a charter in 1836, March 11, followed,

120 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

three days thereafter, by the " Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad."
The " Little Miami" was begun in 1837. Notwithstanding these chartered
rights, but 129 miles were completed in 1847, and in operation. In 1878,
the mileage had increased to 6,264. The valuation of the operating roads
was estimated the same year, at $76,113,500. Their taxation summed up
$1,128,116.

No State in the Union has been more zealous in her educational interests than
Ohio. Public lands were generously granted by Congress, and the State added
her affirmation. However, no practical and effectual system was adopted until
1825.

An act was then passed to tax all real property one-half mill per dollar for
the establishment of schools in each township, and the support of the same.
An act of 1829, increased the tax to three-fourths of a mill. Trustees of
townships were instructed to make divisions and locate convenient school dis-
tricts. Householders were to elect three school directors, a clerk and treasurer
annually. Privileges and restrictions were enjoined in all cases. The house-
holders were allowed their discretion, governed accordingly, in imposing taxes
for the erection of school buildings. The Courts of the Common Pleas
appointed a committee to examine the qualifications of those individuals mak-
ing application for the position of teachers. The school extended equal privi-
leges to all white children. Those of colored parentage were excluded, and no
tax was levied for school purposes upon colored parents. An amendment has
admitted the children of colored parents. The system has continued the same,
with a few amendments. A State Commissioner of Common Schools is elected
every third year, who has general charge of the interests of public schools. A
State Board of Examiners, composed of three persons, appointed by the State
Commissioner, for two years' term, is authorized to issue life certificates of high
qualifications, to such teachers as it may find to possess the requisite scholarship,
character, experience and ability. These certificates, signed by the Commis-
sioner, are valid throughout the State. A County Board of Examiners, of
three members, is formed in each county. Boards of education, for cities, are
made up of one or two members from each ward. City Boards of Examiners
are also appointed. Section 4 of the law of 1873, was amended in 1877, which
made the territory annexed to an incorporated village,' at the option of the
voters of the village and tributary section, whether it be included with the vil-
lage as one school district, or left as two school districts. Section 56 of the law was
amended, in its bearing upon cities of 30,000 to 75,000 inhabitants, by limiting
to five mills on the dollar of taxable property, the levies in such cities for con-
tinuing schools, for purchasing sites for schoolhouses, for leasing, purchasing,
erecting and furnishing school houses, and for all school expenses. The public
funds are subject to the discretion of voters, and boards are authorized, under
instructions, to make the best use of such funds. Taxation is subject to the
discretion of the State, certain limits being prescribed.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 121

In 1878, the number of youth of the school age numbered 1,041,963.
On the rolls, 740,194 names were recorded. In the year 1878, 23,391 teach-
ers were employed, receiving $4,956,514.46 for their services.

Ohio not only sustains her public schools on a broad, liberal basis, but she
encourages educational pursuits in superior universities and colleges throughout
the State. These institutions are not aided by State funds, but are sustained by
society influence, added to their self-supporting resources. Ohio also possesses
a large number of normal schools, academies, seminaries and business colleges.
These are not entitled to the privileges of the school fund. Scientific, profes-
sional, theological, legal and medical instructions are in no manner limited in
their facilities. Industrial and reformatory schools are especially thorough.
Institutions for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, and blind, and feeble-
minded, are under the best discipline.

We may add, many female seminaries have been established which are entirely
sustained by other than State aid. Ohio has, from its inception, been solid and
vigorous in whatever tended toward improvement and enlightenment.

We have also referred to the banking system of this State, as being first
established on a basis through a contest between the State and the General
Government. Authorities differ regarding the exact date and location of the
very first house established in the State for the purpose of transacting banking
business. It is highly probable that Marietta is more directly associated with
that event than any other town. There are at present over one hundred and
sixty-seven national banks, with an aggregate capital of $27,794,468. It also
has eighteen banks of deposit, incorporated under the State banking laws of
1845, representing an aggregate capital of $539,904. Twenty-three savings
banks, incorporated under the State act of 1875, with an aggregate capital of
$1,277,500. Of private banks it has 192, with an aggregate capital of
$5,663,898. The State represents in her banking capital over $36,275,770.
The First National of Cincinnati has a capital stock of over $1,000,000.
The others fall below that sum, their capital diminishing from 10,000 shares of
$100 each. The valuation for taxation is $850,000 — Merchant's National of
Cincinnati — to the valuation of a tax of $5,000 on the First National of
Beverly.

BOUNDARY LINES.

We must not omit the subject of the State boundaries. Ohio was especially
the field for most animated discussions, relative not only to State limits but
county lines and township rights. In 1817, a severe controversy arose, which
was settled only after violent demonstrations and Government interference.

In primitive times, the geographical position, extent and surface diversities
were but meagerly comprehended. In truth, it may be asserted they could not
have been more at variance with actual facts had they been laid out ^' hap-
hazard." The ordinance of 1787 represented Lake Michigan far north of its
real position, and even as late as 1812, its size and location had not been

122 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

definitely ascertained. During that year, Amos Spafford addressed a clear, com-
prehensive letter to the Governor of Ohio, on this subject, relative to the
boundary lines of Ohio. Several lines of survey were laid out as the first
course, but either Michigan or Ohio expressed disapproval in every case. This
culminated in 1835, when the party beginning a "permanent" survey began
at the northwest corner of the State, and was attacked by a force of Michigan
settlers who sent them away badly routed and beaten. No effort was made to
return to the work until the State and various parties had weighed the subject,
and finally the interposition of the Government became necessary.

A settlement resulted in Ohio being bounded on the north by Lake Erie
and the State of Michigan, on the east by Pennsylvania and West Virginia, on
the south by the Ohio River, and on the west by Indiana.

It is situated between the 38° 25' and 42° north latitude, and 84° 50'
west longitude from Greenwich, or 3° 30' and 7° 50' west from Washington.
From north to south, it extends over 210 miles, and from east to west 220
miles — comprising 39,964 square miles.

The State is generally higher than the Ohio River. In the southern
counties, the surface is greatly diversified by the inequalities produced by the
excavating power of the Ohio River and its tributaries. The greater portion
of the State was originally covered with timber, although in the central and
northwestern sections some prairies were found. The crest or watershed
between the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Ohio is less elevated than
in New York or Pennsylvania. Sailing upon the Ohio the country appears
to be mountainous, bluffs rising to the height of two hundred and fifty to six
hundred feet above the valleys. Ascending the tributaries of the Ohio, these
precipitous hills gradually lessen until they are resolved into gentle undulations,
and toward the sources of the river the land is low and marshy.

Although Ohio has no inland lakes of importance, she possesses a favorable
river system, which, aided by her canals, gives her prestige of a convenient
water transportation. The lake on her northern boundary, and the Ohio
River on her southern limit, afibrd most convenient outlets by water to impor-
tant points. Her means of communication and transportation are superior in
every respect, and are constantly being increased.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES AND EARLY EVENTS.

Adams County was named in honor of John Adams, second President of
the United States. Gov. St. Clair proclaimed it a county on July 10, 1797.
The Virginia Military Tract included this section, and the first settlement made
within its boundaries was in this county in 1790-91, between the Scioto and Little
Miami, at Manchester, by Gen. Nathaniel Massie. In this town was held the
first court of the county.

West Union, the present county seat, was laid out by the Hon. Thomas
Kirker. It occupies the summit of a high ridge. The surface of this county is

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 123

hilly and broken, and the eastern part is not fertile. It produces corn, wheat, oats
and pork. Beds of iron are found in the eastern part. Its hills are composed of
aluminous shale. The barren hills afford a range for cattle and hogs. A sort
of vagrant class derive a support by collecting stones, hoop-poles and tanners'
barks from these hills.

Ashland County is one of the finest agricultural sections. It was formed
February 26, 1846. Wheat comprises its principal crop, although large quan-
tities of oats, corn, potatoes, grass and fruit are raised. Ashland is its county
seat, and was laid out by William Montgomery in 1816. It was called Union-
town for several years. Daniel Carter raised the first cabin within the county
limits in 1811.

Auglaize County was formed in February, 1848, from Allen and Mercer
Counties. Wapakoneta is its county seat.

Allen County was formed from the Indian Territory April 1, 1820. Lima
is its county seat.

Ashtabula County was formed June 7, 1807, and was organized January
22, 1811. The surface is level near the lake, while the remainder is undulat-
ing. The soil is mostly clay. Very little wheat is raised, but considerable
corn and oats. Butter and cheese are the main marketable productions. This
was the first county settled on the Western Reserve, and also the earliest in
Northern Ohio. On the 4th of July, 1796, the first surveying party arrived
at the mouth of Conneaut Creek. Judge James Kingsbury was the first who
■wintered there with his family. He was the first man to use a sickle in the
first wheat-field in the Western Reserve. Their child was the first born on the
Western Reserve, and was starved to death. The first regular settlement was
at Harpersfield, in 1798.

Jefferson is the county seat. Ashtabula is pleasantly situated on the river,
with a fine harbor two and a half miles from the village.

The first church on the Western Reserve was founded at Austinburg in
1801.

Athens County was formed from Washington March 1, 1805. It produces
wheat, corn, oats and tobacco. The surface is hilly and broken, with rich bot-
tom lands between. Coal, iron ore and salt add materially to its commercial
value. It has the advantage of the canal, as well as other transportation.
Athens, its county seat, is situated on the Hocking River. The Ohio Uni-
versity, the first college founded in the State, is located 'here. We have
mentioned the ancient mounds found in this county, heretofore. Yellow pine is
abundant in the lower part of the Hocking Valley.

Brown County was formed March 1, 1818, from Adams and Clermont. It
produces wheat, corn, rye, oats and pork. The southern part is prolific in
grain, while the northern is adapted to grazing purposes. The surface is undu-
lating, with the exception of the Ohio River hills. Over this county Tecumseb
once held sway

124 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Georgetown is the county seat, and was laid out in 1819. Ripley is the larg-
est business town in the county.

Belmont County was announced by Gov. St. Clair September 1, 1801. It
produces large crops of wheat, oats, corn and tobacco, an annual crop of over
2,000,000 pounds of the latter being the average. It also trades largely in
wool and coal. It is a picturesque tract of country, and was one of the
pioneers in the early settled portions.

In 1790, Fort Dillie was erected on the west side of the Ohio. Baker's
Fort was a mile below the mouth of the Captina. Many desperate Indian bat-
tles were fought within the limits of this county, and the famous Indian scout,
Lewis Wetzel, roamed over the region.

St. Clairsville is the county seat, situated on the elevation of land, in a fer-
tile district. Capt. Kirkwood and Elizabeth Zane, of historic fame, were early
pioneers here.

Butler County was formed in 1803, from Hamilton. It is within the blue
limestone formation, and one of the most fertile sections of Ohio. It produces
more corn than any other county in the State, besides fine crops of wheat,
oats and large quantities of pork. Hamilton, the county seat, is situated on the
Great Miami. Its hydraulic works furnish superior water-power. Rossville,
on the opposite side of the Miami, is a large mercantile town.

St. Clair passed through this county on his Indian campaigns in 1791,
building Fort Hamilton on the Miami.

Champaign County was formed March 1, 1805, from Greene and Franklin.
It is drained by Mad River and its tributaries, which furnishes extensive mill
privileges. Nearly a half is undulating, a quarter rolling, a fifth hilly, and
5 per cent wet prairie. The soil is fertile, and produces wheat, corn, oats,
barley, hay, while beef and wool add to the general wealth. Urbana, the
county seat, was laid out in 1805, by Col. William Ward. He was chief owner
of the land and donated many lots to the county, under condition that their
proceeds be devoted to public improvements. Joseph Vance and George
Fithian were the first settlers. The Methodists built the first church in 1807.
The main army of Hull concentrated at this point before setting out for Detroit.
Many Indian councils were called here, and Tecumseh was located for a time
near Deer Creek.

Carroll County was formed from Columbiana in 1832-33. It produces
wheat, oats and corn, and valuable coal and iron. The surface is hilly. Car-
rollton is its county seat. At Harlem is a celebrated chalybeate spri-ng.

Clark County was formed March 1, 1817, from Champaign, Madison and
Greene. Its second settlement was at Kreb's Station, in 1796. It is highly culti-
vated, well watered and very fertile. The Mad River, Buck and Beaver Creeks
furnish abundant water-power. It produces principally wheat, corn and oats.

Tecumseh, the old Indian warrior, was born at the ancient Indian vil-
lage of Piqua, on the Mad River, on the site of New Boston. Piqua was

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 125

destroyed by Gen. George Rogers Clarke. Skeletons, beads, gun barrels,
tomahawks, kettles, etc., have been found in the vicinity.

Springfield, the county seat, is situated on the National road. It has con-
venient transportation facilities, is handsomely laid out, and is noted for its
cultured citizens. It is near Mad River, and Buck Creek runs through it.

Clinton County was formed in 1810. It produces chiefly wheat, oats,
wool and pork. Its surface is undulating, in some parts hilly, and the soil fer-
tile. Its streams furnish desirable water-power. The county was settled in
1798—99. Wilmington is the county seat, and was laid out in 1810. The first
log house was built by William Hobsin.

Clermont County was the eighth formed in the Northwest Territory, by
proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, December 9, 1800. The soil is exceedingly
rich, and the surface is broken and, near the Ohio, hilly. Wheat, corn, oats,
hay, potatoes, tobacco, barley, buckwheat and rye form the main crops, while
beef, pork, flour, hay and whisky constitute its main exports. Its streams
furnish good water-power. Batavia, its county seat, is situated on the Little
Miami River, and was laid out in 1820, by George Ely.

Columbiana County was formed March 25, 1803, from Jeff"erson and Wash-
ington. Its soil is very fertile, producing wheat, corn, oats and potatoes. It
is wealthy in mineral deposits, coal, iron ore, lime and freestone being abun-
dant. Its water-lime stone is of superior quality. Salt water is found on Yel-
low and Beaver Creeks. This is also the great wool-producing county of
the State. It was settled in 1797. New Lisbon, its county seat, is well
built.

The first paper-mill in Ohio was erected in this county, on Little Beaver
Creek, by John Coulter and John Bever.

Coshocton County was organized April 1, 1811. Its principal products are
wheat, corn, oats and wool. Hills and valleys alternate along the Muskingum
River. Abrupt changes are strongly marked — a rich alluvum being overhung
by a red bush hill, while directly beside it may be seen the poplar and sugar
tree. Coal and iron ore add to its general importance, while salt wells have
proven remunerative.

Coshocton, the county seat, is built on four wide, natural terraces, at the
junction of the Tuscarawas with the Walhonding.

Cuyahoga County was formed June 7, 1807, from Geauga. Near the lake,
the soil is sandy, while a clayey loam may be found elsewhere. The valleys
near the streams produce Avheat, barley and hay. Fruit is successfully grown,
and cheese, butter, beef and wool are largely exported. Bog iron is found in
the western part, and fine grindstone quarries are in operation. The sandstone
from these quarries is now an important article of commerce. As early as
1775, there was a French settlement within the boundaries of Cuyahoga. In
1786, a Moravian missionary came to the present site of Cleveland, and set-
tled in an abandoned village of the Ottawas. Circumstances prevented a

126 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

permanent settlement, and the British tacitly took possession,, even remaining
upon the lake shores after the Revolution.

The first permanent settlement was made at Cleveland in 1796. Mr. Job
V. Stiles and family and Edward Paine passed the first winter there, their log
cabin standing where the Commercial Bank is now located. Rodolphus
Edwards and Nathaniel Doane settled here. The town was, in 1813, a depot
of supplies and a rendezvous for troops engaged in the war.

Cleveland, the county seat, is situated at the northern termination of the
Ohio Canal, on the lake shore. In 1814, it was incorporated as a village, and
in 1836, as a city. Its elevation is about a hundred feet above the lake. It
is a lovely city, and has one of the best harbors on Lake Erie.

Ohio City is another important town, nearly opposite Cleveland, on the
Cuyahoga. It was incorporated in 1836.

Crawford County was formed April 1, 1820, from the old Indian territory.
The entire county is adapted to grazing. The soil is generally composed of
rich vegetable loam, and in some parts the subsoil is clay mixed with lime.
Rich beds of shell marl have been discovered. It produces wheat, corn, oats,
clover, timothy seed, wool and cattle. Fine limestone quarries are worked with
success.

Bucyrus is the county seat, and was laid out February 11, 1822, by Samuel
Norton and James Kilbourn, original owners of the land. The first settler in
the town proper was Samuel Norton. A gas well has been dug in Bucyrus,
on the land of R. W. Musgrove, which burns in a brilliant light Avhen con-
ducted to the surface by means of pipes. Crawford's Sulphur Springs are
located nine miles from Bucyrus. The water is impregnated with sulphuretted
hydrogen. It deposits a reddish-purple sediment. In its nature the water is a
cathartic, and is diuretic and diaphoretic in its effects. A few rods away is a
burning spring. The Annapolis Sulphur Spring is clear and has gained consid-
erable fame by its curative qualities. Opposite Bucyrus is a chalybeate spring
of tonic qualities.

There are some beds of peat in the county, the most extensive one being a
wet prairie called Cranberry Marsh, containing nearly 2,000 acres.

Darke County was organized in March, 1817, from Miami County. It is
abundantly timbered with poplar, walnut, blue ash, hickory, beech and sugar
maple. It yields superior wheat, and is well adapted to grazing. In this
county occurred the lamentable defeat of St. Clair, and the treaty of Greenville.

Greenville is the county seat, and was laid out August 10, 1808, by Robert
Gray and John Dover. In December, 1793, Wayne built Fort Greenville on
this spot, which covered about the same extent as the present town.

Delaware County was formed February 10, 1808, from Franklin. It pro-
duces mainly wheat, corn, oats, pork and wool.

Delaware is the county seat, and was laid out in the spring of 1808, by
Moses Byxbe. The Delaware Spring in the village is of the white sulphur or

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 127

<3old hydro-sulphurous nature, valuable for medicinal qualities in cases of bilious
derangements, dyspepsia, scrofulous affections, etc.

Defiance County was inaugurated March 4, 1845, from Williams, Henry
and Paulding. The Maumee, Tiffin and Auglaize flow through it. The Black
Swamp covers much of its area.

Defiance, the county seat, is situated on the Maumee. It was laid out in
1822, by B. Level and H. Phillips. A large Indian settlement occupied its
gite in very early times. Wayne arrived here August 8, 1794, captured the
place, finding about one thousand acres of corn, peach and apple orchards, and
vegetables of all varieties. Here he built Fort Defiance.

Erie County was formed in 1838, from Huron and Sandusky. The soil is
alluvial, and yields large crops of wheat, corn, oats and potatoes. It possesses
inexhaustable quarries of limestone and freestone. Immense quantities of bog
iron are also found. The Erie tribe is said to have once occupied the land, and
-were extirpated by the Iroquois. As early as 1754, the French had built set-
tlements. In 1764, the county was besieged. Pontiac came here with warlike
•demonstrations, but made peace with the whites. Erie was included in the
"fire lands" of the Western Reserve.

Sandusky City is the county seat, and was laid out in 1817, then termed
Portland. At that time it contained two log huts. The town is finely situated,
and is based upon an inexhaustible quarry of the finest limestone. In the
"patriot war" with the Canadians, this city was the rendezvous for the
"patriots."

Franklin County was formed April 30, 1803, from Ross. It contains
much low wet land, and is better adapted to grazing than agricultural purposes.
It was in early times occupied by the Wyandot Indians. Its first white set-
tlement was made in 1797, by Robert Armstrong and others. Franklinton
was laid out in 1797, by Lucas Sullivan. Worthington was settled by the
Scioto Company in 1801. Col. Kilbourn, who was interested in the work,
constructed the first map of Ohio during his explorations, by uniting sectional
diagrams.

Columbus, the capital of the State of Ohio, is also the county seat of
Franklin County. After the organization of a State government, the capital
was "portable" until 1816. In 1810, the sessions were held at Chillicothe,
in 1811 and 1812 at Zanesville, removing again to Chillicothe, and, in 1816,
Iseing located at Columbus. The town was laid out during the spring of 1812.
A penitentiary was erected in 1813, and the State House was built in 1814.
It was incorporated as "the borough of Columbus," February 10, 1816. The
city charter was granted March 3, 1834.

It is beautifully located on the east bank of the Scioto. The Columbus
Institute is a classical institution. A female and a theological seminary also
add to its educational advantages. The Ohio Lunatic Asylum is also located
here — also the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind. East of the

128 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

State House is the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Deaf and
Dumb.

Fairfield County was formed by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, December
9, 1800.

The soil is varied, being in some parts exceedingly rich, and in others very
sterile. It produces principally wheat, corn, rye, oats, buckwheat, barley,
potatoes and tobacco.

Lancaster is the county seat, laid out by Ebenezer Zane in 1800. In 1797,
he opened the road known as "Zane's Trace," from Wheeling to Limestone —
now Maysville. It passed through Lancaster, at a fording about three hundred
yards below the present turnpike bridge. Near the turn stands an imposing
eminance called " Standing Stone." Parties of pleasure frequently visit this spot.

Fayette County was formed from Ross and Highland in 1810. Wheat,
corn, cattle, hogs, sheep and wool comprise its main productions. " The bar-
rens" are situated in the northeastern part. This tract is covered by a growth
of grass.

Washington is its county seat, laid out in 1810.

Col. Stewart was active in the interests of this section, and his memory is
sacredly revered. Jesse Milliken was prominent in public affairs.

Fulton County, bordering on Michigan, was organized in 1850. It is
drained by Bean Creek and other small affluents of the Maumee River. The
surface is nearly level, and a large part of it is covered with forests of ash,
beech, elm, hickory, white oak, black walnut, etc., furnishing excellent timber.
The soil is fertile. Wheat, corn, oats and hay are the staple products. Wau-
seon is the county seat.

Guernsey County was organized in March, 1810. Wool is a staple prod-
uct, together with beef, horses and swine. It produces wheat, corn and oats.

Cambridge is the county seat and was laid out in June, 1806. Mr.
Graham was the first settler on the site of the town, and his was the only
dwelling between Lancaster and Wheeling.

The first cannel coal found in the county was discovered near Mill's Creek.

Greene County was formed May 1, 1803, from Hamilton and Ross. It
produces wheat, corn, rye, grass-seed, oats, barley, sheep and swine. The
streams furnish good water-power. There are five limestone quarries, and a
marble quarry of variegated colors. The Shawnee town was on the Little
Miami, and was visited by Capt. Thomas Bullit in 1773. When Daniel Boone
was captured in 1778, he was brought to this town, and escaped the following
year. Gen. Clarke invaded this county and the Indians reduced the town to ashes.

Xenia, the county seat, was laid off in the forest in 1803, by Joseph C.
Vance. The first cabin was erected in April, 1804, by John Marshall. The
Rev. James Fowler built the first hewed-log cabin. David A. Sanders built
the first frame house. Nine miles north of the town, on the Little Miami
River, are the Yellow Springs, which are impregnated with sulphur.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 129

Greauga County was formed in 1805 from Trumbull. It exports sheep,
€attle, butter and cheese. It is situated at the head of Chargrine, Cuyahoga and
a part of Grand Rivers, on high ground, and is subjected to snowstorms more
frequently than any other part of the Reserve. Its first settlement was made
in 1798, at Burton. Chardon is fourteen miles from Lake Erie, and is 600
feet above it. It was laid out as the county seat in 1808.

Gallia County was formed April 30, 1803, from Washington. Its princi-
pal crops are wheat, corn, oats and beans. The surface is generally broken.
Its first settlement was made in 1791, by a French colony, at Gallipolis. This
colony was sent out under the auspices of the Scioto Company. This town is
now the county seat.

Hamilton County was the second established in the Northwestern Territory
by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, January 2, 1790. Its surface is gen-
erally rolling. It produces the ordinary farm products, and a great variety
of fruits and vegetables for the Cincinnati market. Vineyards thrive well
within its limits, and the manufacture of wine is carried on to a considerable
extent.

This county was the second settled in Ohio, and the first within the Symmes
purchase. Settlers arrived at the spot now occupied by Cincinnati, and three
or four log cabins were erected. Gen. Arthur St. Clair arrived here in Janu-
ary, 1790. The army of Wayne encamped here later, at Fort Washington.
Mr. Maxwell established in 1793 the Sentinel of the Northwestern Territory^
the first newspaper printed north of the Ohio River. In 1796, Edward Free-
man became its proprietor, and changed the name to Freeman s Journal.
January 11, 1794, two keel-boats sailed from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, making
regular trips every four weeks. In 1801, the first sea vessel built at Mari-
etta came down the Ohio.

Cincinnati, the county seat, was incorporated January 2, 1802. It was char-
tered as a city in 1819. The city is beautifully laid out and delightfully situ-
ated. Its public buildings are elegant and substantial, including the court
house and many literary and charitable institutions.

The Cincinnati College was founded in 1819. It stands in the center of
the city. . It is built in Grecian-Doric style, with pilaster fronts and facade of
Dayton marble. Woodward College is also popular.

The Catholics have founded the St. Xavier's College. Lane Seminary, a
theological institution, is at Walnut Hills, two miles from the center of the city.
It has over 10,000 volumes in its libraries. No charge is made for tuition.
Rooms are provided and furnished at $5 per year, and board ranges from 62|
cents to 90 cents a week. The Cincinnati Law; School is connected with Cin-
cinnati Collecre. The Mechanics' Institute was chartered in 1828, and is in all
respects well supplied with apparatus. A college for teachers was established in
1831, its object being to perfect those contemplating entering that profession in
their studies and system.

130 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

The Cincinnati Orphan Asylum is an elegant building, and has a library
and well-organized school attached. The Catholics of the city have one male
and female orphan asylum. The Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum of
Ohio was incorporated in 1821.

Cincinnati is a large manufacturing city, and possesses fine water-power
facilities. It communicates with the world by means of its canal, river, turnpikes,
and railways. North Bend is another prominent town in this county, having
been the residence of Gen. William H. Harrison, and the site of his burial
place. The town was of considerable importance in the early settlement of the
State. About thirty yards from Harrison's tomb is the grave of Judge
Symmes.

Hancock County was formed April 1, 1820. It produces wheat, oats, corn,
pork and maple sugar. The surface is level and its soil is fertile. Blanchard's
Fork waters the central and southern part of the county. Findlay, the county
seat, was laid out by ex-Gov. Joseph Vance and Elnathan Corry, in 1821. It
was relaid in 1829. William Vance settled there in the fall of 1821. At the
south end of the town, are two gas wells. In the eastern part, is a mineral
spring, and west of the bridge, is a chalybeate spring.

Hardin County was formed April 1, 1820, from the old Indian Territory.
It produces, principally, wheat, corn and swine. A portion of the surface is
level, and the remainder undulating. Fort McArthur was built on the Scioto
River, but proved a weak stockade. Kenton is the county seat, situated on the
Scioto River.

Harrison County was formed from Jefferson and Tuscarawas January 1,
1814. The surface is hilly, abounding in coal and limestone. Its soil is clayey.
It is one of the important wool-growing counties in Ohio. It produces large
quantities of wheat, corn, oats and hay, besides a considerable number of horses,
cattle and swine.

In April, 1799, Alexander Henderson and family settled in this county, and
at the same time, Daniel Peterson and his family resided at the forks of Short
Creek. The early settlers were much annoyed by Indians and wild beasts.
Cadiz is the county seat, and was laid out in 1803 and 1804, by Messrs. Briggs
and Beatty.

Henry County was formed from the old Indian Territory, April 1, 1820.
Indian corn, oats, potatoes, and maple sugar constitute the main products.
The county is well supplied with running streams, and the soil is unusually rich.

The greater portion of this county is covered by the " Black Swamp."
Throughout this swamp are ridges of limestone, covered with black walnut, red
elm, butternut and maple. The soil is superior for grain. Fruit thrives and
all varieties of vegetables are produced in large quantities. Simon Girty, noto-
rious for his wicked career, resided in this county. Girty led the attack on
Fort Henry, in September, 1777. He demanded the surrender of the fort,,
and menaced its inmates with an Indian massacre, in case of refusal. The

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 131

action began, but the fort gained the victory. He led a ferocious band of Indi-
ans, and committed the most fiendish atrocities.

Napoleon, the county seat, is situated on the Maumee River.

Highland County was formed in May, 1805, from Ross, Adams and Cler-
mont. It is a wealthy, productive county. Its wheat commands a high mar-
ket price. The crops consist of wheat, corn, oats, maple sugar, wool, swine
and cattle. Its first settlement began in 1801, at New Market, by Oliver Ross,
Robert Keeston, George W. Barrere, Bernard Weyer and others. Simon Ken-
ton made a trace through this county in early times. Hillsboro is the
county seat, and was laid out in 1807, by David Hays, on the land of Benja-
min Ellicott. It is situated on the dividing ridge, between the Miami and Sci-
oto. The Hillsboro Academy was founded in 1827.

Hocking County was formed March 1, 1818, from Ross, Athens and Fair-
field. Its principal products are corn, wheat, tobacco and maple sugar. Its
surface is broken and hilly, but is level and fertile beside the streams.

The Wyandots once occupied this tract, and built a large town herein. In
1798, a few white families ventured to settle. Logan is its county seat, and is
situated on the Hocking River.

Holmes County was formed from Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Wayne, Janu-
ary 20, 1824. It produces wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, maple sugar, swine,
sheep and cattle. The southwestern portion is broken. Thomas Butler was
the first settler, in 1810. Millersburg is the county seat, and was laid out in
1830.

Huron County was organized in 1815. It produces hay, wheat, corn, oats,
barley, buckwheat, flaxseed, potatoes, butter, cheese, wool and swine. Nor-
walk is the county seat.

Jackson County was organized March, 1816. The country is rich in min-
erals and abounds in coal and iron ore. The exports are cattle, wool, swine,
horses, lumber, millstones, tobacco and iron. Jackson, the county seat, was
laid out in 1817. The old Scioto salt-works were among the first worked in
Ohio by the whites. Prior to this period, the Indians came some distance to
this section to make salt. When Daniel Boone was a prisoner, he spent some
time at these works.

Jeiferson County was proclaimed by Gov. St. Clair July 29, 1797, and
was the fifth county established in Ohio. It is one of the most important
manufacturing counties in the State. Its resources in coal are also extended.
The surface is hilly and the soil fertile, producing wheat, corn and oats. The
old "Mingo" town was on the present farms of Jeremiah Hallock and Mr^
Daniel Potter. The troops of Col. Williamson rendezvoused at this point,
when they set out in their cruel Moravian campaign, and also the troops of
Col. Crawford, when they started on the campaign against the Sandusky
Indians. Here Logan, the powerful and manly chief of the Mingo nation,
once resided. He took no active part in the old French war, which closed in

132 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

1760, except that of a peacemaker. He was a stanch friend of the whites
until the abominable and unprovoked murder of his father, brother and sister,
which occurred in 1774, near the Yellow Creek. He then raised the battle
cry and sought revenge.

However, Logan was remarkably magnanimous toward prisoners who fell
into his hands. The year 1793 was the last spent in Indian warfare in Jeffer-
son County.

Fort Steuben was erected on the present site of Steuben ville, the county seat,
in 1789. It was constructed of block-houses, with palisade fences, and was dis-
mantled during Wayne's campaign. Bezaleel Wells and Hon. James Ross laid
the town out in 1798. It was incorporated February 14, 1805. It is situated
upon an elevated plain. In 1814, Messrs. Wells and Dickerson built a woolen
manufactory, and introduced merino sheep to the county.

Knox County was formed March 1, 1808, from Fairfield. It is drained by
the Vernon River. It produces wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, maple sugar, pota-
toes and wool. Mount Vernon was laid out in 1805. The early settlers found
two wells on the Vernon River, built of hammered stone, neatly laid, and near
by was a salt-lick. Their direct origin remains a mystery. Gilman Bryant,
in 1807, opened the first store in Mount Vernon. The court house was built
in 1810. The Indians came to Mount Vernon in large numbers for the pur-
pose of trading in furs and cranberries. Each Saturday, the settlers worked
on the streets, extracting stumps and improving the highway. The first settler
north of the place was N. M. Young, who built his cabin in 1803. Mount
Vernon is now the county seat, beautifully situated on Vernon River. Kenyon
College is located at Gambler. It is richly endowed with 8,000 acres, and is
valued at $100,000. This institution was established under the auspices of
Bishop Chase, in July, 1826, in the center of a 4,000-acre tract belonging to
Kenyon College. It was chartered as a theological seminary.

Lucas County is of comparatively recent origin. A large portion is covered
by the " Black Swamp." It produces corn, wheat, potatoes and oats. This
county is situated in the Maumee Valley, which was the great arena of histori-
cal events. The frightful battle of Wayne's campaign, where the Indians found
the British to be traitors, was fought near Fort Miami, in this county. Maumee
City, once the county seat, was laid out in 1817, as Maumee, by Maj. Wm. Oliver
and others. It is situated on the Maumee, at the head of navigation. The
surface is 100 feet above the water level. This town, with Perrysburg, its neighbor,
is exceedingly picturesque, and was in early times frequented by the Indians.
The French had a trading station at this point, in 1680, and in 1794, the Brit-
ish Fort — Miami — was built. Toledo is on the left bank of the Maumee, and
covers the site of a stockade fort, known as Fort Industry, erected in 1800.
An Indian treaty was held here July 4, 1805, by which the Indians relinquished
all rights to the " fire lands." In 1832, Capt. Samuel Allen gave an impetus
to the place, and Maj. Stickney also became interested in its advancement.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 133

Speculation in lots began in 1834. The Wabash & Erie Canal interest arose in
1836. Mr. Mason and Edward Bissel added their energies to assist the growth
of the town. It was incorporated as a city in 1836. It was the center of the
military operations in the " Ohio and Michigan war," known as the "boundary
conflict."

The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the division of the Northwestern Terri-
tory into three or five States. The three southern were to be divided from the
two northern by a line drawn east and west through the southern point of Lake
Michigan, extending eastward to the Territorial line in Lake Erie. The consti-
tution of Ohio adds a provision that if the line should not go so far north as the
north cape of Maumee Bay, then the northern boundary of Ohio should be a
line drawn from the southerly part of Lake Michigan to the north cape of the
Maumee Bay.

The line of the ordinance was impossible, according to its instructions and
the geography of the country.

When Michigan became a Territory, the people living between the " Fulton "
and '• Harris " lines found it more to their wishes to be attached to Michigan.
They occupied disputed ground, and were thus beyond the limits of absolute
law. In 1835, the subject was greatly agitated, and J. Q. Adams made a warm
speech before Congress against the Ohio claim. The Legislature of Ohio dis-
cussed the matter, and an act was passed to attach the disputed section to Ohio,
according to the constitutional decree. An active campaign opened between
Michigan and Ohio. Gov. Lucas came out with the Ohio troops, in the spring
of 1835, and Gov. Mason, of Michigan, followed the example. He marched
into Toledo, robbed melon-patches and chicken-houses, crushed in the front
door of Maj. Stickney's house, and carried him away prisoner of war. Embas-
sadors Avere sent from Washington to negotiate matters — Richard Rush, of Penn-
sylvania and Col. Howard, of Maryland. At the next session of Congress, the
matter was settled. Samuel Vinton argued for Ohio, in the House, and Thomas
Ewing in the Senate. Michigan received an equivalent of the large peninsula
between Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. Ohio received the disputed
strip, averaging eight miles in width. Manhattan, Waterville and Providence
are all flourishing towns.

Lorain County was formed from Huron, Cuyahoga and Medina, on Decem-
ber 26, 1822. The soil is generally fertile, and the surface level. Wheat,
grass, oats, corn, rye and potatoes constitute the principal crops. Bog-iron ore
is found in large quantities. A curious relic has been found in this county, bear-,
ing the date of 1533. Elyria is the county seat, and was laid out in 1817.
The first settler was Mr. Heman Ely. Oberlin is situated about eight miles
southwest of Elyria. The Oberlin Collegiate Institute has attained a wide
celebrity.

Logan County was formed March 1, 1817. The surface is broken and hilly
near the Mad River, but is generally level. The soil is fertile, producing

134 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO

"wheat, corn, rye, oats, clover, flax and timothy seed. The Shawnee Indians
were located here, and built several villages on the Mad River. These towns
were destroyed in 1786, by a body of Kentuckians, under Gen. Benjamin
Logan. The whites surprised the towns. However, they returned after the
work of destruction had been completed, and for many years frequented the
section. On the site of Zanes field was a Wyandot village. By the treaty of
September 29, 1817, the Senecas and Shawnees held a reservation around
Lewistown. April 6, 1832, they vacated this right and removed west. Isaac
Zane was born about the year 1753, and was, while a boy, captured and after-
ward adopted by the Wyandots. Attaining the age of manhood, he had no
desire to return to his people. He married a Wyandot woman, w^ho was half
French. After the treaty of Greenville, he bought 1,800 acres on the site of
Zanesville, where he lived until the year 1816, when he died, lamented by all
his friends.

Logan County was settled about the year 1806. During the war of 1812,
it was a rendezvous for friendly Indians. Bellefontaine, the county seat, was
laid out March 18, 1820, on land owned by John Tulles and William Powell.
Joseph Gordon built a cabin, and Anthony Ballard erected the first frame
dwelling.

Gen. Simon Kenton is buried at the head of Mad River, five miles from
Bellefontaine. He died April 29, 1836, aged eighty-one years and twenty-six
days. This remarkable man came West, to Kentucky, in 1771. He probably
encountered more thrilling escapes than any other man of his time. In 1778,
he was captured and sufiered extreme cruelties, and was ransomed by the British.
He soon recovered his robust health, and escaped from Detroit the following
spring. He settled in Urbana in 1802. He was elected Brigadier General of
the militia, and in the war of 1812, joined Gen. Harrison's army. In the year
1820, he removed to Mad River. Gen. Vance and Judge Burnet secured him
a pension, of $20 per month

Licking County was formed from Fairfield March 1, 1808. The surface is
generally level, diversified by slight hills in the eastern portion. The soil is
fertile, producing wheat, corn, oats and grass. Coal and iron ore of good
quality add to the wealth of the county. Wool and dairy productions are also
staples. Newark is the county seat, and is situated at the confluence of the
three prmcipal branches of the Licking. It was laid out by Gen. William C.
Schenk, George W. Burnet and John M. Cummings, who owned this military
section of 4,000 acres, in 1801. In 1802, Samuel Elliott and Samuel Parr
built hewed-log houses. The picturesque "Narrows of the Licking" are in
the eastern part of the county, which have elicited general praise from scenic
hunters.

Lawrence County was organized March 1, 1816. There are many high
and abrupt hills in this section, which abound in sand or freestone. It is rich
in minerals, and the most important section of Ohio for iron manufacture.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 135

Coal is abundant, and white clay exists in the western part suitable for pot-
tery purposes. Agricultural productions are not extensive.

The county was settled in 1797 by the Dutch and Irish. The iron region
extends through the west part of this county. Lawrence County produces a
superior quality of iron, highly esteemed for castings, and is equal to Scotch
pig for furnace purposes. Burlington is the county seat.

Lake County was formed from Geauga and Cuyahoga March 6, 1840. The
soil is good and the surface rolling. It produces wheat, corn, oats, buckwheat,
barley, hay and potatoes. Dairy products, cattle and wool are also staples.
Its fruits — apples, peaches, pears, plums and grapes are highly prized. As
early as 1799, a settlement was formed at Mentor. Painesville, the county
seat, is situated on Grand River, in a beautiful valley. The Painesville Acad-
emy is a classical institution for the education of both sexes. Near the town
is the Geauga furnace. Painesville was laid out by Henry Champion in 1805.
At Fairport, the first warehouse in this section, and probably the first on the
lake, was built by Abraham Skinner in 1803. This town has a fine harbor,
and has a light-house and beacon. Kirtland, southwest from Painesville, was,
in 1834, the headquarters of the Mormons. At that time, they numbered
about three thousand. The old Mormon temple is of rough stone, plastered
over, colored blue, and marked to imitate regular courses of masonry. As is
well known, the Mormons derive their name from the book of Mormon, said to
have been translated from gold plates found in a hill in Palmyra, N. Y.

Madison County was organized in March, 1810. The surface is generally
level. It produces grass, corn, oats and cattle — the latter forming a chief
staple, while wool and pork add to the general wealth.

Jonathan Alder was much interested in the settlement of the county. He,
like some other whites, had lived with the Indians many years, and had formed
a lasting afiection for them, and had married a squaw, with whom he became
dissatisfied, which caused him to desire finding his own family. He suc-
ceeded in this through the assistance of John Moore. He left his wife and
joined his people.

This county was first settled in 1795. Benjamin Springer made a clearing
and built a cabin. He settled near Alder, and taught him the English lan-
guage. Mr. Joshua Ewing brought four sheep to this place, and the Indians
exhibited great astonishment over these strange animals. When the hostilities
of 1812 began, the British offered inducements to the Indians to join them, and
they consulted Alder regarding the best policy to adopt. He advised them to
preserve neutrality until a later period, which they did, and eventually became
firm friends of the Americans.

London is the county seat, and was laid out in 1810-11, by Patrick McLene.

Marion County was organized March 1, 1824. The soil is fertile, and pro-
duces extensive farm crops. The Delaware Indians once held a reservation
here, and conceded their claims in 1829, August 3, and removed west of the

136 ' HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Mississippi. Marion, the county seat, was laid out in 1821, by Eber Baker
and Alexander Holmes. Gen. Harrison marched through this section during
his campaign.

Mahoning County was formed in 1846, from Trumbull and Columbiana.
The surface is rolling and the soil generally fertile. The finer qualities of wood
are produced here. Bituminous coal and iron are found in large quantities.
Col. James Hillman came to the Western Reserve in 1786. The settlement
of the county went forward. Canfield is the county seat.

Medina County was formed from the Western Reserve February 12, 1812.
The surface is rolling and the soil is fertile, producing fine agricultural prod-
ucts. The first trail made through the county was made by George Poe,
Joseph H. Larwell and Roswell M. Mason. The first settlement was made
by Joseph Harris in 1811. He was soon joined by the Burr brothers. Me-
dina is the county seat.

Meigs County was formed from Gallia and Athens April 1, 1819. The
general character of the soil is clayey, producing large quantities of wheat, oats,
corn, hay and potatoes. Vast quantities of salt are made and exported. Pom-
eroy, the county seat, is situated under a lofty hill, surrounded by picturesque
scenery. Mr. Nathaniel Clark was the first settler of the county. He arrived in
1816. The first coal mine opened in Pomeroy was in 1819, by David Bradshaw.

Mercer County was formed from the Indian Territory in 1820. The sur-
face is generally flat, and while covered with forests, inclined to be wet ; but,
being cleared, it is very fertile, and adapted to producing farm crops. St.
Clair's Battle was fought on the boundary line between this and Darke County.
The Hon. Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur made a treaty at St. Mary's with
the Wyandots, Shawnees and Ottawas, in 1818. The odious Simon Girty lived
at one time at St. Mary's. Wayne built St. Mary's Fort, on the west bank of
the river. John Whistler was the last commander of the fort. The largest
artificial lake in the world, so it is asserted, is formed by the reservoir sup-
plying the St. Mary's feeder of the Miami Extension Canal. It is about nine
miles long, and from two to four broad. Celina is the county seat.

Miami County was formed January 16, 1807, from Montgomery. It abounds
in excellent limestone, and possesses remarkable water-power facilities. Its agri-
cultural products rank highly in quality and quantity. John Knoop came into this
section about the year 1797, and its first settlement began about this time. Troy,
the county seat, is situated upon the Great Miami. Piqua is another lovely
town. The Miami River aifords delightful scenery at this point.

Monroe County was formed January 29, 1813, from Belmont, Washington,
and Guernsey. A portion of its surface is abrupt and hilly. Large quantities'
of tobacco are raised, and much pork is exported. Wheat and corn grow well
in the western portion. Iron ore and coal abound. The valleys of the streams
are very narrow, bounded by rough hills. In some places are natural rock
grottoes. The first settlement was made in 1799, near the mouth of the Sunfish.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 137

At this time, wolves were numerous, and caused much alarm. Volney entered
this county, but was not prepossessed in its favor. One township is settled by
the Swiss, who are educated and refined. Woodsfield is the county seat.

Montgomery County was formed from Ross and Hamilton May 1, 1803.
The soil is fertile, and its agricultural products are most excellent. Quarries of
grayish-white limestone are found east of the Miami.

Dayton is the county seat, situated on the Great Miami, at the mouth of Mad
River. A company was formed in 1788, but Indian wars prevented settlement.
After Wayne's treaty, in 1795, a new company was formed. It advanced
rapidly between the years 1812 and 1820. The beginning of the Miami Canal
renewed its prosperity, in 1827. The first canal-boat from Cincinnati arrived
at Dayton on the 25th of January, 1829. The first one arrived from Lake
Erie in June, 1845. Col. Robert Patterson came to Dayton in 1804. At one
time, he owned Lexington, Ky., and about one third of Cincinnati.

Morgan County was organized in 1818, March 1. The surface is hilly and
the soil strong and fertile, producing wheat, corn, oats and tobacco. Pork is a
prolific product, and considerable salt is made. The first settlement was made
in 1790, on the Muskingum. McConnelsville is the county seat. Mr. Ayres
made the first attempt to produce salt, in 1817. This has developed into a
large industry.

Morrow County was organized in 1848. It is drained by the Vernon
River, Avhich rises in it, by the East Branch of the Olontangy or Whetstone
River, and by Walnut Creek. The surface is undulating, the soil fertile.
The staple products are corn, wheat, oats, hay, wool and butter. The sugar
maple abounds in the forests, and sandstone or freestone in the quarries.
Mount Gilead, the county seat, is situated on the East Branch of the Olen-
tangy River.

Muskingum County was formed from Washington and Fairfield. The sur-
face is rolling or hilly. It produces wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, tobacco, wool
and pork. Large quantities of bituminous coal are found. Pipe clay, buhr-
stone or cellular quartz are also in some portions of the State. Salt is made in
large quantities — the fine being obtained from a stratum of whitish sandstone.
The Wyandots, Delawares, Senecas and Shawanoese Indians once inhabited this
section. An Indian town occupied the site of Duncan's Falls. A large Shawan-
oese town was located near Dresden.

Zanesville is the county seat, situated opposite the mouth of the Licking.
It was laid out in 1799, by Mr. Zane and Mr. Mclntire. This is one of the
principal towns in the State, and is surrounded by charming scenery.

Noble County, organized in 1851, is drained by Seneca, Duck and Wills
Creeks. The surface is undulating, and a large part of it is covered with for-
ests. The soil is fertile. Its staples are corn, tobacco, wheat, hay, oats and
wool. Among its mineral resources are limestone, coal and petroleum. Near
Caldwell, the county seat, are found iron ore, coal and salt.

138 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Ottawa County was formed from Erie, Sandusky and Lucas, March 6, 1840,
It is mostly within the Black Swamp, and considerable of its land is prairie and
•marsh. It was very thinly settled befere 1830. Extensive plaster beds exist
on the peninsula, which extends into Lake Erie. It has also large limestone
quarries, which are extensively worked. The very first trial at arms upon the
soil of Ohio, during the war of 1812, occurred upon this peninsula. Port Clin-
ton, the county seat, was laid out in 1827.

Perry County was formed from Washington, Fairfield and Muskingum,
March 1, 1817. Fine tobacco is raised in large quantities. Wheat, corn, oats,
hay, cattle, pork and wool add to the general wealth. This county was first set-
tled in 1801. First settler was Christian Binckley, who built the first cabin in
the county, about five miles west of Somerset, near the present county line.
New Lexington is now the county seat.

Paulding County was formed from old Indian territory August 1, 1820.
It produces corn, wheat and oats. Paulding is the county seat.

Pickaway County was formed from Fairfield^ Ross and Franklin, January
12, 1810. The county has woodland, barren, plain and prairie. The barrens
were covered by shrub oaks, and when cleared are adapted to the raising of corn
and oats. The Pickaway plains are three and a half miles west of Circleville,
and this tract is said to contain the richest land in Ohio. Here, in the olden
times, burned the great council fires of the red man. Here the allied tribes met
Gen. Lewis, who fought the battle of Point Pleasant. Dunmoi-e's campaign
was terminated on these plains. It was at the Chillicothe towns, after Dun-
more's treaty, that Logan delivered his famous speech. Circleville, the county
seat, is situated on the Scioto River and the Ohio Canal. It was laid out in
1810, by Daniel Dresbach. It is situated on the site of ancient fortifications.

Portage County was formed June 7, 1807, from Trumbull. It is a wealthy,
thriving section. Over a thousand tons of cheese are annually produced. It
also produces wheat, corn, oats, barley, buckw^heat, rye, butter and wool.
Ravenna is the county seat, and was originally settled by the Hon. Benjamin
Tappen in June, 1799. In 1806, an unpleasant difficulty arose between the
settlers and a camp of Indians in Deerfield, caused by a horse trade between a
white man and an Indian. David Daniels settled on the site of Palmyra in 1799.

Pike County was organized in 1815. The surface is generally hilly, which
abound with freestone, which is exported in large quantities for building pur-
poses. Rich bottom lands extend along the Scioto and its tributaries. John
Noland and the three Chenoweth brothers settled on the Pee Pee prairie about
1796. Piketown, the former county seat, was laid out about 1814. Waverly,
the present county seat, is situated on the Scioto River.

Preble County was formed March 1, 1808, from Montgomery and Butler.
The soil is varied. Excellent water-power facilities are furnished.

Eaton, the county seat, was laid out in 1806, by William Bruce, who owned
the land. An overflowing well of strong sulphur water is near the town, while
directly beside it is a limestone quarry. Holderman's quarry is about two

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 139

miles distant, from which is obtained a beautifully clouded gray stone. Fort St.
Clair was built near Eaton, in the winter of 1791-92. Gen. Harrison was an En-
sign at the time, and commanded a guard every other night for three weeks, during
the building. The severe battle of November 6, 1792, was fought under its very
guns. Little Turtle, a distinguished chief of the Miamis, roamed over this county
for a time. He was witty, brave and earnest, and, although engaged in several
severe contests with the whites, he was inclined toward peace. But when his
warriors cried for war he led them bravely.

Putnam County was formed April 1, 1820, from old Indian territory. The
soil is fertile, its principal productions being wheat, corn, potatoes and oats.
Large quantities of pork are exported. Kalida, once the county seat, was laid
out in 1834. Ottawa is the county seat.

Ross County was formed August 20, 1798, by the proclamation of Gov. St.
Clair, and was the sixth county formed in the Northwestern Territory. The
Scioto River and Paint Creek run through it, bordered with fertile lands.
Much water-power is obtained from the many streams watering it. The main
crops are wheat, corn and oats. It exports cattle and hogs.

The Rev. Robert W. Finley, in 1794, addressed a letter of inquiry to Col.
Nathaniel Massie, as many of his associates had designed settling in the new
State. This resulted in packing their several eifects and setting out. A triv-
ial Indian encounter was the only interruption they met with on their way.
After Wayne's treaty, Col. Massie and many of these early explorers met
again and formed a settlement — in 1796 — at the mouth of Paint Creek. In
August of this year, Chillicothe was laid out by Col. Massie, in a dense forest.
He donated lots to the early settlers. A ferry was established over the Scioto,
and the opening of Zane's trace assisted the progress of settlement.

Chillicothe, the county seat, is situated on the Scioto. Its site is thirty
feet above the river. In 1800, it was the seat of the Northwestern Territorial
Government. It was incorporated as a city in January, 1802. During the war
of 1812, the city was a rendezvous for the United States troops. A large num-
ber of British were at one time guarded here. Adena is a beautiful place, and
the seat of Gov. Worthington's mansion, which was built in 1806. Near this
is Fruit Hill, the residence of the late Gen. McArthur, and latterly the home
of his son-in-law, the Hon. William Allen. Eleven miles from Chillicothe, on
the road to Portsmouth, is the home of the hermit of the Scioto.

Richland was organized March 1, 1813. It produces wheat, com, oats, hay,
potatoes, rye, hemp and barley. It was settled about 1809, on branches of the
Mohican. Two block-houses were built in 1812. Mansfield, the county seat,
is charmingly situated, and was laid out in 1808, by Jacob Newman, James
Hedges and Joseph H. Larwell. The county was at that period a vast wilder-
ness, destitute of roads. From this year, the settlement progressed rapidly.

Sandusky County was formed April 1, 1820, from the old Indian Territory.
The soil is fertile, and country generally level. It mainly produces corn, wheat,

140 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

oats, potatoes and pork. The Indians were especially delighted with this tract.
Near Lower Sandusky lived a band of Wyandots, called the Neutral Nation.
These two cities never failed to render refuge to any who sought their protec-
tion. They preserved their peacemaking attributes through the Iroquois
conflicts. Fremont, formerly called Lower Sandusky, the county seat, is
situated at the head of navigation, on the Sandusky, on the site of the old
reservation grant to the Indians, at the Greenville treaty council. Fort
Stephenson was erected in August, 1813, and was gallantly defended by Col.
Croghan.

Summit County was formed March 3, 1840, from Medina, Portage and
Stark. The soil is fertile and produces excellent fruit, besides large crops of
corn, wheat, hay, oats and potatoes. Cheese and butter may be added as
products.

The first settlement made in the county was at Hudson, in 1800. The old
Indian portage-path, exter ding through this county, between the Cuyahoga, and
Tuscarawas Branch of the Muskingum. This was a part of the ancient boundary
between the Six Nations and the Western Indians. Akron, the county seat, is
situated on the portage summit. It was laid out in 1825. In 1811, Paul
Williams and Amos and Minor Spicer settled in this vicinity. Middlebury was
laid out in 1818, by Norton & Hart.

Stark County was formed February 13, 1808. It is a rich agricultural
county. It has large quantities of mineral coal, iron ore, flocks of the finest
sheep and great water power. Limestone and extensive beds of lime-marl exist.
The manufacture of silk has been extensively carried on. Frederick Post, the
first Moravian missionary in Ohio, settled here in 1761.

Canton is the county seat, situated in the forks of the Nimishillen, a tribu-
tary of the Muskingum. It was laid out in 1806, by Bezaleel Wells, who
owned the land. Massillon was laid out in March, 1826, by John Duncan.

Shelby County was formed in 1819, from Miami. The southern portion is
undulating, arising in some places to hills. Through the north, it is a flat table-
land. It produces wheat, corn, oats and grass. The first point of English set-
tlement in Ohio was at the mouth of Laramie's Creek, in this county, as early
as 1752. Fort Laramie was built in 1794, by Wayne. The first white family
that settled in this county was that of James Thatcher, in 1804. Sidney, the
county seat, was laid out in 1819, on the farm of Charles Starrett.

Seneca County was formed April 1, 1820, from the old Indian territory.
Its principal products are corn, wheat, grass, oats, potatoes and pork.

Fort Seneca was built durins; the war of 1812, The Senecas owned
40,000 acres of land on the Sandusky River, mostly in Seneca County.
Thirty thousand acres of this land was granted to them in 1817, at the treaty
held at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. The remaining 10,000 was granted
the following year. These Indians ceded this tract, however, to the Govern-
ment in 1831. It was asserted by an old chief, that this band was the remnant

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 141

of Logan's tribe. Tiffin, the county seat, was laid out by Josiah Hedges in
the year 1821.

Scioto County was formed May 1, 1803. It is a good agricultural section,
besides producing iron ore, coal and freestone. It is said that a French fort
stood at the mouth of the old Scioto, as early as 1740. In 1785, four families
settled where Portsmouth now stands. Thomas McDonald built the first cabin in
the county. The "French grant" was located in this section — a tract com-
prising 24,000 acres. The grant was made in March, 1795. Portsmouth, the
county seat, is located upon the Ohio.

Trumbull County was formed in 1800. The original Connecticut Western
Reserve was Avithin its limits. The county is well cultivated and very wealthy.
Coal is found in its northern portion. We have, in our previous outline, given
a history of this section, and it is not, therefore, necessary to repeat its details.
Warren, the county seat, is situated on the Mahoning River. It was laid out
by Ephraim Quinby in 1801. Mr. Quinby owned the soil. His cabin was built
here in 1799. In August, 1800, while Mr. McMahon was away from home,
a party of drunken Indians called at the house, abused the family, struck a
child a severe blow with a tomahawk and threatened to kill the family. Mrs.
McMahon could not send tidings which could reach her husband before noon
the following day. The following Sunday morning, fourteen men and two
boys armed themselves and went to the Indian camp to settle the difficulty.
Quinby advanced alone, leaving the remainder in concealment, as he was better
acquainted with these people, to make inquiries and ascertain their intentions.
He did not return at once, and the party set out, marched into camp, and found
Quinby arguing with Capt. George, the chief. Capt. George snatched his
tomahawk and declared war, rushing forward to kill McMahon. But a bullet
from the frontierman's gun killed him instantly, while Storey shot " Spotted
John" at the same time. The Indians then fled. They joined the council at
Sandusky. Quinby garrisoned his house. Fourteen days thereafter, the
Indians returned with overtures of peace, which were, that McMahon and
Storey be taken to Sandusky, tried by Indian laws, and if found guilty, pun-
ished by them. This could not be done. McMahon was tried by Gen. St.
Clair, and the matter was settled. The first missionary on the Reserve was the
Rev. Joseph Badger.

Tuscarawas County was formed February 15, 1808, from Muskingum. It
is well cultivated with abundant supplies of coal and iron.

The first white settlers were Moravian missionaries, their first visits dating
back to 1761. The first permanent settlement was made in 1798. Miss Mary
Heckewelder, the daughter of a missionary, was born in this county April 16,
1781. Fort Laurens was built during the Revolution. It was the scene of a
fearful carnage. It was established in the fall of 1778, and placed under the
command of Gen. Mcintosh. New Philadelphia is the county seat, situated on
the Tuscarawas. It was laid out in 1804 by John Knisely. A German

142 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

colony settled in this county in 1817, driven from their native land by religious
dictation they could not espouse. They called themselves Separatists. They
are a simple-minded people, strictly moral and honest.

Union County was formed from Franklin, Delaware, Logan and Madison in
1820. It produces corn, grass, wheat, oats, potatoes, butter and cheese.
Extensive limestone quarries are also valuable. The Ewing brothers made the
first white settlement in 1798. Col. James Curry, a member of the State Leg-
islature, was the chief instigator in the progress of this section. He located
within its limits and remained until his death, which occurred in 1834. Marys-
ville is the county seat.

Van Wert County was formed from the old Indian territory April 1, 1820.
A great deal of timber is within the limits of this county, but the soil is so
tenacious that water will not sink through it, and crops are poor during wet
seasons. The main product is corn. Van Wert, the county seat, was founded
by James W. Riley in 1837. An Indian town had formerly occupied its site.
Capt. Riley was the first white man who settled in the county, arriving in 1821.
He founded Willshire in 1822.

Vinton County was organized in ] 850. It is drained by Raccoon and Salt
Creeks. The surface is undulating or hilly, and is extensively covered with
forests in which the oak, buckeye and sugar maple are found. Corn, hay, but-
ter and wool are staple products. Bituminous coal and iron ore are found.
McArthur is the county seat.

Washington County was formed by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair July 27,
1788, and was the first county founded within the limits of Ohio. The surface
is broken with extensive tracts of level, fertile land. It was the first county
settled in the State under the auspices of the Ohio Company. A detachment
of United States troops, under command of Maj. John Doughty, built Fort
Harmar in 1785, and it was the first military post established in Ohio by
Americans, with the exception of Fort Laurens, which was erected in 3778.
It was occupied by United States troops until 1790, when they were ordered
to Connecticut. A company under Capt. Haskell remained. In 1785, the
Directors of the Ohio Company began practical operations, and settlement
went forward rapidly. Campus Martins, a stockade fort, was completed in
1791. This formed a sturdy stronghold during the war. During the Indian
war there was much suffering in the county. Many settlers were killed and
captured.

Marietta is the county seat, and the oldest town in Ohio. Marietta College
was chartered in 1835. Herman Blannerhassett, whose unfortunate association
with Aaron Burr proved fatal to himself, was a resident of Marietta in 1796.
About the year 1798, he began to beautify and improve his island.

Warren County was formed May 1, 1803, from Hamilton. The soil is
very fertile, and considerable water-power is furnished by its streams. Mr.
Bedell made the first settlement in 1795. Lebanon is the eounty seat. Henry

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 14B

Taylor settled in this vicinity in 1796. Union Village is a settlement of
Shakers. They came here about 1805.

Wayne County was proclaimed by Gov. St. Clair August 15, 1796, and
was the third county in the Northwest Territory. The settlement of this sec-
tion has already been briefly delineated. Wooster is the county seat. It was
laid out during the fall of 1808, by John Beaver, William Henry and Joseph
H. Larwell, owners of the land. Its site is 337 feet above Lake Erie. The
first mill was built by Joseph Stibbs, in 1809, on Apple Creek. In 1812, a
block- house was erected in Wooster,

Wood County was formed from the old Indian territory in 1820. The soil
is rich, and large crops are produced. The county is situated within the Mau-
mee Valley. It was the arena of brilliant military exploits during early times.
Bowling Green is the county seat.

Williams County was formed April 1, 1820, from the old Indian territory.
Bryan is the county seat. It was laid out in 1840.

Wyandot County was formed February 3, 1845, from Marion, Hardin, Han-
cock and Crawford. The surface is level, and the soil exceedingly fertile.
The Wyandot Indians occupied this section, especially the reservation, from
time immemorial until 1843. The treaty of 1817, by Hon. Lewis Cass and
Hon. Duncan McArthur, United States Commissioners, granted to the Indians
a reservation twelve miles square, the central point being Fort Ferree, now
within the corporate limits of Upper Sandusky. The Delaware Reserve was
ceded to the United States in 1829. The Wyandots ceded theirs March 17,
1842. Col. John Johnston, the United States Commissioner, conducted the
negotiations, and thus made the Indian treaty in Ohio. It was the scene of
Col. Crawford's defeat and tragic death, June 11, 1782. The Wyandots were
exceedingly brave, and several of their chiefs were distinguished orators and
men of exalted moral principles.

Upper Sandusky is the county seat, and was laid out in 1843. Gen. Har-
rison had built Fort Ferree on this spot during the war of 1812. Gov. Meigs,
in 1813, encamped on this river with several thousand of the Ohio militia.

The Indian village of Crane Town was originally called Upper Sandusky.
The Indians, after the death of Tarhe, or " the Crane," transferred their town
to Upper Sandusky.

GOVERNORS OF OHIO.

The Territorial Governors we have already mentioned in the course of our
brief review of the prominent events of the State of Ohio. After the Terri-
tory was admitted as a State, in 1802, Edward Tiffin was elected to that posi-
tion, and again received the same honor in 1804 and 1806. In 1807, circum-
stances led him to resign, and Thomas Kirker, Speaker of the Senate, acted as
Governor until the close of the term.

Edward Tiffin was born in Carlisle, England, coming to this country in
1784, at the age of eighteen. He entered the University of Pennsylvania, and
applied himself to the study of medicine, graduating and beginning his practice
at the age of twenty, in the State of Virginia. In 1789, he married Mary,

144 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

daughter of Col. Worthington, and sister of Thomas Worthington, who subse-
quently became Governor of Ohio. In his profession, Gov. Tiffin was highly
esteemed, and his public labors were carried forward Avith a zealous earnestness;
which marked his career as one of usefulness. He settled in Chillicothe, Ohio,
in 1796, where he died, in 1829.

Samuel Huntington, the recipient of the honor of third Governor, was
inaugurated in 1808. He was an American by birth, Norwich, Conn.^
being his native place. He was a diligent student in Yale College, graduating
in 1785. He removed to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1801. He attained a reputation
for integrity, ability and rare discretion. As a scholar, he was eminently supe-
rior. He resided in Cleveland at the time of his death, in 1817.

Return Jonathan Meigs followed Gov. Huntington. He was born in Mid-
dletown. Conn., in 1765. He was also a student in Yale College, graduating
in 1785, with the highest honors. He immediately entered the study of law,
and was admitted to practice in his twenty-third year. He married Miss Sophia
Wright, and settled in Marietta, Ohio, in 1788. He took his seat as Gover-
nor in 1810, and was re-elected in 1812. In 1813, President Madison appointed
him to the position of Postmaster General, which occasioned his resignation as
Governor. Othniel Looker, Speaker of the Senate, acted as Governor during
the remainder of the term. Mr. Meigs died in 1825, leaving as a memento of
his usefulness, a revered memory.

Thomas Worthington, the sixth Governor, was born in Jefferson County,
Va., in 1769. He gained an education in William and Mary's College.
In 1788, he located at Chillicothe, and was the first Senator from the new
State. He was also the first man to erect the first saw-mill in Ohio. He
served two terms as Senator, from 1803 to 1815, resigning in 1814, to take his
position as Governor. In 1816, he was re-elected. He was exceedingly active
in paving the way for the future prosperity of Ohio. His measures were famous
for practical worth and honesty. Chief Justice Chase designated him as " a
gentleman of distinguished ability and great influence." He died in 1827.

Ethan Allen Brown followed Mr. Worthington. His birthplace w^as on the
shore of Long Island Sound, in Fairfield County, Conn., July 4, 1766. His
education was derived under the most judicious instruction of a private tutor.
In classics, he became proficient. Directly he had reached the required stand-
ard in general education, he began the study of law, at home. After becoming
conversant with preliminary requirements, he entered the law office of Alex-
ander Hamilton, who at that time was a national pride, as a scholar, lawyer and
statesman. Opportunities coming in his way, which promised a fortune, he
abandoned the law, and achieved success and a fortune. He then decided to
return to his study, and was admitted to practice in 1802. Thereafter, he was
seized with an exploring enthusiasm, and with his cousin as a companion, set
out upon a horseback tour, following the Indian trails from east to west, through
Pennsylvania, until they reached Brownsville, on the Monongahela River. Here

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 145

they purchased two flatboats, and fully stocking them with provisions and
obtaining efficient crews, started for New Orleans. Reaching that city, they
found they could not dispose of their cargoes to any advantage, and shipped the
flour to Liverpool, England, taking passage in the same vessel. They succeeded
in obtaining good prices for their stock, and set sail for America, arriving in Bal-
timore nine months after first leaving " home," on this adventure. Mr. Brown's
father decided to secure a large and valuable tract of Western land, as a per-
manent home, and authorized his son to select and purchase the same for him.
He found what he desired, near Rising Sun, Ind. After this, he settled in
Cincinnati, and engaged in the practice of law, speedily achieving prominency
and distinction. Financially, he was most fortunate. In 1810, he was elected
Judge of the Supreme Court, which position he filled with honor, until he was
chosen Governor, in 1818. He was re-elected in 1820. In 1821, he received
the honor of Senator, and served one term. Allen Trimble, Speaker of the
Senate, acted as Governor the remainder of the term. In 1830 he was
appointed Minister to Brazil. He remained there four years, and returning,
was appointed Commissioner of Public Lands, by President Jackson, holding
this position two years. At this time, he decided to retire from public life.
Since he never married, he was much with his relatives, at Rising Sun, Ind.,
during the latter part of his life. His death was sudden and unexpected, occur-
ring in February, 1852, while attending a Democratic Convention, at Indianap-
olis, Ind. He was interred near his father, at Rising Sun.

Jeremiah Morrow, the ninth Governor of Ohio, was born at Gettysburg,
Penn., in October, 1771. His people were of the " Scotch-Irish " class, and his
early life was one of manual labor upon his father's farm. During the winter,
he had the privilege of a private school. With a view of establishing himself
and securing a competency, he bade the old home farewell, in 1795, and set out
for the " Far West." A flatboat carried him to a little cluster of cabins, known
by the name of Columbia, six miles from Fort Washington — Cincinnati. He
devoted himself to whatever came in his way, that seemed best and most worthy
— teaching school, surveying and working on farms between times. Having
accumulated a small capital, he ascended the Little Miami, as far as Warren
County, and there purchased an extensive farm, and erected an excellent log
house. In the spring of 1799, he married Miss Mary Packtrell, of Columbia.
The young couple set out upon pioneer farming. Gaining popularity as well as
a desirable property, he was deputized to the Territorial Legislature, which met
at Chillicothe, at which time measures were inaugurated to call a Constitutional
Convention, during the following year, to organize the State of Ohio. Mr.
Morrow was one of the Delegates to this convention, and steadfastly worked in the
interests of those who sent him, until its close in 1802. The following year,
he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and in June of the same year, he was
appointed the first Representative to the United States Congress from the new
State,

14G HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Ohio was then entitled to but one Representative in Congress, and could not
add to that number for ten years thereafter. During these years, Mr. Morrow
represented the State. In 1813, he was sent to the United States Senate, and
in 1822, was elected Governor of Ohio, almost unanimously, being re-elected in
1824. It was during his administration that work was begun on the Ohio
Canal. Mr. Morrow received the national guest. La Fayette, with an earnest
and touching emotion, which aifected the emotions of the generous Frenchman
more profoundly than any of the elaborate receptions which paved his way
through America. On the 4th of July, 1839, Gov. Morrow was appointed to
lay the corner stone of the new State capitol, at Columbus, and to deliver the
address on this occasion. Again, in 1840, he was in the House of Representa-
tives, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Thomas Corwin.
He was elected for the following term also. He died at his own homestead, in
Warren County, March 22, 1853.

Allen Trimble was a native of Augusta County, Va. The date of his birth
was November 24, 1783. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish origin, and were
among the early settlers of Virginia. His father moved to Ohio in 1804, pur-
chasing a tract of land in Highland County. His cabin was remarkably spa-
cious, and elicited the admiration of his neighbors. He cleared six acres of
land for an orchard, and brought the trees on horseback, from Kentucky. Be-
fore this new home was completed, Allen, then a young man of twenty, took
possession. This was in the year 1805. Four years thereafter, he occupied
the position of Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and Recorder of High-
land County. He was serving in the latter capacity at the breaking out of the
war of 1812. Naturally enthusiastic and patriotic, he engaged a competent
person to perform his civil duties, while he went into active service as Colonel
of a regiment he had summoned and enlisted. He was always eager to be in
the front, and led his men with such valor that they Avere termed soldiers who
did not know the art of flinching. His commanding General lavished praises
upon him. In 1816, he was in the State Senate, representing Highland
County. He occupied the same position for four terms, two years each. In
1818, he was Speaker of the Senate, over Gen. Robert Lucas. He remained
in this office until elected to the United States Senate, to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of his brother, Col. William A. Trimble. When Governor Brown
resigned to accept the office of United States Senator in 1822, he succeeded to
the office, acting as Governor the remainder of the term. In October, 1826,
he was elected Governor of Ohio, by an astonishing majority. The united vote
of his three competitors was but one-sixth of the vote polled. Gov. Trimble
was an earnest Henry Clay Whig. In 1828 he was re-elected. Gov. Trimble
was married in 1806 to Miss Margaret McDowell. Three years thereafter
she died, leaving two children. He was united in marriage to Miss Rachel
Woodrow, and they lived together sixty years, when he died, at home, in Hills-
boro, Highland County, Feb. 3, 1870. His wife survived him but a few months.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 147

Duncan Mc Arthur, the tenth Governor of Ohio, was born in Dutchess
County, N. Y., in 1772. While yet a child, his parents removed to the west-
ern part of Pennsylvania, where they entered upon the hard life of pioneers.
While there, young Duncan had the meager advantages of a backwoods school.
His life was a general routine until his eighteenth year, when he enlisted under
Gen. Harmer for the Indian campaign. His conduct and bravery won worthy
laurels, and upon the death of the commander of his company, he was elected
to that position, although the youngest man in the company. When his days
of service had expired, he found employment at salt-making in Maysville, Ky.,
until he was engaged as chain-bearer in Gen. Massie's survey of the Scioto
Valley. At this time, Indian atrocities alarmed the settlers occasionally, and
his reputation for bravery caused him to be appointed one of the three patrols
of the Kentucky side of the Ohio, to give the alarm to scattered cabins in case
of danger. This was during the summer of 1793. Gen. Massie again secured
his services, this time as assistant surveyor. He was thus engaged for several
years, during which time he assisted in platting Chillicothe. He purchased a
large tract of land just north of town, and under his vigorous and practical
management, it became one of the finest estates of Ohio, which reputation it
sustains at the present time. He amassed wealth rapidly, his investments
always being judicious. In 1805, he was elected to the State Legislature.
He was a Colonel of an Ohio regiment, and accompanied Gen. Hull to Detroit
in 1813. At Hull's surrender he was a prisoner, but released on parole,
returned to Ohio in a state of indignation over his commander's stupidity.
Soon thereafter he was sent to Congress on the Democratic ticket. Soon there-
after he was released from parole by exchange, and, greatly rejoiced, h&
resigned his seat, entered the army as a Brigadier General under Gen. Harri-
son, and the following year succeeded him as commander of the Northwestern
forces. At the termination of the war, he was immediately returned to the
State Legislature. He occupied State offices until 1822, when he was again
sent to Congress. Serving one term, he declined re-election. In 1830, he
was elected Governor of Ohio. When his term expired, he decided to enjoy
life as a citizen on his farm, " Fruit Hill," and lived there in contentment until
1840, when he died.

Robert Lucas Avas another Virginian, having been born in 1781, in Jeffer-
son County of that State. While a boy, his father liberated his slaves, moving
to Chillicothe as one of the early settlers. He procured a proficient tutor for
his children. Robert became an expert in mathematics and surveying. Before
he reached his majority, he was employed as surveyor, earning liberal compen-
sation. At the age of twenty-three, he was appointed Surveyor of Scioto
County. At twenty-five, he was Justice of the Peace for Union Township,
Scioto County. He married Miss Elizabeth Brown in 1810, who died two
years thereafter, leaving a young daughter. In 1816, he married Miss Sum-
ner. The same year he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature- For

148 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

nineteen consecutive years he served in the House or Senate. In 1820 and
1828, he was chosen one of the Presidential electors of Ohio. In 1832,
he was Chairman of the National Convention at Baltimore, which nom-
inated Gen. Jackson as President of the United States. In 1832, he
became Governor of Ohio, and was re-elected in 1834. He declined a third
nomination, and was appointed by President Van Buren Territorial Governor
of Iowa and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. On the ' 16th of August,
1838, he reached Burlington, the seat of government. He remained in Iowa
until his death, in 1853.

Joseph Vance, the twelfth Governor of Ohio, was born in Washington
County, Penn., March 21, 1781. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and his
father emigrated to the new Territory when Joseph was two years of age. He
located on the southern bank of the Ohio, building a solid block house. This
formed a stronghold for his neighbors in case of danger. In 1801, this pioneer
decided to remove north of the Ohio River, and eventually settled in Urbana.
Joseph had the primitive advantages of the common schools, and became pro-
ficient in handling those useful implements — the plow, ax and rifle. The first
money he earned he invested in a yoke of oxen. He obtained several barrels
of salt, and set out on a speculative tour through the settlements. He traveled
through a wilderness, over swamps, and surmounted serious difficulties. At
night he built a huge fire to terrify the wolves and panthers, and laid down to
sleep beside his oxen, frequently being obliged to stand guard to protect
them from these ferocious creatures. Occasionally he found a stream so swol-
len that necessarily he waited hours and even days in the tangled forest, before
he could cross. He often suffered from hunger, yet he sturdily persevered and
sold his salt, though a lad of only fifteen years. When he attained his major-
ity, he married Miss Mary Lemen, of Urbana. At twenty-three, he was
elected Captain of a rifle company, and frequently led his men to the front to
fight the Indians prior to the war of 1812. During that year, he and his
brother piloted Hull's army through the dense forests to Fort Meigs. In 1817,
with Samuel McCullough and Henry Van Meter, he made a contract to supply
the Northwestern army with provisions. They drove their cattle and hogs
many miles, dead weight being transported on sleds and in wagons. He
engaged in mercantile business at Urbana and Fort Meigs — now Perrysburg.

While thus employed, he was elected to the Legislature, and there remained
four years. He then purchased a large tract of land on Blanchard's Fork,
and laid out the town of Findlay. He was sent to Congress in 1821, and was
a member of that body for fifteen years. In 1836, he was chosen Governor of
Ohio. Again he was sent to Congress in 1842. While attending the Consti-
tutional Convention in 1850, he was stricken with paralysis, and suffered
extremely until 1852, when he died at his home in Urbana.

Wilson Shannon was a native of Belmont County, Ohio. He was born
during 1803. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to the university at Athens,

^ >%

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 151

where he remained a year, and then changed to the Transylvania University,
at Lexington, Ky. He continued his studies tjvo years, then returning home
and entering upon reading law. He completed his course at St. Clairsville,
Belmont County, and was admitted to practice. He was engaged in the courts
of the county for eight years. In 1832, the Democrats nominated him to Con-
gress, but he was not elected. He received the position of Prosecuting Attor-
ney in 1834, in which position his abilities were so marked that in 1838 he was
elected Governor by a majority of 3,600. He was re-nominated in 1840, but
Tom Corwin won the ticket. Two years thereafter he was again nominated and
elected. In 1843 he was appointed Minister to Mexico, Thomas W. Bartley,
Speaker of the Senate, acting as Governor the remainder of the term. When
Texas was admitted as a State, Mexico renounced all diplomatic relations with the
United States. Mr. Shannon returned horn and resumed the practice of law. He
was sent to Congress in 1852. President Pierce conferred upon him the posi-
tion of Territorial Governor of Kansas, which duty he did not perform satis-
factorily, and was superseded after fourteen months of service. He settled in
Lecompton, Kan., and there practiced law until his death, which occurred in
1877.

Thomas Corwin, the fourteenth Governor of Ohio, was born in Bourbon
County, Ky., July 29, 1794. His father settled at Lebanon in 1798. ■ The
country was crude, and advantages meager. When Thomas was seventeen
years of age, the war of 1812 was inaugurated, and this young man was
engaged to drive a wagon through the wilderness, loaded with provisions, to
Gen. Harrison's headquarters. In 1816, he began the study of law, and
achieved knowledge so rapidly that in 1817 he passed examination and was
admitted to practice. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his county, in
1818, which position he held until 1830. He was elected to the Legislature of
Ohio in 1822. Again, in 1829, he was a member of the same body. He was
sent to Congress in 1830, and continued to be re-elected for the space of ten
years. He became Governor of Ohio in 1840. In 1845, he was elected to
the United States Senate, where he remained until called to the cabinet of Mr.
Fillmore, as Secretary of the Treasury. He was again sent to Congress in
1858, and re-elected in 1860. He was appointed Minister to Mexico, by Pres-
ident Lincoln. After his return, he practiced law in Washington, D. ,
where he died in 1866.

Mordecai Bartley was born in 1783, in Fayette County, Penn. There he
remained, on his father's farm, until he was twenty-one years of age. He mar-
ried Miss Wells in 1804, and removed to Jefferson County, Ohio, where he
purchased a farm, near Cross Creek. At the opening of the war of 1812, he
enlisted in a company, and was elected its Captain. He entered the field under
Harrison. At the close of the war, he removed to Richland County, and opened
a clearing and set up a cabin, a short distance from Mansfield. He remained
on his farm twenty years, then removing to Mansfield, entered the mercantile

152 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

business. In 1817, he was elected to the State Senate. He was sent to Con-
gress in 1823, and served four terms. In 1844, he became Governor of Ohio,
on the Whig ticket. He declined a re-nomination, preferring to retire to his
home in Mansfield, where he died in 1870.

William Bebb, the seventeenth Governor, was from Hamilton County, Ohio.
He was born in 1804. His early instructions were limited, but thorough. He
opened a school himself, when he was twenty years of age, at North Bend,
residing in the house of Gen. Harrison. He remained thus employed a year,
during which time he married Shuck. He very soon began the study of law,
continuing his school. He was successful in his undertakings, and many pupils
were sent him from the best families in Cincinnati. In 1831, he was admitted
to practice, and opened an office in Hamilton, Butler County, remaining thus-
engaged for fourteen years. In 1845, he was elected Governor of Ohio. In
1847, he purchased 5,000 acres of land in the Rock River country, 111., and
removed there three years later. On the inauguration of President Lincoln, he
was appointed Pension Examiner, at Washington, and remained in that position
until 1866, when he returned to his Illinois farm. He died at Rockford, 111.,
in 1873.

Seabury Ford, the eighteenth Governor of Ohio, was born in the year 1802,
at Cheshire, Conn. His parents settled in Burton Township. He attended
the common schools, prepared for college at an academy in Burton, and entered
Yale College, in 1821, graduating in 1825. He then began the study of law,
in the law office of Samuel W. Phelps, of Painesville, completing his course
with Judge Hitchcock. He began practice in 1827, in Burton. He married
Miss Harriet E. Cook, of Burton, in 1828. He was elected by the Whigs to
the Legislature, in 1835, and served six sessions, during one of which he was
Speaker of the House. He entered the State Senate in 1841, and there
remained until 1844, when he was again elected Representative. In 1846, he
was appointed to the Senate, and in 1848, he became Governor of Ohio. On
the first Sunday after his retirement, he was stricken with paralysis, from which
he never recovered. He died at his home in Burton in 1855.

Reuben Wood, the nineteenth Governor, was a Vermonter. Born in 1792,
in Middleton, Rutland County, he was a sturdy son of the Green Mountain
State. He was a thorough scholar, and obtained a classical education in Upper
Canada. In 1812, he was drafted by the Canadian authorities to serve against
the Americans, but being determined not to oppose his own land, he escaped
one stormy night, accompanied by Bill Johnson, who was afterward an Ameri-
can spy. In a birchbark canoe they attempted to cross Lake Ontario. A
heavy storm of wind and rain set in. The night was intensely dark, and they
were in great danger. They fortunately found refuge on a small island, where
they were storm-bound three days, suffering from hunger and exposure. They
reached Sacket's Harbor at last, in a deplorable condition. Here they were
arrested as spies by the patrol boats of the American fleet. They were prisoners

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 153

four days, when an uncle of Mr. Wood's, residing not far distant, came to
their rescue, vouched for their loyalty, and they were released. Mr. Wood
then went to Woodville, N. Y., where he raised a company, of which he was
elected Captain. They marched to the northern frontier. The battles of
Plattsburg and Lake Champlain were fought, the enemy defeated, and the com-
pany returned to Woodville and was disbanded.

Young Wood then entered the law office of Gen. Jonas Clark, at Middle-
bury, Vt. He was married in 1816, and two years later, settled in Cleveland,
Ohio. When he first established himself in the village, he possessed his wife,
infant daughter and a silver quarter of a dollar. He was elected to the State
Senate in 1825, and filled the office three consecutive terms. He was appointed
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was promoted to the Bench of the
Supreme Court, serving there fourteen years, the latter portion of the term as
Chief Justice. He was termed the "Cayuga Chief," from his tall form and
courtly bearing. He was elected Governor in 1850, by a majority of 11,000.
The new constitution, which went into effect in March, 1851, vacated the office
of Governor, and he was re-elected by a majority of 26,000. The Democrats
holding a national convention in Baltimore in 1852, party division caused fifty
unavailing votes. The Virginia delegation offered the entire vote to Gov.
Wood, if Ohio would bring him forward. The opposition of one man pre-
ve'nted this. The offer was accepted by New Hampshire, and Frank Pierce
became President. Mr. Wood was appointed Consul to Valparaiso, South
America, and resigned his office of Governor. He resigned his consulship and
returned to his fine farm near Cleveland, called "Evergreen Place." He
expected to address a Union meeting on the 5th of October, 1864, but on the
1st he died, mourned by all who knew him.

William Medill, the twentieth Governor, was born in New Castle County,
Del., in 1801. He was a graduate of Delaware College in 1825. He began
the study of law under Judge Black, of New Castle, and was admitted to the
bar in 1832. He removed to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1830. He was elected Rep-
resentative from Fairfield County in 1835. He was elected to Congress in
1838, and was re-elected in 1840. He was appointed Assistant Postmaster
General by President Polk. During the same year, he was appointed Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs. In 1851, he was elected Lieutenant Governor, and,
in 1853, he became Governor. He occupied the position of First Comptroller
of the United States Treasury in 1857, under President Buchanan, retaining the
office until 1861, when he retired from public life. His death occurred in
1865.

Salmon P. Chase was a native of Cornish, N. H. He was born in 1803.
He entered Dartmouth College in 1822, graduating in 1826. He was there-
after successful in establishing a classical school in Washington, but finan-
cially it did not succeed. He continued to teach the sons of Henry Clay,
William Wirt and S. L. Southard, at the same time reading law when not busy

154 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

as tutor. He was admitted to practice in 1829, and opened a law office in Cin-
cinnati. He succeeded but moderately, and during his leisure hours prepared
a new edition of the "Statutes of Ohio." He added annotations and a well-
written sketch of the early history of the State. This was a thorough success,
and gave the earnest worker popularity and a stepping-stone for the future.
He was solicitor for the banks of the United States in 1834, and soon there-
after, for the city banks. He achieved considerable distinction in 1837, in the
case of a colored woman brought into the State by her master, and escaping
his possession. He was thus brought out as an Abolitionist, which was further
sustained by his defense of James G. Birney, who had suffered indictment for
harboring a fugitive slave. In 1846, associated with William H. Seward, he
defended Van Zandt before the Supreme Oburt of the United States. His
thrilling denunciations and startling conjectures alarmed the slaveholding
States, and subsequently led to the enactment of the fugitive-slave law of 1850.
Mr. Chase was a member of the United States Senate in 1849, through the
coalition of the Democrats and Free-Soilers. In 1855, he was elected Gover-
nor of Ohio by the opponents of Pierce's administration. He was re-elected
in 1859. President Lincoln, in 1861, tendered him the position of Secretary
of the Treasury. To his ability and official management we are indebted for
the present national bank system. In 1864, he was appointed Chief Justice of
the United States. He died in the city of New York in 1873, after a useful
career.

William Dennison was born in Cincinnati in 1815. He gained an educa-
tion at Miami University, graduating in 1835. He began the study of law in
the office of the father of George H. Pendleton, and was qualified and admitted
to the bar in 1840. The same year, he married a daughter of William Neil,
of Columbus. The Whigs of the Franklin and Delaware District sent him to
the State Senate, in 1848. He was President of the Exchange Bank in Cin-
cinnati, in 1852, and was also President of Columbus & Xenia Railway. He was
elected the twenty-second Governor of Ohio in 1859. By his promptness and
activity at the beginning of the rebellion, Ohio was placed in the front rank of
loyalty. At the beginning of Lincoln's second term, he was appointed Post-
master General, retiring upon the accession of Johnson. He then made his
home at Columbus.

David Tod, twenty-third Governor of Ohio, was born at Youngstown, Ohio,
in 1805. His education was principally obtained through his own exertions.
He set about the study of law most vigorously, and was admitted to practice in
1827. He soon acquired popularity through his ability, and consequently was
financially successful. He purchased the Briar Hill homestead. Under Jack-
son's administration, he was Postmaster at Warren, and held the position until
1838, when he was elected State Senator by the Whigs of Trumbull District, by
the Democrats. In 1844, he retired to Briar Hill, and opened the Briar Hill
Coal Mines. He was a pioneer in the coal business of Ohio. In the Cleveland

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 155

& Mahoning Railroad, he was largely interested, and was its President, after the
death of Mr. Perkins. He was nominated, in 1844, for Governor, by the Dem-
ocrats, but was defeated. In 1847, he went to Brazil as Minister, where he
resided for four and a half years. The Emperor presented him with a special
commendation to the President, as a testimonial of his esteem. He was also the
recipient of an elegant silver tray, as a memorial from the . resident citizens of
Rio Janeiro. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which
met at Charleston in 1860. He was Vice President of this Convention. He
was an earnest advocate for Stephen A. Douglas. When the Southern members
withdrew, the President, Caleb Cashing, going with them, the convention
adjourned to Baltimore, when Mr. Tod assumed the chair and Douglas was nom-
inated. He was an earnest worker in the cause, but not disheartened by its
defeat. When Fort Sumter was fired upon, he was one of the most vigorous
prosecutors of the war, not relaxing his active earnestness until its close. He
donated full uniforms to Company B, of the Nineteenth Regiment, and contrib-
uted largely to the war fund of his township. Fifty-five thousand majority
elected him Governor in 1861. His term was burdened with war duties,
and he carried them so bravely as Governor that the President said of him :
" Governor Tod of Ohio aids me more and troubles me less than any other Gov-
ernor." His death occurred at Briar Hill during the year 1868.

John Brough was a native of Marietta, Ohio. He was born in 1811. The death
of his father left him in precarious circumstances, which may have been a discipline
for future usefulness. He entered a printing office, at the age of fourteen, in
Marietta, and after serving a few months, began his studies in the Ohio Uni-
versity, setting type mornings and evenings, to earn sufficient for support. He
occupied the leading position in classes, and at the same time excelled as a
type-setter. He was also admired for his athletic feats in field amusements.
He completed his studies and began reading law, which pursuit was interrupted
by an opportunity to edit a paper in Petersburg, Va. He returned to Marietta
in 1831, and became editor and proprietor of a leading Democratic newspaper
— the Washington County Republican. He achieved distinction rapidly,
and in 1833, sold his interest, for the purpose of entering a more extended field
of journalism. He purchased the Ohio Eagle, at Lancaster, and as its editor,
held a deep influence over local and State politics. He occupied the position
of Clerk of the Ohio Senate, between the years 1835 and 1838, and relinquished his
paper. He then represented the counties of Fairfield and Hocking in the Leg-
islature. He was then appointed Auditor of State by the General Assembly,
in which position he served six years. He then purchased the Phcenix news-
paper in Cincinnati, changed its name to the Enquirer, placing it in the care
of his brother, Charles, while he opened a law office in the city. His editorials
in the Enquirer, and his activity in political afiairs, were brilliant and strong.
He retired from politics in 1848, sold a half-interest in the Enquirer and carried
on a prosperous business, but was brought forward again by leaders of both

156 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

political parties in 1863, through the Vallandigham contest, and was elected
Governor the same year, by a majority of 101,099 votes in a total of 471,643.
He was three times married. His death occurred in 1865 — Charles Anderson
serving out his term.

Jacob Dolson Cox, the twenty-sixth Governor, was born in 1828, in Mon-
treal, Canada, where his parents were temporarily. He became a student of
Oberlin College, Ohio, in 1846, graduating in 1851, and beginning the practice
of law in Warren in 1852. He was a member of the State Senate in 1859,
from the Trumbull and Mahoning Districts. He was termed a radical. He
was a commissioned Brigadier General of Ohio in 1861, and, in 1862, was pro-
moted to Major General for gallantry in battle. While in the service he was
nominated for Governor, and took that position in 1865. He was a member of
Grant's Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior, but resigned. He went to Con-
gress in 1875, from the Toledo District.

Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States, and
the twenty-seventh Governor of Ohio, was born at Delaware, Ohio, in 1822. He
was a graduate of Kenyon College in 1842. He began the study of law, and,
in 1843, pursued that course in the Cambridge University, graduating in 1845.
He began his practice at Fremont. He was married to Miss Lucy Webb in
1852, in Cincinnati. He was Major of the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer
Infantry in 1861, and in 1862, was promoted to Colonel on account of bravery
in the field, and eventually became Major General. In 1864, he was elected to
Congress, and retired from the service. He remained in Congress tAvo terms,
and was Governor of Ohio in 1867, being re-elected in 1869. He was again
elected in 1875, but resigned in 1877, to accept the office of President of the
United States, Thomas L. Young acting as Governor the remander of the term.

Edward F. Noyes was born in Haverhill, Mass., in 1832. While a lad of
fourteen, he entered the office of the Morning Star, published at Dover, N. H.,
in order to learn the business of printing. At the age of eighteen, he entered
the academy at Kingston, N. H. He prepared for college, and entered
Dartmouth in 1853, graduating with high honors in 1857. He had begun the
study of law, and continued the course in the Cincinnati Law School, and began
to practice in 1858. He was an enthusiast at the opening of the rebellion and
was interested in raising the Twentieth Regiment, of which he was made Major.
He was promoted to Colonel in 1862. At the conflict at Ruff"'s Mills, in
Georgia, in 1864, he was so unfortunate as to lose a leg. At the time, amputa-
tion was necessary, but was unskillfully performed. He was brought to Cincin-
nati, and the operation was repeated, which nearly cost him his life. He reported
three months later, to Gen. Hooker for duty, on crutches. He was assigned to
command of Camp Dennison. He was promoted to the full rank of Brigadier
General, and while in discharge of his duty at that place, he was elected City
Solicitor of Cincinnati. He occupied the position until 1871, when he was
elected Governor, by a majority of 20,000.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 157

William Allen, the twenty-ninth Governor of Ohio, was born in 1807, in
Chowan County, N. C. While an infant, he was left an orphan, and his sister
superintended his education. He was placed in a private school at Lynchburg,
Va., at the age of fourteen. Two years later he joined his family at Chilli-
cothe, and attended the academy a year, when he entered the law office of
Edward King. Before he was twenty-five he was sent to Congress by a strong
Whig district. He was elected United States Senator in 1837 and served
until 1849. In 1845 he married Effie McArthur, who died soon after the
birth of their daughter. In 1873 he was elected Governor. His administra-
tion gave general satisfaction. He died at his home at " Fruit Hill," in 1879.

Richard M. Bishop, the thirty-first Governor of Ohio, was born November
4, 1812, in Fleming County, Ky. For several years he devoted himself to
mercantile business in his native State. In 1848 he engaged in the wholesale
grocery business at Cincinnati, and subsequently admitted his three sons part-
ners, under the firm name of R. M. Bishop & Sons. He was a member of the
Council of Cincinnati, and in 1859 was its Mayor, holding that office until 1861.
In 1877 he was nominated by the Democrats and elected Governor of Ohio.

Charles Foster, the thirty-second Governor of Ohio, was born in Seneca
County, Ohio, April 12, 1828. He was educated at the common schools and
the academy at Norwalk, Ohio. Engaged in mercantile and banking business
at Fostoria, and never held any public office until he was elected to the Forty-
second Congress ; was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress, and again to the
Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican. In 1879 he was nominated by the
Republicans and elected Governor of the State, was re-elected in 1881, and
served through both terms winning the esteem of all political parties.

George Hoadly, the thirty-third Governor of Ohio, was born at New
Haven, Conn., July 31, 1826. His parents, George and Mary Ann (Woolsey)
Hoadly, names well known in the educational circles of Connecticut, were inti-
mately connected with the commercial and social progress of that State. Gov.
Hoadly completed his education at what is now known as Adelbert College, of
which he is a LL. D., while in 1884 he received the same honor from Yale. In
1844 he entered the law school of Cambridge, Mass.; in 1846 entered the
office of Chase & Ball, Cincinnati, Ohio ; was admitted to the bar in August
following ; elected Judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court in 1851, succeeded
Judge Gholson on the bench of the present Superior Court in 1859, and was
re-elected in 1864 ; refused a seat on the Supreme bench in 1856 and again in
1862 ; was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention 1873-74. He
was nominated by the Democrats for Governor in 1883 and elected.

ANCIENT WORKS.

Ohio has furnished a prolific field for antiquarians and those interested in
scientific explorations, either for their own amusement and knowledge, or for
the records of "facts and formations."

158 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

It is well known that the " Mound Builders " had a wide sweep through this
continent, but absolute facts regarding their era have been most difficult to
obtain. Numerous theories and suppositions have been advanced, yet they are
emphatic evidences that they have traced the origin and time of this primeval race.

However, they have left their works behind them, and no exercise of faith
is necessary to have confidence in that part of the story. That these works are
of human origin is self-evident. Temples and military works have been found
which required a considerable degree of scientific skill on the part of those early
architects and builders.

Evidently the Indians had no knowledge of these works of predecessors,
which differed in all respects from those of the red men. An ancient cemetery
has been found, covering an area of four acres, which had evidently been laid
out into lots, from north to south. Nearly 3,000 graves have been discovered,
containing bones which at some time must have constituted the framework of
veritable giants, while others are of no unusual size. In 1815, a jaw-bone was
exhumed, containing an artificial tooth of silver.

Mounds and fortifications are plentiful in Athens County, some of them
being of solid stone. One, differing in the quality of stone from the others, is
supposed to be a dam across the Hocking. Over a thousand pieces of stone
were used in- its construction. Copper rings, bracelets and ornaments are
numerous. It is also evident that these people possessed the knowledge of
hardening copper and giving it an edge equal to our steel of to-day.

In the branch formed by a branch of the Licking River and Raccoon Creek,
in Licking County, ancient works extend over an area of several miles. Again,
three miles northwest of this locality, near the road between Newark and Gran-
ville, another field of these relics may be found. On the summit of a high hill
is a fortification, formed to represent an alligator. The head and neck includes
32 feet ; the length of the body is 73 feet ; the tail was 105 feet ; from the termini of
the fore feet, over the shoulders, the width is 100 feet ; from the termini of
the hind feet, over the hips, is 92 feet ; its highest point is 7 feet. It is composed
of clay, which must have been conveyed hither, as it is not similar to the clay
found in the vicinity.

Near Miamisburg, Montgomery County, are other specimens. Near the
village is a mound, equaled in size by very few of these antiquities. It meas-
ures 800 feet around the base, and rises to a height of sixty-seven feet. Others
are found in Miami County, while at Circleville, Pickaway County, no traces
remain.

Two forts have been discovered, one forming an exact square, and the other
describing a circle. The square is flanked by two walls, on all sides, these
being divided by a deep ditch. The circle has one wall and no ditch. This is
sixty-nine rods in diameter, its walls being twenty feet high. The square fort
measures fifty-five rods across, with walls twelve feet high. Twelve gateways
lead into the square fort, while the circle has but one, which led to the other, at

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 159

the point where the walls of the two came together. Before each of these
entrances were mounds of earth, from four to five feet high and nearly forty
feet in diameter. Evidently these were designed for defenses for the openings,
in cases of emergency.

A short distance from Piketon, the turnpike runs, for several hundred feet,
between two parallel artificial walls of earth, fifteen feet high, and six rods
apart. In Scioto County, on both sides of the Ohio, are extensive ancient
works.

" Fort Ancient " is near Lebanon in Warren County. Its direct measure-
ment is a mile, but in tracing its angles, retreating and salient, its length would
be nearly six miles. Its site is a level plain, 240 feet above the level of the
river. The interior wall varies in height to conform with the nature of the
ground without — ranging from 8 to 10 feet. On the plain it reaches 100 feet.
This fort has 58 gateways, through one of which the State road runs, passing
between two mounds 12 feet high. Northeast from these mounds, situated on
the plain, are two roads, about a rod wide each, made upon an elevation about
three feet high. They run parallel to each other about a quarter of a mile,
when they each form a semicircle around a mound, joining in the circle. It is
probable this was at some time a military defense, or, on the contrary, it may
have been a general rendezvous for games and high holiday festivities.

Near Marietta, are the celebrated Muskingum River works, being a half-
mile from its juncture with the Ohio. They consist of mounds and walls of
earth in circular and square forms, also tracing direct lines.

The largest square fort covers an area of 40 acres, and is inclosed by a wall
of earth, 6 to 10 feet in height, and from 25 to 30 feet at its base. On each
side are three gateways. The center gateways exceed the others in size, more
especially on the side toward the Muskingum. From this outlet runs a covered
means of egress, between two parallel walls of earth, 231 feet distant from each
other, measuring from the centers. The walls in the interior are 21 feet high
at the most elevated points, measuring 42 feet at the base, grading on the exte-
rior to about five feet in heigth. This passage-way is 360 feet in length, lead-
ing to the low grounds, which, at the period of its construction, probably reached
the river.

At the northwest corner, within the in closure, is a plateau 188 feet long,
132 feet broad and 9 feet high. Its sides are perpendicular and its surface
level. At the center of each side is a graded pathway leading to the top, six
feet wide. Another elevated square is near the south wall, 150x120 feet square,
and 8 feet high, similar to the other, with the exception of the graded walk.
Outside and next the wall to ascend to the top, it has central hollow ways, 10
feet wide, leading 20 feet toward the center, then arising with a gradual slope to
the top. A third elevated square is situated at the southeast corner, 108x54
feet square, with ascents at the ends. This is neither as high or as perfect as
the others.

160 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. \

Another ancient work is found to the southeast, covering an area of 20 acres
with a gateway in the center of each side, and others at the corners — each of
these having the mound defense.

On the outside of the smaller fort, a mound resembling a sugar loaf was
formed in the shape of a circle 115 feet in diameter, its height being 30 feet.
A ditch surrounds it, 15 feet wide and 4 feet deep. These earthworks have
contributed greatly to the satisfactory results of scientific researches. Their
builders were evidently composed of large bands that have succumbed to the
advance of enlightened humanity. The relics found consists of ornaments,
utensils and implements of war. The bones left in the numerous graves convey
an idea of a stalwart, vigorous people, and the conquests which swept them away
from the face of the country must have been fierce and cruel.

Other mounds and fortifications are found in difierent parts of the State, of
which our limited space will not permit a description.

Many sculptured rocks are found, and others with plainly discernible
tracery in emblematical designs upon their surface. The rock on which the
inscriptions occur is the grindstone grit of the Ohio exports — a stratum found
in Northern Ohio. Arrow-points of flint or chert have been frequently found.
From all investigations, it is evident that an extensive flint bed existed in Lick-
ing County, near Newark. The old pits can now be recognized. They
extended over a hundred acres. They are partially filled with water, and sur-
rounded by piles of broken and rejected fragments. The flint is a grayish-
white, with cavities of a brilliant quartz crystal. Evidently these stones were
chipped into shape and the material sorted on the ground. Only clear, homo-
genous pieces can be wrought into arrow-heads and spear-points. Flint chips
extend over many acres of ground in this vicinity. Flint beds are also found
in Stark and Tuscarawas Counties. In color it varies, being red, white, black
and mottled. The black is found in Coshocton County.

SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

Ohio, as a State, is renowned as an agricultural section. Its variety, quality
and quantity of productions cannot be surpassed by any State in the Union. Its
commercial importance ranks proudly in the galaxy of opulent and industrious
States composing this Union. Her natural resources are prolific, and all improve-
ments which could be instituted by the ingenuity of mankind have been added.

From a quarter to a third of its area is hilly and broken. About the head-
waters of the Muskingum and Scioto, and between the Scioto and the two
Miami Rivers, are wide prairies ; some of them are elevated and dry, with fertile
soil, although they are frequently termed "barrens." In other parts, they are
low and marshy, producing coarse, rank grass, which grows to a height of five
feet in some places.

The State is most fortunate in timber wealth, having large quantities of
black walnut, oak of difierent varieties, maple, hickory, birch, several kinds of

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 161

"beech, poplar, sycamore, papaw, several kinds of ash, cherry, whitewood and
buckeye.

The summers are usually warm, and the winters are mild, considering the
latitude of the State. Near Lake Erie, the winters are severe, corresponding
with sections in a line with that locality. Snow falls in sufficient quantities
in the northern part to afford several weeks of fine sleighing. In the southern
portion, the snowstorms are not frequent, and the fall rarely remains long on
the ground.

The climate is generally healthy, with the exception of small tracts lying
near the marshes and stagnant waters.

The Ohio River washes the southern border of the State, and is navigable
for steamboats of a large size, the entire length of its course. From Pitts-
burgh to its mouth, measuring it meanderings, it is 908 miles long. Its current
is gentle, having no falls except at Louisville, Ky., where the descent is twenty-
two and a half feet in two miles. A canal obviates this obstruction.

The Muskingum is the largest river that flows entirely within the State. It
is formed by the junction of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers, and enters
the Ohio at Marietta One hundred miles of its length is navigable.

The Scioto is the second river in magnitude, is about 200 miles long, and
flows into the Ohio at Portsmouth. It affords navigation 130 miles of its length.
The Great Miami is a rapid river, in the western part of the State, and is 100
miles long. The Little Miami is seventy miles in length, and enters the Ohio
.seven miles from Cincinnati.

The Maumee rises in Indiana, flows through the northwestern part of the
State, and enters Lake Erie at Maumee Bay. It affords navigation as far as
Perrysburg, eighteen miles from the lake, and above the rapids, it is again nav-
igable.

The Sandusky rises in the northern part of the State, is eighty miles long,
and flows into Lake Erie, via Sandusky Bay.

Lake Erie washes 150 miles of the northern boundary. The State has sev-
eral fine harbors, the Maumee and Sandusky Bays being the largest.

"We have, in tracing the record of the earlier counties, given the educational inter-
ests as exemplified by different institutions. "VVe have also given the canal system
of the State, in previous pages. The Governor is elected every two years, by
the people. The Senators are chosen biennially, and are apportioned according
to the male population over twenty-one years of age. The Judges of the
Supreme and other courts are elected by the joint ballot of the Legislature, for
the term of seven years.

During the early settlement of Ohio, perfect social equality existed among the
settlers. The line of demarkation that was drawn was a separation of the good
from the bad. Log-rollings and cabin-raisings were mutual affairs. Their
:sport usually consisted of shooting, rowing and hunting. Hunting shirts and
buckskin pants were in the fashion, while the women dressed in coarse material,

162 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

woven by their own hands. A common American cotton check was con-
sidered a magnificent addition to one's toilet. In those times, however, the
material was $1 per yard, instead of the shilling of to-day. But five yards
was then a large "pattern," instead of the twenty-five of 1880. In cooking
utensils, the pot, pan and frying-pan constituted an elegant outfit. A few plain
dishes were added for table use. Stools and benches were the rule, although a
few wealthy families indulged in splmt-bottom chairs. The cabin floors were
rough, and in many cases the green sward formed the carpet. Goods were very
expensive, and flour was considered a great luxury. Goods were brought by
horses and mules from Detroit, or by wagon from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh,
and then down the Ohio. Coarse calicoes were $1 per yard ; tea $2 to $3 per
pound ; cofiee 75 cents ; whisky, from $1 to $2 per gallon, and salt, $5 to ^6
per barrel. In those towns where Indian trade constituted a desirable interest,
a bottle was set at each end of the counter — a gratuitous offering to their red
friends.

OUTLINE GEOLOGY OF OHIO.

Should we group the rocks of Ohio, according to their lithological characters,
we should give five distinct divisions. They are marked by difference in appear-
ance, hardness, color and composition :

1 — Limestone.

2 — Black shale.

3 — Fine-grained sandstone.

4 — Conglomerate.

5 — Coal series.

They are all stratified and sedimentary. They are nearly horizontal. The
lowest one visible, in a physical as well as a geological sense, is " blue lime-
stone."

The bed of the Ohio River near Cincinnati is 133 feet below the level of
Lake Erie. The strata incline in all directions from the southwestern angle of
the State. In Scioto County may be seen the outcropping edges of all these
rocks. They sink at this point in the direction south 80J° east ; easterly at the
rate of 37^ feet per mile. The cliff" limestone, the upper stratum of the lime-
stone deposit, is 600 feet above the river at Cincinnati ; at West Union, in
Adams County, it is only 350 feet above the same level.

The finely grained sandstone found on the summit of the hills east of Brush
Creek and west of the Scioto sinks to the base of the hills, and appears beneath
the conglomerate, near the Little Scioto. Although the rock formations are the
same in all parts of the State, in the same order, their thickness, mass and dip,
are quite different.

Chillicothe, Reynoldsburg, Mansfield, Newburg, Waverly and Rockville, are
situated near the western border of the " fine-grained limestone." Its outcrop
forms a continuous and crooked line from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. In the
southwest portion of the State is the "blue limestone," occupying a circular

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 163

space from West Union via Dayton, to the State line. The conglomerate is to
the east of the given towns, bending around from Cuyahoga Falls to Burton, in
Geauga County, and then eastward into Pennsylvania. Near this outcrop are
the coal-bearing rocks which occupy the east and southeastern portions of Ohio.
From Rockville to Chillicothe, the course is north, about 10° east, and nearly
corresponds with the line of outcrop of the fine-grained sandstone for an equal
distance. The dip at Rockville, given by Charles Whittlesey, is 80|°, almost
at a right angle, and at the rate of 37 feet per mile.

At Chillicothe, the other end of the line, the general dip is south 70° east,
30 feet to the mile, the line curving eastward and the dip line to the southward.
This is the universal law.

The northern boundary of the great coal fields passes through Meadville, in
Pennsylvania, and turning south arrives at Portage Summit, on the summit of
the Alleghanies, 2,500 feet above the ocean level. It then plunges rapidly to
the westward. From the Alleghanies to the southwest, through Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Tennessee, sweeps this great coal basin.

Much of the county of Medina is conglomerate upon the surface, but the
streams, especially the South Branch of the Rocky River, set through this sur-
face stratum, and reach the fine-grained sandstone. This is the case with
Rocky, Chagrin, Cuyahoga and Grand Rivers — also Conneaut and Ashtabula
Creeks. This sandstone and the shale extend up the narrow valleys of these
streams and their tributaries. Between these strata is a mass of coarse-grained
sandstone, without pebbles, which furnishes the grindstones for which Ohio is
noted. In Lorain County, the coarse sandstone grit nearly displaces the fine-
grained sandstone and red shale, thickening at Elyria to the black shale. South
of this point, the grindstone grit, red shale and ash-colored shale vary in thick-
ness. The town of Chillicothe, the village of Newburg, and a point in the west
line of Crawford County, are all situated on the "black shale."

Dr. Locke gives the dip, at Montgomery and Miami Counties, at north 14°,
east, six feet to the mile; at Columbus, Whitelesey gives it, 81° 52' east, 22 ^^^
feet to the mile. The fine-grained sandstone at Newburg is not over eighty
feet in thickness ; at Jacktown and Reynoldsburg, 500 ; at Waverly 250 to
300 feet, and at Brush Creek, Adams County, 343 feet. The black shale is
251 feet thick at Brush Creek ; at Alum Creek, 250 to 300 feet thick ; in Craw-
ford County, about 250 feet thick. The conglomerate in Jackson County is
200 feet thick ; at Cuyahoga Falls, 100 to 120 feet ; at Burton, Geauga County,
300 feet. The great limestone formation is divided into several numbers. At
Cincinnati, at the bed of the river, there is :

1 — A blue limestone and slaty marlite.

2 — Dun-colored marl and layers of lime rock.

3 — Blue marl and layers of blue limestone.

4 — Marl and bands of limestone, with immense numbers of shells at the
surface.

164 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

In Adams County, the detailed section is thus :

1 — Blue limestone and marl.

2 — Blue marl.

3 — Flinty limestone.

4 — Blue marl.

5 — Cliff limestone.

The coal-fields of Ohio are composed of alternate beds of coarse-grained
sandstone, clay shales, layers of ironstone, thin beds of limestone and numer-
ous strata of coal. The coal region abounds in iron. From Jacktown to Con-
cord, in Muskingum County, there are eight beds of coal, and seven strata of
limestone. The distance between these two points is forty-two miles. From
Freedom, in Portage County, to Poland, in Trumbull County, a distance of
thirty-five miles, there are five distinct strata. Among them are distributed
thin beds of limestone, and many beds of iron ore. The greater mass of coal
and iron measures is composed of sandstone and shale. The beds of sandstone
are from ten to twenty or eighty feet thick. Of shale, five to fifty feet thick.
The strata of coal and iron are comparatively thin. A stratum of coal three
feet thick can be worked to advantage. One four feet thick is called a good
mine, few of them averaging five. Coal strata are found from six to ten and
eleven feet. There are four beds of coal, and three of limestone, in Lawrence
and Scioto Counties. There are also eight beds of ore, and new ones are con-
stantly being discovered. The ore is from four to twelve inches thick, occasion-
ally being two feet. The calcareous ore rests upon the second bed of limestone,
from the bottom, and is very rich.

The most prominent fossils are trees, plants and stems of the coal-bearing
rocks, shells and corals and crustacese of the limestone, and the timber, leaves
and dirt-beds of the "drift" — the earthy covering of the rocks, which varies
from nothing to 200 feet. Bowlders, or " lost rocks," are strewn over the State.
They are evidently transported from some remote section, being fragments of
primitive rock, granite, gneiss and hornblende rock, which do not exist in
Ohio, nor within 400 miles of the State, in any direction. In the Lake Supe-
rior region we find similar specimens.

The superficial deposits of Ohio are arranged into four geological formations :

1 — The ancient drift, resting upon the rocks of the State.

2 — The Lake Erie marl and sand deposits.

3 — The drift occupying the valleys of large streams, such as the Great Miami,
the Ohio and Scioto.

4 — The bowlders.

The ancient drift of Ohio is meager in shell deposits. It is not, therefore,
decided whether it be of salt-water origin or fresh water.

It has, at the bottom, blue clay, with gravel-stones of primitive or sedimen-
tary rocks, containing carbonate of lime. The yellow clay is found second.
Above that, sand and gravel, less stratified, containing more pebbles of the

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 165-

sedimentary rocks, such as limestone and stone, iron ore, coal and shale. The
lower layer contains logs, trees, leaves, sticks and vines.

The Lake Erie section, or "Lake Erie deposits," may be classed in the
following order :

1 — From the lake level upward, fine, blue, marly sand — forty-five to sixty
feet.

2 — Coarse, gray, water-washed sand — ten to twenty feet.

3 — Coarse sand and gravel, not well stratified, to surface — twenty to fifty feet.

Stratum first dissolves in water. It contains carbonate of lime, magnesia,
iron, alumina, silex, sulphur, and some decomposed leaves, plants and sticks.
Some pebbles are found. In contact with the water, quicksand is formed.

The Hickory Plains, at the forks of the Great Miami and White Water, and
also between Kilgore's Mill and New Richmond, are the results of heavy dilu-
vial currents.

In presenting these formations of the State, we have quoted from the experi-
ence and conclusions of Charles Whittlesey, eminent as a geologist, and who
was a member of the Ohio Geological Corps.

Ohio's rank during the war.

The patriotism of this State has been stanch, unswerving and bold, ever
since a first settlement laid its corner-stone in the great Western wilder-
ness. Its decisive measures, its earnest action, its noble constancy, have earned
the laurels that designate it "a watchword for the nation." In the year 1860,
Ohio had a population of 2,343,739. Its contribution of soldiers to the great
conflict that was soon to surge over the land in scarlet terror, was apportioned
310,000 men. In less than twenty-four hours after the President's proclama-
tion and call for troops, the Senate had matured and carried a bill through,
appropriating $1,000,000 for the purpose of placing the State on a war footing.
The influences of party sentiments were forgotten, and united, the State
unfurled the flag of patriotism. Before the bombardment of old Fort Sumter
has fairly ceased its echoes, twenty companies were offered the Governor for
immediate service. When the surrender was verified, the excitement was
tumultuous. Militia officers telegraphed their willingness to receive prompt
orders, all over the State. The President of Kenyon College — President
Andrews — tendered his services by enlisting in the ranks. Indeed, three
months before the outbreak of the war, he had expressed his readiness to the
Governor to engage in service should there be occasion. He was the first citi-
zen to make this offer.

The Cleveland Grays, the Rover Guards, the State Fencibles, the Dayton
Light Guards, the Governor's Guards, the Columbus Videttes and the Guthrie
Grays — the best drilled and celebrated militia in the State — telegraphed to
Columbus for orders. Chillicothe, Portsmouth and Circleville offered money
and troops. Canton, Xenia, Lebanon, Lancaster, Springfield, Cincinnati,,

166 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo and other towns urged their assistance upon the State.
Columbus began to look like a great army field. The troops were stationed
wherever they could find quarters, and food in sufficient quantities was hard to
procure. The Governor soon established a camp at Miamiville, convenient to
Cincinnati. He intended to appoint Irvin McDowell, of the staff of Lieut.
Gen. Scott, to the leading command, but the friends of Capt. McClellan became
enthusiastic and appealed to the Governor, who decided to investigate his case.
Being satisfied, he desired Capt. McClellan to come up to Columbus. But that
officer was busy and sent Capt. Pope, of the regular army, in his stead. This
gentleman did not suit Gov. Dennison. The friends of McClellan again set
forth the high qualities of this officer, and Gov. Dennison sent an earnest
request for an interview, which was granted, and resulted in the appointment
of the officer as Major General of the Ohio militia. Directly thereafter, he
received an invitation to take command of the Pennsylvania troops, but Ohio
could not spare so valuable a leader.

For three-years troops were soon called out, and their Generals were to be
appointed by the President. Gov. Dennison advised at once with the War
Department at Washington, and McClellan received his appointment as Major
General in the regular army.

Cincinnati and Louisville became alarmed lest Kentucky should espouse the
Confederate cause, and those cities thus be left insecure against the inroads of a
cruel foe. Four hundred and thirty-six miles of Ohio bordered Slave States.
Kentucky and West Virginia were to be kept in check, but the Governor pro-
claimed that not only should the border of Ohio be protected, but even beyond
that would the State press the enemy. Marietta was garrisoned, and other river
points rendered impregnable. On the 20th of May, 1861, official dispatches
affirmed that troops were approaching Wheeling under the proclamation of
Letcher. Their intention was to route the convention at Wheeling.

Military orders were instantly given. Col. Steedman and his troops crossed
at Marietta and crushed the disturbance at Parkersburg — swept into the country
along the railroad, built bridges, etc. Col. Irvine crossed at Wheeling and
united with a regiment of loyal Virginians. At the juncture of the two tracks
at Grafton, the columns met, but the rebels had retreated in mad haste. The
loyal troops followed, and, at Philippi, fought the first little skirmish of the war.
The great railway lines were secured, and the Wheeling convention protected,
and West Virginia partially secured for the Union.

After preliminary arrangements, McClellan's forces moved in two columns
upon the enemy at Laurel Hill. One remained in front, under Gen. Morris,
while the other, under his own command, pushed around to Huttonsville, in
their rear. Gen. Morris carried his orders through promptly, but McClellan
was late. Rosecrans was left with McClellan's advance to fight the battle of
Rich Mountain, unaided. Garnett being alarmed at the defeat of his outpost,
retreated. McClellan was not in time to intercept him, but Morris continued

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 167

the chase. Steedman overtook the rear-guard of Garnett's army at Carrick's
Ford, where a sharp skirmish ensued, Garnett himself falling. The scattered
portions of the rebel army escaped, and West Virginia was again free from
armed rebels — and was the gift of Ohio through her State militia to the nation
at the beginning of the war.

At this period. Gen. McClellan was called to Washington. Gen. Rose-
crans succeeded him, and the three-years troops left in the field after the dis-
banding of the three-months men, barely sufficed to hold the country. He
telegraphed Gov. Dennison to supply him immediately with re-enforcements, the
request being made on the 8th of August. Already had the Confederate lead-
ers realized the loss they had sustained in Western Virginia, and had dispatched
their most valued General, Robert E. Lee, to regain the territory. Rosecrans
again wrote : " If you, Governor of Indiana and Governor of Michigan, will
lend your efforts to get me quickly 50,000 men, in addition to my present
force, I think a blow can be struck which will save fighting the rifled-cannon
batteries at Manassas. Lee is certainly at Cheat Mountain. Send all troops
you can to Grafton." Five days thereafter, all the available troops in the
West were dispatched to Fremont, Mo., and the plans of Rosecrans were
foiled.

Heavy re-enforcements had been sent to the column in Kanawha Valley
under Gen. Cox. He became alarmed, and telegraphed to Gov. Dennison.
Rosecrans again appealed to Gov. Dennison, that he might be aided in march-
ing across the country against Floyd and Wise to Cox's relief, "I want to
catch Floyd while Cox holds him in front."

The response was immediate and effective. He was enabled to employ
twenty-three Ohio regiments in clearing his department from rebels, securing
the country and guarding the exposed railroads. With this achievement, the
direct relation of the State administrations with the conduct and methods of
campaigns terminated. The General Government had settled down to a sys-
tem. Ohio was busy organizing and equipping regiments, caring for the sick
and wounded, and sustaining her home strength.

Gov. Dennison's staff officers were tendered better positions in the national
service. Camps Dennison and Chase, one at Cincinnati and the ather at
Columbus, were controlled by the United States authorities. A laboratory was
established at Columbus for the supply of ammunition. During the fall and
early winter, the Ohio troops suffered in Western Virginia. The people of
their native State responded with blankets, clothing and other supplies.

In January, 1862, David A. Tod entered upon the duties of Governor.
The first feature of his administration was to care for the wounded at home,
sent from Pittsburg Landing. A regular system was inaugurated to supply
stores and clothing to the suffering at home and in the field. Agencies were
established, and the great and good work was found to be most efficacious in
alleviating the wretchedness consequent upon fearful battles. A. B. Lyman

168 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

had charge of aifairs in Cincinnati, and Royal Taylor held the same position
in Louisville. J. C. Wetmore was stationed at Washington, F. W, Bingham
at Memphis, Weston Flint at Cairo and St. Louis. Thus the care which Ohia
extended over her troops at home and in the hattle-field, furnished a practical
example to other States, and was the foundation of that commendable system
all over the Union. Stonewall Jackson's sudden advent in the valley created
the greatest consternation lest the safety of the capital be jeopardized, and the
War Department called for more troops. Gov. Tod immediately issued a
proclamation, and the people, never shrinking, responded heartily. At Cleve-
land a large meeting was held, and 250 men enlisted, including 27 out of 32.
students attending the law school. Fire bells rang out the alarm at Zanesville,
a meeting was convened at 10 in the morning, and by 3 in the afternoon, 300'
men had enlisted. Court was adjourned sine die, and the Judge announced
that he and the lawyers were about to enter into military ranks. Only three
unmarried men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three were left in the
town of Putnam. Five thousand volunteers reported at Camp Chase within
two days after the proclamation.

Again in June, the President called for troops, followed by yet another call.
Under these calls, Ohio was to raise 74,000 men. The draft system was.
advised to hasten and facilitate filling regiments. It has always been a repul-
sive measure. To save sections from this proceeding, enormous sums were
ofiered to induce men to volunteer, and thus fill the quota.

Counties, townships, towns and individuals, all made bids and urged the
rapid enlistment of troops. The result was, that the regiments were filled rap-
idly, but not in sufficient numbers to prevent the draft. Twenty thousand four
hundred and twenty-seven men were yet lacking, and the draft was ordered,
September 15. At the close of the year, Ohio was ahead of her calls. Late
in the fall, the prospect was disheartening. The peninsula campaign had failed.
The Army of Northern Virginia had been hurled back nearly to Washington.
The rebels had invaded Maryland ; Cincinnati and Louisville were threatened,,
and the President had declared his intention to abolish slavery, as a war meas-
ure. During the first part of 1862, artillery, stores and supplies were carried
away mysteriously, from the Ohio border ; then little squads ventured over the
river to plunder more openly, or to burn a bridge or two. The rebel bands
came swooping down upon isolated supply trains, sending insolent roundabout
messages regarding their next day's intentions. Then came invasions of our
lines near Nashville, capture of squads of guards within sight of camp, the seizure
of Gallatin. After Mitchell had entered Northern Alabama, all manner of depre-
dations were committed before his very eyes. These were attributed to John
Morgan's Kentucky cavalry. He and his men, by the middle of 1862, were
as active and dangerous as Lee or Beauregard and their troops. Morgan was a
native of Alabama, but had lived in Kentucky since boyhood. His father was
large slave-owner, who lived in the center of the "Blue Grass Country." His

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 169

life had been one of wild dissipation, adventure and recklessness, although in
his own family he had the name of being most considerate. The men who fol-
lowed him were accustomed to a dare-devil life. They formed and independent
band, and dashed madly into the conflict, wherever and whenever inclination
prompted. Ohio had just raised troops to send East, to assist in the overthrow
of Stonewell Jackson. She had overcome her discouragements over failures,
for the prospects were brightening. Beauregard had evacuated Corinth ; Mem-
phis had fallen ; Buell was moving toward Chattanooga ; Mitchell's troops held
Northern Tennessee and Northern Alabama ; Kentucky was virtually in the
keeping of the home guards and State military board. And now, here was
Morgan, creating confusion in Kentucky by his furious raids ! On the 11th of
July, the little post of Tompkinsville fell. He issued a call for the Kentuckians
to rise in a body. He marched toward Lexington, and the southern border of
Ohio was again in danger. Cincinnati was greatly excited. Aid was sent to
Lexington and home guards were ready for duty. Morgan was not prominent
for a day or so, but he was not idle. By the 9th of July, he held possession of
Tompkinsville and Glasgow ; by the 11th, of Lebanon. On the 13th, he
entered Harraldsburg ; Monday morning he was within fifteen miles of Frank-
fort. He had marched nearly 400 miles in eight days. Going on, toward
Lexington, he captured the telegraph operator at Midway, and his messages
also I He was now aware of the plans of the Union armies at Lexington,
Louisville, Cincinnati and Frankfort. In the name of the operator, he sent
word that Morgan was driving in the pickets at Frankfort ! Now that he
had thrown his foes off guard, he rested his men a couple of days. He
decided to let Lexington alone, and swept down on Cynthiana, routing a few
hundred loyal Kentucky cavalrymen, capturing the gun and 420 prisoners, and
nearly 300 horses. Then he was off to Paris ; he marched through Winchester,
Richmond, Crab Orchard and Somerset, and again crossed the Cumberland River.
He started with 900 men and returned with 1,200, having captured and paroled
nearly as many, besides destroying all the Government arms and stores in seven-
teen towns. The excitement continued in Cincinnati. Two regiments were
hastily formed, for emergencies,- known as Cincinnati Reserves. Morgan's raid
did not reach the city, but it demonstrated to the rebel forces what might be
accomplished in the " Blue Grass " region. July and August were passed in
gloom. Bragg and Buell were both watchful, and Chattanooga had not been
taken. Lexington was again menaced, a battle fought, and was finally deserted
because it could not be held.

Louisville was now in danger. The banks sent their specie away. Railroad
companies added new guards.

September 1, Gen. Kirby Smith entered Lexington, and dispatched Heath
with about six thousand men against Cincinnati and Covington. John Morgan
joined him. The rebels rushed upon the borders of Ohio. The failure at Rich-
mond only added deeper apprehension. Soon Kirby Smith and his regiments

170 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

occupied a position where only a few unmanned siege guns and the Ohio
prevented his entrance through Covington into the Queen City. The city was
fully armed, and Lew. Wallace's arrival to take command inspired all with
fresh courage. And before the people were hardly aware that danger was so
near, the city was proclaimed under strict martial law. " Citizens for labor,
soldiers for battle."

There was no panic, because the leaders were confident. Back of Newport
and Covington breastworks, riflepits and redoubts had been hastily thrown up,
and pickets were thrown out. From Cincinnati to Covington extended a pon-
ton bridge. Volunteers marched into the city and those already in service
were sent to the rescue. Strict military law was now modified, and the city
being secured, some inconsiderate ones expressed themselves as being outraged
with " much ado about nothing." But Gen. Wallacedid not cease his vigilance.
And Smith's force began to move up. One or two skirmishes ensued. The
city was again excited. September 11 was one of intense suspense. But
Smith did not attack in force. He was ordered to join Bragg. On the Mon-
day following, the citizens of Cincinnati returned to their avocations. In the
spring of 1863, the State was a trifle discouraged. Her burdens had been
heavy, and she was weary. Vicksburg was yet in the hands of the enemy.
Rosecrans had not moved since his victory at Stone River. There had been
fearful slaughter about Fredericksburg.

But during July, 1863, Ohio was aroused again by Bragg's command to
Morgan, to raid Kentucky and capture Louisville. On the 3d of July, he was
in a position to invade Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. He continued his depre-
dations, bewildering the militia with his movements. His avowed intention
was to burn Indianapolis and " take Cincinnati alive." Morgan's purposes
were never clear. It was his audacious and sudden dashes, here and there,
which gave him success. Before Cincinnati was aware, he was at Harrison —
13th of July. He expected to meet the forces of Burnside and Judah, and to
cut his way through. His plans here, as everywhere, were indefinable, and he
succeeded in deceiving everybody. While printers in Cincinnati were setting
up " reports " as to his whereabouts, he was actually marching through the sub-
urbs, near troops enough to devour them, and yet not encountered by a single
picket ! They fed their horses within sight of Camp Dennison. At 4
o'clock that day, they were within twenty-eight miles of Cincinnati — having
marched more than ninety miles in thirty-five hours.

The greatest chagrin was expressed, that Morgan had so easily eluded the
great military forces. A sudden dash was made to follow him. There was a
universal bolting of doors, burying of valuables, hiding of horses, etc., all along
the route of the mad cavalryman and his 2,000 mounted men. They plundered
beyond all comparison. They made a principle of it. On the 14th of July,
he was feeding his horses near Dennison ; he reached the ford at Bufiington
Island on the evening of the 18th ; he had encountered several little skirmishes,

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 171

but he had marched through at his own will, mostly ; all the troops of Kentucky
had been outwitted. The Indiana forces had been laughed to scorn. The
50,000 Ohio militia had been as straws in his way. The intrepid band would
soon be upon friendly soil, leaving a blackened trail behind. But Judah was
up and marching after him, Hobson followed and Col. Runkle was north of
him. The local militia in his advance began to impede the way. Near Pome-
roy, a stand was made. Morgan found militia posted everywhere, but he suc-
ceeded in running the gantlet, so far as to reach Chester. He should have
hastened to cross the ford. Fortunately, he paused to breathe his horses and
secure a guide. The hour and a half thus lost was the first mistake Morgan is
known to have made in his military career. They reached Portland, and only
a little earthwork, guarded by about 300 men, stood between him and safety.
His men were exhausted, and he feared to lead them to a night attack upon a
position not understood perfectly ; he would not abandon his wagon train, nor
his wounded ; he would save or lose all. As Morgan was preparing next
morning, having found the earthworks deserted through the night, Judah came
up. He repulsed the attack at first, capturing Judah's Adjutant General, and
ordering him to hold the force on his front in check. He was not able to join
his own company, until it was in full retreat. Here Lieut. O'Neil, of the Fifth
Indiana, made an impulsive charge, the lines were reformed, and up the Chester
road were Hobson's gallant cavalrymen, who had been galloping over three
States to capture this very Morgan ! And now the tin-clad gunboats steamed
up and opened fire. The route was complete, but Morgan escaped with 1,200
men ! Seven hundred men were taken prisoners, among them Morgan's brother,
Cols. Ward, Duke and Hufiman. The prisoners were brought to Cincinnati,
while the troops went after the fugitive. He was surrounded by dangers ; his
men were exhausted, hunted down ; skirmishes and thrilling escapes marked a
series of methods to escape — his wonderful sagacity absolutely brilliant to the
very last — which was his capture, on the 26th, with 346 prisoners and
400 horses and arms. It may be added, that after several months of con-
finement, Morgan and six prisoners escaped, on the 27th of November. Again
was he free to raid in the " Blue Grass " country.

John Brough succeeded Gov. Tod January 11, 1864. His first prominent
work was with the Sanitary Commission. In February, of the same year, the
President called for more troops. The quota of Ohio was 51,465 men. The
call of March added 20,995. And in July was a third demand for 50,792. In
December, the State was ordered to raise 26,027. The critical period of the
war was evidently approaching. Gov. Brough instituted a reformation in the
"promotion system " of the Ohio troops. He was, in many cases, severe in his
measures. He ignored " local great men " and refused distinction as a bribe.
The consequence was that he had many friends and some enemies. The acute-
ness of his policy was so strong, and his policy so just, that, after all his severe
administration, he was second to no statesman in the nation during the struggle.

172 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Ohio during the war was most active in her relief and aid societies. The most
noted and extensive organization was the Cincinnati Branch of the United
States Sanitary Commission. The most efficient organization was the Soldiers'
Aid Society of Northern Ohio.

When the happy tidings swept over the land that peace was proclaimed, an
echo of thanksgiving followed the proclamation. The brave sons of Ohio
returned to their own soil — those who escaped the carnage. But 'mid the
rejoicing there was deepest sadness, for a fragment only remained of that brave
army which had set out sturdily inspired with patriotism.

A BRIEF MENTION OF PROMINENT OHIO GENERALS.

George Briton McClellan, the first General appointed in Ohio, was born
December 3, 1826, in Philadelphia. His father was a physician of high stand-
ing and Scottish descent. Young George was in school in Philadelphia, and
entered West Point at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty, he was a bre-
vet Second Lieutenant, tracing lines of investment before Vera Cruz, under the
supervision of Capt. R. E. Lee, First Lieut. P. G. T. Beauregard, Second Lieut.
G. W. Smith. At the close of the Mexican war, old Col. Totten reported in
favor of them all to Winfield Scott. He had charge of an exploring expedition
to the mountains of Oregon and Washington, beginning with the Cascade Range.
This was one of a series of Pacific Railway explorations. Returning to Wash-
ington, he was detailed to visit the West Indies and secretly select a coaling sta-
tion for the United States Navy. He was dispatched by Jefferson Davis,
Secretary of War, to Europe, with instructions to take full reports of the organ-
ization of military forces connected with the Crimean war. This work elicited
entire satisfaction. He returned in January, 1857, resigned as regular army
officer, and was soon installed as engineer of Illinois Central Railroad. In 1860,
he was President of the Ohio & Mississippi. He removed to Cincinnati, where
he was at the opening of the war.

William Starke Rosecrans was born September 6, 1819, in Delaware County,
Ohio. His people were from Amsterdam. He was educated at West Point.
When the war opened, he espoused the cause of the Union with enthusiastic
zeal, and was appointed by McClellan on his staff" as Engineer. June 9, he
was Chief Engineer of the State under special law. Soon thereafter, he was
Colonel of the Twenty-third Ohio, and assigned to the command of Camp
Chase, Columbus. On May 16, his commission was out as Brigadier General
in the United States Army. This reached him and he was speedily sum-
moned to active service, under Gen. McClellan. After the battle of Rich Moun-
tain, he was promoted to the head of the department.

In April, 1862, he was succeeded by Fremont, and ordered to Wash-
ington to engage in immediate service for the Secretary of War. About the
15th of May, he was ordered to Gen. Halleck, before Corinth. He was
relieved from his command December 9, 1864.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 173

Ulysses S. Grant, whose history we cannot attempt to give in these pages,
was born on the banks of the Ohio, at Point Pleasant, Clermont Co., Ohio,
April 27, 1822. He entered West Point in 1839.

" That the son of a tanner, poor and unpretending, without influential friends
until his performance had won them, ill-used to the world and its ways, should
rise — not suddenly, in the first blind worship of helpless ignorance which made
any one who understood regimental tactics illustrious in advance for what he
was going to do, not at all for what he had done — but slowly, grade by grade,
through all the vicissitudes of constant service and mingled blunders and suc-
cess, till, at the end of four years' war he stood at the head of our armies,
orowned by popular acclaim our greatest soldier, is a satisfactory answer to
criticism and a sufiicient vindication of greatness. Success succeeds."

" We may reason on the man's career ; we may prove that at few stages has
he shown personal evidence of marked ability ; we may demonstrate his mis-
takes ; we may swell the praises of his subordinates. But after all, the career
stands wonderful, unique, worthy of study so long as the nation honors her
henefactors, or the State cherishes the good fame of the sons who contributed
most to her honor."

Lieut. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was another Ohio contribution to
the great Union war. He was born at Lancaster February 8, 1820. He
entered West Point in June, 1836. His " march to the sea " has fully brought
out the details of his life, since they were rendered interesting to all, and we
refrain from repeating the well-known story.

Philip H. Sheridan was born on the 6th of March, 1831, in Somerset,
Perry Co., Ohio. He entered West Point in 1848. During the war, his
career was brilliant. His presence meant victory. Troops fighting under his
command were inspired. Gen. Rosecrans said of him, "He fights, he fights."
A staff officer once said, "He is an emphatic human syllable."

Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson was born in Sandusky County, town of
Clyde, November 14, 1828.

Maj. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore was born February 28, 1825, at Black River,
Lorain Co., Ohio.

Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell was born at Franklinton, Ohio, October 15,
1818.

Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell was born near Marietta on the 23d of March,
1818. His grandfather on the maternal side was one of the first settlers of
Cincinnati.

Maj. Gen. 0. M. Mitchell was a native of Kentucky, but a resident of
Ohio from the age of four years.

Maj. Gen. Robert C. Schenck was born October 4, 1809, in Franklin,
Warren Co., Ohio.

Maj. Gen. James A.' Garfield, was born in Orange, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio,
November 19, 1881.

174 ISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO,

Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox was born in Canada in 1828, and removed to
Ohio in 1846.

Maj. Gen, James B. Steedman was born in Pennsylvania July 30, 1818,
and removed to Toledo in 1861.

Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley was born in Wayne County, Ohio, June 1,
1828.

Maj. Gen. George Crook was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, Septem-
ber 8, 1828.

Maj. Gen. Mortimer D. Leggett was born in New York April 19, 1831,
and emigrated to Ohio, in 1847.

Brevet Maj. Gen. John C. Tidball was born in Virginia, but removed while
a mere lad to Ohio with his parents.

Brevet Maj. Gen. John W. Fuller was born in England in 1827. He
removed to Toledo in 1858.

Brevet Maj. Gen. Manning F. Force was born in Washington, D. C, on
the 17th of December, 1824. He became a citizen of Cincinnati.

Brevet Maj. Gen. Henry B. Banning was born in Knox County, Ohio,
November 10, 1834.

We add the names of Brevet Maj. Gens. Erastus B. Tyler, Thomas H.
Ewing, Charles R. Woods, August V. Kautz, Rutherford B. Hayes, Charles
C. Walcutt, Kenner Garrard, Hugh Ewing, Samuel Beatty, James S. Robinson,
Joseph W. Keifer, Eli Long, William B. Woods, John W. Sprague, Benjamin
P. Runkle, August Willich, Charles Griffin, Henry J. Hunt, B. W. Brice.

Brig. Gens. Robert L. McCook, William H. Lytle, William Leroy
Smith, C. P. Buckingham, Ferdinand Van Derveer, George P. Este, Joel A.
Dewey, Benjamin F. Potts, Jacob Ammen, Daniel McCook, J. W. Forsyth,
Ralph P. Buckland, William H. Powell, John G. Mitchell, Eliakim P. Scam-
mon, Charles G Harker, J. W. Reilly, Joshua W. Sill, N. C. McLean, Will-
iam T. H. Brooks, George W. Morgan, John Beatty, William W. Burns, John
S. Mason, S. S. Carroll, Henry B. Carrington, M. S. Wade, John P. Slough,
T. K. Smith.

Brevet Brig. Gens. C. B. Ludlow, Andrew Hickenlooper, B. D.
Fearing, Henry F. Devol, Israel Garrard, Daniel McCoy, W, P. Richardson,
G. F. Wiles, Thomas M. Vincent, J. S. Jones, Stephen B. Yeoman, F. W.
Moore, Thomas F. Wilder, Isaac Sherwood, C. H. Grosvenor, Moses E.
Walker, R. N. Adams, E. B. Eggleston, I. M. Kirby.

We find numerous other names of Brevet Brigadier Generals, mostly of late
appointments, and not exercising commands in accordance with their brevet
rank, which we omit quoting through lack of space. They are the names of
men of rare abilities, and in many cases of brilliant achievements.

In looking over the "War Record of Ohio," we find the State a great
leader in men of valor and heroic deeds. It was the prolific field of military
geniuses.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 175

Ohio was draped with the garb of mourning at the close of the war. Her
human sacrifice in behalf of the nation had been bitter. There were tears and
heart-aches all over the land. Her ranks were swept by a murderous fire, from
which they never flinched, and many ofiicers fell.

Col. John H. Patrick will be remembered as opening the battle of Lookout
Mountain. He fell mortally wounded, during the Atlanta campaign, May
15, 1862, while actively engaged. He was struck by a canister shot, and
expired half a hour thereafter.

Col. John T. Toland, in July, 1863, was placed in command of a mounted
brigade, including his regiment, and was instructed to destroy the Virginia &
Tennessee Railroad. He reached Wytheville, Va., on the afternoon of the
18th of July. The rebels were safely intrenched in the house, and poured a
galling fire into the national troops. Col. Toland was on horseback, at the
head of his command. A sharpshooter sent a bullet with fatal certainty, and
he fell on the neck of his horse, but was instantly caught by his Orderly
Sergeant, who heard the fervent words : " My horse and my sword to my
mother."

Lieut. Col. Barton S. Kyle accompanied his regiment to the battle of Pitts-
burg Landing. The regiment was forced back, though resisting bravely.
Lieut. Col. Kyle was at his post of duty, encouraging his men, when he received
a bullet in his right breast. He survived five hours.

Col. William G. Jones was engaged in the battle of Chickamauga, June,
1863. His regiment, the Thirty-sixth Ohio, was included in Turchin's Brigade
of the Fourteenth Corps. He wrote in his pocket memoranda : " Off to the
left ; merciful Father, have mercy on me and my regiment, and protect us from
injury and death " — at 12 o'clock. At 5 that afternoon, he was fatally wounded
and expired at 7 that same evening, on the battle-field His remains were
taken by the rebels, but in December, 1863, they were exhumed and interred
in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati.

Col. Fred. C. Jones held command of the Tenth Brigade, in October, 1862,
marching from Wild Cat, Ky., to Nashville, through a perpetual skirmish,
During the battle of Stone River, Col. Jones' regiment, the Twenty-fourth, was
on the front and left of the line. During the afternoon, when the rebel assault
upon the left became furious. Col. Jones ordered his men to lie down and hold
fire, which was obeyed. They rose to pour a deadly volley into the rebel ranks,
and rush forward in a fierce charge. The capture of an entire rebel regiment was
thus effected, but Col. Jones was shot in the right side. He was carried to the
rear. " I know it ; I am dying now ; pay no attention to me, but look after
my wounded men." He survived about ten hours. His remains are buried in
Spring Grove, Cincinnati.

Col. Lorin Andrews went with his command to Western Virginia, where
he succumbed to exposure and severe duty. He was removed to his home,
Gambler, Ohio, where he died surrounded by friends September 18, 1861.

17 G HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO

Col. Minor Milliken was sent to repel the attacks of the rebels at the rear.
He led a superb cavalry charge against the enemy, vastly superior in numbers,
and was cut off with a small portion of his regiment. He disdained to sur- .
render, and ordered his men to cut their way out. A hand-to-hand conflict
ensued. Col. Milliken, being an expert swordsman, was able to protect himself
with his saber. While parrying the strokes of his assailant, another shot him.
The regiment, again charging, recovered his body, stripped of sword, purse and
watch.

Col. George P. Webster, with his regiment, the Ninety-eighth, left Steu-
benville for Covington, Ky., August 23, 1862, marching from that point to Lex-
ington and Louisville. He was placed at the command of the Thirty-fourth
Brigade, Jackson's division, Cooke's corps. He fell in the battle of Perryville,
and died on the field of battle.

Col. Leander Stem was appointed Colonel of the One Hundred and First
Ohio Infantry August 30, 1862. His premonitions that he should fall during
his first regular engagement proved too true. As the army was advancing on
Murfreesboro, the engagement of Knob Gap occurred, when Col. Stem's regi-
ment charged and took a rebel battery, with several prisoners. The army
closed around Murfreesboro, and on the evening of the 30th, the One Hun-
dred and First was engaged in demonstrations against the enemy. Next
morning, the battle of Stone River began in earnest. When Col. Stem's regi-
ment began to waver, he called out: " Stand by the flag now, for the good
old State of Ohio ! " and instantly fell, fatally wounded.

Lieut. Col. Jonas D. Elliott held his position in May, 1863. During the
summer of 1864, he commanded the left wing of the regiment at Dodsonville,
Ala.; in September, he was sent after Wheeler, and was ordered into camp at
Decatur. On the 23d, he was dispatched to Athens, to participate in the attack
of Gen. Forrest, of the rebels. Col. Elliott was sent out, with 300 men, and
being surrounded by Gen. Forrest, with vastly superior numbers, a forced resist-
ance enabled them to sustain their own ground, until a fresh brigade of rebels
arrived, under Gen, Warren. This officer instructed one of his men to shoot
Lieut. Col. Elliott, and a moment later he fell. He lingered nineteen days.

Col. Joseph L. Kirby Smith took command of the Forty-third Ohio Regi-
ment. He fell at the battle of Corinth, under Rosecrans.

Lieut. Col. James W. Shane fell, June 27, 1864, in an assault upon the
enemy's works at Kenesaw. He survived but forty minutes.

Col. Augustus H. Coleman displayed the abilities of a successful commander.
He was in the first charge on the bridge across Antietaf Creek. He was
fatally wounded. His last words were inquiries regarding his men.

Col. J. W. Lowe commanded the Twelfth Ohio, and was ordered to assist
the Tenth in the battle of Carnifex Ferry. Cheering his men, in the thickest
of the fight, a rifle ball pierced his forehead, and he fell dead — the first field
officer from Ohio killed in battle in the war for the Union.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 177

Lieut. Col. Moses F. Wooster was engaged with his regiment, the One Hun-
dred and First Ohio, at Perryville. He was mortally wounded on the 31st
of December, 1862, in the grand effort to stem the tide of defeat at Stone
River.

The list of staff officers we refrain from giving, through lack of space.

At the opening of the war, William Dennison was Governor of Ohio. David
Tod succeeded him. John Brough was the third War Governor.

Secretary Edwin M. Stanton was one of the most popular war Ministers.
He was born in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1815 ; he was engaged in the United
States Circuit Court, in 1860, in a leading law suit, at Cincinnati, known as the
Manny and McCormick reaper trial ; on the 20th of January, 1862, he was
appointed Secretary of War by Mr. Lincoln.

Ex-Secretary Salmon P. Chase's public services in Ohio have already been
mentioned in these pages. In 1861, he was appointed Secretary of the Treas-
ury, in Mr. Lincoln's cabinet.

United States Senator B. F. Wade made his reputation in Ohio. This
Senator of the State stood at the head of the Committee on the Conduct of the
War throughout its duration.

United States Senator John Sherman was a leading member of the Finance
•Committee, during the war. For some time he was its Chairman.

Jay Cooke was the financial agent of the Government, furnishing money for
the payment of the troops. He was born in Portland, Huron Co., Ohio.

In our brief review of the war record of Ohio, we have omitted a vast
amount of detail information that would prove interesting to our readers. We
believe we have been accurate in whatever we have given, taking as our authority,
that accepted "encyclopedia" of Ohio war facts — Whitelaw Reid, who has pub-
lished a valuable volume on the subject.

SOME DISCUSSED SUBJECTS.

It may be well in glancing over the achievements of Ohio, her momentous
labors and grand successes, to refer to the Ordinance of 1787, more minutely
than we have done, in relation to many events, since its inherent principles are
not only perpetuated in the laws of the entire Northwest, but have since been
woven into the general Constitution of the L^nited States. It made permanent
the standard and character of immigration, social culture and political and edu-
cational institutions. It was thoroughly antislavery and denounced involuntary
servitude, which was sanctioned in every other State at that time, with the
exception of Massachusetts. It protected religion and property. As late as
1862, Gen. William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana, called a convention
for the purpose of considering the slavery question, and the feasibility of intro-
ducing the system in the new States and Territories being formed. There
was at this time a spirited contest, and Illinois, Indiana and possibly Ohio,
barely escaped a decision that a full support should be given its introduction

178 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

into these States. Its adoption was based upon certain specifications and
limits of time, which upon a deeper consideration was deemed perplexing and
impractical.

An animated discussion arose not long since, regarding the correct author-
ship of this important ordinance, and its chief worker in gaining its sanction
by Congress.

Mr. Webster ascribed its authorship to Mathew Dane, of Massachusetts,
which statement was immediately refuted by Mr. Benton, of Mississippi, who
laid claim to it as the birthright of Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia.

It has been almost impossible to obtain accurate reports of the actions of the
old Continental Congress, from the fact that its meetings were held in secret,
and any reports either narrated or shown in schedules or lists, were deemed a
striking lack of trust on the part of the person who furnished the information.
It was sufl&cient that its acts and conclusions be proclaimed without any prelude
or reasoning process. Hence it has been difficult to obtain early Congressional
documents. But it has been conclusively proven that the great motive power
in gaining the approbation of the Ordinance of 1787, Avas neither Dane nor
Jefferson, but Dr. Cutler.

He arrived at New York, July 5 of that year, after a journey from Ipswich,
Mass., in his sulky. He obtained lodgings at the "Plow and Harrow," and
saw that his good horse was properly cared for and fed at the same place.
Congress was then in session, and he had come on a mission for the Ohio Com-
pany, to negotiate their grant and its privileges in the new Territory of Ohio.
He remained in New York three weeks, constantly engaged in the work vital to
the interests of the future great State. But he secured the installment of the
principles deemed the corner-stone of a future powerful State constitution. Mr.
Poole, Librarian of the Chicago Public Library, searched assiduously for con-
clusive proof of Dr. Cutler's right to this honor, and in the North American
Review, Vol. 122, this is emphatically set forth with substantiating proof under
his signature.

Other facts have been discussed and proven at a very recent date, relative
to the State of Ohio, which heretofore have been omitted, and nearly lost from
the historic thread which unites the present with the past.

The first settlement of the lands of the Northwest is necessarily surrounded
with interest. But those were exciting, troublesome times, and a few links
were passed over lightly. However, the years are not so far removed in the
past but the line may be traced.

Mr. Francis W. Miller, of Cincinnati, has supplied some missing chapters.
The earliest documentary trace extant, regarding the southern settlement at
Cincinnati, is an agreement of partnership between Denman, Filson and Pat-
terson, in the fractional section of land to which the city of Cincinnati was
originally limited. It bears the date August 25, 1788. This was entered ou
the records of Hamilton County, Ohio, October 6, 1803.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 179

A letter from Jonathan Dayton to the Hon. Judge Symmes, dated Septem-
"ber 26, 1789, says: "You have been selling your lands, I am told, for two
shillings specie, the acre. The price at this moment is, and seems to be, and
undoubtedly is, a good one ; but as much cannot be said of it when you find
hereafter that in consequence of the rise of certificates, another acre, in another
payment, may cost you in specie two shillings and sixpence."

A letter from John C. Symmes to Capt. Dayton, dated April 30, 1790,
says: "The land in the reserved township is held at much too high a price.
Not a foot of land beyond the five-acre lots will sell. Five shillings, specie,
or two dollars in certificates, is the utmost they will bring, and they will rarely
sell at that."

This state of affairs was in a large degree brought about by the breaking-up
of North Bend and a removal of the town to Fort Washington, or Cincinnati,
later. A search through the old letters and other preserved documents prove
that North Bend was at one time the beginning of the great city on the Ohio,
rather than Cincinnati. Judge Symmes wrote. May 18, 1789: " I have not as
yet been able to make a decisive choice of a plat for the city, though I have
found two pieces of ground, both eligible, but not upon the present plan of a
regular square. It is a question of no little moment and difiiculty to deter-
mine which of these spots is preferable, in point of local situation. I know
that at first thought men will decide in favor of that on the Ohio, from the
supposition that the Ohio will command more trade and business than the
Miami. * * * ;g^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^e built on the Miami, the settlers
throughout the purchase would find it very convenient."

Another of the earliest selections of town sites was adjacent to the most
southerly point of what is now Delhi Township. To this the name of South
Bend was given. Judge Symmes reports November 4, 1790, of this place,
over forty framed and hewed-log two-story houses, since the preceding spring.
Ensign Luce is said to have taken his troops to Nor.th Bend, but decided to
remove to Cincinnati, on account of the object of his affections having settled
there — the wife of a settler. But this story is refuted by contradictory evi-
dence from Judge Symmes' letters, which illustrate the fact that the post of
North Bend was abandoned by Ensign Luce and his men in consequence of a
panic, caused by Indian attacks. The removal of the troops caused a general
decline of the town. Again, history and letters from the same eminent Judge,
assert that Fort Washington was completed and garrisoned by Maj. Doughty
before the close of that same year, and was begun by him during the summer,
that Ensign Luce must have still been at his post at the bend at that time. It
has been, therefore, recently accepted that the traditional "black eyes" and
the "Indian panic," had nothing to do with the founding of Cincinnati, and
that the advantages of the position gained the victory.

Cincinnati has advanced, not only in prosperity and culture, but in national
significance. Our readers must have observed, in perusing these pages, that

180 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

from this city and the State which it represents, have emanated some of the
superior intellects which have used their wise faculties and talents, tempered by
a wise judgment, in behalf of the American Union.

The originality of the Senecas and Wyandots have been debated at some
length, while others have called the tribes the same, having two branches. We
have searched the earlier records and have found an authenticated account of
these two tribes.

The Indian tribes of Ohio were originally bold, fierce and stalwart. The
country watered by the Sandusky and its tributaries was frequented by the
Wyandot tribe, who came from the north side of the St. Lawrence River. The
Senecas were blood relatives of this tribe. Both tribes were numbered by the
thousands. A war originated between them, in this manner : A Wyandot
chief desired to wed the object of his afi'ections, who laughed him to scorn,
because he had taken no scalps, and was no warrior " to speak of." To change
her opinion, he led out a party, and falling upon a number of Senecas, slaugh-
tered them mercilessly, that he might hasten to the side of his dusky belle, with
his trophies. This act inaugurated hostilities, which extended through a century.
The Wyandots began to fear extermination, and, gathering their entire effects^
the natives escaped to Green Bay, and settled in several villages. But the Sen-
ecas made up a war party and followed them, killing many Wyandots and burn-
ing some of their villages. They then returned to Canada. Soon thereafter,
they secured fire-arms from the French. Again they followed the Wyandots,
firing their guns into their huts, and frightening them severely. They did not
succeed as well as they expected. But the third party nearly exterminated the
villages, because the young warriors Avere nearly all gone to war with the Foxes.
The few at home escaping, promised to return with the Senecas, but desired
two days for preparation. The Wyandots sent word to the two villages left
undisturbed, and held a consultation. They decided to go as near the Senecas
as possible, unobserved, and discover their real motive. They found them feast-
ing on two roasted Wyandots, shouting over their victory. They danced nearly
all night, and then fell asleep. A little before daylight, the Wyandots fell on
them, leaving not one to carry back the news.

The Wyandots then procured guns, and began to grow formidable. They
set out to return to their own country, and proceeded on their way as far as
Detroit, where they met a party of Senecas, on the lake. A fierce conflict
ensued, and the Wyandots beheld the Senecas fall, to the last man, suffering
fearful carnage themselves. They soon settled in this part of the world, their
principal village being on the Sandusky. Northwestern Ohio was particularly
dangerous with new Indian tribes, and the Wyandots were cruelly aggressive.
The death of their chief, and their total defeat by Harrison, destroyed their
power forever.

On the 29th of September, 1817, a treaty was held, at the foot of the rapids
of the Miami of Lake Erie, between Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur,

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO. 181

Commissioners of the United States, and the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the
Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawattomie, Ottawa and Chippewa
nations. All their lands in Ohio were ceded to the United States forever.

There was really not a Seneca in the Seneca nation. They were chiefly
Cayugas, Mohawks, Onondagas, Tuscarawas, Wyandots and Oneidas. But the
Mingoes were originally Cayugas, and their chief was the celebrated Logan.
After the murder of his family by the whites, the Mingoes were scattered over
the territory northwest of the Ohio.

The notorious Simon Girty was adopted by the Senecas. Girty's name was
a terror and fiendish horror for many years. He not only led the Indians in
their atrocities, but he added barbarism to their native wickedness.

CONCLUSION.

When peace was proclaimed, after the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee to
Gen. U. S. Grant, the volunteer troops disbanded, and a return to home indus-
tries instituted, Ohio, like many other States, gave direct attention to the inter-
ests of returned soldiers. The thrift of the State was augmented by a spasmodic,
and thereafter recognized as a fictitious, demand for products, commercial and
industrial pursuits redoubled their forces. But the great wave of stagnation
swept over this fair land — the re-action of a war excitement. Laborers were
many, but wages were inadequate. Deeper and deeper settled this lethargy —
called by many "hard times" — until the wheels of commercial life revolved
slowly, and from the workshops and the factories went up the echoes of priva-
tion and distress. There was no famine, no fever, no epidemic, it was simply
exhaustion. In the larger cities there was much suffering. Idle people loitered
about, barely seeking employment, the task seeming worse than hopeless.

During the years 1870, 1871 and 1872, the stringent measures brought
about by the depressed state of business retarded any material advancement in
general matters. The years 1873-74 were marked by a preceptible improve-
ment, and a few factories were established, while larger numbers were employed
in those already founded. The year 1875 was under the direction of a Demo-
cratic Legislature. It was marked in many respects by a "reverse motion " in
many laws and regulations.

The Legislature which convened in 1876, January 3, was Republican in the
main. It repealed the " Geghan Law " passed by the preceding body. At
the time of its adoption, there was the most intense feeling throughout the State,
the charge being made that it was in the interests of the Catholics. Among
the general enactments were laws re-organizing the government of the State insti-
tutions, which the previous Legislature had ordered according to their own belief
to follow new doctrines. The oflBce of Comptroller of the Treasury was abolished.
The powers of municipal corporations to levy taxes was limited, and their
authority to incur debts was limited. Furthermore, this body prohibited any
municipal appropriations, unless the actual money was in the Treasury to meet

182 HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

the same in full. A law was passed for the protection of children under fourteen
years of age, exhibited in public shows.

The temperance cause received more vigorous and solid support than was
ever rendered by the " State previously. A common-sense, highly moral and
exalted platform was formed and supported by many leading men.

This year witnessed the serious "strikes" among the miners in Stark and
Wayne Counties. The consequences were painful — distress, riots and distruc-
tion of property.

The State Mine Inspector reported 300 coal mines in the State, with only
twenty-five in operation. Not over 3,000,000 tons of coal were raised during
the year, owing to the dullness of the times.

The State charities reported the aggregate number under public care to be
29,508. The taxation for the maintenance of these classes was one and one
six-hundredth of a mill on each dollar of taxable property.

The reports given of the year 1877 indicated a revival of business interests
and prosperity. The State produced of wheat, 27,306,566 bushels ; rye,
914,106 bushels; buckwheat, 225,822 bushels; oats, 29,325,611; barley,
1,629,817 bushels ; corn, 101,884,305 bushels ; timothy, tons of hay, 2,160,334 ;
clover, tons of hay, 286,265; flax, pounds of fiber, 7,343,294; potatoes,
,10,504,278 bushels; sweet potatoes, 126,354^ bushels; tobacco, 24,214,950
pounds; sorghum, sugar, 7,507^ pounds; syrup, 1,180,255 gallons; maple
sugar, 1,625,215 pounds ; maple syrup, 324,036 gallons ; honey, 1,534,902
pounds.

The growth of manufacturing industries, the remarkable annual increase
in stock and in agricultural products since 1877, leave no room to doubt the
rapid advancement of Ohio in general wealth.

WEstarr- B.onl, Pot Ga

'/yT^-x/'T^'-v^J

PART III.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY,

:Bizr :r. o. BiRO'wisr.*

CHAPTER I.

Primitive Appearance of the Country— The Claims of Virginia and Con-
necticut—The Connecticut Western Reserve— Donation of Fire
Lands, and Sale of the Balance to the Connecticut Land Company-
Indian Titles Extinguished— Ordinance of 1787— Arrival of the First
Surveying Corps at Conneaut— The Reserve Surveyed into Townships
— Trials and Sufferings of the Surveyors— Erection of Jefferson and
Trumbull Counties— Organization of Franklin Township— Portage
County Erected, and Selection of its Seat of Justice— First Election,
AND Organization of the County— Minutes of the First Meeting of
THE Commissioners— Original Townships— Tax Levies and Collectors
OF 1808— First Year's Receipts and Expenditures— Changes in the
Western Boundary Line— Present Boundaries— Origin of the Name of
THE County— The Portage Path — Areas and Townships — Population
Statistics.

WHAT is now known as Portage County was, at the time of the com-
ing of the white men, one vast, unbroken forest. The soil, by the
annual accumulations of leaves and abundant growths of forest vegetation,
was luxuriant, and the trees stood close, and were of gigantic size. The
streams and small lakes swarmed with fish, and the forest abounded with
game. Where now are towns and hamlets filled with busy populations intent
upon the accumulation of wealth, the mastery of knowledge, and the pursuits
of pleasure, the deer browsed and the pheasant drummed his monotonous note.
Where now stands the glowing furnace from which, day and night, tongues of
flame are bursting, and where the busy water-wheel now furnishes power for num-
erous mills and factories, half naked, dusky warriors fashioned their spears with
rude implements of stoxie, and made themselves hooks out of the bones of ani-
mals, for alluring the tinny tribe. Where now are fertile fields, upon which the
thrifty farmer turns his furrow, which his neighbor takes up and runs on until
it reaches from one end of the broad State to the other, and where are flocks
and herds rejoicing in rich meadows, gladdened by abundant streams and
fountains, or reposing at the heated noon-tide beneath ample shade, not a
blow had been struck against the giants of the forest, the soil rested in virgin
purity, the streams glided on in majesty, unvexed by wheel and unchoked by
device of man.

Where now the long train rushes on with the speed of the wind over plain
and mead, across brook and river, awakening the echoes of the hills the long
day through, and at the midnight hour screaming out its shrill whistle in

♦Chapters I to XIII inclusive.

188 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

fiery defiance, the wild native, issuing from his rude hut, trotted on in his
forest path, pointed his bark canoe across the deep stream, knowing the prog-
ress of time only by the rising and setting sun, troiibled by no meridians
for its index, starting on his way when his nap was ended, and stopping for
rest when a spot was reached that pleased his fancy. Where now a swarthy
population toils ceaselessly deep down in the bowels of the earth, shut out from
the light of day in digging the material that feeds the tires upon the forge, and'
gives genial warmth to the poor man's happy home, and to the lovers as they
chat merrily in the luxurious drawing-room, not a mine had been opened,
and the vast beds of the black diamond rested unsunned beneath the superin-
cumbent strata where they had been fashioned by the Creator's hand. Civili-
zation had not yet come to disturb the equanimity of the red man as he
smoked the pipe of peace at the council fire, and many a bitter struggle was to
ensue before he would surrender to his white foe his goodly heritage by the
forest stream and deep flowing river, and seek for himself new hunting-grounds
in less favored regions.

The first authentic record we find of the white man's claim to this portion
of the red man's domain is the Virginia title to the great Northwest Territory,
acquired through its several charters granted by James I in 1606, 1609 and
1611, without any recognition of the original owners and occupants of the
soil. That colony first attempted to exercise au.thority over its extensive
dominions lying northwest of the Ohio River, when, in 1769, the House of
Burgesses passed the following act;

Whereas, The people situated on the Mississippi, in the said County of Botetourt,
will be very remote from the Court House and must necessarily become a separate county
as soon as their numbers are sulEcient, which probably will happen in a short time, be it
therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said
County of Botetourt which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted from the payment
of any levies to be laid by the said County Court for the purpose of building a Court
House and prison for said county.

Civil government between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers existed only in
name until 1778, when, after the conquest of the country by Gen. George
Rogers Clark, the Virginia Legislature organized the County of Illinois,
embracing within its limits all of the lands lying west of the Ohio River to
which Virginia had any claim. Col. John Todd received appointment from
the Governor of Virginia as Civil Commandant and Lieutenant of the
county. He served until his death, at the battle of Blue Licks in 1782, and
Timothy de Montbrun was his successor. In 1783 the General Assembly of
Virginia passed an act authorizing her delegates in Congress to convey to the
United States all the rights of Virginia to the territory northwest of the Ohio
River. Pursuant to this act, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee
and James Monroe, the Virginia delegates, ceded to the general Government,
on the 1st of March, 1784, all right, title and claim of soil and jurisdiction
to said tei'ritory previously held by Virginia. The deed of cession was
accepted by Congress on the same day, and the United States thus secured the
title of that State to the soil of Ohio.

Another claim, however, still remained to be satisfied, which was more
closely connected with the portion of Ohio known as the Western Reserve than
the preceding one. " This claim reaches back to the founding of Connecticut,
the original charter of which was granted by Charles II in 1662. It defined
the limits of the grant to be " from the south line of Massachusetts on the
north to Long Island Sound on the south, and from the Narragansett River on
the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west," which embraced all the country

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 189

lying between the 41st and 42d degrees north latitude. These boundaries
included not only what is now Connecticut, but also portions of New York and
New Jersey, nearly half of Pennsylvania, the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois, and a strip oflf the southern part of Michigan, besides portions of
Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. There
was a clause, however, in the charter, which excepted from it such territory as
was then occupijed by prior settlers.

A dispute soon arose between New York and Connecticut as to their bound-
aries, when the King, in 1664, appointed Commissioners to settle it. They
decided that the Maronee Kiver should be the western boundary of Connecti-
cut. With this decision against her, Connecticut neglected for nearly a century
to assert her claim to any territory west of New York. In 1681 a charter was
granted to William Penn of the territory embraced in the limits of Pennsyl-
vania. This, of course, embraced a large part of the territory included in the
charter of Connecticut, and bitter quarrels now sprung up between the two
colonies as to their respective rights. In 1753 a company was formed in Con-
necticut to plant a colony on the Susquehanna River, on lands they claimed as
included in her Charter. A purchase was made of the sachems of the Six
Nations by this company in 1754, at Wyoming, and in 1774 a township was
formed there, called Westmoreland, which sent a Representative to the Legis-
lature of Connecticut. Pennsylvania and Connecticut both sold the same lands,
and both agreed to give possession, which caused constant quarrels, and resort
was often had to arms to expel those in possession. In 1770 the Legislature
of Connecticut sent to England certain questions respecting her title to the
lands west of New York. The answers were favorable to her claims, and she
determined to enforce them, but the Revolutionary war coming on suspended
the controversy.

In 1781 the two States appointed Commissioners to determine the dispute,
and an act of Congress was passed granting to these Commissioners full power
to act in the tinal settlement of the conflicting claims. The Commissioners met
at Trenton, N. J., in 1782, and after a full hearing decided that Connecticut had
no right to the lands in dispute, but that they belonged to Pennsylvania. The
State of Connecticut acquiesced in the decision, but still claimed all the lands
lying west of Pennsylvania, extending to the Mississippi River. To avoid all
future trouble, Connecticut, in 1786, ceded all her lands west of Pennsylvania
to Congress, excepting only 120 miles from the Pennsylvania line west, and
north of latitude 41°, over which, however, the United States retained full
jurisdiction. This cession was accepted, and the controversy finally settled.

The territory thus confirmed to Connecticut has since been known as the
Western Reserve, and lies between Lake Erie on the north, Pennsylvania on
the east, the parallel of the 41st degree north latitude on the south, and the
eastern line of Seneca and Sandusky Counties on the west. It extends 120
miles from east to west, and averages about fifty miles from north to south,
although on the Pennsylvania line its width is sixty-eight miles. The Reserve
contains about 3,800,000 acres, and is surveyed into townships, each five
miles square. Half a million acres from off the west end of the Reserve were
granted by Connecticut in 1792 to the residents of Greenwich, New London,
Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New Haven, and other villages of that State,
whose property was burned by the English during the Revolutionary war.
This grant is called the Fire Lands, because of being donated to compensate
for the property destroyed by fire, and includes the five western ranges of
townships in the Reserve. Excepting one township in Ashland County, and a
small strip at the eastern end of Ottawa, the Fire Lands are embraced in

190 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Huron find Erie Counties. The entire Western Reserve embraces the present
counties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medi-
na, Portage and Trumbull; also the greater portion of Mahoning and Sum-
mit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottaw^a.

After the donation of the Fire Lands, the remaining 3,300,000 acres were
put upon the market, and in 1795 sold by the State to the Connecticut Land
Company for $1,200,000. This money was invested as a permanent fund,
called the Connecticut School Fund, the interest of which goes toward the
support of common schools in that State. The land company divided the
amount into 400 shares of $3,000 each, on payment of which a certificate was
issued entitling the holder to one four-hundredth part of the lands purchased.
The company conveyed it by deed of trust to Jonathan Bran, John Caldwell
and John Mayan, to hold and sell for the proprietors. The certificates were
all numbered, and then the proprietors drew for their land, similar to draw-
ing a lottery.

Before the whites, however, could take peaceable possession of their lands
lying in the Western Reserve, a title from the Indians was necessary, and this
was finally accomplished. Through the treaty of Fort Stanwix, consummated
with the Six Nations October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of that confederacy
to the soil of Ohio was extinguished. This was followed in January, 1785,
by the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, by which the Delawai-es, Wyandots, Ottawas
and Chippewas relinquished all claim to the territory lying east of the Cuya-
hoga River, Portage Path and Tuscarawas River, and south of a line running
southwest from Fort Laurens, on the Tuscarawas (the town of Bolivar), to the
portage between the Big Miami and Maumee Rivers, near the western bound-
ary of the State. A similar relinquishment was effected with the Shawnees
by the treaty of Fort Finney, January 31, 1786. The treaty of Fort Har-
mar, January 9, 1789, and that of Greenville, August 3, 1795, re-established
and extended the southern boundary line through Ohio laid down by the
treaty of Fort Mcintosh. All of the Western Reserve lying west of the Cuya-
hoga River and the Portage Path was secured by a treaty made at Fort Industry
(Toledo), July 4, 1805, and thus the last vestige of Indian title to the lands in
the Reserve was forever extinguished.

When the United States had obtained possession of the country north and
west of the Ohio River, Congress took the great step which resulted in the
establishment of a wise and salutary civil government. On the 13th of July,
1787, after a prolonged discussion of the principles and issues involved, there
was issued "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United
States Northwest of the River Ohio, " which has since been known as "the
ordinance of 1787," or the "ordinance of freedom." By this great and states-
manlike ordinance, provision was made for successive forms of territorial gov-
ernment, adapted to successive steps of advancement in the settlement and
development of the Western country. " This remarkable instrument,"
says Chief Justice Chase, " was the last gift of the Congress of the old con-
federation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious
labors." Up to this time the Government, to avoid infringements upon
the rights of the Indians, had discouraged and prevented the settlement of the
lands northwest of the Ohio, but on the passage of the ordinance emigration
was fostered and encouraged in every way, and when the settlers went into the
wilderness they found the law already there. "It was impressed upon the
soil itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest."

In June, 1796, the Connecticut Land Company sent out a surveying party
to divide the Reserve into townships. It was under the charge of Moses

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 191

Cleveland, from whom the city of Cleveland takes its name. On the 4th of
July the pai'ty arrived at the site of Conneaut, Ashtabula County, where they
celebrated our great national holiday, being the first celebration on the
Reserve. The expedition consisted of forty-five men, two women and one
child. The work was begun and vigorously prosecuted during the summer
and fall of 1796, and the following spring a second expedition came out to
finish the survey. Wareham Shepherd, the last survivor of that surveying
corps, and Amzi Atwater, who subsequently became Associate Judge of Por-
tage County, were leading members of this party. When surveying at the
northeast corner of Palmyra Township, Portage County, July 5, 1797, Shep-
herd was taken sick with dysentery, and Miner Bickweil, one of their assist-
ants, with a violent fever. They kept on, however, till they got the line run
between Braceville Township, Trumbull County, and Windham Township, in
this county, when Bickweil became too sick to proceed further. Here was a
trying time. In a wilderness, without medicine, and without skill to use it
if they had it, and with no guide but their compass — under such difficulties
the bravest heart might well grow discouraged. But "necessity is the mother
of invention," and Atwater cut two poles and fastened bark to them so they
would hang beside a horse like the shafts of a wagou — one horse following
the other so far apart that the sick man could lie lengthwise between them.
With bark and blankets they made his bed as comfortable as possible, and by
twisted bark ropes fastened it to their pack saddles.

Shepherd becoming somewhat better, Atwater left him with one assistant
to run the east line of Range to the lake as best he could, and started
for Cleveland with the sick man. They returned back to the northeast cor-
ner of Palmyra Township, and then started west on the line between Palmp'a
and Paris. In this litter Atwater carried Bickweil five days — and a distance
of fifty miles. He had a high fever all the time, and his reason but a part of
the time. On the fifth day they arrived at the south line of Independence,
Cuyahoga County, on the 25th of July, 1797, and Bickweil died about two
hours after their arrival. He was buried near the luver, on the south line of
that town, on the farm subsequently owned by Squire Frazer. He was the sec-
ond white person that died on the Reserve, David Eldridge, one of the party,
being drowned the May previous in swimming Grand River. Upon Atwater's
return he found Shepherd at the northeast corner of Nelson Township,
and they then ran the east line of Range 6 northward to the lake. This fin-
ished the township lines of the Reserve, the eastern line of Portage County
being the last one surveyed. The men were nearly all worn out, and sickness
prevailed to an alarming extent. Peleg Washburn and William Andrews, two
of the company, died in Cleveland, in August, and nearly every man was sick.
A man by the name of Tinker, the principal boatman, and from whom Tin-
ker's Creek took its name, in going down the lake in the fall was drowned,
together with two others, by the capsizing of their boat. One or two boat-
loads of sick were sent off early in the fall, and the last of the surveying
party left the Reserve the fore part of November, 1797, a sorry, sickly-looking
set of beings, the very reverse of what they were in the spring.

Such were the sufferings and trials of those hardy bands of surveyors who
prepared the way for the coming of the pioneers, and whose descendants, while
enjoying the blessings of the present, can scarcely realize that only eighty-
eight years ago such was the conditioD of this beautiful country. So suddenly
and so strangely has the genius of change and alteration waved its charmed
wand over the land, that the unwritten history of those early days is recalled
as one remembers a fading dream. We are living in an age of invention and

192 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

machinery. These have lai'gely destroyed the romance of frontier life, and
much of the strange, eventful realities of the past are rapidly becoming myth-
ical, and the narratives of the generation that settled the Western Reserve,
abounding in rich treasure of incidents and character, are being swallowed up
and forgotten in the surging, eventful present.

At the time the iirst settlement was made within the present limits of Por-
tage County, it formed a part of Jefferson, erected July 29, 1797, and which
then embraced all of the territory inside the following boundaries, with the
seat of justice at Steubenville:

Beginning upon the bank of the Ohio River, where the western boundary of Pennsyl-
vania crosses it, and down the said river to the southern boundary of the fourth township
in the third range (of those seven ranges of townships that were surveyed in conformity to
the ordinance of Congress of the 20th of May, 1785), and with the said southern boundary
west, to the southwest corner of the sixth township of the fifth range; thence north along
the western boundary of the said fifth range to the termination thereof; thence due west
to the Muskingum River, and up the Muskingum and Tuscarawas Rivers to and with the
Portage, between the latter and the Cuyahoga River; thence down the Cuyahoga to Lake
Erie; thence easterly along the shore of the lake to the western boundar}^ of Pennsylva-
nia, and south with the same to the place of beginning.

Three years passed by, and on the 10th of July, 1800, Trumbull County
was erected, partly from territory previously embraced in Jefferson, and
included all of the lands constituting the Western Reserve. Its official bound-
aries were established as follows:

Beginning at the completion of the 41st° of north latitude, 120 miles west of the western
boundary of Pennsylvania.'and running from thence by aline to be drawn north, parallel to
and 120 miles west of the said west line of Pennsylvania, and to continue north until it comes
to 42°, 2' north latitude; thence with a line to be drawn east until it intersects the said west-
ern boundary of Pennsylvania; thence with the said western boundary of Pennsylvania
south, to the completion of the 41st° of north latitude; and from thence west to the place
of beginning.

In 1802 all the territory now embraced in Portage County, besides a portion
of that in Trumbull and Summit, was organized under the name of Franklin
Township; but soon afterward other townships were cut off from Franklin,
and when Portage County was erected it contained six townships in good run-
ning order. It remained a portion of Trumbull until the 10th of February,
1807, on which date the Legislature passed the following act, to take effect
and be in force from and after the 7th of June succeeding its passage:

1. Be it enacted, etc.. That all that part of the county of Trumbull which lies west of
the fifth range of townships be erected into a separate county by the name of Portage,
and shall be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities of a separate and dis-
tinct county: Provided, That it shall be lawful for the Coroners, Sheriffs, Constables and
Collectors of the County of Trumbull to do and perform all the duties which they are or
may be required to do, within the bounds of the said County of Portage, before the said
division shall take place; and all suits and actions, whether of a civil or criminal nature,
which shall be pending, and all crimes which shall have been committed therein at the
time of said division, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution in the County
of Trumbull, as though no division Iwid taken place.

2. Tiiat the courts for the said County of Portage shall be holden at the house of
Benjamin Tappan, until a permanent seat of justice shall be established.

3. That all that part of the Connecticut Western Reserve that lies west of the Cuya-
hoga River and south of the township numbered five, shall be annexed to and become a part
of the county of Portage: Provided, That the money arising to the county from a tax
on land, within the said district, shall be appropriated by the Commissioners of Portage
County, and expended in laying out and making roads and erecting bridges, within the
boundaries of said district, west of the Cuyahoga.

The act also authorized the appointing of Commissioners, under the law
establishing seats of justice, to fix upon the place for the county seat of Port-
age County. The Legislature appointed Robert Simison, Samuel Hunter
and Rezin Beall, who made their i-eport to the Court of Common Pleas of

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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 195

Portage County at its first session, August 23, 1808, having selected Ravenna,
which had been laid out by Benjamin Tappan the previous spring, as the seat
of justice for the new county. There is a well authenticated tradition that
Aaron Olmstead, the original proprietor of the present township of Franklin,
was very desirous of having the county seat located on his land, and in the
summer of 1807 came out from the East, and with John Campbell, of Camp-
bellsport, selected a site for public buildings a little north of the upper ceme-
tery in the city of Kent. Olmstead made arrangements with Campbell
for the latter to use his influence with the State Commissioners in favor of
this location, and to promise that he (Olmstead) would donate the land and
erect a Court House at his own expense, if the Commissioners selected that
site for the county seat of Portage County. He then returned to the East,
where he soon afterward died, leaving no provision for carrying out his
promises; and under a will previously executed bequeathing all the unsold
lands to his grandchildren, the proposed site could not be donated for county
purposes. It is generally believed that had it not been for Olmstead's death,
the seat of justice would undoubtedly have been located on the Cuyahoga
River, at Kent, instead of Ravenna, and consequently the boundary lines
of Portage County would be much different from what they are to-day.

Though the act erecting Portage County was passed and went into effect
in 1807, the new county remained attached to Trumbull for one year longer.
On the 8th of June, 1808, an election was held, and Abel Sabin, Joel Gaylord
and Lewis Day elected Commissioners; Alva Day, Sheriff; and Lewis Day,
Coroner of Portage County. On the same date the Commissioners met for
the purpose of organizing and putting the wheels of local government in
motion. On the first page of the Commissioners' Journal the following record
is made of this important event in the county's history:

In conformity to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, entitled "An
Act establisliing Boards of County Commissioners," the Commissioners in and lor the
County of Portage met at the house of Robert Eaton*, in Ravenna, on Monday, the eighth
day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight. Persons
present, Lewis Day, Joel Gaylord and Abel Sabin, Esquires, Commissioners of said county,
who, having produced certificates of their being duly elected as such, and having taken
the necessary oaths required by law, proceeded to discharge the duties of their said offices,
in pursuance to the above recited act.

The Board of Commissioners proceeded to fix and determine on a suitable person to
do and perform the duties of Clerk to the said Board. Whereupon it was considered that
Abel Sabin, Esquire, one of the Commissioners, was a suitable person to discharge the said
duties of Clerk, and accordingly was appointed thereto, and accepted tiie same.

The Board of Commissioners in and for said county appointed Elias Harmon, Esquire,
Treasurer of the county aforesaid, for the year ensuing; who, having accepted the said

appointment, entered into bonds in the sum of three thousand dollars, with

for his sureties, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, and took
the oath prescribed by law.

Ordered by the Board of Commissioners in and for the County of Portage, that the
sum of two doilars be allowed as a bounty for each and every wolf or panther killed, over
the age of six months, within said county, and the sum of one dollar for each wolf or
panther, under the age of six months, killed within the term of one year, in the county
aforesaid, to be paid out of the County Treasury, on the order of the Commissioners, in
conformity to the statute in such cases made and provided.

Portage County at that time possessed but six organized townships, viz. :
Franklin, Deertield, Aurora, Hiram, Springfield and Hudson. The two last
mentioned then included the ten townships taken from Portage in the erection
of Summit County, in 1840, also the present townships of Randolph and Suf-
field in this county. Franklin Township embraced the present townships of
Franklin, Rcivenna, Charlestown, Brimfield and Rootstown. Deerfield Town-

*This house stands about two and a half miles southeast of Ravenna, and since 1815 has been the Thomp-
son homestead.

196 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

ship then included Deerfield, Atwater, Palmyra, Paris and Edinburg. Aurora
Township embraced Aurora and Streetsboro; and Hiram Township covered the
territory now known as Hiram, Mantua, Nelson, Shalersville, Freedom, Wind-
ham and Garrettsville.

The resident land tax levied August 23, 1808, was as follows: Franklin
Township, $46.83; Deerlield_, $48.78; Aurora, $38.17; Hiram, $36.31; Spring-
field, $34.97; Hudson, $81. il. The personal property tax levied on the same
date was; Franklin Township, $35; Deerfield, $48.90; Aurora, $12.30; Hiram,
$23.40; Springfield, $26.60; Hudson, $55.60. The following Tax Collectors
were also appointed at the same time: Arthur Anderson, Franklin Township;
James Carter, Deerfield; Oliver Forward, Aurora; Isaac Mills, Hiram; Timo-
thy Culver, Springfield; George Darrow, Jr., Hudson.

The entire receipts of Portage County from June 13, 1808, to June 17,
1809, were $3,247.71, of which amount $2,227.52 was the tax on lands lying
west of the Cuyahoga River, which, by a clause in the act of erection, were
annexed to this county. The expenditures during the same period were
$2,355.56, of which $1,125.35 were expended in laying out roads and building
bridges in the territory west of the Cuyahoga, in compliance with the clause
attaching said territory to Portage County. Thus, the total receipts of this
county, from the territory lying between the Trumbull County line and the
Cuyahoga River, were, during the first year of its organized existence, $1,020.-
19; truly a very insignificant sum with which to meet its financial wants.

By an act passed January 22, 1811, the west line of the eleventh range of
townships was designated as the western boundary of Portage County; and on
the l8th of February, 1812, Medina County was erected and attached to Port-
age for judicial purposes, where it remained until its separate organization,
January 14, 1818. The west line of the eleventh range continued to be the
western boundary of Portage until the 29th of January, 1827, when the follow-
ing survey was established:

Beginning on the south line of the Connecticut Western Reserve, at the point where
the middle of the Tuscarawas River intersects the same; thence northerly, following the
middle of the said Tuscarawas River, to the range line between the eleventh and twelfth
ranges, as run by the Connecticut Land Company; thence north on the course of the range
line last aforesaid, to the north line of the township numbered four; thence east on the
north line of number four, in the eleventh range, to the middle of the Cuyahoga River;
thence down the middle of said river to the north line of the township numbered five, in
said ranges. ******

No more changes occurred in the boundary lines of Portage County until
the erection of Siammit, March 3, 1840, when its two western tiers of town-
ships were cut off in the formation of the new county, establishing the west
line of the ninth range as the western boundary of Portage, and thus its
boundaries have since remained. It is botmded on the west by Summit County,
on the north by Geauga, on the east by Trumbull and Mahoning, and on the
south by Mahoning and Stark, the last mentioned boundary being also the south-
ern line of the Western Reserve.

Portage County received its name from the fact that the old Indian Portage
Path, between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers, was, originally, within its
limits, though now in Summit County. This historic path was a part of the
boundary established in 1784, by the Treaty of Fort Mcintosh, and remained
the dividing line between the whites and Indians until 1805, when the treaty
consummated at Fort Industry established the western line of the Reserve as
the north and south boundary between the two races in Ohio. The Portage
Path left the Cayahoga River at the village of Old Portage, about three miles
north of Akron, thence ran westward up the hill about half a mile to the high

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

197

ground, where it turned south and ran about parallel with the Ohio Canal to
near Summit Lake; thence took the low ground nearly south to the Tuscara-
was, which it struck a mile or more above the New Portage. The whole length
of the path was. according to the survey made by Moses Warren, in 1797,
eight miles, four chains and fifty-five links.

As the county increased in population new townships were organized, and
prior to the erection of Summit County, in 1840, Portage contained thirty
townships, with a combined area of about 740 square miles of territory, or
473,600 acres. The erection of Summit, however, left Portage County with
but twenty townships (Garrettsville has since been formed from Hiram and
Nelson), and an area of 490 square miles, or 313,600 acres, including streams
and lakes; but the report of the Secretary of State for 1881 gives 312,487
acres as the amount of land contained in this county. Its present townships
are Atwater, Aurora, Brimfield, Charlestown, Deerfield, Edinburg, Franklin,
Freedom, Garrettsville, Hiram, Mantua, Nelson, Palmyra, Paris, Randolph,
Ravenna, Rootstown, Shalersville, Streetsboro, Suffield and Windham.

The population of the county and the several townships by decades, since
1810 and 1850 respectively, is given in the following tables: County — 1810,
2,995; 1820, 1,095; 1830, 18,820; 1840, 22,965; 1850, 24,419; 1860, 24,208;
1870, 24,584; 1880, 27,500.

TOWNSHIPS.

1850.

Atwater Township

Aurora Township

Brimfield Township

Charlestown Township

Deerfield Township

Edinburg Township

Franklin Township (including Kent) ,

Freedom Township . ;

*Garrettsville Township ,

Hiram Township

Mantua Township

Nelson Township

Palmyra Township

Paris Township

Randolph Township

Ravenna Township (including Ravenna).

Rootstown Township

Shalersville Township

Streetsboro Township

Suflield Township

Windham Township

1,119
833
1,015
809
1,371
1,101
1,758

1,106
1,169
1,383
1,093
1,018
1,732
2,340
1,308
1,190
1,108
1,281

I860.

1,181

688

905

835

1,091

1,018

1,557

983

1,306
1,207
1,301
1,031

909
1,686
2.905
1,383
1,153

906
1,413

850

1870.

1,180
643
913
675

1,085
929

3,037
781

1,234

1,126

1,355

848

691

1,564

3,423

1,169

977

706

1,444

865

1880.

1,147

666

1,030

633

985

910

4,141

804

969

1,058

1,150

890

1,105

666

1,684

4,224

1,317

960

702

1,530

1,029

*Organized from Hiram and Nelson July 6, 1874.

198 • HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

CHAPTER IL

PoKTAGE County XiNETY Years Ago— Timber and Fruit-Bearing Trees
AND Vines— Roots and Herbage— Wild Animals, Birds and Reptiles— Big
Hunts— General Topography, Streams and Lakes— Geology of Portage
County— Surface Features and Deposits— Geological Structure— Coal
Measures— Coal No. 1— Coals Nos. 3 and 4— Fire Clay— Altitudp:s in Port-
age County above Lake Erie.

ERE the woodman' s ax resounded, sombre and silent was the ancient forest,
which, during untold centuries, had overshadowed the hills and valleys
of this region. Beauty and variety marked the plants which grew and bloomed
beneath the leafy canopy of the gigantic trees.

"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

Hill, dale and streamlet, with all the families of plants from the lofty
forest tree to the creeping ivy, gave to the landscape variety and picturesque
beauty. An unchanged progression of periodical decay had from time imme
morial been forming a rich vegetable soil, in preparation for the era when
civilized man should take possession and become its cultivator. Oak of sev-
eral varieties, chestnut, and hickory in all its species, were the principal growth
on the dry gravelly lands; red and white beech, maple or sugar tree, linden
or basswood, sumach, white ash, cucumber, poplar, white, red and slippery
elm, walnut, ironwood, dogwood, sassafras and cherry, on the rich loamy soil;
and on the wet lands hemlock, black ash, tamarack, sycamore, soft maple and
birch; while there was a varying undergrowth of fruit-bearing trees and vines,
such as the plum, crab- apple, white, red and black haw, alder, whortleberry,
blackberry, raspberry, serviceberry, gooseberry, currant, cranberry and straw-
berry, also nuts of several varieties, and hops, ginseng, bloodroot, chocolate
root, together with innumerable kinds of other roots and herbage of valuable
properties, were the spontaneous growth of Portage County.

A thick undergrowth gave an excellent covert to the wild animals that once
abounded in this section of the State, viz. : the elk, deer, panther, wolf, bear,
wild cat, fox, marten, otter, polecat, beaver, groundhog or woodchuck, opossum,
raccoon, hare, rabbit, black, grey, red or pine, flying and ground or striped
squirrels, muskrat, mink, weasel, porcupine, field-mouse, deer-mouse, common
rat and mouse. Of these the elk, panther, wolf, bear, wild cat and beaver
are extinct in this county, or if any are ever seen it is a very rare occurrence.

Among the birds which are natives of this county or visit it annually,
either to build or touching it in their migration to a more northerly region,
are the bald and gray eagle, rarely if ever seen; the hen hawk, fish hawk,
pigeon hawk, shrike or butcher bird, the white, the cat and screech owl, the
swan, wild goose, black duck, mallard, wood duck, shelldrake, teal, butter-
bolt, loon, dipper, water hen or coot, plover, jacksnipe, sandsnipe, king-
fisher, turkey, pheasant, partridge or quail, woodcock, rail, pigeon, dove,
whip-poor-will, robin, thrush, catbird, cuckoo, lark, oriole, bluejay, fieldfare
or red breasted grossbeak, martin, the barn swallow, bank swallow, oven swal-
low, bluebird, wren, cow bird, bobolink or reed-bird, yellow bird, redbird,
blackbird, redwing, starling, black or large woodpecker, red-headed wood-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 199

pecker, gray woodpecker, flicker, cedar bird or toppy, crookbill, green bird,
humming bird, and a variety of small birds with whose species the writer is
not familiar. Some of these members of the feathery kingdom have become
very rare or altogether extinct, while others have come into the county. The
white-breasted swallow is one of the later inhabitants, as is also the hardy,
pugnacious English sparrow, which since his coming has driven many of
the most beautiful songsters from the towns now inhabited by those little fel-
lows in great numbers.

The snakes that were found in this locality are the black and yellow rattle-
snakes, the former of which usually frequented the wet or swampy lands, and
the latter the hilly or dry ground. Hundi-eds of those "yellow skins," as they
were commonly called, were killed, during the first few years of settlement, in
nearly every township in the county. Regular hunting parties were some-
times organized in the spring-time, to invade their dens among the ledges, and
by this means those dangerous pests were rapidly exterminated. The water
snake was a large black snake, often growing from five to seven feet in length;
the -small black snake or white-ringed viper, the brown or house snake, the
garter snake and the green snake were plentiful. All of those mentioned are
innocuous except the rattlesnake, and it is fortunately now nearly or altogether
extinct.

The wild denizens of the forest roamed at will during the earlier years of
the county's history, and many of the pioneers could tell of dangers and hair-
breadth escapes from an enraged bear, a pack of ravenous wolves, or a treach-
erous wild cat, which at one time were more plentiful in this region than cat-
tle, sheep or hogs. To rid the country of these dangerous neighbors, big
hunts were gotten up, when game of every sort went down in scores, before
the unerring rifles of the frontier sportsmen. A whole township would be
surrounded by a line of hunters, and at a pre-concerted signal all would begin
the march toward the center, di-ivingthe game before them and shooting down
any that tried to escape. Great quantities of valuable game were slaughtered
in this way, and as there were premiums paid for the scalps of the more dan-
gerous animals, these hunts usually proved a financial success. In a big hunt
which took place in Freedom Township, in December, 1818, there were killed
twenty-three bears, seven wolves and thirty-six deer, besides scores of turkeys
and other game. On the 25th of December, 1818, another hunt took place in
Windham Township, when twenty-one bears, sixty-eight deer, one wolf, one
wild cat, with turkeys and other small game innumerable, were bagged. The
same year at the close of a hunt in Edinburg Township, seven bears, five
wolves, one hundred deer and four hundred turkeys were counted as the result
of the day's sport. Another hunt occurred in Edinburg and Atwater Town-
ships December 24, 1819, the result of which was twenty-one bears, eighteen
wolves, one hundred and three deer, and more than three hundred turkeys.
In 1819 a similar raid was made upon the game of Streetsboro Township, and
five bears, four wolves and sixty deer were slain. Such hunts took place at
different times in nearly every township in the county, but those given will
fully illustrate the great amount of wild game which once inhabited the val-
leys of the Mahoning and Cuyahoga. Those organized hunting parties soon
had a telling effect in lessening the game, and finally becoming unpopular,
met with a determined opposition from a large class of citizens and were
abandoned. Long after the surrounding country was well settled, the tam-
arack swamps of Brimfield Township afforded an excellent covert for wild
game, and bears, wolves, deer etc., were quite numerous in that locality.
Bears especially were so plentiful that the township was familiarly known as

200 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

"Bear Town." Streetsboro, Freedom, Paris and Edinburg Townships were
also noted hunting grounds for some years after the game in the adjoining
territory had been pretty well thinned out. The last wolf killed in Streets-
boro Township was shot by Merrill Stanton, March 6, 1838, about which time
the larger and more troublesome wild animals had, much to the relief of those
settlers whose cattle, hogs and sheep often went to satisfy their voracious
appetites, entirely disappeared from the forests of this county.

The general topography of Portage County is slightly rolling, the uplands
usually of a sandy or gravelly nature, and the more level portions principally
composed of a clay soil. Few counties in Ohio are better watered. The
whole eastern half is drained by the Mahoning River, with its several local
branches, Silver Creek being the most important, which rise along the central
portions of the county, from north to south, and flow in an easterly direction,
uniting before reaching Warren, Ohio; thence take a southeast course to the
Shenango, with whose waters the Mahoning unites about two miles south of
Newcastle, Penn., when the two streams become Beaver River. The word
Mahoning is, according to Heckewelder, derived from either the Indian Mahoni,
signifying "a lick," or Mahonink, "at the lick;" but Lucius V. Bierce, in
his sketches of the Western Reserve, says that it comes from the Indian word
Ma-um-ing, meaning "the way to the market."

The Cuyahoga River takes its rise in Geauga County, and flowing south-
west, enters Portage near the northwest corner of Hiram Township; thence
crossing said corner and keeping the same general course across the southeast
corner of Mantua, and the northwest corner of Shalersville Township, turns
southward through the southeastern tier of lots in Streetsboro Township;
thence winding diagonally across Franklin Township, from its northeast to its
southwest corner, passing through Kent on its route, enters Summit County.
It there makes a big bend, and turning northward empties into Lake Erie at
Cleveland. This river receives its name from the Indian word Cuy-o-ga, mean-
ing "crooked," a term significant of the stream, which' is very winding. Its
largest tribu-taries in this county are the Little Cuyahoga and the Breakneck.
The former drains the southeast corner of the county, Fritch's Pond, in Suf-
field Township, being one of its sources, and Springfield Lake, across the line
in Summit County, the other. The Breakneck heads in Stark County, and
winding northward through Randolph and Rootstown Townships, turns across
the southwest corner of Ravenna Township, and thence northwestward through
Franklin Township, discharges its waters into the Cuyahoga, about a mile and
a half northeast of Kent. One branch of the Chagrin River heads in Aurora
and Mantua Townships, and thence passing northward joins the main stream
in Cuyahoga County.

Portage is also well supplied with small natural lakes and ponds. In
Franklin Township we find Brady's Lake, Pippin Lake, Twin Lakes and
Stewart's Pond; in Rootstown. Sandy Lake, Muddy Lake (which is partly located
in Ravenna Township), Muzzy' s Pond and Ward's Pond; in Suffield, Congress
Lake (partly) and Fritch's Pond, and Long Pond in Aurora Township. Brady's
Lake received its name in honor of Capt. Samuel Brady, of " Brady's Leap "
fame, who fortunately escaped from Indian vengeance by hiding beneath its wa-
ters. Pippin Lake was called after the apple of that name; Twin Lakes, because
of their close proximity to each other, and connection by a small branch; Stew-
art's Pond, after a pioneer of that name; Sandy and Muddy Lakes, from the
character of the soil surrounding them; Muzzy's Pond, after Nathan Muzzy, a
peculiar character who claimed to have discovered it; Ward's Pond, from a
pioneer of that name; Congress Lake, from the lake bearing that name in

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 201

New York; Fritch's Pond, after John Fritch, a German who built a mill at
the outlet, and Long Pond, from its long, narrow shape.

Geology of Portage County* — Portage County lies entirely on the water-
shed which separates the streams that flow into Lake Erie from the tributaries
of the Ohio. Its central portion rises to an altitude of 685 feet above the
lake, while the valleys by which its surface is diversified descend about 300
feet lower. The highest point of the county is near the line of the Cleveland
& Pittsburgh Railroad, between Rootstown and Atwater, while the lowest is in
the valley of the Mahoning, below Garrettsville.

When first entered by the whites, the county was covered with an unbroken
growth of primeval forest, consisting, on the lower and more level portions, of
beach and maple; of oak, chestnut, etc., on the higher and drier lands.

Though underlaid by rocks of diverse character, the surface is mainly
formed by a sheet of clay,which has given a peculiar character to the agricult-
ural pursuits of the inhabitants, and has made this a portion of the great dairy
district of the Western Reserve.

In some localities on the northern and western slope of the water-shed, but
near its summit, are heavy beds of gravel, forming swells of the surface, or
even-rounded hills of considerable altitude. Typical examples of these may
be seen in Randolph, Rootstown, Siiffield, Franklin and Brimfield, and near
Earlville, on the lines of the two railroads which pass through the county.
In the basins inclosed by these gravel hills and ridges lie most of the lakes
and peat bogs of the county. These gravel hills constitute an interesting
feature in the surface deposits, and will be found described in the first chapter
of Vol. II, under the head of Karnes. I have ascribed them to the action of
waves on the Drift deposit of the shore and shoals which formed the margin of
the great inland sea that once filled all the basin of the lakes.

In the northern part of the county the Drift deposits are generally of so
great thickness as to cover and conceal the underlying rocks. W^herever
exposed to view, the rock surface is found to be planed and grooved by glacial
action, and usually the overlying clay may be designated as a bowlder clay,
since it contains masses of rock derived from neighboring sources, with smaller
and usually scratched and worn fragments brought from distant localities.
This clay is unquestionably the material ground up by the great glacier which
once covered northern Ohio, pushed forward by its advance, and left in an
irregular sheet upon the rocky foundation in its retreat. In some places the
clay is finer, without gravel or bowlders, and is accurately stratified by the
action of water.

Immediately beneath the soil, or projecting above the surface, are found
many transported bowlders, frequently of large size, composed of granite,
greenstone, and other crystalline rocks, evidently of foreign origin, and appar-
ently derived from the highlands north of the great lakes. These bowlders
are rarely found deeply buried in the Drift, and, as I have elsewhere shown,
must have been floated by icebergs from their place of origin, and dropped into
their present position. Some of the superficial gravels which overlie the
bowlder clay seem to have been transported by the same agency.

As a whole, the soil of Portage County is productive, and although, from
its tenacious character, and the dense growth of forest by which it was cov-
ered, it has required much patience and labor for its subjugation, this task has
been well and thoroughly performed by the intelligent and industrious popu-
lation into whose possession it came, and it has repaid their efiforts by a con-
stant and generous support through the last half century.

*By J. S. Newberry.

202 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

In common with the other portions of the great divide on which Portage
County is located, its rolling surface forms numerous local basins, many of
which have been, and some still are, occupied by lakes. Of these lakes
Stewart's Pond, Twin Lakes, Brady's Lake, and Pippin Lake, in Franklin,
Muddy Lake, Sandy Lake andMuzzy's Lake in Rootstown, and Fritch's Pond in
Suffield, may be cited as examples. These lakes are supplied by springs which
flow through the Drift gravels, and their water is usually clear and pure; they
contain great numbers of tine fish, and are also interesting and beautiful feat-
ures in the scenery. Some of these basins formerly occupied by water have
been gradually filled up by the growth of vegetation, and now exist as swamps
underlaid by peat. One of the best known of these is near Ravenna, where
considerable peat has been cut and manufactured. There is another and still
more extensive peat marsh in Brimfield, and small ones occur in nearly every
township. Usually these peat bogs are occupied with Sphagnum (the peat-
producing moss), cranberry vines, huckleberry bushes, and larches, and they
are often known as tamarack or huckleberry swamps. The peat in these
Bwamps is not unfrequently underlaid by shell marl, and both these are capa-
ble of being used with profit by the farmers as fertilizers. It is also probable
that the cranberry may be successfully cultivated on the swamp surfaces. In
the Eastern States the cultivation of cranberries has proved to be liighly
remunerative to those engaged in it, and there seems no good reason why the
same success should not be attained by the inhabitants of those portions of
Ohio where the cranberry grows spontaneously, and where there are marshes
which are well adapted to its cultivation.

Striking and typical examples of the glacial furrows which have been
referred to above may be seen on the hill near the house of Mr. Theodore
Clark, in the township of Edinburg. The direction of the striae is here N.
60° E. The rock is a sandstone, overlying the lower seam of coal. Near
the center of Palmyra is a still better exhibition of glacial marks. On the
hill, three quarters of a mile west of the center, the bearing of the furrows is
N. 30^ E. In the town of Palmyra, on a surface of sandstone exposed in
front of Mr. Wilson's store, the traces of glacial action are very conspicuous;
the rock surface being planed down very smooth, and marked with scratches
and furrows, of which the direction is N. 26° E. In many other parts of the
county similar ice inscriptions may be observed, chiefly on the surfaces of the
beds of sandstone, as they are better retained on this indestructable material
than on the softer or more soluble rocks.

The bowlder clay which overlies the glaciated sm-face varies considerably
in appearance in different localities, according to the exposure and drainage
to which it has been subjected, and the local circumstances which controlled
its formation. In the valleys it will be found to be of a bluish color through-
out. On the higher lands the upper portion is frequently yellow, sometimps
down to the depth of ten or twelve feet, while the lower portion is blue or
gray. This difference I attribute to the oxidation of the iron contained in the
clay, where it has been exposed to the air and to surface drainage. The num-
ber and character of the pebbles and bowlders contained in the clay also
varies much in different localities. In some places, as near Campbellsport, the
Drift deposits are largely made up of angular or little-worn fragments of sand-
stone, torn from their beds in the immediate vicinity ; while in places remote
from such outcrops of the harder rooks, the stones contained in the clay are
small, much worn, and many of them are composed of granite, etc., brought
from the region north of the lakes.

On the highlands the gravel beds referred to above rest sometimes on the

t^ ^ O^ ^ J^u/Ik^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 205

bowlder clay, but perhaps oftener on the underlying rock, showing that the
causes which produced the accumulation of gravel generally removed all the
clay. Where the gravel beds overlap the bowlder clay, the materials which
compose them seem to have been washed back from the higher grounds. It will
be noticed that the pebbles in the gravel beds are well rounded and often irregu-
larly stratified, while those found in the bowlder clay are sub- angular,
scratched and worn, but rarely rounded. It is evident, therefore, that the
gravels have been subjected to a triturating action quite different from that
exerted by glaciers on the materials which they move. The facts show fur-
ther that water, either in shore waves or in river currents, has been the agent
by which the pebbles of the gravel have been rounded ; and as it is difficult to
conceive of any currents which could leave beds and hills of gravel such as
are found along the divide between the waters of the lake and the Ohio,
I have been led to consider these deposits as the effect of shore waves,
when the lake basin was filled to this height, on the bowlder clay and other
Drift material which once covered the underlying rocks. It is possible, too,
that the drainage from the glacier, when it filled the lake basin and was melt-
ing along its southern edge, contributed to the washing of the clay and the
rounding of the pebbles. In this view the gi-avel hills and sheets which cover
80 much of the great divide which crosses the State may be compared to the
terminal moraines of existing glaciers, but in no moraine of which I have any
knowledge are the pebbles and bowlders nearly so well rounded as in the
deposits under consideration ; and I am sure all who will carefully examine
these will agree with me that free and swift moving water, in large quantity,
has been the chief agent in producing the phenomena exhibited. Along cer-
tain lines leading from the summit of the watershed to the Ohio, both east and
west of Portage County, there are belts of gravel and bowlders, which mark,
as I concieve, broad and long- existing drainage channels, by which the surplus
water of the lake basin flowed through certain waste- weirs cut in the water-
shed and escaped southward, but the gravel hills of Portage County can hardly
be referred to such a cause.

Geological Structure. — The number and relative positions of the strata
which come to the surface within the limits of Portage County will be seen
at a glance by reference to the section given below:

Superficial clay and gravel 10 to 100

Shale and sandstone 50

Limestone to 4

Coal No. 4 1 to 5

Fire-clay 3 to 4

Shale and sandstone 25 to 30

Limestone to 4

Coal No. 3 1 to 8

Fire-clay 3 to 12

Shale 20to 50

Coal No. 2 Oto 1

Sandstone 50 to 100

Shale Oto 50

CoalNo.l Oto 5

Fire-clay 3 to 5

Shale and sandstone 35 to 50

Conglomerate 100

All the rocks enumerated in the preceding section belong to the Carbon-
iferous system, of which they represent two members, viz. : the Conglomerate
and the Coal Measures. The area of the county is about equally divided be-
tween the two formations. All the northern half has the Conglomerate for
its surface rook, though it is generally deeply buried by Drift clays. It is

206 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

fully exposed in the valleys of the Mahoning and Cuyahoga. The trough of
the latter stream is cut in the Conglomerate all the way from the point where
it enters the county, in Hiram, to its place of exit, on the west side of Frank-
lin. The Conglomerate is well seen in Mantua and Garrettsville, and still
better in Franklin and Nelson. In all these localities it exhibits essentially
the same characters, viz. : a coarse, drab-colored sandstone, in places thickly
set with quartz pebbles from the size of a pea to that of an egg. In some
places, as in Windham, the stone it furnishes is finer, whiter, and more homo-
geneous, and would answer admirably for architectural purposes. As a gen-
eral rule, however, it is rather coarse for all fine work, but furnishes a strong
and durable stone, well adapted to bridge-building, cellar walls, and, indeed,
to all plain and massive masonry.

Near Kent certain layers of the Conglomerate have been found, which are
white enough to serve for the manufacture of glass. The coloring matter of
the rock is usually iron, and it here contains much less than usual.

The best sections of the Conglomerate found in the county are in Nelson,
where its entire thickness is shown — 175 feet — and it forms bold
escarpments, which constitute the western boundary of the valley of
Grand River. These escarpments are known as the Nelson Ledges. They
afford the most pictjiresque scenery to be found in the county, and are noted
places of resoi't for the inhabitants of the surrounding region. In the extreme
northeastern corner of the county an island of the Conglomerate has been cut
ofi" by erosion from the main plateau. Though less bold in its outline, it has
the same topographical character and relation as Little Mountain, in Lake
County.

At the base of the Nelson Ledges the Cuyahoga shale is imperfectly
exposed. This is the upper member of the Waver iy formation, and will be
found fully described in the reports on Cuyahoga, Summit, and Trumbull
Counties. A few years since quite an excitement was raised by the reported
discovery of gold at the Nelson Ledges. As is usual in such cases, stock com-
panies were formed, and many dreams of wealth were indulged in by those
who obtained shares of the stock. It is hardly necessary to say that these
dreams have passed like "the baseless fabric of a vision." The excitement
was caused by the discovery of iron pyrites in certain beds of the Conglomer-
ate — another of the innumerable examples of the mistake of "fool's gold" for
true gold. A little knowledge of geology would have prevented this error,
and would have taught the sufferers that gold could never be found in paying
quantities in Portage County. That minute particles may sometimes be
detected in the superficial gravels is very probable, since these gravels are
largely made up of quartz pebbles, which are only rolled masses of the quartz
veins contained in the crystalline rocks of the Canadian highlands, and which
frequently carry a little gold. It is also probable that with sufficient care in
searching for it, an infinitesimal quantity of gold might be detected in the
Conglomerate, as the quartz pebbles it contains were doubtless derived from
the same source with those to which I have already referred ; but it may be
confidently predicted that the precious metal will never be obtained from
either of the sources mentioned in sufficient quantity to compensate the most
idle and worthless member of the community for any time he may spend in
its search.

Coal Measures. — Nearly three-fourths of the surface of Portage County is
underlaid by coal-measure rocks, and they once covered its entire area. From
the valleys of the Mahoning and Cuyahoga they have been removed by erosion,
so that in the northern part of the county they are restricted to a small island

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 207

west of the river, in Mantua, and a narrow arm which projects from Freedom
northward, through Hiram, into Geauga County.

In the northern part of Portage County the Drift deposits are so thick as to
hide the outcrops of the coal rocks, and it is here very difl&cult to trace the
line along which the edge of the lowest coal seam should be found. It is
probable that coal, in greater or less thickness, underlies the principal part of
Hiram, the western half of Shalei'sville and Ravenna, and the southwestern cor-
ner of Windham. The northern and southern portions of Paris, and nearly all
of Charlestown, lie above the horizon of the lower coal, as do most of Palmyra,
Deerfield, Brimiield and Suffield.

Along a belt running through the central part of the county, the land is
high enough to carry the second and third seams of coal from the bottom.
With this breadth of coal area it would at fu*st sight seem that Portage County
should produce as large an amount of coal as Trumbull, and much more than
Summit, but up to the present time the coal production of the county has been
exceedingly small. This arises from the fact that the margin of the lower
coal (Coal No. 1) is so generally covered with Drift that it does not show itself
at the surface in many localities, and also that this coal here, as in the Mahon-
ing Valley, lies in detached basins of limited extent, and is entirely absent
over large areas from the place where it belongs, or is so thin as to be of little
value. We may expect, however, that important basins of the Briar Hill coal
will be found within the limits that have been marked out. W^ere it not for
the Drift it would be easy to follow the outcrops of the rocks, and knowing just
where to explore by digging or boring, to determine the presence or absence of
the coal. In the present circumstances, however, even where coal may be
supposed to exist, it can only be detected by boring blindly through the Drift
deposits. In many places these will doubtless be found so thick as to cut out
the coal, though the surface may be considerably above the coal level. Even
where the rocks which belong above the coal may be found in place, from the
irregular distribution of this seam, the chances are more than equal that the
result of boring will show it to be absent, or too thin to have any economic
value. Since, however, the coal of this stratum is so excellent, it will be the
part of wisdom for all those who own territory lying within the lines I have
traced to make such explorations as may determine whether or not they are in
possession of some portion of this great source of wealth. The level of Coal
No. 1, in the northern half of Portage County, varies from 500 to 600 feet
above the lake. The dip being toward the south, the coal sinks rapidly in
that direction, and rises correspondingly toward the north. At Ravenna the
place of the coal is probably not far from the level of the intersection of the
Cleveland & Pittsburgh and Atlantic & Great Western Railroads, or about 500
feet above Lake Erie.

Coal No. 1 has been opened, and is now quite extensively mined in Pal-
myra. It here exhibits the same general features, both as regards thickness
and quality, as the coal of the neighboring counties of Mahoning and Trum-
bull. The coal mining of Palmyra is principally done by the Western Reserve
Coal Company, to a member of which company, Mr. W. B. Wilson, of
Palmyra, I am indebted for much valuable information concerning the opera-
tions of his own company, and in regard to other developments of coal made
in this township. The coal mined by the Western Reserve Coal Company is
reached by a shaft which is eighty-one feet deep to the coal, or ninety-five feet
from the tip. It is reported that in sinking the shaft eighteen feet of earth
was first passed through, and then sixty-three feet of rock, mainly shale, in
which were two strata of "kidney" ore. The coal varies from two to four

208 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

feet in thickness, being thickest in a " swamp " which ruus northwest and
southeast in a tortuous course. On each side of this crooked basin the coal
rises and thins, and is worked to the thickness of two feet. The company is
taking out about 4,000 tons per annum, selling it at the mine at $3.00 per ton.
The coal is of excellent quality, being very free fi'om sulphur, and containing
little ash. It is a block coal, Unely laminated with charcoal seams, and is not
siu'passed in quality by any coal in the State outside of the Mahoning Valley.
According to our barometric measurements by a single line of observations, the
center of Palmyra is 120 feet above Ravenna Station, or G50 feet above Lake
Erie. The tip of the coal company's shaft is 430 feet above Lake Erie, and the
coal 335 feet above the lake. Owing to the variability of the barometer, these
figures can not be relied upon as absolutely correct. The Western Reserve
Coal Company has 200 acres of coal land in the eastern part of Palmyra, on
the center road. How large a part of those 200 acres is underlaid by coal of
workable thickness has not yet been ascertained. Other companies have been
making explorations in this neighborhood, and report about 200 acres of good
coal land in addition to that before mentioned.

In the northwestern part of the township some 300 acres of coal property
are said to have been tested, and the coal is reported to be from three to four
feet in thickness. Coal has also been found in the northeastern and south-
western parts of the township. We thus have good reason for believing that
a somewhat extensive basin, or series of basins, of the Briar Hill coal exists in
and about Palmyra, but years of exploration will be required before it will be
known what the connection, limits and value of this coal field are.

From the shaft in Palmyra the coal extends west and south to an unknown
distance, and possibly reaches under much of the central and southern parts
of the county. Since the place of Coal No. 1 is from 200 to 250 feet below
the surface over a considerable part of the higher land, it is apparent that
most of the boring yet done has formed no test of its presence or absence.

In the valley of the Mahoning, in Deerfield, an outcrop of coal may be
seen which was supposed by Mr. Read, who examined it, to be the Briar Hill
coal. It is, however, only about a foot in thickness, and it is probable that
it is the next seam above. A boring of limited depth would decide the ques-
tion. In Brimfield and Suffield there is a large amount of territory which
deserves more careful exploration than it has yet received. Hei'e the land
rises to 150 feet above the level of the coal, but the surface is generally occu-
pied by Drift. Little is known of the nature of the underlying rocks, but from
the relation which this district holds to the coal basins of Tallmadge and
Springfield, in Summit County, there is a great probability that sooner or
later good deposits of coal will be found here. It should be borne in mind,
however, that from the circumstances which I have fully explfiined in the
report on the geology of Summit, the lower coal is of tener absent than present
in the place where it belongs, and it is, therefore, to be expected that a large
part of the trials which may be made here will result in disappointment.

At Limaville, on the southern line of the county, Coal No. 1 has been
struck in borings by Dr. J. A. Dales, at the depth of about 170 feet, or less
than 350 feet above the lake. According to the reports by Dr. Dales, the
coal has here a thickness of over four feet. Analyses prove that it has the
purity and physical character of the Mahoning Valley coal. Should a consid-
erable area in this vicinity bo found to be underlaid by Coal No. 1, it would
be difficult to exaggerate the importance it would assume among the wealth-
producing elements of the county, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the
examinations begun here will be carried through the townships lying north,
until this important question shall be definitely settled.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 209

Coals Nos. 3 and 4. — By reference to the general section of the rocks of
the county, it will be seen that at a distance from the lower coal — generally
from fifty to seventy-five feet — a thin seam occurs. This has no value in this
part of the State, and requires here no further notice.

From 150 to 200 feet above Coal No. 1, two other seams come in, which
are sometimes of workable thickness. These we have designated as Coals No.
3 and No. 4. They are separated by a distance of thirty to fifty feet, and are
usually both overlaid by limestone. Sometimes, however, one or both of the
limestones are replaced by shale. These coal seams, here as elsewhere, have
proved to be quite irregular in their thickness, although in a general way
continuous from Portage through Summit, Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Coshocton
Counties, etc., to and beyond the National Road. Both these coals may be
seen in the northeastern corner of Atwater, where the north and south road
crosses a small stream, and not far from the locality where so much fire-clay is
dug. Here the limestone of No. 3 shows in the bed of the brook at a level of
twenty feet above the railroad at Atwater, or 580 feet above Lake Erie. It is
about four feet in thickness, and, as usual, has iron ore over it. The coal
beneath is only a few inches thick. Some twenty feet above the limestone
Coal No. 4 is seen in the road, here apparently four feet thick, but with scarcely
any covering. No limestone is visible over it.

In Limestone Ridge, in Freedom, both these strata are shown. The upper
one is thin, but is overlaid by limestone, which is here burned for quicklime.
Coal No. 3 is seen in the road at the south end of Limestone Ridge; as usual,
it is underlaid by a thick bed of fire-clay.

On the farm of Wilson Davidson, about half a mile distant from the last-
named locality, this coal has been mined, though not largely, for a number of
years. It is here about twenty-two inches thick. From the fact that this seam
was represented as Coal No. 1 by the geologist who, when connected with the
first geological survey of the State, made an examination of this region (Annual
Report of 1838, p. 59), no thorough exploration has ever been made of the
strata below it. Possibly such explorations would have been fruitless, as the
lower seam is so frequently absent from its place; but as the true position of
Coal No. 1 is at least 150 feet below Mr. Davidson's coal, it is evident that a
large area in the vicinity deserves examination by deep boring. Considerable
money has been spent in boring in Freedom, but, so far as I can learn, none
of the wells have been carried deep enough to determine the presence or
absence of the lower coal. One well bored on Limestone Ridge is reported to
have furnished the following section:

FT. IN.

Earth 14

Limestone 3

Shale 54

Coal 1 10

Fire-clav ?

Sandrock 30

Shale 10

In this boring the upper limestone coal was absent or so thin as not to
attract notice. The lower limestone was absent, as seems to be the case gen-
erally in this vicinity. The place of the lower coal was not reached by from
seventy-five to one hundred feet. Another hole was bored by William Cran-
nage, for Mr. George Worthington, of Cleveland, without finding the coal
sought for, but was almost certainly not carried to a suflficient depth.

A well sunk near the quarries on Limestone Ridge is said to have passed
through —

210 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

FT.

Limestone 4

Shale, with plants and thin seams of coal 20

Sandrock to bottom.

Here it is evident that the place of the twenty-two-inch seam was not
reached.

Half a mile northeast of Drakesburg a well showed the following strata:

FT.

Earth 14

Shale 30

Sandrock to bottom 26

In this well the excavation was probably begun below the limestone coals,
but it did not descend to the level of the lower coal.

At Hiram Center a yellow sandrock of the Coal Measures is quarried just
back of the hotel. South of the Center, about one mile, shale crops out in the
road below this sandrock. Near this point, but west and on higher ground,
a well on Mr. Hopkins' land gave —

FT.

Earth 9

Sandrock 15

Shale, with one foot of coal 40

"Flagstone," to bottom 3

Stratum No. 4 of this section was called by the drillers " bottom rock,"
but in this vicinity no proof should be accepted of having passed the place of
the lower coal, except reaching the Conglomerate.

In the soiith part of Hiram, coal has been taken from a natural outcrop
twelve to eighteen inches thick, and used by the blacksmiths. This is proba-
bly Coal No. 1.

In going from Drakesburg to Garrettsville the surface descends nearly two
hundred feet, passing down from a broad ridge or divide, which is a marked
feature in the topography, and which stretches connectedly north into the cen-
ter of Geauga County. The top of this ridge or table is above the coal level
from Freedom to Burton, and more or less coal has been found in it all the
way, although it is usually thin.

At Garrettsville the Conglomerate is fully exposed, and rises thirty feet
above the depot, or 485 feet above the lake. Two miles west of Garrettsville
the base of the ridge referred to is reached, and in the ravine by the roadside
the following section is exposed :

FT.

Coarse sandrock, with some small pebbles 30

Irregular seam of coal 1

Shale, with bands of sandstone 20

Black shale, with iron 1

Sandstone to base.

The top of this section is ] 50 feet above the depot at Garrettsville, and
the coal exposed is probably about the horizon of the thin seam. No. 2, the
place of Coal No. 1 being below.

In Mantua there are many natural outcrops of coal, viz.: at the railroad
cut northeast of the Corners a few inches (two to four) thick; a mile south of
the Corners, on Mr. Blaine's land, sixteen inches ; one and a half miles east
of the Corners, six to eight inches thick. Three wells drilled near each other
in this vicinity gave —

FT.

Earth 4

Sandrock 36 to 46

Black shale 20 to 40

Gray shale 2 to 4

Coal 4 to 12 inches.

Sandrock (bottom not reached).

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 211

A boring was made one and a half miles south of the Corners, to the depth
of 336 feet, penetrating earth, sandrock and shale, of which the thickness is
not known. Coal was found six to eight inches thick.

The center of Charlestown rises to the height of 575 feet above the lake,
and an outcrop of coal is visible on the King place, in the road leading to
Ravenna, and about fifty feet below the Center. This is evidently the Briar
Hill seam. The hill on the opposite side of the valley rises 600 feet above
the lake and nearly 100 feet above the coal level, but the coal, if it exists
there, is concealed. The valleys of the streams in this region are cut below
the coal, and all the highlands should carry it ; but unfortunately heavy beds
of Drift conceal its outcrops and make the work of exploration expensive and
uncertain.

In the central part of Edinburg the land is all at least 150 feet above the
coal level. This is proved, not only by barometric measurement, but by the
explorations made east of the Center by Mr. G. L. Chapman. He has bored
many holes in search of coal, and has found it in several. In one place a
shaft was sunk with the expectation of mining it. The coal, however, was
found to be very irregular in thickness, and the enterprise was not successful.
In making these explorations Mr. Chapman at first supposed that the coal he
found was the Briar Hill seam, but it is quite certain that the place of Coal
No. 1 is at least 150 feet below the bottom of the shaft. Two beds of coal and
two of limestone were passed through in some of the borings made by Mr.
Chapman, all within fifty feet of the surface. The section exposed in the
shaft referred to is as follows:

FT.

Surface deposits 12^

Sandy shale 11^

White sandrock 7^

Shale, sandy above 17|

Coal No. 3 3i

Sandrock and shale 4

Fire-clay 1^

The upper limestone is said to have been found in an adjacent field.

A boring made somewhat east of the shaft, and carried to a greater depth
afibrds a much better view of the geological sub-stjucture of this region. The
record of this boring is as follows:

FT- IN.

Surface deposits 20

Shale 4

Limestone 3 6

Fire-clav 3 6

Shale 3 6

Shaly sandstone 8

Shale 6

Coal 4

Shale 2

Coal 2 6

Shale 7

Fire-clay 4

Shale 7 6

Sandrock 54

Shale 2

Bluish sandrock 6

It will be noticed that in this section a bed of limestone occurs near the
surface, and that the lower part of the boring was in a thick bed of sand-
stone. This sandstone is the massive stratum which overlies the Briar Hill
coal, sometimes coming down to it, and sometimes even cutting it out com-

212 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

pletely, but more generally resting upon a bed of shale of variable thickness.
The place of Coal No. 1 is plainly below the bottom of this hole.

Since my first visit to Edinburg, Mr. Chapman has continued his explora-
tions, and others have been carried on by Mr. D. W. Goss, but, so far, I
believe, without very satisfactory results. The many borings made show great
irregularity in the deposition of the strata here, and it is evident that this has
been a region through which rapid currents of water have swept, which have
cut away the coal seams and deposited sands and clays in a very unequal way.
This will be evident upon an examination of the records of some of the drill-
ings. A well bored one mile northeast of the Center gave —

FT.

Earth 20

Shaly sandrock 6

White sandrock 39

Blue shale 3

Fire-clay 8

Shale, with coal streaks 4

Fire-clay 1

Shale 4

Black, coaly shale 2

Shale 3

Fire-clay 2

Shale 87

Very hard sandrock 8

Fire-clay 1

Shale 42

Fine sandrock 24

Sandrocli 8i

Soft shale 8

Fine, bluish sandrock 45

Gray shale 50

Shale and sandrock 38^

Bluish-gray shale 21

It is evident that this boring has gone far into the Waverly, and it reveals
the fact that the Conglomerate is here absent. This is somewhat surprising,
as in the valley of the Mahoning, only a few miles distant, it is fully 100 feet
in thickness.

Another well, one-half mile east of the last, gave —

FT.

E arth 1

Soft sandstone 13

White sandstone 24

Stratified iron ore 6

Sandrock and shale 4

Fire-clay 3

Shale 3

Fire-clay 2

Dark shale 13

This was evidently not deep enough to aflford a satisfactory test.
A third well, in the north part of the township, east of the Center road,
gave:

FT. IN.

Yellow clay 10

Blue clay 40

Sandrock 41

Sandy shale 4

"Flint," very hard 6

Sandy shale 12 6

Fine sandrock 26

This, also, was probably not deep enough.

An instructive section is furnished by a well three-quarters of a mile east
of the Center; this is:

"■".^^tg ^.y jra^-uM^^-l

^erK,

'./-'C-^

i:-^,^6-i!y<:/^ f-c ^^^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 215

FT. IN.

Earth 10

Shellyrock 10

Sandrock 40

Clay 4

"Sulphurous" sandrock 8

Clay 3

Shalycoal 9

Coal, good 6

Shale 7

Coal, poor 11

Black shale 1 6

This hole certainly did not reach near the horizon of the block coal, but
is carried to about the place of the bottom of the shaft, and shows the mixed
character of the deposits in even a greater degree than the shaft section.

Mr. Goss has sent me sections of three wells bored south of the Center to
the depths respectively of 126^, 88 and 78 feet. They show alternations of
shale, sandstone and fire-clay, with a little coal, but do not reach to the place
of Coal No. 1.

These explorations indicate that the upper coals are not likely to be found
in any valuable development in the township of Edinburg. It is to be hoped,
however, that under this bi'oad and elevated table-land the lower coal will be
somewhere found of workable thickness.

Passing south from Edinburg the land continues high, and the surface
nowhere comes nearer than 150 feet to Coal No. 1; while in some instances it
rises to such a height that the coal must be from 200 to 250 feet beneath.

In Atwater much boring has been done, and coal found, which has been
opened both by shaft and adit. The explorations made here were undertaken
on the supposition that the coal, of which outcrops had been known, was the
Briar Hill seam. This was, however, an error, and there can be no question
that it is Coal No. 4. The place of Coal No. 1 is far below the bottom of
the Atwater shaft, and probably below the bottom of the deepest well bored in
the vicinity. The coal mined at Atwater is of good thickness — from four to
five feet — but it exhibits the usual characteristics of the limestone seams,
being of irregular thickness and variable quality. It is a serviceable fuel for
the generation of steam, and is a pleasant grate-coal, but from the quantity
of sulphur it contains is not well adapted to the manufacture of iron. The
following analyses of this coal, made at the School of Mines by Mr. W. P.
Jenney, will indicate very fairly its composition. No. 1, upper bench; No. 2,
lower bench:

No. 1. No. 2.

Water 3.27 3.03

Volatile combustible matter 26.06 26.42

Fixedcarbon 64.50 62.50

Sulphur 1.52 2.20

Ash 4.65 5.72

Totals 100.00 99.97

At the shaft of the Atwater Coal Company the coal is from four to five feet
in thickness, in two benches, separated by a bony parting. It is overlaid by
black shale, which contains many discoid shells {Discina). In the shale above
is considerable granular iron ore, but not of very good quality. The shale is
succeeded by sandstone, as in all this region. The coal is opened by an adit,
half a mile east, on lower ground.

On John Hines' farm, one and a half miles southeast from Atwater Cen-
ter, a shaft has been sunk to Coal No. 4, passing through — 1, surface clay; 2,
sandstone; 3, black and gray shale; 4, black shale; 5, coal. Coal is here four

216 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

feet six inches in thickness, and, according to barometer, lies twenty-six feet
below Atwater Station, or 534 feet above Lake Erie.

About half a mile east the same coal is struck at a depth of eleven feet,
on the farm of Michael Strong. It here lies ten feet higher than at Hines',
while the svirface falls off rapidly toward the east. The thickness of the coal
is the same as at Hines' farm.

In some of the borings made by Mr. Christy, near the Atwater shaft, the
coal was found to be cut out by heavy beds of sacdstone; no coal whatever
having been reached in borings carried to a depth of 200 feet. It is quite
possible, therefore, that in this locality no workable coal exists below
Coal No. 4, but it is not certain that the deepest boring has been carried to
the level of the Briar Hill seam, as the surface of this portion of the town-
ship is at least 200 feet above the level. From the proximity of the
railroad, the Briar Hill coal would have special value if found under these
highlands, and it seems vexy desirable that a sufficient number of borings
should be made to determine its presence or absence. The cost of boring to
the depth of 200 feet need not exceed $300 for each hole, and experienced
and reliable drillers can be found who will contract to do the work at this
price. The result of boring at Limaville has already been reported, and this
is such as to encourage further effort. At Limaville the upper coals are found
in their proper positions, and Coal No. 1 at its regular level, far below.

It is certain, therefore, that the lower seam does exist in this region — at
least in basins of limited area— and we may confidently predict that foresight
and energy will bring to some fortunate person ample reward by its discovery
in this part of Portage County.

Fire-clay. — As I have stated on a preceding page, the Atwater coal crops
out in the northeast corner of the township. The lower limestone coal is here
very thin, but, as usual, is underlaid by a seam of fire-clay, which is, perhaps,
the most valuable in the series. This is apparently the same bed with that
worked in Springfield, Summit County, and also that which furnishes most of
the fire-clay made into pottery and tire-bricks along the Ohio, in Columbiana
and Jefferson Counties. It also forms the basis of an important manufacture
in Portage County, as it supplies the material for the potteries at Lima and
Atwater. It is chiefly derived from John Spire's farm. Lot 10. Atwater Town-
ship. The bed is about twelve feet thick, divided into two layers by a part-
ing of back slate. The upper seven feet is not used in the potteries on
account of the contained iron. The clay generally immediately underlies the
soil, and is worked in open pits, but it is in some places overlaid by coal about
thirty inches in thickness. A specimen obtained from the mine or pit (but
"whether from the upper or lower bench is not certain) was analyzed by Prof.
Wormley, giving the following result:

Water 3. 00

Silica 79.90

Alumina 14.60

Iron oxide 1.60

Lime 0.20

Magnesia 0.24

Alkalies 1.50

Total 100.04

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 217

ALTITUDES IN PORTAGE COUNTY ABOVE LAKE ERIE.

FT.

Ravenna Station 530

Ravenna (City) 560

Rootstown 550

Atvvater Station 560

Atwater Center 600

Railroad Summit 603

Topographical Summit, north 685

Cuyahoga River Bridge 474

Garrettsville Depot 455

Mantua 536

Drakesburg 635

Windham 372

Edinburg 610

Campbellsport 410

Charlestown Center 575

Limestone Ridge 675

Freedom Station 575

CHAPTER III.

The Pre-Historic Races— Mound-Builders— Their Great Antiquity— Occu-

PATION OF THE COUNTRY — THE WONDERFUL MONUMENTS WHICH THEY LeFT

Behind Them— Some Evidences of Their Existence in Portage County
—The North American Indians— Their Supposed Origin— Brief Sketch
of Them— Indians of Portage County— The Great Trail— The Indian
Chiefs Bigson, Stignish and Big Cayuga— Extracts from the Reminis-
cences of Christian Cackler on the Indians of This Section.

THAT a very numerous race of people occupied that portion of the North
American Continent now known as the United States, long anterior to its
occupancy by the present Indians, is beyond proof, but of this people nothing
is now known, more than can be gleaned or conjectured from the multiplicity
of massive works left by them throughout, almost, the entire extent of the
country. These works exist to-day as mounds, varying in size and character,
and scattered either in groups or singly, from the sources of the Allegheny to
the headwaters of the Missouri, and, extending southward, stretch from the
Appalachians in the Carolinas to Texas. There are three grand divisions of
these elevations, but they all bear the same general characteristics, being either
mounds in the true sense, or circumvallations of earth and stone, the State of
Ohio, alone, it is computed, containing no less than 10,000 of the former and
1,500 of the latter, some of which are of a very marked and extraordinary
character. These mysterious dwellers of a long- forgotten age, called Mound-
Builders, in lieu of a more accurate designation, evidently possessed a civili-
zation distinctive of themselves, and that they used a written language appears
entirely probable, from some peculiar hieroglyphic characters discovered upon
their pottery ware and stone implements. But, beyond their almost imperish-
able monuments, the archaeologist seeks in vain for a further solution of the
grand problem of the coming, the life, and the exodus or decay of this myste-
rious race. On opening a mound, he finds only mouldering skeletons, scattered
and shattered remnants of vessels of earthenware, rude weapons of warfare, axes
of stone, flint drills, spear-heads, and bottles of irregular, yet finished workman-
ship, cut and polished from extremely hard stone, never, or rarely, indigenous

218 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

to the spot where found, showing the owners of them to have been an essentially
migratory people, or a conquering nation, shifting about from place to place,
yet leaving monuments behind them whose imperishability is not inferior to
that of Cheops.

A thousand interesting queries arise respecting them, but the most search-
ing investigations only give us vague and unsatisfactory speculations as an
answer. If we knock at their tombs no spirit reposing within responds to the
summons, but a sepulchral echo comes ringing down the ages, reminding us
how fruitless the search into that inscrutable past over which the curtain of
oblivion seems to have been irrevocably drawn. Whence came these people;
who and what were they, and whither did they go? Some writers have dis-
covered evidences, convincing, apparently, to themselves, that this pre-historic
race came from the other side of the globe, and that their advent was made at
different times and from different points of a general hive in the supposed
cradle of humanity — Central Asia. Others think them to have been the for-
gotten ancestors of the degenerate and now decaying American Indians, who,
having no preservative written language, the memory of their ancestors has
gradually slipped from them. Still others fancy them to have been the orig-
inal indigenous, spontaneous product of the soil. Regardless, however, of the
origin, progress and destiny of this curious people, the fact of their having
been here is certain; therefore the best that can be done by the archseologist
is to examine their works and draw from them the conclusions that seem the
most probable.

The mounds vary in height from about five feet to thirty feet, with several
notable exceptions, when they reach an altitude of eighty to ninety feet. The
erections consist of villages, altars, temples, idols, cemeteries, monuments,
camps, fortifications and pleasure grounds. They are chiefly of some symmet-
rical figure, as circle, ellipse, rectangular parallelogram, or regular polygon,
and inclose from one or two acres to as high as fifty acres. The circumvalla-
tions generally contain the mounds, although there are many of the latter to
be found standing isolated on the banks of a stream or in the midst of a broad
plateau, being evidently thus placed as outposts of offense or defense, for the
fact that they were a very warlike and even conquering race, is fully attested
by the numerous fortifications to be met with wherever any trace of them is
found.

The works of the Mound-Builders in the United States are divided into
three groups: The first group extends from the upper sources of the Alle-
gheny River to the headwaters of the Missouri; the second occupies the
Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, and the third stretches across the country, with
very little interruption, from South Carolina to the western limits of Texas.
These groups are subdivided into three varieties of elevations, mounds,
inclosures and eflSgieo, which are designated as mounds of sepulture,
sacrifice, worship, observation, commemoration and defense. Mounds of
sepulture are more numerous than the others, are conical in shape, and range
from three to fifty feet in height. They usually contain the bones of one or
more skeletons, accompanied by ornaments and implements of stone, mica,
slate, shell or obsidian, besides pottery, whole and fragmentary, bone and cop-
per beads, and the bones of animals. Mounds of sacrifice are recognized by
their stratification, being convex and constructed of clay and sand on the nor-
mal level of the soil, on top of which can be found a layer of ashes, charcoal
and calcined bones, which in time has a layer of clay and sand, followed by
more ashes, charcoal, etc., till the gradual upbuilding resulted in the manner
we now see. These mounds also often contain beads, stone implements, pot-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 219

tery and rude sculpture, and occasionally a skeleton, showing that they may
have been used as burial places. Mounds of worship, which are compara-
tively few, have generally a large base and low elevation, and are in some
instances terraced and having inclined ways to the top. Their size and char-
acter have led to the inference that these flat-topped mounds originally were
crowned with temples of wood, for had they been stone, traces of that material
would be found. Mounds of observation, or beacon or signal mounds, are
generally found upon elevated positions, and apparently could have subserved
no other purpose than as " look-out" stations, or beacon points, and as con-
firmatory of the latter purpose, ashes and charcoal have been found imbedded in
their summits. These mounds occur on the line of what are considered the
outposts of these pre-historic conquerors. Mounds in commemoration of some
important event or character are here and there to be found, and they are thus
classed because from their composition, position and character they are neither
sepulchral, sacrificial, temple, defensive nor observation mounds. They are
generally constructed of earth, but in some instances in Ohio, where they are
stone erections, they are considered to be monumental. Mounds of defense,
however, with the exception possibly of one or two efl&gies in Ohio, are the
most remarkable. These mounds in some instances give evidence that their
builders were acquainted with all the peculiarities in the construction of the
best defensive earth and stone-works. They are always upon high ground,
on precipitous bluffs and in positions that would now be selected by the
accomplished strategist. The gateways to these forts are narrow and are
defended by the usual wall in front of them, whilst the double angle at the
corners and projecting walls along the sides for enfilading attack show a
knowledge of warfare that is phenomenal in so rude a people as their imple-
ments would indicate. Moats are often noticed around these fortifications, and
cisterns are to be found within the inclosures.

When the first settlers arrived at the sites of Marietta and Circleville,
Ohio, a number of these earthworks were discovered, some of which yet exist;
and at Newark when the circumvallation known as the " fort " was first seen
by those who settled there in the early years of the century, a large tree,
whose age was possibly not less than six hundred years, stood upon one of the
embankments over twenty feet above the general level, thus giving great anti-
quity to the erection. Ohio contains many curious forms of these works, two
of the most singular being in Licking County and known respectively as the
"Eagle" and "Alligator" eflSgies. The first is a bird with outstretched
wings raised about three or four feet above the ground in the same manner as
a bas-relief of the sculptors; the other is an animal closely resembling an
alligator. They are supposed to have been idols, or in some way connected
with the religion of the people who built them.

In Boss County a defensive inclosure occupies the summit of a lofty,
detached hill, twelve miles west of Chillicothe. This hill is not far from 400
feet in perpendicular height, and some of its sides are actually inaccessible,
all of them being abrupt. The defenses consisted originally of a stone wall
carried around the hill a little below the brow, the remains of this wall exist-
ing now only in a line of detached stones, but showing plainly their evident
purpose and position. The area inclosed embraced about 140 acres, and the
wall itself was two and one-quarter miles in length. Trees of the largest size
now grow upon the ruins of this fortification. About six miles east of Leba-
non, Warren County, on the Little Miami River, is another extensive fortifi-
cation, called " Fort Ancient." It stands on a plain, nearly horizontal, about
236 feet above the level of the river, between two branches with very steep

220 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

banks. The extreme length of these works in a direct line is nearly a mile,
although following their angles, retreating and salient, they probably reach a
distance of six miles. Another of those inclosures is located in the south-
eastern part of Highland County, on an eminence 500 feet above the level of
Brush Creek, which washes its base. The walls of the fortifications are over
half a mile long, and the works are locally called " Fort Hill." The remains
of an inclosure may yet be seen near Carrollton, a few miles south of Dayton,
Montgomery County. All of those inclosures were evidently constructed for
defensive purposes, and give signal proofs of the military knowledge of their
builders.

Burial mounds are very numerous in this State, and there ai'e few coun-
ties that have not a greater or less number of these tumuli. The most
remarkable of this class was a mound opened by John S. B. Matson, in Har-
din County, in which over 300 human skeletons were found. Some antiqua-
rians, however, entertain the belief that they were not all the remains of
Mound-Builders, but many of them Indian remains, as it is well known that
the latter often interred their dead in those monuments of their predecessors.
When the first band of pioneers to the Western Reserve arrived at the mouth
of Conneaut Creek, July 4, 1796, they discovered several mounds, and could
easily trace the outline of a large cemetery then overgrown with forest. Ex-
plorations were subsequently made, and some gigantic skeletons exhumed from
mounds which stood on the site of Conneaut, Ashtabula County. The frames
and jaw-bones were those of giants, and could not have belonged to the race
of Indians then inhabiting any portion of this country. Several yeai'S ago a
burial mound was opened in Logan County, from which three skeletons were
taken. The frame of one was in an excellent state of preservation, and
measured nearly seven feet from the top of the skull to the lower part of the
heel. In 1850 a mound lying on the north bank of Big Darby about one
mile northwest of Plain City, in Union County, was opened and several mas-
sive skeletons taken therefrom. The lower jaw-bones, like those found at
Conneaut, could be easily fitted over the jaw of a very large man, outside the
flesh. These bones — and they are usually large wherever found — indicate
that the Mound -Builders were a gigantic race of beings, fully according in
size with the colossal remains they have left behind them.

The largest mound in Ohio, called the "Great Mound," is located on the
east bank of the Miami River, a short distance southeast of Miamisburg,
Montgomery County. The surf ace elevation at this point is more than 150 feet
above the level of the stream. The mound measures 800 feet around the base,
and about sixty-five feet in height, though archaeologists claim that it was orig-
inally more than eighty feet high. Explorations and the wear and tear of the
elements have worn o& the summit about fifteen feet. At the time the pio-
neers first came to the Miami Valley this mound was covered with trees, a
large maple crowning the top, from which, it is said, the few cabins then con-
stituting Dayton were plainly visible. In 1869 a shaft was sunk from the top
of the mound to a distance of two feet below the base, and about eight feet
from the surface a human skeleton was found in a sitting posture facing due
east. A deposit of vegetable matter, bones of small animals, also wood and
stone surrounded the skeleton, while a cover of clay, ashes and charcoal seems
to have been the mode of burial.

There are few traces left of the Mound -Builders in Portage County,
although at an early day in the settlement of this section, many small tumuli
were observed, which the plow has long since almost entirely obliterated.
Still, there are eminences in various sections in the northern and southeast-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 221

em portions of the county which seemingly owe their origin more to the
labors of man than to nature. In Randolph Township, we have been informed,
a mound was opened some years ago which disclosed the bones of a skeleton,
together with some fragments of pottery and rude stone implements. To the
northeast of Hiram Center the writer noticed an elevation that bears the
almost unmistakable marks of artificial workmanship, and it is believed that if
excavations were made into it the usual pre-historic "finds" would be the
reward. In the townships of Suffield and Streetsboro are several tumuli
which resemble the works of the Mound- Builders, but as no scientific examina-
tion has been made into them, they are still held in doubt. In Palmyra Town-
ship, a little northwest of the Center, about one mile therefrom, is a low but well-
defined series of mounds, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye, that have
all the characteristics of the true mound. They are not far from where there
was, in the early days of the county, an Indian camp or small village, the
spot being pointed out to us by Mr. Alva Baldwin. But all these indica-
tions, until they have some actual foundation given them by examination,
must be taken with a grain of allowance. The remains of this strange people
are usually found near the larger water courses and lakes, and as Portage
County lies somewhat out of the course of these by-ways of navigation, many
evidences of their presence cannot be looked for here. Yet, that they passed
over those very hills is beyond all reasonable doubt, for their mounds are to be
seen eastward and westward of this section.

The question of the origin of the North American Indians has long inter-
ested archaeologists, and is one of the most difficult they have been called upon
to answer. The commonly accepted opinion is that they are a derivative race,
and sprang from one or more of the ancient peoples of Asia. Some writers
have put forward the theory that the Indians, from their tribal organization,
faint similarity of language and religion, and the high cheekbone in the well
developed specimen of the race, are the descendants of the two lost tribes of
Israel. Others contend that they descended from the Hindoos, and that the
Brahmin idea which uses the sun to symbolize the Creator has its counterpart
in the sun-worship of some Indian tribes. They have lived for centuries with-
out much apparent progress — purely a hunter race — while the Caucasian, under
the transforming power of Christianity — the parent of art, science and civil
government — has made the most rapid advancement. Under the influences of
the church, however, the Indian has often shown a commendable capability for
accepting the teachings of civilization; but the earnest efforts of her devoted
missionaries have often been nullified or totally destroyed by the unwise
policy pursued by the governing power, or the dishonesty and selfishness of
the officials in charge. Stung to madness at our injustice and usurpation of
his hunting-grounds, he has remained a savage, and his career in the upward
march of man is forever stunted. The Indian race is in the position of a half-
grown giant cut down before reaching manhood. There never has been a
savage people who could compare with them in their best estate. Splendid in
physique, with intense shrewdness and common sense, and possessed of a
bravery unexcelled, there never was a race of uncivilized people who had with-
in them so much to make them great as the red man. Whatever he has been
or is, he was never charged with being a coward or a fool, and as compared to
the barbarians of other portions of the globe, he is as "Hyperion to a Satyr."

The advent of the whites upon the shores of the Western continent engen-
dered in the bosom of the aborigines a spark of jealousy, which, by the
impolitic course of the former, was soon fanned into a blaze, and a contest
was thereby inaugurated that sooner or later must end in the extermination of

222 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

the latter. The struggle has been long and bitter; many a campaign has been
planned by warriors worthy and able to command armies, for the destruction
of the pale-faced invaders When Philip struck the blow which he hoped
would forever crush the growing power of the white men, both sides recognized
the supreme importance of the contest, and the courage and resources of the
New England colonists were taxed to the utmost to avoid a defeat, which meant
final destruction. The fierce resistance of later days, as the Indians were
driven farther and farther toward the setting sun^ are historic facts with
which the student is already familiar. The conspiracy of Pontiac, the famous
Ottawa chieftain, in 1763, failed in its object of extermination, and the bravery
and sagacity of the celebrated Indian leaders, Brandt, Red Jacket, Cornplanter,
Cornstalk, Logan, Black Hoof, Tarhe, Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, could
not prevail against the heroes of the Revolution, and the triumph of Wayne in
1794 closed a long series of bloody Indian wars. A few years passed by, when
Tecumseh flashed out like a brilliant meteor in the firmament of great Indian
leaders, and organized the Western tribes for a last desperate effort to hold
their own against the advancing tide of civilization. But he too went down
in defeat and death before the prowess of Hai-rison's legions. When the
Creeks, in 1813, through the intrigue of Tecumseh, challenged the people of
the South to mortal combat, it required the genius of a Jackson, and soldiers
worthy of such a chief, to avert a serious calamity. But since the decisive bat-
tle of Tohopeka, March 27, 1814, there has been but one Indian war of any
considerable magnitude, viz. : the Seminole war in Florida. The Black Hawk
outbreak in Illinois in 1832 required but a few weeks' service of raw militia
to quell, but the Seminoles of Florida, led by the indomitable Osceola, a half-
breed of great talents, carried on a bitter struggle from 1835 to 1839, when
their power was completely crushed, and they were soon after removed beyond
the Mississippi. Since then campaigns have dwindled into mere raids, and
battles into skirmishes. The massacre of Custer's command in Montana must
be regarded as an accident of no permanent importance, and a dozen such
melancholy events would not in the least alarm the country. Indian fighting,
though not free from peril, now serves a useful purpose for the army graduates
of West Point, who might otherwise go to their graves without ever having
amelled hostile gunpowder.

Two hundred years ago the white man lived in America only by the red
man's consent, and within that period the combined strength of the red man
might have di'iven the white into the sea. Along the Atlantic coast are still
to be seen the remains of the rude fortifications which the early settlers built
to protect themselves from the host of enemies around; but to find the need
of such protection now, one must go beyond the Mississippi to a few widely
scattered points in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon. The enemy that once
camped in sight of the Atlantic has retreated toward the slope of the Pacific,
and from that long retreat there can be no returning. East of the stream
which he called the Father of Waters, nothing is left of the Indian except the
beautiful names he gave and the graves of his dead, save here and there the
remnants of once powerful tribes, living on reservations by the sufferance of
their conquerors. The Indian has resisted and will continue to resist every effort
to civilize him by coercion — every attempt to force at the point of the bayonet
the white man's ideas into his brain. He does not want and will not have our
manners or our code of morals forced upon him. The greatest redeeming fea-
ture in the Indian character and career is that he has always preferred the worst
sort of freedom to the best sort of slavery. Whether his choice was a wise
one or not the reader can determine; but it is impossible not to feel some

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 225

admiration for the indomitable spirit that has never bowed to the yoke — never
called any man "master." The Indian is a savage, but he never was, never
will be, a slave. We have treated him like a dog and are surprised that he
bites. In a speech in New York City, not long before his death, Gen. Sam
Houston, indisputable authority on such matters, declared with solemn
emphasis, that "there never was an Indian war in which the white man was not
the aggressor." Aggression leading to war is not our heaviest sin against
the Indian. He has been deceived, cheated and robbed to such an extent that
he looks upon most of the white race as villains to whom he should show no
quarter. A very decided feeling of justice to the abused red man is gaining
ground of late years, and numerous able pens have been engaged in defending
him, among whom are Joaquin Miller, the poet, and Hon. A. B. Meacham.
But we can well afford, after getting all his land and nearly exterminating
him, to extend to him a little cheap sympathy.

The Indians of this continent were never so numerous as has generally
been supposed, although they were spread over a vast extent of country. Con-
tinual wars prevented any great increase, and their mode of life was not cal-
culated to promote longevity or numbers. The great body of them originally
were along the Atlantic seaboard, and most of the Indian tribes had traditions
that their forefathers lived in splendid hunting grounds far to the westward.
The best authorities affirm that on the discovery of this country the number
of the scattered aborigines of the territory now forming the States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan could not have exceeded 18,000.

The earliest date of any authentic knowledge of the Indian in this section
is 1650, when the Eries held possession of the northern portion of what is now
Ohio. They lived along the southern borders of the lake which bears
their name, but when their domains were invaded by the Iroquois, about 1655,
most of them fell before their relentless foes, whilst the i*emainder became
incorporated with other tribes, were driven farther southward, or adopted into
those of their conquerors. During the first half of the seventeenth century
the Shawnees were living along the valley of the Ohio, but they, too, were dis-
persed by the Five Nations or Iroquois, and dispossessed of their lands, though
they subsequently returned to their early hunting grounds. For many years
before and after 1700 this entire territory was occupied by the remnants of
defeated tribes, who were permitted to remain by sufferance of their conquerers,
the latter exacting a tribute, collected at will from the wandering and unset-
tled tribes. In 1750, however, something like permanent occupation had
again taken place, and we find in what is now Ohio the Wyandotts, Delawares,
Shawanees, Mi amis, Munsees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Senecas, Cayugas,
Mohawks, Oneidas and Onondagas, the last five being known in history as the
Mingoes of Ohio. They were settled mostly along the larger streams and on
the southern shore of Lake Erie.

When the first settlers reached what is now Portage County, the then
unbroken wilderness was filled with wild animals and nearly as wild men.
There were members of several tribes, as this county was among the best of
the hunting grounds of the red man. In the northwestern section there were
representatives of three tribes: the Senecas, who had their headquarters near
the Cuyahoga River, in Streetsboro Township, on land now owned by Samuel
Olin, and whose chief was Bigson; the Ottawas, who had their village near
the mouth of the Little Cuyahoga River, whose chief was Stignish, and the
Chippewas, who lived further west in Medina County, about Chippewa. Lake,
but who occupied a portion of this section in summer, where they hunted.
These tribes had their hunting grounds as well defined as the boundaries of a

226 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

modern farm, and every Indian knew where the limits of his "range" was,
as well as if it had been surveyed.

Bigson, the Seneca chief, was about six feet in height, of a powerful and
muscular frame, well proportioned, with keen black eyes, a stern and dignified
look, honest and upright in all his dealings with the whites, a firm friend, or
an implacable enemy. His family consisted of four sons and three daughters,
only two of the sons being with him: John Amur and John Mohawk, the lat-
ter the one who shot Diver in Deerfield Township. The husbands of the
daughters were George Wilson, Nickshaw and Wobmung. These Indians did
most of their trading with Capt. Heman Oviatt, who kept a little Indian
store about one mile south of Hudson. They named the old trader " Coppa-
qua, " from the fact that he was so badly cheated in a trade on one occasion
that he cried — the term Coppaqua meaning "to shed tears." This, also, was
the Seneca name for Cuyahoga Falls.

In what is now Windham Township there was a village of Indians up to
about 1807 or 1808, a short distance northwest of where now stands the depot
of the Mahoning Branch of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad.
There were small clearings and a few decaying wigwams still to be seen when
the first settlers arrived in that section. There was, also, an old orchard, set
out by the red men, and from the old trees, one of the sons of those first
settlers informed the writer he had eaten apples. An Indian trail ran along
the northern border, and at various points the pioneers discovered the remains
of villages. What are now Nelson and Hiram Townships was a favorite hunt-
ing resort of the Indians, and members of several tribes periodically visited
this section, among whom were Senecas, Ottawas, Onondagas, and a few
Oneidas, but mostly Cayugas, with their chief Big Cayuga, and his nephew,
Snipnose Cayuga, who succeeded him, after the redoubtable Capt. Delaun
Mills had killed the former. The " ledges " in the upper part of Nelson
afforded excellent shelter for the red skins, and a few wigwams could always
be seen under them. Many thrilling tales are told of the adventures, hair-
breadth escapes and dreadful vengeance of the early settlers, and particularly
of Capt. Mills, the most of which, however, has been summed up in the sketch
of Nelson Township.

When the first settlers came into Palmyra Township, and for several years
afterward, a number of families belonging to the Onondaga and Oneida tribes
were living in that locality. The Onondagas had their village about a mile
west of the Center, a little to the northeast of the residence of Mr. Alva Bald-
win, and one of the trees under which they used to congregate is still standing
on the spot. This settlement was on the line of the " Great Trail," which
extended from Fort Mcintosh, where Beaver, Penn., now is, to Sandusky and
Detroit. From the Big Beaver the trail passed up the left branch of the
Mahoning, crossing it about three miles above Youngstown; thence by way of
the Salt Springs in Trumbull County, through Milton and on through the upper
portion of Palmyra; thence through Edinburg, after crossing Silver Creek one
mile and a half north of the Center road; thence through Ravenna and
Franklin, crossing the Cuyahoga at Standing Rock, about a mile from the
city of Kent, where the waters enter the narrow gorge made so famous by
the "Leap" of Capt. Brady; the trail then passed in a northwesterly direc-
tion to Sandusky. Along this great thoroughfare parties of Indians frequently
passed for many years, even after the whites had taken possession of the
country. There were several large piles of stones in Palmyra Township, along
this trail, under which human skeletons were found, supposed to be the
remains of Indians slain in war, or murdered enemies, and as it was the cus-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 227

torn of the red men to cast stones upon the graves of their dead foes, they each,
in passing, helped to form the piles. In 1814, near where the trail crosses
Silver Creek, several devices were found carved upon trees. The bark had
been carefully shaved off, and in one instance seven Indian figures carved
thereon, one of which was without a head, the inference being that seven of
the red skins h^ed started out on one of their forays, and that one of the band
had been slain; hence the memorial.

The Indians living in Deertield at the time Diver was shot were, according
to Christian Cackler, who knew them well, Senecas, and not Mohawks, as
Howe, in his " Historical Collections" makes them, nor were they permanent
dwellers in that portion of the county, their camp being in Streetsboro Town-
ship, where they would erect, in the winter- time, a large wigwam, spacious
enough to contain the whole remnant of their tribe in this section. Nickshaw,
who traded horses with Diver, was a son-in-law of the Seneca chief, John
Bigson, and John Mohawk, who shot the unfortunate man, was a son of the
chief. A detailed account of this affair will be found in the chapter ok
Deerfield Township. In the summer of 1809 Bigson lost his squaw by death,
at their head-quarters on the Cuyahoga River. She was a large, stout woman,
and very good looking, having, like her husband, a very dignified, not to say-
stoical, appearance. She was said to be very kind and friendly for an Indian.
Her age was between fifty and sixty years. They made a new calico frock for
her after she was dead, and placing it on the corpse, literally covered the arms
and ankles with silver beads and broaches. She was buried in a coffin made
of bark, in a grave three feet deep, bein^i; first rolled up in a large blanket,
the covering being so arranged that a hole was left that she might see out of
it when she was summoned to arise again and enjoy the happy hunting grounds
in the domain of the Great Spirit.

This chapter can have no more appropriate closing than to give a few
extracts from the recollections of the late Christian Cackler, who was an eye-
witness to what he relates. Speaking of the head-quarters of John Bigson, the
Seneca chief, whom he knew personally for many years, the old gentleman
writes in the following quaint style: "I have been there a great many times
when they lived there, and if they had anything to bestow upon you in the
way of eatables, it was as free as water. They thought it a privilege to give,
for they thought it was a token of friendship, and if they gave- one they gave
all present. Their wigwam was about twenty-five feet long or more, and they
had their fire through the middle, and had it so constructed as to leave room
for a tier of them to lie down on each side of the fire so as to have their feet
to the fire, for they laid on their skins and furs, and were covered over with
their blankets. They had a space left open on the ridge of their camp to let
the smoke pass oat. They had their wigwam thatched with bark, so that it
was tight and warm, and had a door in each end so that they could haul in
their wood without much chopping. They laid there as warm and comfortable
as a king in his palace. The Seneca chief used to gather in all his family
connections and lay there all winter. In the spring they would scatter out
over their hunting grounds, each family by themselves, and build their wig-
wams for the summer. They were as careful of their game as we are of our cat-
tle, and would kill nothing unless wanted for present use. * * * Thej
had no government expenses, no taxes to pay, no jails to build, no locks to
buy. I think the Indian is the happiest man in the world, in the wilderness.
* * * I never knew they had any language in which to swear. He will
eat all kinds of animals and fish and horses, or anything that a dog will eat,
and sometimes I have thought what a dog would not eat. They often paini

228 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

their faces in streaks; that denotes peace and friendship. They love whisky
and get drunk often."

Describing one of their drunken frolics, Mr. Cackler says: "They got
their whisky and had a suit made like a little boy's suit, all whole, but open
before so they could stick their arms and legs in. It was fringed all around,
and had claws of several kinds^deer, bear, turkey, coon, etc. The one that
was dancing would jump, hop and kick around the floor, * * * and when
he got tired he would take a drink and another would try his hand. But
when they got perfectly drunk, the claws rattling looked more like the devil
than anything I ever saw. * * * Then the squaws went into it and got
as drunk as could be, and went tumbling around on the ground. But after
they got through they looked as though they had lost their best friends."

CHAPTER IV.

The Pioneers of Portage County— Their Heroic Perseverance and Pri-
vations—New England Transplanted on the Connecticut Western
Reserve— The First Settlement Made Within The Limits of Portage
County— First Settlers of Mantua, Ravenna, Aurora and Atwateb
Tow^NSHiPS— At water Hall, the First White Child Born in the
County— First Settlers of Palmyra, Deerfield, Nelson, Rootstown,
Randolph, Suffield, Charlestown, Hiram, Franklin, Shalersville,
Edinburg. Windham, Paris, Brimfield, Freedom, Streetsboro and
Garrettsville Townships — The Portage-Summit Pioneer Association.

LESS than one hundred years ago there was not a single white inhabitant
a permanent settler throughout the length and breadth of the State of
Ohio; less than eighty-seven years ago there was not a single white person in
Portage County. Could those who. only see this country as it now is, borrow
the eyes of those who helped make the transformation, their amazement could
not be depicted by words. In place of the now smiling fields and comfortable
homes, naught but a vast wilderness of forest would greet the sight. The true
story of the first settlement of Portage County has never been told. Those
early pioneers were not seeking fortunes, nor fame; thej^ were intent only on
making a home for their children, and from that laudable impelling motive
has arisen the splendid structure of Western civilization we see all around us.
It is astonishing how rapidly accurate and reliable information concerning the
pioneer days is perishing. The traditions of those early times have been very
carelessly kept, and whoever seeks to collect them finds much difiiculty in
doing so. Yet, what does remain has been carefully and cautiously collated,
keeping ever in view the unreliability of certain sources, but gleaning the
rich kernels from out the debris of shells. The present generation can form
no just conception of the trials, tireless labors, sacrifices and privations to
which the first settlers heroically submitted. These men whose industry, enter-
prise and perseverance wx'ought from out nature's wilds the great prosperity
which in to-day's sunlight, from every hillside and glen, looks up to smile
upon us, have, in the benefactions they have bestowed upon their children, by
leaving this to them for an inheritance, proved themselves greater heroes,
because their achievements were nobler and better, than if they had laid the
trophies of a blood-bought conquest upon their escutcheons. Courage upon

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 229

the soil of carnage wins the wreath of laurel that evanescently bedecks the
brow of victory, but true, manly courage upon life's broad field of battle
should bestow a more brilliant and fadeless diadem than ever pressed the war-
rior's brow, for the peaceful conquests of ax and plow are more fruitful of
benefits to mankind than those of the sword and the mere scorn of death.

.From the time that the Connecticut Land Company put their lands upon
the market, exaggerated reports of the wonderful richness of the Connecticut
Western Reserve, or New Connecticut, as it was called, were in circulation-
Single individuals, parties and companies made their way to the far-off wilds,
nearly all of whom either returned with or sent back to their homes glowing
accounts, the result of which was an exodus to and a rapid settlement of thi?
section. The new comers were at first almost exclusively from Connecticut
and Massachusetts. They brought with them their religious ideas and preju-
dices, their virtues and social customs, their peculiarities, and above all, their
New England thrift, and to such an extent that for many years the inhabitants
of Portage County, as well as the entire tract of territory knowu as the Con-
necticut Western Reserve, so closely resembled their ancestors in their modes
of life and veins of thought, as to be but a transplantation of, or an enlarge-
ment upon, the land of the "Pilgrim Fathers." The two upper tiers of town-
ships, especially, were peopled from Massachusetts and Connecticut, and a
native of any other State was rarely to be found. The pioneers of the two
southern tiers of townships, however, were from New England and Pennsvl-
vania, with here and there a Virginian, a Carolinian, or a Marylander.
Many Germans came in later, bringing with them their hardiness of constitu-
tion and industry, and bringing up the land upon which they settled to the
highest point of fertility. In the eastern portion of the county many of that
sturdy race, the Welsh, have settled, and in one township largely outnumber
the purely American population.

In those early days the entire communitv were producers— every man
woman, boy and girl had their duties to perform. They lived in comparative
social equality, and the almighty dollar did not form a barrier between the
rich and the poor; a man was esteemed not for his money bags, but for actual
merit. A.11 aristocratic distinctions were left beyond the mountains, and the
only society lines were to separate the bad from the good. Rich and poor
dressed alike, homespun being almost universal, whilst the primitive cabin was
furnished with the same style of simplicity. Bedsteads often consisted of
forked sticks driven in the ground, with crosspoles to support the clapboards
or cord. We have gi-own older, in many respects, if not wiser, and could not
think of living on what our ancestors lived. But this is an age of progress
and improvement, and these observations are made by way of contrasting the
past with the present. The pioneers who endured the hardships, and ofttimes
the dangers from wild beasts and still wilder men have, with few exceptions,
passed to their final account, and all that remains for their descendants to do
18 to keep bright the recollections of such names and such events as have come
down to them, for the memory of their deeds should be "written in characters
of living light upon the firmament, there to endure as radiant as if every let-
ter were traced in shining stars."

The first settlement within the bounds of what is now Portage County was
made in the fall of 1798, in Mantua Township, on Lot 24, by Abram S. Honev,
who erected a log cabin, made a clearing, and put out a small crop of wheat'
which was harvested the following season by his brother-in-law, Ruf us Ed-
wards, who owned the land, but who had sent Honey in advance to prepare the
way. A man by the name of Peter French is said to have been at the point

230 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

■where Edwards settled, as early as Honey, but be made no permanent settle-
ment and may have been simply a helper of the latter. William Crooks was
the next permanent settler to come in after those named above, and he built a
cabin and made a clearing on the southwest part of Lot 29. He remained a
resident of Mantua till 1854, dying at the age of eighty-five. Elias Harmon
arrived at the' clearing Honey had made on the 12th of June, 1799, where he
remained a short time, and then proceeded to Aurora, where he had engaged
to make some improvements on the land of Ebenezer Sheldon. Harmon came
in company with three other men who have had considerable local notoriety:
Benjamin Tappan, Jr., of Ravenna, afterward a resident of Steubenville; David
Hudson, of Summit County, and Jotham Atwater, of Euclid. Mr. Harmon
was for a number of years one of the leading citizens of the county and left
many descendants. He was the first Treasurer of the county.

In June, 1799, Benjamin Tappan, Jr., son of Benjamin Tappan, of North-
ampton, Mass., one of the principal proprietors of the present territory known
as Ravenna Township, set out from his home in the East to make a settlement
on the land of his father. On his journey, Mr. Tappan fell in with David
Hudson, at Gerondaquet Bay, N. Y., wl\om he took in his boat'and assisted on
his way to what is now Summit County. In company they overtook Elias Har-
mon in a small boat with his wife, bound to Mantua. At Niagara they found
the river full of ice, which compelled them to convey their boats to some dis-
tance around and above the Falls. Proceeding on their dangerous way vast
bodies of floating ice impeded their progress, and they had to get out upon the
shore and drag their boats along with I'opes till they were clear of the stronger
current running to the Falls. When they arrived at the mouth of the lake
they also found it full of floating ice, and had to remain tbei'e several days
before proceeding. Ofi" Ashtabula County their boats were driven ashore in a
storm, and that of Mr. Harmon stove to pieces, the latter traveling thence by
land to his destination. Tappan and his companions sailed along the shore-
line till they arrived at Cleveland, which consisted at that time of one log-
cabin. Entering the Cuyahoga River and following its sinuosities, but know-
ing nothing at all of its depth, they soon found that they would have to either
abandon their boats or di'ag them over the frequent rapids in the river. After
much difficulty, however, they passed safely onward, and, judging from the dis-
tance traveled, thought that they were in about the latitude of the township of
which they were in search. They landed at a point where now is the town of Bos-
ton, in Summit County, where Tappan left all of his goods under a tent with a
hired man, and taking Benjamin Bigsby with him commenced to cut out a road to
Eavenna. They built a sled and witb a yoke of oxen Mr. Tappan had bought
in Ontario County, N. Y., conveyed a load of his farming utensils to his set-
tlement in the southeast corner of the township, where, owing to delays, a
cabin was not finished till the first of the following year, ISOO. He subse-
quently erected a house about one mile east of Ravenna on the Marcus Heath
farm. Returning for a second load, he found that his efi"ects had been aban-
doned and partly plundered, and to make it still worse, one of his oxen became
overheated and died. From a sketch of Hon. Benjamin Tappan, published
in the Democratic Review for June, 1840, we extract the following:

"The death of one of his oxen left him in a vast forest, distant from any
habitation, without a team, and what was still worse, with but a single dol-
lar in money. He was not depressed for an instant by these untoward cir-
cumstances. He sent one of his men through the woods, with a compass, to
Erie, Penn. , a distance of about one hundred miles, requesting from
Capt. Lyman, the commandant at the fort, a loan of money. At the same

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 231

time, he himself followed the township lines to Youngstown, where he became
acquainted with Col. James Hillman, who did not hesitate to sell him an ox,
on credit, at a fair price — an act of generosity which proved of great value,
as the want of a team must have broken up his settlement. The unexpected
delays upon the journey, and other hindrances, prevented them from raising a
crop this season, and they had, after the provisions brought with them were
exhausted, to depend for meat upon their skill in hunting and purchases from
the Indians, and for meal upon the scanty supplies procured from west-
tern Pennsylvania. Having set out with the determination to spend the win-
ter, he erected a log-cabin, into which himself and one Bigsby, whom he had
agreed to give one hundi'ed acres of land on condition of settlement, moved
on the first day of January, 1800, before which they lived under a bark camp
and tent."

During the spring following the removal of Tappan into his first cabin,
which stood on the Capt. J. D. King farm, several other settlers came
into Ravenna, among whom were William Chard and Conrad Boos-
inger, the latter coming in August, and bringing his wife, sons George and
John, and daughter Polly. Boosinger settled on 200 acres of land about
one and one-half miles southeast of the present town of Ravenna, made a
clearing and sowed it in wheat. Chard located on Lot 33. Boosinger being
a tanner, constructed a couple of vats soon after he came, which was the first
effort in that direction, and the first public enterprise in the way of manufac-
tures in the county. The privations of these early settlers of the Western
Reserve cannot now be described or realized, and why a young lawyer like
Benjamin Tappan, Jr., surrounded with all of the comforts of an Eastern
home, would venture out into an unknown wilderness, seems to us now some-
thing wonderful.

During the same month in which Benjamin Tappan and his party arrived
in Ravenna, Ebenezer Sheldon, of Suffield, Conn., came into Aurora Township,
and with the assistance of Elias Harmon and his wife, made a settlement on
Lot 40. After the erection of a cabin and making a small clearing in the prim-
itive forest, Harmon and wife moved to Mantua Township, where they ever
afterward resided. Sheldon then returned to Connecticut, and in the following
spring, 1800, came out to his new home, bringing his wife, four sons and two
daughters. They rode the entire distance in a wagon drawn by a yoke of
oxen, and leading a pair of young horses. They came safely as far as War-
ren, which at that time consisted of a few log structures, but after leaving
there a storm overtook them in the woods and they were very near perishing
from falling trees. They managed to avoid all accidents, however, but were
literally penned in and had to remain in the woods all night, only being
released the next day by getting assistance and cutting a road out. One of the
daughters of this sturdy old pioneer, the year following their arrival, married
Amzi AtAvater, of Mantua, one of the surveyors who accompanied Cleveland in
the survey of the Western Reserve, and who afterward became one of the Asso-
ciate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and a leading citizen of
the county. Ebenezer Sheldon and his family were the only inhabitants of
Aurora for three years after they arrived there, but in 1803 quite a number
came in, among whom were Samuel Forward and his family, from Granby,
Conn. The next year came James M. Henry, John Cochran, Jr., David Ken-
nedy, Sr., Ebenezer Kennedy, Samuel Ferguson and several others. Within
a year or two afterward came Moses Eggleston, father of Gen. Nelson Eggles-
ton; also Joseph Eggleston, brother of Moses, together with Capt. Perkins,
Col. Ebenezer Harmon, Isaac Blair and others from Massachusetts and Con-
necticut.

232 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Early in April, 1799, two months before any settlers had arrived in Ravenna
or Aurora Townships, and only six months after Honey had made his clearing
in Mantua, six persons made their way into what is now Atwater Township.
They came from Wallingford, Conn., and were Capt. Caleb Atwater, Jonathan
Merrick, Peter Bunnell, Asahel Blakesley and Asa Hall and his wife. This
party, headed by Atwater, surveyed the township into lots, and in the fall all
of them, with the exception of Hall and his wife, returned to their homes in
the East. From the time of the arrival of this first settler till the spring of
1801 — two years — Hall and his wife were the only persons in the township,
his nearest neighbor being Lewis Ely, over in Deertield Township, who had
come out with others shortly after Hall's arrival. Although having a lonesome
time during those two years in the wilderness, an incident happened within
Hall's household that was calculated in a measure to relieve the tedium of,
whilst it imposed additional cares upon, the life of this pioneer couple. The
"incident" was a child born to them in the spring of 1800, which was
promptly and appropriately named Atwater Hall, and had the honor of being
the first white child born in Portage County. Hall was considerable of a
hunter, and as may well be supposed, had ample opportunity and game to
gratify all his taste in that direction, but he eventually got tired of his lone-
some life and moved in 1801 to near the Deertield Township line, where he
could more easily reach the settlements in that township. About the time
Hall moved from his first location, David Baldwin, Jr., came in from Walling-
ford, Conn., and settled about two miles south of the Center of Atwater Town-
ship. These two families for the next three years were the only persons in
the township, but after that period settlers came in rapidly, most of whom
were from Connecticut and Massachusetts, but about 1807 quite a number of
persons from South Carolina settled here, among whom were Enos Davis,
whose son Isaac, then a boy of ten years is still living, nearly ninety years of age;
also, from the same State, came William Marshall, John Huttou and John Camp-
bell. Among the arrivals shortly before and about the year 1806-07 were Jere-
miah Jones, Josiah Mix, John H. Whittlesey, Caleb Mattoon, Asahel Blakesley
and Ira and Amos Morse. David Baldwin, Jr., was the agent of Capt. Atwater,
who owned not only the entire township, but several others and portions of others
on the Reserve, he being one of the original members of the Connecticut Land
Company. Maj. Ransom Baldwin, now I'esiding, at the advanced age of
eighty-two years, on the original land located by his father, is the son of David
Baldwin, he being born in 1802, the second male child born in the township
of Atwater. The settlement of this portion of the county was very rapid, as
the land was considered by most of the early comers to be better in the southern
than in the northern portions of the county.

The first settler in that division of the county known as Palmyra Township
was David Daniels, who left his home in Grattan, Conn., in the spring of
1799, and arrived there in June, locating on Lot 21, about one and a half
miles south of the Center. At the drawing of the Connecticut Land Company,
Palmyra Township fell to the lot of eight persons, Elijah Boardman being the
principal owner, and these gentlemen, as an inducement to its settlement, gave
Daniels 100 acres of land to go there, make a clearing and build a cabin,
which he accordingly did. He put in a small crop of wheat, which was duly
harvested the following season, and after threshing his crop carried a bushel
of the grain on his shoulders to Poland, about thirty miles away, had it ground
and returned with it to his humble cabin. Daniels was a soldier in the Rev-
olutionary Army and died in 1813, having been highly respected. He was the
first Justice of the Peace of Palmyra Township after its organization. Not

(ZiAi^ , ^ ^

/U-^i^t-t^^,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 235

long after the settlement of Daniels, Ethelbert Baker came in and located
about half a mile sovith of the Center on the west side of the road, and the
next year, 1800, in the spring, William Bacon arrived and located one and a
quarter miles south of the Center. In 1802 came a son-in-law of Nehemiah
Bacon — E. Cutler — who located two miles south of the Center, and in 1804
James McKelvey, of Pennsylvania, and Amasa Preston arrived. In 1805
quite a delegation came in from Connecticut, among whom were David, Silas
and Asahel Waller, John Tuttle, Jr., and Capt. John T. Baldwin; the latter,
who was from Litchfield County, Conn., bringing his wife and three sons, one
of whom. Squire Alva Baldwin, still resides upon the farm originally owned
by his father. Capt. Baldwin for many years kept a tavern at the Center of
Palmyra. In 1806 Truman Gilbert, Sr. , also, from Litchlield,.Conn. , arrived
and settled west of the Center. He brought his wife, seven sons and one
daughter, the latter still living at the age of eighty-six.

In the spring of 1799 Lewis Day and Horatio Day, of Connecticut, came
to their purchase of land in Deertield Township. They came through in a
wagon drawn by horses, selected their locations, made a clearing and put out
a crop of wheat. The first actual settler, however, was Lewis Ely, who came
in July, bringing his family and settling down to business at once, while the
Days in the fall returned to their homes in the East. Ely located on Lot 19,
just east of the old grave-yard. The following year, 1800, was marked
by the arrival in Deerfield of several men who afterward became prominent in
the history of the county. In February Alva Day, John Campbell and Joel
Thrall started from their homes in Connecticut and walked the entire distance,
arriving here in March, after an exceedingly rough time, as the mountains
over which they had to pass were covered with five or six feet of snow, subject-
ing them to much su£fering from the cold. Provisions were exceedingly scarce
at this time, and Lewis Ely and Alva Day were compelled to make a trip to the
Ohio River to procure some bacon and meal. They constructed a canoe from
a log, floated it down to the Ohio River, and at a point opposite Steubenville,
procured what they needed and brought it back with an ox team. James
Laughlin also came this year from Pennsylvania. In July Lewis Day returned
bringing out his wife and six children: Horatio, Munn, Seth, Lewis, Jr.,
Solomon and Seba Day. During the next three or four years following 1800
the township filled up very rapidly, many of the settlers coming from Penn-
sylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Ephraim B. Hubbard, of Connecticut,
came about this time, and in 1803 Daniel Diver and his family. Noah Grant,
the grandfather of Gen. U. S. Grant, is supposed to have settled in Deerfield
about 1804-05, where he opened a tannery and followed shoe-making. Noah
brought his wife and little son Jesse, aged about ten years, father of the now
illustrious Gen. U. S. Grant, to whom the country owes so much, for to him
is largely due the conception of the proper mode to crush out the modern
python of armed secession. Rev. Shadrack Bostwick, son in-law of Daniel
Diver, came in 1803. This gentleman was one of the early circuit-riders of
the Methodist Church, and was a physician as well.

In the spring of 1800 there arrived in Nelson Township, from Becket, Mass.,
Delaun, Asahel and Isaac Mills, sons of Deacon Ezekiel Mills. The first two
were married and brought out their families; the latter was single. They
came in covered wagons and several weeks were occupied in the trip, during
which time their money had dwindled down to less than 25 cents. Falling in
with XJrial Holmes, the principal proprietor of Nelson Township, the brothers
engaged with him to serve as ax-men to the surveyors, who were under charge
of Amzi Atwater. After finishing their job, Delaun settled on a lot of 100

236 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

acres which had been donated to him by Holmes. It was on the north side of
the road just west of the Center. Asahel settled on a 100 acre lot on the
north and south road. Delaun, or Capt. Delaun Mills, as he was afterward
known, was looked upon as the Daniel Boone of this section, and a full
account of him will be found in the sketch of Nelson Township. For nearly
three years the two brothers, Delaun and Asahel (Isaac having returned to the
East) and their families were the only white inhabitants of Nelson Township;
but in the spring of 1803 seven families came in, they being Stephen Baldwin,
Benjamin Stow and two sons, John Bancroft and four sons, Daniel Owen, two
Stiles brothers, William and Thomas Kennedy and Asa Truesdell. In July,
1804, Col. John Garrett, who founded Garrettsville, or rather built a mill at
that point, and for whom that enterprising little town is named, came into
Nelson, and about the same time Abraham Dyson and a German named Johann
Noah, all coming from the State of Delaware. In the following year, 1805,
came John Tinker, Nathaniel Bancroft, Martin Manley and Daniel Wood.

Ephraim Root, principal proprietor of Rootstown Township, in company
with a young man named Harvey Davenport, came out in the spring of 1800
to survey his land, which was done, he returning in the fall, but leaving his
companion in the wilderness, the unfortunate young man having suddenly
died. In the spring of 1801 Mr. Root again came out, bringing his brother
David, and they together made a settlement in the northeast corner of the
township. They erected a two-story log-cabin not far from where now is
Campbellsport. Nathan Muzzy, of whom frequent mention is made in several
of the township sketches, came to the county about this time, and did the car-
penter work for the Roots. Muzzy discovered the little lake which has ever
since borne his name. Poor old Nathan! His life-story was a romance: A
graduate of Yale, brilliant young minister, crossed in love, reason dethroned, a
wanderer in the West, decrepit and penniless, buried by the hand of charity.
In 1802 Henry O'Neill, an Irishman of fine education and a pioneer Justice
of the Peace, and Samuel McCoy came in and together erected a cabin on Lot
3, but McCoy, also an Irishman, afterward moved to Lot 28. In the fall of
this year Michael Hartle and Frederick Caris, originally from Northumberland
County, Penn., and the following year John Caria came in, also Arthur
Anderson. In 1804, in addition to a number of others, the Chapmans made a
settlement on Lot 4. Jacob and Abraham Reed settled on the southwest cor-
ner of Lot 15. In the fall of 1805 Beman Chapman, brother of Ephraim,
arrived with his wife and brother Nathan. Stephen Colton came about this
time, and Gersham Bostwick in 1806.

Bela Hubbard and Salmon Ward, natives of Middletown, Conn., in the year
1802 removed with their families to Randolph Townshi}), from Jefferson
County, N. Y., where they had resided since 1799. These two old pioneers
made a halt about half a mile west of the Center, and the first night camped
under a large tree, but the next day built them a cabin. Ward was taken sick,
and upon recovery returned to his Eastern home. He, however, made three other
trials at settling here, and as many times gave it up. The last time he started
for the East was the last ever heard of him by his friends. For six weeks
Hubbard was the solitary inhabitant of Randolph Township, and a lonely time
he must have had of it, bat in July came Arad Upson, originally from Ply-
mouth, Conn. ; also Joseph Harris, from the same State. In the fall came Calvin
Ward and John Ludington. In the spring of 1803 Josiah Ward, wife and six
children moved in, and daring the summer Jehiel Savage and Timothy Culver
arrived from Atwater, where they had at first located. In the fall Salmon
Ward, on his third return trip, brought with him Aaroa Weston, Levi Davis,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 237

and two young men named Carey and Smith, the latter two simply coming to
trade with the Indians. In November, 1804, Ebenezer Goss, and in Decern
ber following Eliakim Merriman, the first from Plymouth and the last from
Wallingford, Conn., came in. July 17, 1805, Oliver Dickinson and family,
from East Granville, Mass., arrived. He was a blacksmith by trade, and one
of the most useful members of the first settlement. During this same year
Isaac Merriman from Connecticut, Archibald Coon from Pennsylvania, John
Goss, and Jeremiah Sabin and bis son Abel located in the township. In
1806 came Hiram Raymond, Thomas Miller, Nathan Sears and son Elisha,
and Rev. Henry Ely, all of Connecticut, William Thornton from Pennsylva-
nia and Daniel Cross from Vermont. In 1807 Deacon Stephen Butler and
Caleb Wetmore moved in from Connecticut, but removed to Stow Township in a
few years. Dr. Rufus Belding, from Cattaraugas County, N. Y., settled here
this year, whei'e he practiced his profession for nearly thirty years. Among
the leading names of settlers in the few years succeeding the last date are
those of Nathaniel Bancroft, Sylvester Tinker and Deacon James Coe.

"In the southwestern corner of the county a settlement was made in May,
1802, by Royal Pease, a native of Suffield, Conn., who owned a considerable
portion of the land comprised in the township now known as Suffield. Pease
settled on what is now known as the Kent Farm, and made a clearing, built a
cabin and put out a crop of wheat. This old pioneer remained alone at his
settlement for nearly a year, but the following spring after his arrival Ben-
jamin Baldwin made his appearance, and soon after him David Way and
family. In 1804 John Fritch, a Pennsylvania German, located at the little
lake that has since borne his name. In this year also came from Connecticut
Daniel Warner, Ezekiel Tupper, Bradford Waldo and Champlin Minard. In
1805 Martin Kent and family and Jonathan Foster came in; also, Samuel
Hale and his sons Thomas and Orestes. During the next few years settlers
were quite numerous, and among the most noted was Moses Adams, from Mas-
sachusetts. Many Germans have from time to time settled in Suffield Town-
ship, and form a large portion of its present population.

In Charlestown Township a man by the name of Abel Forsha, from Mary-
land, about 1803, squatted on a piece of land afterward known as " Farnham's
Hill," where he lived for a short time, afterward removing to Ravenna; but
the first permanent settler was John Campbell, who moved here from Deerfield
Township in 1805, and remained throughout his life one of the leading citi-
zens of the county. A company from Blanford and Granville, Mass., com-
posed of thirteen families, gave the township an impetus in 1809.

Hiraui Township, which originally comprised the territory now known as
Hiram, Mantua, Shalersville, Freedom, Windham and Nelson, I'eceived its
first settlers in 1802, when Elijah Mason, Elisha Hutchinson and Mason Til-
den came in and settled respectively as follows: Mason, who was from Leba-
non, Conn., selected the west half of Lot 23; Hutchinson, who was from Her-
kimer County, N. Y. , also selected a portion of Lot 23, and Tilden, from Con-
necticut, selected Lot 22. In the fall they all returned to their homes in the
East. John Fleming came about the same time, but remained only one year.
In 1803 the three first-named persons again came out and made improvements
on their land. Mason cleared twenty-two acres, built a cabin, and put out a
crop of wheat. They all then again returned to their homes. Three men
whom Mason and Tilden had in their employ, liking the country, remained.
These men were Richard Redden and Jacob and Samuel Wirt, all from
Pennsylvania. In 1804 William Fenton and Cornelius Baker settled on Lot
38, the first on the east half of the west half, and the other on the

238 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

west half of the same. Eoswell Mason, son of Elijah, and some others,
came out in 1807, but as late as- 1809 the number of inhabitants was only
twenty. In 1811 the Youngs came from Connecticut; also Elisha Hutch-
inson. For five or six years after the last date many settlers came in,
and an enumeration of them will be found in the sketch of Hiram Township.

John Haymaker, a native of Pennsylvania, from near Pittsburgh, in the
fall of 1805 made the first settlement in Franklin Township. He brought
his wife and three children, and at first located on the Cuyahoga, just west of
where the upper bridge now is in Kent. The following spring George Hay-
maker, a brother of John, and their father, Jacob, arrived. The next year
the Haymakers built a mill, the Cuyahoga River at the point where they
settled affording ample water power. Settlement in Franklin was rather slow
for many years, considering the natural advantages of the township. Jacob
Reed, who had settled in Rootstown in 1804, came to Franklin in 1811. and
purchased the Haymaker Mill, and ran it for several years, when it was in turn
purchased by George B. DePeyster, For a more extended account of the
early settlement of Franklin, the reader is referred to the two chapters on that
township.

The first settlement in Shalersville Township was made in the spring of
1806 by Joel Baker, from Tolland County, Conn. He brought his wife and
one child and located on Lot 46, erecting his cabin and digging a well nearly
opposite where the hotel at the Center now stands. For two years Baker and
his family were alone in this part of the wilderness, but in 1808 Simeon
Belden and Calvin Crane, from Say brook, Conn., came in, located their future
homes and then returned to Trumbull County, Ohio, where they had resided
several years, but the following spring came out for permanent residence.
Hezekiah Hine, Daniel Keyes and his son, Asa D. Keyes, also came in 1808.
In 1810 William Coolman, Sr., and family came from Middletown, Conn. ;
also, Daniel Burroughs, and his sons, Asa K. and Greenhood, from Vermont,
and others. In 1814 Silas Crocker, then a lad of fifteen years, came in with
Job and Benoni Thompson. Gen. David Mcintosh and Sylvester Beecher
came later. These three last-named were all poor boys, but they each left
their impress on the county of their adoption.

Eber Abbott, of Tolland County, Conn., in the spring of 1811 came to
Edinburg Township and settled on Lot 2, Subdivision 5, and shortly after
him his bi'other-in-law, Lemuel Chapman, located near him. In 1813 a man
by the name of Howard came in and located on Silver Creek. In 1815 Alan-
son and Justin Eddy, from Williamstown, arrived with their families, having
come the entire distance in sleighs. Justin made his settlement on the now
fine farm of Mr. Theodore Clark. Alanson settled on the farm afterward
owned by C. H. Rowell. Robert Calvin, a Virginian, came about 1816, and
settled on Lot 8. He was the father of Mr. John Calvin, who now resides in
the northeastern portion of the township. David Trowbridge and Sylvester
Gilbert also came at this time. Richard M. Hart came in 1817, and Adnah
H. Bostwick in 1819.

In 1810 the Becket Land Company was formed in Becket, Berkshire Co.,
Mass., for the purchase and settlement of the lands now embraced in Windham
Township, most of which then belonged to Gov. Caleb Strong, of that State.
The company consisted of sixteen persons, viz. : Bills Messenger, John Seely,
Jeremiah Lyman, Aaron P. Jagger, Benjamin C. Perkins, Elijah Alford, Alpheus
Streator, Benjamin Higley, Elisha Clark, Isaac Clark, Ebenezer N. Messenger,
Thatcher Conant, Nathan Birchard, Enos Kingsley, Dillingham Clark and
Gideon Bush. Early in 1811 the company sent out four young men— Elijah

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 239

Alford, Jr., Oliver Alford, Ebenezer O. Messenger and Nathan H. Messenger —
to make some preparation for the coming population. On their arrival in
Windham, March 15, the Alfords began an improvement on Lot 84, and
erected a cabin, which was the first built in the township. The Messengers-
built a cabin on Lot 82. These two cabins constituted VVindam Township in
March, 1811, and the population up to the 2t7h of that month consisted of the
four pioneer boys previously mentioned. On the 27th Wareham Loomis and
family moved in from Nelson. This was the first family in the township.
Loomis put up a cabin on that part of Lot 92 subsequently owned by Daniel
Jagger. Hiram Messenger, a son of Bills, one of the Becket Land Company,
arrived with his family in June, 1811, being the first installment of the pro-
prietors. He settled on Lot 76. His father came with him, and stayed sev-
eral months, assisting Hiram in making improvements, and then returned to
his home. In July, 1811, Alpheus Streator, Benjamin Higley, Ebenezer N.
Messenger, Gideon Bush, Thatcher Conant and Jeremiah Lyman arrived and
settled on their lands, and the following October Deacon Elijah Alford joined
the settlement. From this time forward settlers continued to arrive at inter-
vals, and this portion of the county rapidly increased in population.

In consequence of a certain reputation for an almost uninhabitable swamp-
iness, Paris Township, although excellent land, was not settled very early, at
least not as early as it should have been under the circumstances. Richard
Hudson, a Pennsylvanian, however, ventured in about June, 1811, and drove
his stakes on Lot 21. John Bridges, son-in-law of Hudson, came the next
year, and about the same time John Cox and John Young. In 1815 Chauncy
Hawley and William Selby, in 1816 Brainard, Newton and Thomas Selby,
and in 1817 Austin Wilson and John Smith arrived.

The first permanent settler in Brimfield Township was John Boosinger, who
removed from Ravenna Township in 1816, settling on Lot 39. In November
of the same year Henry Thorndike and his family, with his brother Israel,
arrived. In the employ of the Thorndikes was Abner H. Lanphare, who lived
to an advanced age. The following January Deacon Alpheus Andrews settled
near the Center. In the year 1817 many settlers came, whose names will be
found in the chapter on Brimfield.

Charles H. Paine, son of Gen. Paine, of Painesville, who had married a
daughter of Elijah Mason, of Hii'am Township, settled in Freedom Township
in the spring of 1818, on Lots 31 and 41, and from that time till 1822 himself
and family were the only inhabitants of Freedom. In the spring of the year
last named, however, thirteen persons arrived, all in one family: Thomas
Johnston, wife and eleven children. In 1823 came Newell Day, and Enos and
Asa Wadsworth; in 1824, Rufus Ranney, father of Judge R. P. Ranney, and
in 1825 Paul Larkcom, father of A. C. Larkcom, still a resident of Freedom
Township.

Streetsboro Township settled up very rapidly from the time the first settler
made his appearance in 1822, that person being Stephen Myers, who located
on Lot 82. He made a clearing and put up a distillery. In 1824 a number
of other persons came in and rapidly filled up the township.

Col. John Garrett, of Delaware, as noticed elsewhere, was the first settler
of what is now Garrettsville Township.

For the purpose of keeping the I'emembrance of the old pioneer days fresh
in the minds of the present generation, and as a humble monument to their
deeds, an association was formed a few years ago, entitled " The Portage -
Summit Pioneer Association." From the eighth annual report of the Secre-
tary, Dr. A. M. Sherman, of Kent, we glean the following:

240 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

" Some of you will remember that on the 10th of February, 1874, seventy-
three persons met at the residence of the venerable Samuel Olin, in Streets-
boro, mainly by invitation of his sister, Mrs. J. B. Stratton, and her venerable
husband. The primary object was to enjoy a social reunion of " Old Folks,"
and partake of Father Olin's generous hospitality. At that meeting Christian
Cackler, being the first white boy that ever crossed the Cuyahoga River here,
invited all those present and many others to meet at his pleasant home in
October following to enjoy his hospitality. At that meeting an organization
was effected that has enlarged into the grand proportions of your present
organization. There have joined up to this meeting 620 persons, and out of
this number (up to the fall of 1882) 112 have died. Comparatively few of
those present at the organization remain. Another decade will evidently wit-
ness the departure from earth of the last of the original members. The
society, since it extended its borders, has rapidly grown, including as it now
does in its territory all of Portage and Summit Counties. All above sisty
years of age are permitted to become members."

The annual meetings of the association are occasions of much interest and
enjoyment, as many as 5,000 to 6,000 persons being in attendance. Eloquent
addresses are delivered, music by the Pioneer Band discoursed, and a sump-
tuous dinner served at the beautiful grounds selected in the village of Kent.
This is as it should be, for the people of to-day scarcely realize or appreciate
how much they owe to the large-hearted pioneer fathers and mothers, who,
with their children, braved the perils of the wilderness; who reared their
families in the fear of God, and implanted within them many of the virtues
necessary to the welfare of humanity, then 'passed from the scene of action,
leaving to their descendants an inheritance that should ever be cherished and
kept in sacred remembrance. The history of Portage County would be incom-
plete without fitting notice of those pioneers who, by reason of their limited
sphere of action, could not become conspicuous in the great drama of life, but
whose busy hands and conscientious regard of duty made them necessary fac-
tors in the establishment of the solid foundation upon which our republican
form of government is embedded. It is a little thing to preserve their names
in the pages of history, yet it is all that is left to do, for their lives were much
alike; they met the stern necessities of the hour, and were content in the con-
sciousness of duty well done.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 241

CHAPTER V.

Pioneer Days and Trials— Habitations of the First Settlers— Furni-
ture, Food and Medicine— Habits, Labor and Dress— Early Manners
and Customs— Bees and Weddings— The Hominy Block and Pioneer
Mills— Prices of Store Goods and Produce— Items From an Old Cash
Book— Mode of Living— Churches and Schools— Period of the War
OF 1812— Prices After the War— First Crops Eaised in the County-
Agricultural Implements of the Pioneers, and Subsequent Improve-
ments Made in Them— Pioneer Farming— Cheese and Butter Statis-
tics—First Stock Brought into the County— Stock Statistics Since
1840— Statistics of Wheat, Corn, Oats and Hay— Total Valuation of
Property by Decades— Portage County Agricultural Societies— Por-
tage County Horticultural Society.

THE first settlers who built their cabins in the unbroken forest of Portage
County came not to enjoy a life of lotus-eating and ease. They could,
doubtless, admire the pristine beauty of the scenes that unveiled before them,
the vernal green of the forest, and the loveliness of all the works of nature;
they could look forward with happy anticipation to the lives they were to lead
in the midst of all this beauty, and to the rich reward that would be theirs
from the cultivation of the mellow, fertile soil; but they had first to work.
The dangers they were exposed to were serious ones. The Indians could not
fully be trusted, and the many stories of their depredations in the earlier
Eastern settlements made the pioneers of Ohio apprehensive of trouble. The
larger wild beasts were a cause of much dread, and the smaller ones a source
of great annoyance. Added to this was tlie liability to sickness which always
exists in a new country. In the midst of all the loveliness of the surround-
ings, there was a sense of loneliness that could not be dispelled, and this was
a far greater trial to the men and women who first dwelt in the "Western coun-
try than is generally imagined. The deep-seated, constantly recurring feeling
of isolation made many stout hearts turn back to the older settlements and the
abodes of comfort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned in
their early homes to take up a new life in the wilderness.

The pioneers making the tedious journey from the East and South by the
rude trails, arrived at their places of destination with but very little with
which to begin the battle of life. They had brave hearts and strong arms,
however, and they were possessed of invincible determination. Frequently
they came on without their families to make a beginning, and this having been
accomplished, would return to their old homes for their wives and children.
The first thing done, after a temporary shelter from the rain had been pro-
vided, was to prepare a little spot of ground for some crop, usually corn.
This was done by girdling the trees, clearing away the underbrush, if there
chanced to be any, and sweeping the surface with fire. Five, ten, or even fif-
teen acres of land might thus be prepared and planted the first season. In
the autumn the crop would be carefully gathered and garnered with the least
possible svaste, for it was the food supply of the pioneer and his family, and
life itself depended, in part, upon its safe preservation. While the first crop
was growing the pioneer had busied himself with the building of his cabin,
which must answer as a shelter from the storms of the coming winter, a pro-

242 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

tection from the ravages of wild animals, and, possibly, a place of refuge
from the red man.

If a pioneer was completely isolated from his fellow-men, his position was
certainly a hard one; for without assistance he could construct only a poor
habitation. In such cases the cabin was generally made of light logs or poles,
and was laid up roughly, only to answer the temporary purpose of shelter, until
other settlers had come into the vicinity, by whose help a more solid structure
could be built. Usually a number of men came into the country together, and
located within such distance of each other as enabled them to perform many
friendly and neighborly offices. Assistance was always readily given each pio-
neer by all the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several
miles. The commonly followed plan of erecting a log-cabin was through a
union of labor. The site of the cabin home was generally selected with refer-
ence to a good water supply, often by a never-failing spring of pure water, or
if such could not be found, it was not uncommon to first dig a well. When
the cabin was to be built the few neighbors gathered at the site, and first cut
down, within as close proximity as possible, a number of trees as nearly of a
size as could be found, but ranging from a foot to twenty inches in diameter.
Logs were chopped from these and rolled to a common center. This work,
and that of preparing the foundation, would consume the greater part of the
day, in most cases, and the entire labor would most commonly occupy two or
three days — sometimes four. The logs were raised to their places with hand-
spikes and " skid poles," and men standing at the corners with axes notched
them as fast as they were laid in position. Soon the cabin would be built sev-
eral logs high, and the work would become more difficult. The gables were
formed by beveling the logs, and making them shorter and shorter, as each
additional one was laid in place. These logs in the gables were held in place
by poles, which extended across the cabin from end to end, and which served
also as rafters upon which to lay the rived " clapboard " roof. The so-called
" clapboards " were five or six feet in length, and were split from oak or ash
logs, and made as smooth and flat as possible. They were laid side by side,
and other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to effectually keep
out the rain. Upon these logs were laid to hold them in place, and the logs
were held by blocks of wood placed between them.

The chimney was an important part of the structure, and taxed the build-
ers, with their poor tools, to their utmost. In rare cases it was made of stone,
but most commonly of logs and sticks laid up in a manner similar to those
which formed the cabin. It was, in nearly all cases, built outside of the cabin,
and at its base a huge opening was cut through the wall to answer as a fire-
place. The sticks in the chimney were kept in place and protected from fire
by mortar, formed by kneading and working clay and straw. Flat stones were
procured for back and jambs of the fire-place.

An opening was chopped or sawed in the logs on one side of the cabin for
a doorway. Pieces of hewed timber, three or four inches thick, were fastened
on each side by wooden pins to the end of the logs, and the door (if there was
any) was fastened to one of these by wooden hinges. The door itself was a
clumsy piece of wood-work. It was made of boards rived from an oak log,
and held together by heavy cross-pieces. There was a wooden latch upon
the inside, raised by a string which passed through a gimlet-hole, and hung
upon the outside. From this mode of construction arose the old and well-
known hospitable saying: " You will find the latch-string always out." It
was pulled in only at night, and the door was thus fastened. Very many of
the cabins of the pioneers had no doors of the kind here described, and the

^^^'^ ^^^^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 245

entrance was protected only by a blanket or skin of some wild beast suspended
above it.

The window was a small opening, often devoid of anything resembling a
sash, and very seldom having glass. Greased paper was sometimes used in
lieu of the latter, but more commonly some old garment constituted a curtain,
which was the only protection from sun, rain or snow.

The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons — pieces of timber split from
trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth with the broad-ax.
They were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in
this part of the country had nothing but the earthen floor. Sometimes the
cabins had cellars, which were simply small excavations in the ground for the
storage of a few articles of food, or perhaps cooking utensils. Access to the
cellar was readily gained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was sometimes
a loft used for various purposes, among others as the "guest chamber'' of the
house. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of a
sapling, put together, like everything else in the house, without nails.

The furniture of the log-cabin was as simple and primitive as the structure
itself. A forked stick set in the floor and supporting two poles, the other ends
of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin,
formed a bedstead. A common form of table was a split slab supported by four
rustic legs set in augur holes. Three-legged stools were made in a similar
simple manner. Pegs driven in augur holes into the logs of the wall supported
shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the family not in use. A
few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of deer horns, formed a rack where hung the
rifle and powder-horn, which no cabin was without. These, and perhaps a few
other simple articles brought from the "old home" formed the furniture and
furnishings of the pioneer cabin.

The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best
were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as
brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later-day fine houses. It was by
no means uncommon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used
upon the table. Knives and forks were few, crockery very scarce, and tin-ware
not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and
most wholesome kind. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear
meat, squirrels, fish, wild turkeys, and the many varieties of smaller game.
Plain corn-bread baked in a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a board in front of
the great open fire-place answered the purpose of all kinds of pastry. The
corn was among the earlier pioneers pounded or grated, there being no mills
for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones at a considerable dis-
tance away. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afi"orded
a pleasant variety. Sometimes especial efi'ort was made to prepare a delicacy,
as, for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies by pounding
wheat for the flour to make the crust, and used crab- apples for fruit. In the
lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles that made
up the pioneer's materia medica — the herb medicines and spices, catnip, sage,
tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gathered in its sea-
son; and there were also stores of nuts, and strings of dried pumpkin, with
bags of berries and fi-uit.

The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in conformance
to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the hercu-
lean labor, day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their
homes, cutting away the forest, burning ofl" the brush and debris, preparing
the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals which they

246 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

brought with them or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were
engaged in the heavy labor of the field and forest, or following the deer, or
seeking other game, their helpmeets were busied with their household duties,
providing for the day and for the winter coming on, cooking, making clothes,
spinning and weaving. They were fitted by nature and experience to be the
consorts of the brave men who first came into the Western wilderness. They
were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. Their
industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work then, like man's,
was performed under disadvantages which have been removed in later years.
She had not only the common household duties to perform, but many others.
She not only made the clothing, but the fabric for it. That old, old occupa-
tion of spinning and of weaving, with which woman's name has been associated
in all history, and of which the modern world knows nothing, except through
the stories of those who are grandmothers now — that old occupation of spin-
ning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance as
we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up
thoughts of the graces and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation
that is gone — that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, was the
chief industry of the pioneer women. Every cabin sounded with the softly-
whirring wheel and the rythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer
times was like the woman described by Solomon: "She seeketh wool and flax,
and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle,
and her hands hold the distafif."

Almost every article of clothing, all of the cloth in use in the old log- cab-
ins, was the product of the patient woman-weaver's toil. She spun the flax
and wove the cloth for shirts, pantaloons, frocks, sheets and blankets. The
linen and the wool, the " linsey-woolsey " woven by the housewife formed all
of the material for the clothing of both men and women, except such articles
as were made of skins. The men commonly wore the hunting-shirt, a kind of
loose frock reaching half way down the figure, open before, and so wide as to
lap over a foot or more upon the chest. This generally had a cape, which
was often fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that
which composed the garment. The bosom of the hunting-shirt answered as a
pouch, in which could be carried the various articles that the hunter or woods-
man would need. It was always worn belted and made out of coarse linen,
or linsey, or of dressed deer skin, according to the fancy of the wearer.
Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of deer skin, and were often worn with
leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather, while the feet were
most usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made,
though they needed frequent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers
were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to
the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made
of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women
were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buck-
skin gloves or mittens when any protection was required for the hands. All
of the wearing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being
serviceable and comfortable, and all was of home manufacture. Other articles
and finer ones were sometimes worn, but they had been brought from former
homes, and were usually relics handed down from parents to children. Jew-
elry was not common, but occasionally some ornament was displayed. In the
cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were usually a few books, and the long
winter evenings were spent in poring over these well-thumbed volumes by the
light of the great log-fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, or some similar
occupation.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 247

Hospitality was simple, imaflfected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in
common use, and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every
settler had his barrel stored away. It was the universal drink at merry-mak-
ings, bees, house-warmings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler
who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log-cabin. It was the
good old-fashioned whisky, "clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil,"
that the few octogenarians and nonagenarians of to-day recall to memory with
an unctuous gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from
the Monongahela district, and was boated up the streams or hauled in wagons
across the country. A few years later stills began to make their appearance,
and an article of peach brandy and rye whisky manufactured; the latter was
not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater
quantities.

As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dis-
pelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied: social
gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log rollings,
harvestings and husking-bees for the men, and the apple-butter making and
the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occasions for social
intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting,
and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun as a means, often, of
obtaining a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhib-
ited considerable skill.

A wedding was the event of most importance in the sparsely settled new
country. The young people had every inducement to marry, and generally
did so as soon as able to provide for themselves. When a marriage was to be
celebrated, all the neighborhood turned out. It was customary to have the
ceremony performed before dinnei-, and in order to be in time, the groom and
his attendants usually started from his father's house in the morning for that
of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in single file along the narrow
trail. Arriving at the cabin of the bride's parents, the ceremony would be
performed, and after that, dinner served. This would be a substantial back-
woods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables,
as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed during theraeal. After
it was over the dancing began, and was usually kept up till the next morning,
though the newly made husband and wife were as a general thing put to bed
in the most approved fashion, and with considerable formality, in the middle
of the evening's hilarity. The tall young men, when they went on the floor
to dance, had to take their places with care between the logs that supported
the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping their heads. The figures of
the dances were three and four hand reels, or square sets and jigs. The com-
mencement was always a square four, which was followed by "jigging it off,"
or what is sometimes called a "cutout jig." The "settlement" of a j^oung
couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors
assembled and raised a cabin for them.

During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleas-
ures and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went
slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most primitive
kinds, but the soil that had long held in reserve the accumulated richness of
centuries, produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded
for his labor. The soil was warmer then than now, and the season earlier.
The wheat was occasionally pastured in the spring to keep it from growing up
so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often
from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears
were to be had by the 1st of August in most seasons.

248 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to
grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal bv a grater. Next to the grater came
the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted
simply of a block of wood — a section of a tree perhaps — with a hole burned
or dug into it a foot deep in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Some-
times this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat for the bashful
young backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; sometimes a convenient stump
in front of the cabin door was prepared for and made one of the best of hom-
iny blocks. These blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early
and superseded them, yet those mills were so far apart that in stormy
weather, or for want of transportation, the pioneer was compelled to resort to
his hominy-block or go without bread. In winter the mills were frozen up
nearly all the time, and when a thaw came and the ice broke, if the mill was
not swept away entirely by the floods, it was so thronged with pioneers, each
with his sack of corn, that some of them were often compelled to camp out
near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground,
if they were so fortunate as to possess an ox, or a horse or mule for the pur-
pose of transportation, they were happy. It was not unusual to go from ten
to thirty miles to mill, through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be be-
nighted on the journey and chased by wolves.

As the majority of the pioneers settled in the vicinity of a stream,
mills soon made their appearance in every settlement. Those mills, however,
were very primitive affairs— mere "corn -crackers" — ^but they were a big
improvement on the hominy-block. They merely ground the corn; the pio-
neer must do his own bolting. The meal was sifted through a wire sieve by
hand, and the finest used for bread. A road cut through the forest to the mill
and a wagon for hauling the grist were great advantages. The latter, espe-
cially, was often a seven days' wonder to the children of a settlement, and the
happy owner of one often did for years the milling of a whole neighborhood.
About once a month this good neighbor, who was in exceptionally good cir-
cumstances because able to own a wagon, would go around through the settle-
ment, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days
in the operation, and never think of charging for his time and trouble.

Only the commonest goods were brought into the country, and they sold at
very high prices, as the freightage of merchaiidise from the East was high.
Most of the people were in moderate circumstances, and were content to live
in a very cheap way. A majority had to depend mainly on the produce of
their little clearings, which consisted to a large extent of potatoes and corn.
Mush, corn bread and potatoes were the principal food. There was no meat
except game, and often this had to be eaten without salt. Pork, flour, sugar
and other groceries sold at high prices, and were looked upon as luxuries. In
1798-99 wheat brought $1.50 per bushel; flour $4 per 100 pounds; corn $1
per bushel; oats, 75 cents, and potatoes 65 cents. Prices were still higher in
1813-14, corn being $2 per bushel; flour $14 per barrel; oats, $1, and salt
from $12 to $20 per barrel.

The writer has seen an old cash book kept at one of the frontier stores on
the Reserve prior to 1800, wherein the accounts with the whites are carried out
in pounds, shillings and pence, while those with the Indians, who largely
patronized the store, wei-e kept in dollars and cents. To judge from the daily
consumption of whisky, it was pre-eminently the " staflf of life,'' there being
scarcely an account against a white or Indian, male or female, of which it
does not form a large proportion. For domestic use, it cost 3 shillings per
quart, while a gill cost 4 cents. Tobacco was sold by the yard at 4 cents per

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 249

yard; common sugar at 33 cents, and loaf at 50 cents per pound. Chocolate
was in more general use than tea or coffee, and sold at 3 shillings and 6 pence
per pound, and coffee at 30 cents. Homespun linen could be purchased at 50
cents per yard, while the belle aspiring to the extravagance of calico, could
gratify her ambition at 83 cents per yard, with the addition of a cotton hand-
kerchief at from 70 cents to $1, according to color and design. Shoes and
boots brought from $1 to $3 per pair, but moccasins were in common use with
both white men and Indians at 3 shillings and 9 pence, though from 9 pence
to two shillings higher when ornamented with the colored quills of the porcu-
pine. The price of a rifle was $25, a horse $125, and a yoke of oien $80.
Indians usually paid their bills with peltry and many of the whites did like-
wise. A bear skin was worth from $2 to $5; otter, from $3 to $4; beaver, from
$2 to $3; deer from 75 to 90 cents; marten 1 shilling and 10 pence; muskrat,
1 shilling, while fisher, wild cat, panther, wolf, fox, raccoon, mink and other
skins were also readily purchased.

Long journeys upon foot were often made by the pioneers to obtain the
necessities of life or some article, then a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were
cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they
had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industri-
ous and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an independ-
ence, however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of
plenty which should reward them for the toils of their earliest years, and a
rest from the struggle amidst the benefits gained by it. Without an iron will
and indomitable resolution they could never have accomplished what they did.
Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded. A
writer in one of the local papers says:

" Eighty years ago not a pound of coal or a cubic foot of illuminating gas
had been burned in the country. All the cooking and warming in town as
well as in the country were done by the aid of a fire kindled on the brick
hearth or in the brick ovens. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light
for the long winter nights, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs and
carpets. The water used for household purposes was drawn from deep wells
by the creaking sweep. No form of pump was used in this country, so far as
we can learn, until after the commencement of the present century. There
were no friction matches in those early days, by the aid of which a fire could
be easily kindled, and if the fire went out upon the hearth over night, and the
tinder was damp, so that the spark would not catch, the alternative remained
of wading through the snow a mile or so to borrow a brand from a neighbor.
Only one room in any house was warm, unless some member of the family was
ill, in all the rest the temperature was at zero during many nights in winter.
The men and women undressed and went to their beds in a temperature colder
than our barns and woodsheds, and they never complained."

Churches and schoolhouses were sparsely scattered, and of the most primi-
tive character. One pastor served a number of congi-egations, and salaries
were so low that the preachers had to take part in working their farms to pro-
cure support for their families. The people went to religious service on foot
or horseback, and the children often walked two or three miles through the
woods to school. There were no fires in the churches for a number of years.
When they were finally introduced they were at first built in holes cut in the
floors, and the smoke found its way out through openings in the roofs. The
seats were of unsmoothed slabs, the ends and centers of which were laid upon
blocks, and the pulpits were little better. Worship was held once or twice a
month, consisting usually of two services, one in the forenoon and one imme-

250 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

diately after noon, the people remaining during the interval and spending the
time in social intercourse. It is much to be feared that if religious worship
were attended with the same discomforts now as it was eighty to ninety years
ago, the excuses for keeping away from the house of God would be many times
multiplied. Taken altogether, while they had to endure many privations and
hardships, it is doubtful whether the pioneers of any part of America were
more fortunate in their selection than those of Portage County. Every one
of the settlers agrees in saying that they had no trouble in accommodating
themselves to the situation, and were, as a rule, both men and women, healthy,
contented and happy.

During the war of 1812-15, many of the husbands and fathers volunteered
their services to the United States, and others were drafted. Women and
children were then left alone in many an isolated log-cabin in northeastern
Ohio, and there were several intervals of unrest and anxiety. It was feared
by many that the Indians might take advantage of the absence from these homes
of their natural defenders, and pillage and destroy them. The dread of rob-
bery and murder filled many a mother's heart, but happily the worst fears of
the kind proved to be groundless, and this part of the country was spared any
scenes of actual violence.

After the war there was a greater feeling of security than ever before; a
new motive was given to immigration. The country rapidly filled up with set-
tlers, and the era of peace and prosperity was fairly begun. Progress was
slowly, surely made: the log-houses became more numerous in the clearings;
the forest shrank away before the woodman's ax; frame houses began to appear.
The pioneers, assured of safety, laid better plans for the future, resorted to
new industries, enlarged their possessions, and improved the means of culti-
vation. Stock was brought in from the South and East. Every settler had
his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep and hogs. More qommodious structures took
the places of the old ones; the large double log-cabin of hewed logs and the
still handsomer frame dwelling took the place of the smaller hut; log and
frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops.
Then society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared,
and the advancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained
a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the West-
ern woods. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and the way made
in the wilderness for the army that was to come.

For the next ten years succeeding the war of 1812 wheat was from 25 to
37^ cents per bushel, and other products in proportion. Merchandise was still
very high. A day's labor would barely pui'chase a yard of cotton, while
thirty -two bushels of corn are known to have been exchanged, by one of the
pioneers of Portage County, for four yards of fulled cloth. About 1813 John
T. Baldwin and David Waller, two well remembered pioneers of Palmyra
Township, brought the first load of salt from Cleveland to Portage County.
It took five days to make the trip, and the salt wais worth when delivered $20
per barrel. In 1816 corn was $2 per bushel, and flour SL4 per barrel, while
hired hands received but 25 cents a day. In 1821 wheat sold in Ravenna for
25 cents per bushel, and money was so scarce that the average pioneer was
very often unable to raise the funds to pay the postage on an occasional letter,
which then cost 25 cents. Wheat and flour were hauled to Cleveland with ox
teams, and exchanged for goods, and, as the roads were usually in a terrible
condition, it often took a whole week to make the round trip. Along about
this period Judge Amzi Atwater, who resided in the northern part of the
county, with the laudable intention of encouraging the struggling settlers,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 251

advertised that he would allow 50 cents per bushel for wheat to those who
had purchased or would purchase land of him. Taking advantage of this
liberal ofifer, they would buy up wheat at from 25 to 40 cents and turn it over
to Judge Atwater at 50 cents per bushel. This was soon regarded by the
Judge as "sharp practice," and he withdrew his offer. The usual hotel
charges throughout the county for a good pioneer dinner was 12i^ cents, a
similar amount being charged for four quarts of oats and hay for the guest's
horse. Very little change occurred in prices of produce or goods until 1825,
when the commencement of work on the Ohio Canal gave an impetus to every
branch of trade.

The first settlers were necessarily exposed to many dangers and privations,
yet as a rule they had no fears of starvation, for the forest was alive with
game, the streams abounded in fish and the virgin soil yielded bountifully.
Upon selecting a location, the pioneer usually began at once to open a clearing
in the primitive forest and prepare a piece of ground for tillage. Thus the
foundation of the present agricultural prosperity was laid by the first settlers
of the county. In the fall of 1798 Abram S. Honey planted a small patch of
wheat in Mantua Township, which was harvested the following summer by his
brother-in-law, Kufus Edwards, who owned the land. This was the first crop
raised by white men in what is now Portage County, In June, 1799, Elias
Harmon planted some potatoes and peas in the Honey clearing. The same fall
Lewis Ely put in a crop of wheat in Deertield Township, as also did Lewis
and Horatio Day, amounting in all to some eight or ten acres. The next
spring Lewis Ely, Alva Day, John Campbell and Joel Thrall each planted a
small jjatch of corn in Deerfield. David Daniels cleared up a piece of ground
on Lot 21, Palmyra Township, in the summer of 1799, and that fall sowed it
in wheat, which he harvested the following summer. After threshing the
little crop with his flail, he cleaned up about a bushel of the grain and carried
it on his back to a mill located at Poland, Ohio, about thirty miles distant,
had it ground and retui-ned with the flour to his cabin, where for the first time
since settling in the wilderness, he enjoyed the luxury of wheat bread. In
the spring of 1800 Daniels put in a patch of corn; Ethelbert Baker and
William Bacon also planted little fields of corn in Palmyra the same spring.
In 1799 Ebenezer Sheldon sent out Eben Blair fi'om Connecticut to make a
settlement on his land in Aurora Township. Blair came ria Pittsburgh, where
he bought a peck of grass seed. This he carried on his back from Pittsburgh
to Sheldon's land, where he was soon after joined by his employer and Elias
Harmon. An opening was soon made in the woods and sown with wheat
brought out by Sheldon, the gi'ass seed being sown in the same field. Benja-
min Tappan put in a few acres of corn and vegetables in 1800, on his land in
the southeast corner of Ravenna Township, and the same fall planted the
ground in wheat. William Chard and Conrad Boosinger, both of whom settled
in Tappan's neighborhood, also planted small fields of the latter cereal in the
fall of 1800. Asa Hall made the first clearing in Atwater Township early in
1800, and put in some corn, which was succeeded the next fall by wheat. In
1801 or 1802 David Baldwin raised a corn and wheat crop in Atwater Town-
ship.

The first corn in Rootstown Township was planted in the spring of 1801,
near its northeast corner, by Ephraira and David Root, In Nelson Township
a crop was put in the same year by Delaun and Asahel Mills. In 1802 Royal
Pease sowed a few acres of wheat in Suffield Township. In April, 1803, Ben-
jamin Baldwin settled in the latter township. He brought from Connecticut a
small bag of apple seeds, which he planted upon his arrival, and from the seed-

252 HISTORY OF rORTAGE COUNTY.

lings thus obtained has come the much-prized " Baldwin Apple." The first
crop of wheat planted in Randolph Township was in the fall of 1802, by Bela
Hubbard, on the northwest corner of Lot 57, the first land cleared in the
township. He had to go to David Baldwin's in Atwater Township eight miles
away to borrow a plow, which he carried on his shoulders to his little clear-
ing, and returned it in the same manner. He went to Christman's Mill, on
Little Beaver Creek, in Pennsylvania, for seed, the round trip taking about a
week, but so rich was the soil that he raised 100 bushels of clean wheat from
four acres of ground. He and Joseph Harris raised in partnership, in 1805,
1,500 bushels of corn. In 1803 Elijah Mason cleared twenty-two acres of land
on Lot 23, Hiram Township, which he planted in wheat the same year. John
Campbell raised the first corn in Charlestown Township in 1805, having
removed there from Deerfield, where he first settled. In 1806 John and
George Haymaker sowed a small patch of corn on the bank of the Cuyahoga,
in Franklin Township, and the next year built a grist-mill on that stream.
Joel Baker put in a crop of corn and wheat on Lot 46, Shalersville Township,
in 1806. Eber Abbott planted the first corn and wheat in Edinburg Town-
ship in 1811. In the spring of that year Elijah and Oliver Alford aud Eben-
ezer O. and Nathan Messenger cleared small pieces of ground in Windham
Township, which they planted in corn. Wareham Loomis also put in a small
patch, and the same fall several acres of wheat were sown by the same parties
and other settlers who arrived during the summer. Benjamin Higley, one of
those who came to Windham that year, planted four acres of wheat on Lot 36,
and from three bushels sown he threshed out the following summer about 100
bushels, which fully demonstrates the original fertility of the soil of this
county.

The agricultural implements in use by the early settlers were very simple
and rude. The plow was made entirely of wood, except the share, clevis and
draft-rods, which were of iron, and had to be for a number of years transported
from Pittsburgh, as there were no iron works in the county where the plow-
shares could be foi'ged. The wooden plow was a very awkward implement,
very difficult to hold and h'ard for the team to draw. It was, however, very
generally used until the fall of 1824, when the cast-iron plow, patented by
Jethro Wood, was first brought into the county, though it did not gain popular
favor very rapidly. The farmer looked at it and was sure it would break the
first time it struck a stone or a root, and then how should he replace it? The
wooden mould-board would not break, and when it wore out he could take his
ax and hew another out of a piece of a tree. In no one agricultural implement
has there been more marked improvement than in the plow — now made of beau-
tifully polished cast-steel except the beam and handles, while in Canada and
some portions of the United States these, too, are manufactured of iron. The
cast-steel plow of the present manufacture, in its several sizes, styles and
adaptations to the various soils and forms of land, including the sulky or rid-
ing plow of the Western prairies, is among agricultural implements the most
perfect m use.

The pioneer harrow was simply the fork of a tree, with the branches on one
side cut close and on the other left about a foot long to serve the purpose of
teeth. In some instances a number of holes were bored through the beams
and dry wooden pins driven into them. It was not until about 1825 that iron
or steel harrow teeth were introduced into Portage County.

The axes, hoes, shovels and picks were rude and clumsy, and of inferior
utility. The sickle and scythe were at first used to harvest the grain and hay,
but the former gave way early to the cradle, with which better results could be

-f^---^ •■ SoBii

<^^y^/.<'

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 255

attained with less labor. The scythe and cradle have been replaced by the
mower and reaper to a great extent, though both are still used considerably in
this county.

The ordinary wooden flail was used to thresh grain until about 1830, when
the horse-power thresher was largely substituted. The method of cleaning
the chaflf from the grain by the early settlers, was by a blanket handled by two
persons. The grain and the chaff were placed on the blanket, which was then
tossed up and down, the wind separating a certain amount of the chaff from
the grain during the operation. Fanning-mills were introduced about 1820,
but the first of these were very rude and little better than the primitive
blanket. Improvements have been made from time to time until an almost
perfect separator is now connected with every threshing machine, and the work
of ten men for a whole season is done more completely by two or three men,
as many horses, and a patent separator, in one day. In fact, it is diflScult to
fix limitations upon improvements in agricultural machinery within the last
fifty years. It is, however, safe to say that they have enabled the farmer to
accomplish more than triple the amount of work with the same force in the
same time, and do his work better than before. It has been stated on compe-
tent aiithority that the saving effected by new and improved implements within
the last twenty years has been not less than one-half on all kinds of farm labor.

The greatest triumphs of mechanical skill in its application to agriculture
are witnessed in the plow, planter, reaper and separator, as well as in many
other implements adapted to the tillage, harvesting and subsequent handling
of the immense crops of the country. The rude and cumbrous implements of
the pioneers have been superseded by improved and apparently perfect machin-
ery of all classes, so that the calling of the farmer is no longer synonymous
with laborious toil, but is in many ways pleasant recreation.

The farmers of Portage County are not behind their neighbors in the
employment of improved methods and in the use of the best machinery. It is
true that in many cases they were slow to change, but much allowance should
be made for surrounding circumstances. The pioneers had to contend against
innumerable obstacles — with the wildness of nature, the jealous hostility of
the Indians, the immense growth of timber, the depredations of wild beasts
and the annoyance of the swarming insect life, and the great difficulty and
expense of procuring seeds and farming implements. These various difficul-
ties were quite sufficient to explain the slow progress made in the first years
of settlement. Improvements were not encouraged, while the pioneers gener-
ally rejected "book- farming" as unimportant and useless, and knew little of the
chemistry of agriculture. The farmer who ventured to make experiments, to
stake out new paths of practice, or to adopt new modes of culture, subjected
himself to the ridicule of the whole neighborhood. For many years the same
methods of farming were observed; the son planted as many acres of corn or
wheat as his father did, and in the same phases of the moon. All their prac-
tices were merely traditional; but within the last thirty years most remarkable
changes have occurred in all the conditions of agriculture in this country.

It is not, however, in grain-growing that Portage County has made its
most material progress. The natural adaptation of the soil to grass, and the
abundant supply of pure water, early attracted the attention of many progress-
ive farmers to the raising of daii-y stock, and the manufacture of butter and
cheese, which industries have increased until they are among the leading agri-
cultural pursuits, exceeding most other branches of farming in their impor-
tance and magnitude. Milch cows were brought into the county by many of
the very earliest settlers, and butter and cheese began to be manufactured for

256 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

market in a small way during the first quarter of the present century. The
business grew rapidly, and by 1850 nearly 2,000,000 pounds of cheese were
annually produced in Portage County, and butter and cheese became the great
staple products of the northern half of the county. Their regular manufacture
has since extended into several of ^the southern townships, though the latter
are more largely devoted to grain-growing. From 18G0 to 1864, inclusive,
Portage County ranked among the counties of the State respectively third and
fourth in its production of cheese and butter, annually averaging for those five
years 2,933,471 pounds of cheese, and 872,454 pounds of butter. In 1866 it
stood second in both products, having 3,115,728 pounds of cheese, and 833,988
pounds of butter. In 1870 it was third and fifth respectively, with 3,822,829
pounds of cheese, atid 916,376 pounds of butter. In 1871 it had 3,308,334
pounds of cheese, and 907,693 pounds of butter, being fourth and seventh
respectively in those products. In 1872 it produced 3,619,983 pounds of
cheese, and 906,995 pounds of butter, ranking fifth in both. In 1873 there
were turned out 948,964 pounds of butter, which was more than any other
county in the State, and 3,712,233 pounds of cheese, or the fifth in that article.
In 1874 this county's butter product heads the list with 1,062,043 pounds; and
it was the fourth cheese producing county, with 3,483,965 pounds. It ranked
respectively third and sixth, in butter and cheese, in 1875, turning out 955,-
817 pounds of the former, and 3,404,286 pounds of the latter product. In 1877
Portage manufactured 1,043,542 pounds of butter and 3,767,783 pounds of cheese,
ranking fifth in each. In 1878 its butter product stood fourth, and its cheese
product second in the list of counties, reporting 981,425 pounds of^the former,
and 4,170,339 pounds of the latter. Its butter product dropped in 1879 to
the ninth place, being 911,910 pounds, while its cheese production also
declined to less than one-half of the amount turned out the previous year, or
2,061,111 pounds, making Portage fifth in the list of cheese counties for that
year. Little change occurred for the succeeding two years, the county stand-
ing, in 1881, seventh in its butter product, with 962,970 pounds, and third in
its cheese product, having 2,798,722 pounds. In 1883 this county again took
the first place in its butter product, standing at the head of all the other coun-
ties, with 1,299,077 pounds, while its 2,645,115 pounds of cheese gave it fifth
place in the list of cheese producing counties. The statistics for 1884
have not yet (March 1885) been collected, but cheese dealers have informed
the writer that, on account of the long dry season, there will be a considerable
falling off in last year's product. The county now contains about thirty cheese
factories, located principally in the three northern ranges of townships, though
there are several in the southern section of the county.

Horses, cattle, sheep and hogs were brought into the county by the first
settlers, though they were usually of an ordinary breed, and very little was
done toward the improvement of farm stock for fifty years after the first set-
tlement was made. Mrs. Josiah Ward is credited with owning the first sheep
in Kandolph Township, which were brought in from the East in 1805. Her
husband having no money, was unable to purchase them, when she "took out
her stocking " and paid cash down for eight or ten of the drove standing in
front of their little cabin. She had saved up this money ere leaving her Con-
necticut home, to be used for that very purpose. Timothy Culver, also of
Raudolph Township, bought sixteen sheep about the same time, the seller to
receive as many more at a certain stated date; but the animals were kept near
the creek, and, in consequence of eating a poisonous plant, all but one died
the first winter. In 1806 John H. Whittlesey and Jeremiah Jones located in
Atwater Township, and soon afterward went to Georgetown, Penn., and pur-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 257

chased twelve sheep, which they brought to their homes in this county. On
getting the sheep here they discovered that they had no place to keep them
safe from the wolves during the coming night, but Mr. Whittlesey soon got
over the diflSculty by giving the animals a portion of his own kitchen. About
1807 John Campbell went to Pennsylvania and brought in some stock from
that State, which he distributed among the few settlers who were then finan-
cially able to purchase. In 1813 Erastus Carter bought six sheep of John
Campbell. They were watched through the daytime by his son Howard Car-
ter, who is yet living, and shut up at night in a log-stable. One night the
sheep were left out, and the wolves killed every one of them. The family
picked up the wool scattered around the remains, carded and spun it, and had
it woven into cloth, from which young Howard was made his first pair of woolen
pants since coming to Ohio several years before, buckskin being then the only
material generally in use for such garments.

The swine of the early settlers, compared with those they now possess, pre-
sent a very wide contrast, for whatever the breed may have been called, run-
ning wild, as was customary, the special breed was soon lost in the mixed swine
of the countiy. They were long and slim, long-snouted and long-legged, with
an arched back, and bristles erect from the back of the head to the tail, slab-
sided, active and healthy; the "sapling-splitter" or "razor back," as he was
called, was ever in the search of food, and quick to take alarm. He was capa
ble of making a heavy hog, but required two or more yeai's to mature, and
until a short time before butchering or marketing was suffered to run at large,
subsisting mainly as a forager, and in the fall fattening on the "mast" of the
forest. Yet this was the hog for a new country, whose nearest and best
markets were Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, to which points they were driven
on foot. Almost every farmer raised a few hogs for market, which were gath-
ered up by drovers and dealers during the fall and winter seasons. In no
stock of the farm have greater changes been effected than in the hog. From
the long-legged, long-snouted, slab-sided, I'oach-backed, tall, long, active,
wild, fierce and muscular, it has been bred to be almost as square as a store-
box and quiet as a sheep, taking on 250 pounds of flesh in ten months. They
are now ranked into distinctive breeds, the Berkshire and Chester White being
more extensively bred in Portage County than any other kind.

The following statistics, compiled from the Secretary of State's reports, will
furnish a good idea of the growth of the stock interests in Portage County for
the past forty- five years:

In 1840 the county contained 4,205 horses and mules, 25,308 cattle, 37,240
sheep and 11,074 hogs. In 1852, 4,795 horses, 27,526 cattle, 70,852 sheep,
5,537 hogs and 45 mules. From 1858 to 1864 inclusive, the annual average
was 8,063 horses, 33,927 cattle, 86,692 sheep, 7,875 hogs and 75 mules. In
1867 there were 7,439 horses, 27,823 cattle, 125,545 sheep, 7,769 hogs and 87
mules. In 1870, 6,373 horses, 26,696 cattle, 45,386 sheep, 6,421 hogs and 56
mules. In 1873, 7,887 horses, 34,706 cattle, 44,365 sheep, 5,565 hogs and 73
mules. In 1875, 8,359 horses, 26.466 cattle, 34,609 sheep, 4,648 hogs and 75
mules. In 1878, 7,886 horses, 29,968 cattle, 41,394 sheep, 9,162 hogs and 75
mules. In 1880, 7,557 horses, 28,702 cattle, 51,622 sheep, 6,895 hogs and 74
mules. In 1884 there were reported 9,327 horses, 30,049 cattle, 13,746 sheep,
29,185 hogs and 267 mules. The greatest noticeable changes will be found in
the sheep reports. From 1840 to 1867 there was a rapid increase of this
stock, numbering in the latter year 125,545 head, but from that date up to
1884 there was a var34ng decrease in numbers, until the difi'erence between
1867 and 1884 was over 100,000. While the number of horses and cattle

258 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

varied a few thousand back and forth, there were more than three times as
many hogs reported in 1883 and 1884 as in any other year since 1852. This
would indicate that hogs are rapidly taking the place of sheep on the farms of
Portage County, the raising of the latter having been almost abandoned because
of the rapid decline in the price of wool, caused by the reduction of the tariff
on that staple.

The leading staple crops of Portage County are wheat, corn, oats and hay.
From 1850 to 1864 inclusive, the annual average wheat and corn product was,
respectively, 149,084 and 358,094 Tjushels. The annual average product of
oats from 1858 to 1864 inclusive, was 240,233 bushels, while the annual hay
product for the same period was 44,711 tons. In 1866 there were raised in
this county 81,922 bushels of wheat, 456,667 bushels of corn, 309,381 bushels
of oats, and 49,913 tons of hay and clover. In 1870, 108,324 bushels of
wheat, 540,862 bushels of corn, 386,257 bushels of oats and 44,612 tons of
hay and clover. In 1875, 176,866 bushels of wheat, 736,112 bushels of corn,
502,288 bushels of oats and 33,914 tons of hay and clover. In 1880, 460,894
bushels of wheat, 450,822 bushels of corn, 429,735 bushels of oats and 40,138
tons of hay and clover. In 1883 (the last report published), there were raised
318,261 bushels of wheat, 159,751 bushels of corn (shelled), 540,464 bushels of
oats and 58,694 tons of hay and clover. The total annual average wheat- pro-
duct of this county from 1878 to 1882 inclusive was 352,251 bushels, and of
corn for the same period, 568,503 bushels.

The official valuation of property in Portage County, by decades, as
returned for taxation, will illustrate its steady increase in wealth and general
prosperity. In 1850 the total valuation was $5,926,727; 1860, $10,854,965;
1870, $14,228,943; 1880, $16,100,010.

Portage County Agricultural Societies. — There has been no agency that
has accomplished so much good for the farming intei'ests of this county as the
several agricultural societies of the past and present. Their influence began
sixty years ago, when, on the 9th of May, 1825, the " Portage County Agricult-
ural Society " was organized at the Court House in Ravenna, by the election
of the following officers: Joshua Woodward, President; Elias Harmon, First
Yice-President; Owen Brown, Second Vice-President; Frederick Wadsworth,
Corresponding Secretary; Samuel D. Harris, Recording Secretary; William
Coolman, Jr., Treasurer; Jonathan Sloane, Auditor. The society held its
first " agricultural fair and cattle show " at Ravenna, October 18, 1825.
Among the premiums we find one of $3, awarded to Seth Harmon for the best
crop of corn, he having raised one hundred bushels and one peck from one
acre of land. Fairs were held annually by the society at Ravenna until 1830,
when, although officers were elected, no fair was held, and the society went
out of existence.

On the 12th of March, 1839, the Ohio Assembly passed " an act to author-
ize and encourage the establishment of agricultural societies in the several
counties in this State, and to regulate the same;" and June 20, 1839, in
pursuance of notice given by the County Auditor, a meeting was held at the
Court House in Ravenna, for the purpose of organizing an agricultural society
in Portage County. William Wetmore was Chairman, and George Y. Wallace,
Secretary. It was resolved by the meeting to call the new institution the
" Portage County Agricultural Societj"-," and the following officers were chosen :
William Wetmore, President; Lorin Bigelow, Vice-President; George Y.
Wallace, Recording Secretary; Joseph Lyman, Corresponding Secretary; John
B. Clark, William Milliken and Oliver C. Dickinson, Executive Committee.
Their first fair was held at the Court House October 20 and 21, 1841, and was

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 259

quite a success. Successful fairs were also held at the same place in 1842,
1843 and 1844, but on account of a long drouth and consequent failure of
crops, none was held in 1845.

On the 27th of February, 1846, the Legislature passed " an act for the
encouragement of agriculture;" and April 1 and 2, 1846, the State Board of
Agriculture met at Columbus, Ohio, and adopted rules and regulations for the
government of county societies legally organized in harmony with this law.
A meeting was held at the Court House in Ravenna, for the purpose of organ-
izing a society under those rules, and to obtain the financial assistance from
the State, which the act promised. Greenbury Keen was called to the chair,
and Richard J. Thompson chosen Secretary. Enoch Johnson, Friend Cook,
Ralph Day, William Stedman and Richard J. Thompson were appointed a
committee to prepare a constitution for the society, which was subsequently
presented and adopted. The following officers were then elected: Richard J.
Thompson, President; J. G. Foley, Vice-President; Archibald Servoss, Secre-
tary; Enos P. Brainerd, Treasurer; William Stedman, Albert Austin, Charles
Button, William Milliken and Daniel W. Jennings, Executive Committee.
The thanks of the meeting were extended to Hon. William Wetmore, of the
Senate, and to Hons. David Mcintosh and Thomas C. Shreve, of the House,
for their exertions to procure the passage of the law for the promotion of
agriculture. Gen. Mcintosh was afterward President of the society for several
years, and in August, 1853, he and wife were presented by the society with a
massive silver salver, as an appropriate token of its appreciation of the efforts
both had always put forth to build up the interests of the institution.

The first fair of the new society was held at Ravenna, September 30 and
October 1, 1846, and though not so largely attended as expected, was never-
theless a very creditable exhibition. For several years the society held its
annual fairs in Ravenna, with no permanent grounds, but in 1859 it rented
about twenty acres of land east of Ravenna, and immediately south of the
present grounds, which were fitted up and used for twenty years. Prior to
1870 the financial affairs of the society had reached a low ebb, and the fair of
1869 was regarded as a failure in every sense. Many predicted that the soci-
ety would go under, and on the strength of this feeling an agricultural soci-
ety was organized at Garrettsville, with the expectation of taking its place.
But in the meantime Horace Y. Beebe, and a few other enterprising citizens,
" put their shoulders to the wheel," raised a subscription, paid off the debts
and got the institution once more " upon its legs," where it has since remained.
The lease of the old grounds expired in 1879, and the society obtained a
twenty years' lease of its present grounds, owned and previously fitted up by
the Ravenna Park Association, a coterie of horsemen who held annual races
and thus sought to encourage the growth of fine horses. On these grounds,
which contain twenty-two acres and a good half-mile track, the agricultural
society has erected a fine exhibition hall, offices, and cattle and sheep sheds,
besides having the right, under its lease, to the use of the stables, grand
stand, and other buildings of the Park Association, with exclusive control of
the grounds during the fair. It is generally admitted that the present pros-
perous condition of the society is largely due to the efforts of Horace Y.
Beebe, who has spared neither time nor labor to make the annual fairs a suc-
cess, and whose energy and business capacity, together with the earnest sup-
port of the Board and friends of the society, have enabled him to accomplish
what few men would have cared to undertake. Besides the annual fair at Gar-
rettsville, several other townships in the county hold township fairs, and while
any effort in that direction is laudable, it is, nevertheless, a positive fact that

260 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

those township societies detract much from the interest and usefulness of the
county organization, and had, therefore, better be abolished. The membership
of the society is now about 600, and its present officers are N. S. Olin, Presi-
dent; R. S. Elkins, Vice-President; E. R. Wait, Treasurer; K. S. Wing, Sec-
retary; C. C. Gardner, William Bergen, S N. Andrews, W. W. Stevens, Simon
Perkins, A. N. Farr, Franklin Willard, F. R. Coit, H. O. Hine and Smith
Sanford, Directors.

The Portage County Horticultural Society was organized in February, 1879,
with fourteen charter members, most of whom were men who put their hands
to the plow without any intention of looking back. The society has experi-
enced unexpected prosperity, and contains at this writing 250 members, who
pay an annual fee of $1. It has never failed to hold its regular monthly
meeting, and the attendance has always been encouraging and generally large.
The social feature of the meetings, which are held at the residences of the
members, is good remuneration for the expense and trouble incurred, while the
interest stimulated in horticulture has been rapidly increasing, as is plainly
evident throughout the county in improved yards, orchards and gardens.
The present officers of the society are Horace Y, Beebe, President; R. S.
Elkins, Vice-President; Andrew W^illson, Secretary; C. L. Bartlett, Treasurer;
C. C. Gardner, A. J. Jennings and John Meharg, Executive Committee. The
same President and Seci'etary have held those positions since the organization
of the society. The officers and members of the Agricultural Society recog-
nize the aid of the Horticultural Society in reviving the county fairs, and
making them truly successful. In many ways the society is exerting a whole-
some influence. The membei's feel that what has been done is but a prophecy
of what may be accomplished, and are generally anxious to make the Bociety
as helpful to the purpose of its organization as is possible.

CHAPTER VI.

First Military Organization on the Western Reserve— War of 1812 and
First Call for Volunteers— John Harmon's Recollections of the War
— Second Regiment Ohio Militia— Capt. John Campbell's Company of
Volunteers— Camp on Barrel Run— March to Cleveland, and Embark-
ation for Lower Sandusky— Description OF the Trip and Arrival —
Incidents at the Fort, and Sickness Among the Soldiers —Departure
FOR THE River Raisin— Hull's Surrender— Start for Malden, and
Arrival at that Point— Paroled Prisoners— Return Home of the
Sick and Paroled Men— Deaths in the Command— Alarm Caused by the
Surrender— Regimental Record of the Second Regiment— Response to
A Call for Troops in 1813— Mr. Harmon's Concluding Remarks— The
Inhabitants of Portage County Fear an Indian Invasion— Distressing
Incident of the War— Re-organization of the Militia— Muster Days
AND Sham Fights.

THE first military organization on the Western Reserve was effected under
the general militia law of Ohio, passed at the Legislative session of
1803-04. The State was divided into four divisions, the Fourth Division
embracing the whole eastern portion thereof, from Lake Erie to the Ohio
Rivei'. Elijah Wadsworth was elected Major-General of that division, and
issued his first order April 6, 1804. His division was divided into two
brigades and five regiments. The First Brigade, Ohio militia, comprised the

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 261

male inhabitants of naiiitary age inside the limits of Trumbull County, which
then embraced the territory now in Portage, as well as all the country west of this
county to the western limits of the Reserve. The brigade was divided into the
First and Second Regiments, the north line of Township 5 being the dividing line
between those forming the respective commands. The Second Regiment was
divided into two battalions, and the Second Battalion into four companies.

The First Company included the present townships of Berlin and Milton,
Mahoning County, and Deerfield, Palmyra, Paris, Charlestown, Edinburg
and Atwater Townships, Portage County, and was called the " Deerfield Com-
pany." The Second Company included the present townships of Randolph,
Rootstown, Ravenna, Franklin, Brimtield and Suffield, and was called th©
" Rootstown Company. " The Third Company included the present town-
ships of Windham, Nelson, Garrettsville, Hiram, Freedom, Shalersville, Man-
tua, Aurora and Streetsboro, and the Fourth Company included all of the
remaining territory of the Reserve west of the present western boundary of
Portage County. On the 7th of May, 1804, elections for ofi&cers were held in
the four companies, resulting as follows: First Company — Henry Rogers,
Captain; John Diver, Lieutenant; John Campbell, Ensign. Second Company
— Thomas Wright, Captain; William Chard, Lieutenant; David Morse,
Ensign. Third Company — Ezra Wyatt, Captain; Gersham Judson, Lieuten-
ant; Thomas Kennedy, Ensign. Fourth Company — John Oviatt, Captain;.
Aaron Norton, Lieutenant; James Walker, Ensign. On the 24th of Septem-
ber following, Henry Rogers, Captain of the First Company, was elected
Major of the battalion. The names of most of the officers of those four com-
panies will be recognized as those of leading pioneers of Portage County, but
as elections were held annually their places were subsequently tilled by others
who are equally well remembered as prominent early settlers of this section of
the State.

With the rapid growth of population and the organization of new counties,
among which was Portage, in 1808, some changes occurred in the boundaries
of the territory from which the Second Regiment was originally raised, while
the number of brigades in the Fourth Division was increased to four, and
other regiments formed from the additional brigades. A few years passed by
and the sound wisdom of these militia organizations became very apparent.
The war of 1812 was brought on by the arrogant claims of the English Gov-
ernment, and the citizen soldiers of Portage County were among the first to
respond to their country's call. In response to a call from Gov. Meigs for sol-
diers to defend the frontier, Capt. John Campbell's company of riflemen was
organized May 23, 1812, of volunteers from the Second Regiment, Ohio Mili-
tia. Soon after the declaration of war, June 18, 1812, this company received
orders to meet at the house of Capt. Campbell, July 1, and on that day
pitched their tents of homespun linen sheets on the bank of Barrel Run, near
the home of Capt. Campbell. The command had no uniforms, but each man
was "armed to the teeth" with a rifle, a tomahawk, and a large knife. It soon
afterward started for the frontier, and was encamped on the River Raisin at
the time of Hull's surrender, and therefore included in that disgraceful and
cowardly capitulation.

Fifteen years ago the late John Harmon, Esq., of Ravenna, who was a
member of this company, compiled an article entitled "Recollections of the
War of 1812, " which was published in the Portage County Democrat, March
2, 3870. The writer deems this historic sketch of sufficient importance to be
worthy of preservation in the pages of this work. Mr. Harmon rendered
the present and future generations a great service by rescuing from obliviou

262 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

and placing on record important events connected with a very interesting
period of our national history; but more especially are these reminiscences
invaluable to the people of Portage County. None of the pioneers of this
county who participated in the war of 1812 are left to tell the story of their
trials and hardships, and without these reminiscences, so fortunately prepared
by Mr. Harmon, it would be utterly impossible at this late day to obtain any
reliable data treating of military events in this portion of Ohio during that
momentous period.

Recollections of the War of 1812. * — In compliance with the expressed wishes
of some valued friends, and more particularly at the recent solicitation of the
officers of the Western Reserve Historical Society, I will endeavor to write for
publication some account of the campaign of Capt. Campbell's Volunteer
Company of 1812, of which I was an humble member. To aid me in this task,
I have a brief diary journal, kept at that time, and a brief record of our
organization in the book of Regimental Records of the regiment from which
our company was raised. But for much that I have to record, I have to rely
on memory, and I fear my task, performed at my time of life, and after a lapse
of more than iifty-seven years from the time the events occurred of which I
write, will not be acceptably recorded. But, as few of the actors of those days
now remain to tell their tales, and fewer still are disposed to transmit our his-
tory to the present young, and the coming generations, I have been induced to
commence the task, and present the record first to the people of the locality
where our company was best known, and through the medium of the local press
of Portage County.

In 1812 the able bodied white male inhabitants between the ages of eight-
een and forty-five, residing on the three eastern tiers of townships of the
present county of Portage, and subject to military duty, constituted the Sec-
ond Regiment, Fourth Brigade, Fourth Division, Ohio Militia, and were com-
manded by Col. John Campbell, then residing on the corners of the four town-
ships of Ravenna, Rootstown, Charlestown and Edinburg, a place since called
Campbellsport. This regiment consisted of two battalions, of four militia
companies each. Those residing in Mantua constituted the First Company,
First Battalion. Nelson, Hiram and Windham constituted the Second Com-
pany, First Battalion. Ravenna and Charlestown constituted the Third Com-
pany, First Battalion. Shalersville constituted the Fourth Company, First
Battalion. Deerfield and Atwater constituted the First Company, Second
Battalion. Rootstown constituted the Second Company, Second Battalion.
Palmyra and Paris constituted the Third Company, Second Battalion. Ran-
dolph constituted the Fourth Company, Second Battalion.

It appears that about the middle of May, 1812, Col. Campbell received
orders from Got. Meigs to raise soldiers from his regiment for the defense of
the frontiers; but the number to be raised does not appear on record, but, on
the Military Record Book, page 26, we find the following:

" At a special meeting of the officers of the Second Regiment, Fourth Bri-
gade, Fourth Division, of Ohio Militia, holden at Ravenna, the 19th day of
May, 1812, for raising soldiers.

"Officers present. — Col. John Campbell, Maj. Stephen Mason, Maj. Thad-
deus Andrews.

" Captains. — Alva Day, Joshua Woodward, Asa K. Burroughs.

"Lieut. Isaac Merriman, for Capt. Timothy Culver's Company.

"Lieut. John Redden, for Capt, Delaun Mills' Company.

* By the late' John Harmon, Esq.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 265

"Commandants of Companies. — Lieut, Oliver Snow, Lieut. John Caris,
Lieut. Charles Gilbert.

"Ordered — That the regiment meet at Ravenna on the 23d inst., at 10
o'clock A. M.

"Orders given to Majors Mason and Andrews."

Then follow on the record several pages of "class rolls" of the regi-
ment, with the name and class, as it purports, of every man of the regiment
subject to military duty, comprising all able-bodied white males between the
ages of eighteen and forty-five, residing in the bounds of the regiment, which
we omit at present. At this time, and previous, Robert Campbell was Clerk
of the regiment, but much of the records appear to be in the hand- writing of
the late Col. Stephen Mason. On page 30 is recorded the appointment of
Charles Curtis, of Charlestown, as Quartermaster of the regiment, and Fred-
erick Wadsworth, Clerk of the regiment, dated 26th of May, 1812. I find no
record of the mustering of the regiment "to raise soldiers," and here have to
tax my memory.

According to orders the regiment met at Ravenna, May 23, and on being
paraded in line, the Colonel informed us that he had orders from the Governor
to raise soldiers from this regiment for the defense of the frontiers, and that
unless a company of fifty would volunteer, a draft must be made; that if
fifty men would volunteer, they could by law elect their own officers; but
if a draft had to be made, they would be commanded probably by strangers.
He advised us to volunteer, and urged in a short speech, and Charles Shaler,
then a young lawyer, since Judge Shaler, of Pittsburgh, a son of Nathaniel
Shaler, of Middletown, Conn., the proprietor of Shalersville, being present,
entertained us with a patriotic speech.

It was then announced, as the musicians stepped out before the regiment,
that all who would volunteer should step forward and follow the music.
Immediately volunteers began to show themselves, stepping to the front, to
the music of the drum and fife. Among the first were Col Campbell, Capt.
Alva Day, Lieut. John Caris and Samuel Redfield. The last-mentioned was, I
believe, the first to follow the music. The little squad thus formed continued
passing to and fro before the regiment, its members constantly accumulating,
until it was announced that the fifty were on hand, and one more. During
the suspense before the required number were on hand, some one announced
that he saw a star in our horizon, a star of promise, may be, on which George
Grant Redden, of Hiram, declared if he could see the star, he too
would volunteer, and on it being shown him he immediately volunteered.
As it was a clear day, numbers of us saw the bright star. We were
then marched to the south side of the Court House, and our names were taken
by one of our number, Ralph Buckland — father of Hon. Ralph P. Buckland,
late a member of Congress from the Ninth (Fremont) District, Ohio. This
done, we were fully engaged, and it was debated when and where we would
elect our company officers, and determined to proceed immediately, same
evening, at the house of William Tappan, which we accordingly did. That
house, one of the first frame structures built in Ravenna, was burned a few
years ago. It stood on the ground now occupied by the Phoenix Block, north-
east of the Court House square. The same room where the votes were taken
was afterward used as a printing office, from which, in 1834-35, The Western
Courier was issued.

The following "roll of volunteers" and list- of officers elected is copied
from Regimental Records, page 30, the record found in the hand-writing of
the late Frederick Wadsworth, Esq. I add only their respective residences:

266 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

OFFICERS.

John Campbell, Captain, Campbellsport.

Alva Day, Lieutenant, Deerfield.

John Caris, Second Lieutenant, Rootstown.

Aaron Weston, Ensign, Kavenna.

Lewis Day, Jr., First Sergeant, Deertield.

John Wright, Second Sergeant, Rootstown.

Ralph Buckland, Third Sergeant, Ravenna.

Lewis Ely, Jr., Fourth Sergeant, Deeriield.

Charles (Jhittenden, First Corporal, Atwater.

John Harmon, Second Corporal, Mantua.

Daniel Burroughs, Jr., Third Corporal, Shalersville.

John Turner, Fourth Corporal, Rootstown.

David Jones, Drummer, Randolph.

James Magill, Fifer, Palmyra.

PRIVATES.

William Tappan, Ravenna; Samuel Redfield, Randolph; David Moore,
Ravenna; Samuel C. Thompson, Ravenna; Benjamin Bradley, Shalersville;
William Thornton, Randolph; John McManus, Ravenna; William Ward,
Ravenna; Harry O. Pettibone, Mantua; Enos Harmon, Mantua; Chauncey
Newberry, Rootstown; Robert Campbell, Ravenna; John Sabin, Randolph;
Samuel Bartlett, Rootstown; Samuel Tuthill, Rootstown; John Shaler, Charles-
town; Ebenezer Tibballs, Deerfield; John Smith, Mantua; Peter Tyrrel,
Ravenna; Philip AVillyard, Rootstown; Zacheas Harmon, Mantua; Ebenezer
Buckley, Palmyra; Abiram Amidon, Rootstown; James Ray, Jr., Mantua;
Mark Moore, Mantua; George G. Redden, Hiram; Job Thompson, Jr., Shalers-
ville; William Coolman, Jr., Shalersville; Henry Root, Rootstown; Samuel
Hartle, Rootstown; Oliver Newberry, Rootstown; Joseph Fisher, Palmyra;
Charles Carter, Ravenna; Enoch Judson, Mantua; Nathan Chapman, Roots-
town; Joel Underwood, Palmyra; Charles Reed, Deerfield; Seth Day, Deer-
field.

Seth Day did not at first volunteer, but joined us at the rendezvous, and
acted as Clerk for the oflScers until taken sick.

Of the foregoing roll, Charles Reed, William Tappan, John Sabin, John
Shaler, Nathan Chapman, Enoch Judson, Joseph Fisher, Oliver Newberry,
Benjamin Bradley and Samuel Bartlett, and I think also Ebenezer Tibballs,
failed to march to the frontier, but several furnished substitutes, to- wit: Miles
Allen took the place of John Sabin; William Maxfield took the place of Nathan
Chapman; Nathan Cross that of Joseph Fisher; John Jacobs that of Enoch
Judson; John Williams that of Charles Reed; Richard Redden that of Ben-
jamin Bradley. Thomas Rowley substituted for some one, and several shirked
the service. Joseph DeW^olf and David Thompson, of Ravenna, I believe,
both volunteered, but their names do not appear on the record. It was said
that DeWolf, being the only physician in Ravenna, could not be spared from
the place, and Thompson was detained by the condition of his family. Our
company being thus organized, we were permitted to return to our homes, with
the injunction oto meet again on short notice and to bring with us arms and
equipments for a war campaign; and we were urged to provide ourselves with
rifles if possible.

On the 18th of June following. Congress passed a formal declaration of
war against Great Britain, and soon thereafter we were severally summoned to
meet on the 1st day of July, at the residence of Capt. Campbell. The com-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 267

pany accordingly met at the time and place appointed, established some tem-
porary camps on the bottom lands of the Mahoning (west branch) and Barrel
Run, near to Capt. Campbell's residence, in a pleasant natural bower. All, I
believe, came provided with arms and equipments, and most of us brought
rifles. We there found, besides our officers, a committee appointed to appraise
our equipments, as by law provided, that if lost we could claim and obtain
their value from the Government. On July 2 our arms were appraised; and
I find on record a detailed statement of each article furnished by each person,
set to their respective names, and signed by the appraisers, Charles Curtis,
Erastus Carter and Stephen Mason. The details I omit — the whole amount
of the appraisement as stated is $912.66. We had to wait some days for
supplies to be collected by our Captain, who had been authorized, as he said,
by the Governor for that purpose. On July 4 our Captain gave the company
an Independence dinner, which was well relished and appreciated; and in the
evening we enjoyed ourselves at our camps, and some patriotic soncrs were

On July 5, which was Sunday, there was something of an assemblage of
people, from the neighboring townships, at our rendezvous in the bower, and
the two old Congregational pioneer preachers. Rev. John Seward (then of
Aurora, now a venerable resident of Tallmadge), and Rev. Harvey Coe, of
Trumbull County — I believe Hartford — and I believe since deceased, addi'essed
us and the people in the grove very appropriately, and prayed with us. On
the next day, July 6, in the afternoon, the company commenced their march
for the frontier; camped the first night at Roundy's Inn, near the southwest
corner of Ravenna, on the old State Road from Youngstown to the Portage-
That road is said to be the first road laid out on the Western Reserve. The
second day's march was only to Hudson, and camped near the residence of
David Hudson, Esq. At the end of the third day's march they encamped at
the crossing of Tinker's Creek near the west line of Bedford. The tavern
there was, I believe, kept by Noble. On the fourth day from our rendez-
vous, July 9, the company arrived at " the City," as the site of the present
city of Cleveland was then called to distinguish it from "the settlement**
part of Cleveland township, which then included what is now Newburg.
Those of us whose homes were in Mantua had by permission passed that way
to Cleveland, and were there in waiting when the company arrived, having
made quicker time, not being impeded by the slow pi'ogress of the baggage
wagons. Cleveland was then but a small place. I had been somewhat famil-
iar there and can recollect of scarce a dozen families resident there at that
time. There were two taverns, Carter's and Wallace's, and I believe three
stores. Perry's, Murray's, and Hanchett's, which last mentioned, Hanchett's,
was nearly sold out. The company encamped on the north side of Superior
Street, among the bushes, east of Perry's store.

The next day, July 10, afternoon, we embarked on board of two boats for
Lower Sandusky, as the stockade was then called, where is now the flourish-
ing little city of Fremont. One of our boats was known as Babcock's, the
other as Smith's. The first day we made only seven miles, to the mouth of
Rocky River. From our encampment on the beach, east side of the mouth of
Rocky River, we embarked early the following morning and arrived at the
mouth of Black River about noon, and the lake being rough, we encamped
with our boats in a safe harbor on the west side, in the mouth of Black River,
near the residence of John S. Reid, whom I had known, when a few years pre-
vious he had resided some three or four miles from Cleveland on the Newburg
road. Embarked early, July 12, and arrived about the middle of the day at

268 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Sandusky Bay, and stopped at a blockhouse on the north side of the bay, on
the Peninsula of Danbury. I understood it was called Maj. Parson's block-
house, and I think it was nearly opposite to where I have since found San-
dusk}^ City. We saw no settlement here, and saw no settler that I remember
but one, Capt. Charles Parker, who came from the south side of the bay,
where I understood he resided. He was the same who was a pioneer in
Geauga (now Lake County), at Mentor. I had known him there when he was
acting Sheriff of Geauga County in 1806 and after. We had met and passed
a sail boat at a distance, just before entering the bay, which was I think the
only craft we had seen on our way. Those of us on Babcock's boat spent the
night in the block-house; Smith's boat anchored out in the bay.

On the 13th of July both boats proceeded up the bay, and up the Sandusky
River, slowly, passing some prairies but no white settlement, and moving so
slowly that some of us walked along shore part of the way. While walking
we passed over the stubble of Indian corn patches of the previous years, and
on the way fell in with a venerable and good-looking old Indian, known
to some of our comrades as Sagaman, an old chief who had in previous years
had his camps in Portage County, and had been a good kind neighbor to the
first settlers of Mantua, in the winter of 1799-1800, and helped them to meat,
at fair rates of exchange, for pumpkins and other small articles. He was still
friendly, while Wilson and other Indians had left us and gone to the British.
We arrived at Widow Whittaker's, on the west side, where we found an
improved farm, surrounded by timber land. This was said to be three miles
by water from our destination, the fort or stockade of Lower Sandusky, as it
was called.

On July 14 we proceeded up the river, and landed on the west side below
the rapids, about half a mile from the fort, marched up, and were admitted
into the garrison, where we found Capt. Norton, with his company of about
fifty volunteer riflemen from Delaware County, Ohio. The fort was a stockade
of log pickets, cut about twelve feet, and set upright, with a shallow ditch
enclosing about an acre. Within were one or two small houses, in one of which
was kept the United States store and Indian agency. The Indian Agent, Mr.
Varnum, was said to be a son of Hon. Joseph B. Varnum, of Massachusetts,
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1807 to 1811.
We found him a very pleasant, gentlemanly young man. The fort was some
thirty rods west of the river, at the rapids, and on the nearest high land was
an open country with a few scattering oak trees about it on the north, and oak
woods at the west, a large cornfield on the east side of the river on the bottom
land, and a log-house on the first rise of land east of the cornfield. That was
all the farming or farm houses I saw in that region.

The barracks or soldiers' quarters, we found not very commodious, but
sufficient for summer quarters. They consisted of bark or puncheon, laid up
with two sides seven or eight feet long and five or six feet wide, backed
against the pickets and open in front where we built our cooking fires, having
to go in the woods and pack the little fuel we used. We had only the ground
to lie on till we peeled some oak bark for a floor, and for our Jjeds we stripped
foliage from the hazel bushes, as straw was not to be had.

We saw very few persons here, whites or Indians, except soldiers. Our
business was, besides our daily parade, to dig a well and build block-houses.
We had got a well dug about twenty feet deep, when an Indian was brought
there charged with horse stealing, I believe, from Mrs. Whittaker. He was
confined some days in our dry well, until a council was held with the Indians
of Seneca Town, an Indian village several miles up the river, at which they

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 269

agreed to furnish a good dressed beef for the garrison, and our prisoner was
released, and a fine, fat, well-dressed heifer was furnished for the gari'ison,
and the horse was restored. The fresh beef was well relished indeed, after we
had been kept on salt pork and bread so long, but so many of the garrison
were soon taken sick, that we suspected the Indians of poisoning the beef.

We had not yet finished our well or our block-house, when on July 21, orders
were received from Gen. Hull, at Detroit, by our Captain, to march there with
his and Rowland's companies to join the main army. With these orders,
sent by a Capt. Curtis, came also some money to our Captain to pay for the
supplies he had obtained for us; but no money came to pay soldiers. On July
22 Capt. Campbell started for Portage County, to pay those from whom
he had obtained our supplies, leaving orders to make all ready while he should
be absent. On July 29 Capt. Campbell returned, accompanied by Capt.
Rowland, of the Columbiana County Volunteers, who came in advance of his
company. About the same time nearly all the garrison were taken sick with'
diarrhoea and fever. Some were entirely disabled, others were just able to
walk about. Capt, Rowland's company arrived at the fort by water,
August 2, and on the 4th both companies started by water down the river,
halted at Mrs. Whittaker's, stayed over night, and remained next day to attend
to the sick, of whom Capt. Campbell and Seth Day were very low.

On the 6th Rowland's company started by land up the lake toward
Detroit, and with them Lieut. Caris, who was detailed with a squad of eleven
men to guard the post and stores at Maumee. Of that squad I only remem-
ber the names of Sergt. Ely, Samuel Hartle, Henry Root and John Jacobs.
The last mentioned died there some time after. The same day Capt. Camp-
bell, with the remainder of our company, went by boat down the river and bay
from Mrs. Whittaker's to the Parson's Block-house, on Danbury Peninsula.
Next day, August 7, Capt. Campbell and Seth Day, being much worse than
others of the company, were aided on board John Wallace's boat, and started
down the lake for Cleveland, with one attendant, Philip Willyard; and Lieut.
Day and the balance of the company started west for the River Raisin,
on Babcock's boat, the same boat we came up the lake on near a month before.

From Sandusky Bay we sailed day and night till we arrived near the mouth
of the River Raisin on the forenoon of August 7, where we were hindered
some hours among the bulrushes and flags, hunting the channel, which we
finally found, and proceeded up the river a mile or two, and arrived at the
settlement of Frenchtown about noon, stopping at Godfrey's unfinished frame
house on our right bank, about noon. There we stayed over night, and next
day on an alarm of "Indians coming" we moved on to the garrison, about a
half mile up the river, on same side. Next day, August 10, we moved to other
quarters, some of the sick to a vacant log-house on the south side of the river,
others to Capt. Downing's, a kind, good family, nearly a mile above the gar-
rison. There Lieut. Day. Sergt. Day, Sergt. Wright and John McManus,
who were our sickest, with Ensign Weston and John Smith to attend
them, were located with that kind family. The log- house Avhere the
most of us were located stood alone, had a good spring and timber near, and
not far from the river, and I think it was there, some forty years after, I found
the flourishing city of Monroe, Mich. We remained at those places nearly
all sick, but most of us able to walk about, until an alarm of Indians coming
to attack us, on August 14, when, though the alarm proved a false one,
all who occupied the log- house went to the garrison, where we stayed till
Monday, the 17th, when Capt. Elliott, a British officer, and a few attend-
ants, white and red, with a flag of truce, came to the garrison, demanding its

270 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

surrender, hrin':^ing also the articles of capitulation of Detroit and the army
under Geu Hull, including also all who were on the way to join his army,
which included our garrison. This, so unexpected, was indeed a damper on
ns all, as the last we had heard of Hull's army was by a hand-bill announcing
his successful invasion of Canada. The flag party was placed under guard,
and a council of officers met in a marquee of the Chillicothe Cavalry Company,
a company just arrived, escorting a drove of beef cattle for Detroit, said to be
about one hundred head, for the army. The marquee was outside the front
gate of the garrison, and I was enabled to observe the discussions of the
officers, of whom Capt. Brush, of the Chillicothe Cavalry, was or assumed
to be the senior officer, and of the others I only knew Lieut. Creighton,
of the same company. Maj. Anderson, of the local militia of the Territory,
was near by on horseback, a good-looking officer, but I understood was not
admitted in council because of suspicions that the local militia were not loyal
to our side.

The genuineness of the articles of capitulation brought by Elliott were
questioned, and, as I understood, declared to be a forgery and a trick to trap
us. Finally Elliott and attendants were imprisoned in the block- house,
near the front gate of the garrison, where we left them when we retired for
the night. That night we slept at Lacelle's Mill, just above the garrison,
and the next morning we found that the Chillicothe Cavalry and their drove
of beeves were gone, and a number of our company also had gone homeward.
I had left my rifle standing in the corner of the mill that night, but in the
morning it was gone also, and some of my comrades suggested that it was
taken by one who would carry it back to Portage County and keep it from the
British. The same night Sergt. John Wright died at Captain Downing's,
and was buried by his friends before morning. Our company was thus reduced
to twenty-six men. The policy of leaving for home that night had been dis-
cussed, and those who felt able and were so disposed, had gone; but some
were not able to go, and some who went were scarcely able to endure such a
journey. For my part, I thought there was more danger in running away
than in quietly submitting to be prisoners of war. Besides I was feeble, and
liad two older brothers along not as able as myself — one of them very feeble.
We therefore submitted to the yoke, and stayed where we were, till August
25. Meantime the Indians circulated freely among us, but olfered no violence
to any that I heard of. One, however, meeting our comrade, John Smith, on
the road, demanded his watch, which he was obliged to give up. The watch
belonged to Lieut. Day, whom Smith was attending in his sickness, at
Capt. Downing's. One Indian also stopped at Downing's, where our sickest
friends were, and demanded of Lieut. Day his nice castor hat, and took
it, leaving one that had been a poorer fur hat, but now, being wet with rain,
was slouched down like a rag.

August 25 a British officer, whom we understood to be Capt. Elliott,
and a squad of soldiers, came and took twenty one of us in a small open row
boat to Maiden, and, at the same time, gave permission and a pass to live
others, who had made arrangements to go by boat to Cleveland. Those five
were Job Thompson, Jr., Daniel Burroughs, Jr., William Coolman, Jr., William
Maxfield and Ebenezer Buckley, who, with a Mr. Lewis, and another man and
their families, had prepared a boat, and all started down the river and lake
the same day we went to Fort Maiden. Of their journey down the lake to
Cleveland, friend William Coolman, not long before his death, gave me a
brief narrative, which will be referred to hereafter. Since his death, which
occurred December 15, 18C9, there are, as I believe, but two of our company
left — Samuel liedtield and the writer of this article.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 271

Our small company of twenty-one, under our British conductors, arrived
at Maiden, from Raisin, the same day, August 25, and were quartered at a
large and long building, on a beautiful open plain and lawn, just above and
near the fort and town. This was the Indian Council House, and there
appeared to be thousands of Indians swarming in the open plain back of the
town and fort, and in plain sight of the Council House; and with us were quar-
tered fifty-one other prisoners, mostly sick and wounded of Hull's army. There
our beloved Orderly Sergeant, Lewis Day, Jr., breathed his last, on the morn-
ing after our arrival, August 26. August 27 our little company, now reduced
to twenty, were permitted to remove from the crowded Council House and
occupy a small house in town, back of the fort, where we spent the few
remaining days of our captivity in Canada. While there we were guarded by
a British sentinel at the door, as we had been also at the Council House, but
one day the sentinel permitted an Indian to enter among us, who drew his
knife and dashed about, apparently to frighten us, jabbering his Indian in a
threatening tone, striking some, but not extremely hard. Zacheas Harmon,
who was so feeble as to be hardly able to walk, Mr. Indian struck in the breast,
and knocked down with his right hand, in which he held his knife, but with
the hilt of the knife. He was soon induced by the sentinel to leave. We saw
there several Indians well known in Portage County. I saw two in town I
had known in Mantua. One of them was well known throughout that country
— George Vincent, alias Wilson.

August 29, about sunset, we were embarked on board a small vessel, to be
paroled and sent home, in company with about thirty other prisoners, the
most of whom were sick. On the dock, as we were going on board, were
some officers, apparently superintending our departure, among whom was one
large and noble looking man, apparently fifty years old, whom we were told
was Gen. Brock. Another, a short, thick- set fellow, of not a very pre-
possessing appearance, and apparently past sixty, was said to be Simon Girty,
noted in Indian war annals. We were rejoiced to be thus starting for home,
and dropped down to the mouth of Detroit River the same night, about two and
a half miles distant. The next day we sailed slowly with light wind, and after
midnight, anchored just west of Put-in-Bay Islands. Next day, August
31, a light wind wafted us on to near the mouth of Black River before day on
the 1st of September, and we landed in Cleveland about sunset of the same day.

The following are the names of those twenty paroled prisoners of our
company, according to my recollection, who landed at Cleveland September 1,
from the cartel sloop: »

Lieut. Alva Day. Harry O. Pettibone.

Ensign Aaron Weston. Zacheas Harmon.

Sergt. Ralph Buckland. Enos Harmon.

Corporal Charles Chittenden. John Harmon.

Corporal John Turner. Mark Moore.

John Smith. Samuel C. Thompson.

Samuel Redfield. Samuel Tuthill.

George G. Redden. James Magi 11.

Richard Redden. David Jones.

James Ray, Jr. John McManus.

Of the five comrades we parted with August 25, at Frenchtown, on River
Raisin, as we started for Maiden, friend Coolman informed me, the last con-
versation I had with him, which was December 4, 1869, that they started the
same day, in a boat provided by a Mr. Lewis and another man, whose name
I forget, who were going down with their families to escape from the British

272 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

and Indians; that Job Thompson, Jr., the only well one of the Shalers-
ville boys, engaged a passage with them for himself and comrades, and
helped to get the boat out of the mud, where it had been left abandoned,
assisted to caulk and otherwise repair it; that as they were about to start, Eben-
ezer Buckley and William Maxfield joined them; that they were much hindered
by adverse winds on their passage down the lake; and finally, at some place
near Black River, out of patience with waiting for weather, they left the boat
and endeavored to walk, but made poor headway, when Mr. Mygatt, of Can-
field, on horseback, overtook them, and carried a message to friends at Cleve
land, who, with wagons, met and helped them into Cleveland, where they ar-
rived, he believed, September 2. Of the journey home of Lieut. Caris and his
squad from Maumee, where they were stationed, and of those who left French-
town on foot, I have but little information, except that in going through the
Maumee Swamp, as that part of Wood and Sandusky Counties between Fort
Meigs and Sandusky River was then called, they, at times, nearly gave out,
and one, I think it was William Ward, sat down at one time and gave up, till
a comrade came along and cheered him up and helped him along. Many of
us then had chills or ague. We were from thirty to fifty-five miles from oar
homes, but on arriving in Cleveland we found friends, a very convenient circum-
stance, as we discovered for those who had no money, as was the case with all or
nearly all of us, except Lieut. Day, and I think he had not much. Landlord
Carter entertained all free who called there. Cousin Hiram Hanchett and his
kind wife— since Mrs. Andrew Johnson, of Boston — entertained the Harmons,
W. W. Williams entertained the Reddens, and Samuel S. Baldwin fed some
of us; but all got started home soon except Lieut. Alva Day, Seth Day and
John McManus, who were very dangerously sick, and, I have understood, were
kindly nursed and cared for at Judge Kingsbury's, till they were able to be
conveyed home. John Turner, too, was very sick, and died on the way, per-
haps at Judge Kingsbury's, but I believe I heard it said he died at Noble's,
at the crossing of Tinker's Creek. Of the fifty or fifty- one who went out so
cheerily together, eleven or twelve died within the year, among whom, besides
those before mentioned, were, I believe. Ensign Weston, Sergt. Buckiand, Cor-
poral Chittenden, Mark Mooi-e, Robert Campbell, David Jones, and Samuel
Tuthill.

Of the rest, as far as I know, but one is left now, besides the writer of
this. That one, Mr. Redfield, aids me with some information for this com-
munication, and though about seventy- six years of age, appears likely to
endure yet many years, though he has lately lost the partner of his youth,
and of more than half a century. Although we were so unfortunate as to con-
tract sickness, and did little toward the defense of the frontier, it was because
we had no opportunity, having been captured before we saw the enemy. We
at least showed a willingness to do our duty in defense of our homes. We
had a very good and pleasant set of officers, and there formed friendships for
each other which have been pleasant and enduring. For our services and our
arms we were paid after years of waiting.

Having brought to a close my narrative of the volunteering, organizing,
adventures, inglorious capture, parole and return home of our company — the
first military company ever raised in this part of Ohio — I propose now to
refer to subsequent events, in which the people of Portage and adjoining
counties were concerned. The capture of the army under Gen. Hull caused much
alarm, as might be expected, in all this region, as our population was then very
sparse, and all the region west of the Cuyahoga River and the Portage Path was
then very sparsely settled. Not an organized township or military company

■^

^■t^U^ ^}7^^^rr^^^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 275

existed in Medina County, which then extended west to Huron Count j, and
was attached to Portage for civil purposes, the whole region sixty-eight and a
half miles in length from east to west, and twenty to twenty-five in breadth,
contained in 1810 less than 3,000 people, and had not increased very
much in two short years. All that region west of the eighth range included
then a single battalion, commanded by Major, afterward Col. George Darrow.
The townships of Streetsboro, Brimfield, Freedom and Edinburg were then
unsettled. Franklin and Suffield had but very few settlers. So that the
thinly settled counties of Portage and Cuyahoga were then the frontier, and it
is not strange that the people of this region were much alarmed on learning
the news of the capture of all the army raised for our defense, all between ue
and the victorious British and their savage allies. The record I copy from
our Regimental Record book will show something of the alarm felt by our
home friends on the first news of the disastrous capture of our army.

Copy of records of the Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, Fourth Division,
Ohio Militia. [Begun on page 33.]

Orders were received from Brig. -Gen. Paine, dated July 6, 1812, requiring
thirty men to be drafted, including one Lieutenant, one Sergeant, one Corporal and one
Fifer, to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's warning, and orders were
issued by the Major, commanding, to the commissioned officers, to meet at Ravenna, the
14th of July, 1812, and on said 14th day of July the following officers met at the Court
House in Ravenna: Stephen Mason, Major-Commandant; Major, Thaddeus Andrews;
Captains, Delaun Mills, Joshua Woodward, Asa K. Burroughs and Timothy Culver;
Lieutenants, Oliver Snow, John Redding, Linus Carter, Hezekiah Hine, Charles Gilbert,
Ira Morse and Isaac Merriman; Ensigns, Asa Truesdale, Hezekiah Kooney, Anson Bee-
man, Frederick Caris, Jr.; and agreeable to said officers' request, the Major commanding
ordered that there be drafted from the First Company, First Battalion, three men; from
the Second Company, First Battalion, one Lieutenant and three men; from the Third
Company, First Battalion, four men; from the Fourth Company, First Battalion, one man;
from the First Company, Second Battalion, one Fifer and six men; from the Second Com-
pany, Second Battalion, one Sergeant and three men; from the Third Company, Second
Battalion, one Corporal and four men; from the Fourth Company, Second Battalion, two
men, with orders to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's warning, armed
and equipped as the law directs.

Then follows the dates of several commissions, to- wit: Hezekiah Nooney's
commission as Captain; and Ella Willmot's commission as Ensign of First Com-
pany, First Battalion, both dated June 18, 1812. Also Linus Curtis' com-
mission of Second Company, First Battalion, dated August 28, 1812.

An express from Gen. Paine, dated Painesville, August 22, 1812, was
received the same day, and orders were immediately issued by Thaddeus An-
drews, as Major commanding, to have the regiment meet at Ravenna forth-
with. An express from Maj.-Gen. Wadeworth, dated August 23, was
received by Maj. Andrews, to have the regiment under his command meet at
Ravenna immediately and await there until further orders were received from
him. At 9 o'clock P. M., the 23d, Maj.-Gen. Wadsworth delivered rerbal
orders to Maj. Andrews, to have the regiment, as soon as embodied at Ravenna,
march for Cleveland. The regiment was embodied at 11 o'clock A. M., the
24th, and marched at 3 P. M. the same day, and encamped at Mr. Roundy's.
The next day, the 25th, marched from Mr. Roundy's and encamped et the
center of Hudson. The next day, marched from Hudson, and arrived and
encamped at Tinker's Creek, and the next day, the 27th, marched from Tink-
er's Creek, arrived at Cleveland, and reported the regiment to Maj.-Gen.
Wadsworth, who ordered the regiment to encamp in Cleveland, and await fur-
ther orders. The 30th, the following order was received, which was read to
the regiment on the 3l8t-

276 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Cleteland, Headquarters, August 30, 1812.
Maj. Stephen Mason. — You will dismiss the regiment under your command for
the present, but under the express conditions that they hold themselves in readiness to
inarch at a moment's warning. Joel Paine, Oeneral- Brigade.

After the foregoing, copied from page 33 of the Record, follow several
pages of names of those who thus marched to Cleveland, with their several
charges for services thus performed. The charges were mostly for nine days'
services for each private, except Capt. T. Culver's company from Randolph,
and Lieut. Morse's company from Deerfield and Atwatei', both of which com-
panies had charged ten days' service for each private, all at the rate of $5 per
month, carried out, the one at $1.50 and the other at $1.60. I know not
whether the men were ever paid, but I know that many of them got their land
warrants, for I helped obtain them, and those men who did not obtain war-
rants, or their widows, can have them. I would like to help them to warrants.

That it maybe known who were the pioneer men of those days — but few of
whom now remain — I will here insert the names of those who thus responded
to the call of their country, to defend it against the British and their sav-
age allies, who were then daily expected on our frontier, after the news
arrived of Hull's surrender, when many were so alarmed as to prepare to flee
the country, and some, I believe, did leave. I copy the companies, in the
order as I find them on the record, each company record separate, and all
charged as in actual service from the 24th of August to September 1, 1812,
inclusive, and each signed by its Captain or Lieutenant commanding.

RETURN OF FIRST COMPANY.

First Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, Fourth Division,
Ohio Militia.

Captain — Hezekiah Nooney.

Lieutenant — Oliver Snow.

Ensign— Ella Wilmot.

Sergeants — -Seth Harmon, Gersham Judson, Horace Ladd, Ariel Walden.

Corporals — Henry Blair, Phineas Pond, Moses Mcintosh, Bazel Windsor, Jr.

Fifer — Joseph Skinner.

Drummer — Virgil Moore.

Privates— Jotham Atwater, Thomas Bright, Peter Carlton, Henry R. Fer-
ris, Samuel Judson, Eleazer Ladd, Ezekiel Ladd, Lyman Leland, Samuel
Moore, Jr., Moses Pond, David Pond, Franklin Snow, John Gardner, Elisha
J. Wilmot, Patrick Ray, William Russell.

RETURN OF SECOND COMPANY.

First Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Lieutenant — John Redding.

Ensign — Asa Truesdale.

Sergeants— Chester Adams, Oliver Mills, George Young, Benjamin Higley.

Corporals — David Bancroft, Elisha Hutchinson, Caleb Stow, Hiram Mes-
senger.

Fifer — Freeman Conant.

Privates — Oliver Alford, Levi Alford, Artemus Baker, Rodolphus Ban-
croft, Asahel Blair, Simon Babcock, Abraham Dyson, Hezekiah Higley,
Ephraim Hacket, Thomas Johnston, Orrin Pitkin, Joseph Southard, Ephraim
H. Seeley, John Streator.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 277

RETURN OF THIRD COMPANY.

First Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Captain — Joshua Woodward.

Lieutenant— Linus Curtis.

Ensign— x\.nson Beeman.

Sergeants — Almon Babcock, Elijah Smith.

Privates — Alanson Baldwin, Ralzaraan Loomis, John King, John Smith,
Peter Wolford, Abel Forsha, Abel Thompson, James Knowlton, George
Barnes, Quartua Noble, Ebenezer Broadway, David Ci-osby, Jesse Miller,
James Cook, Silas Owen.

RETURN OF FOURTH COMPANY.

First Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Captain — Asa K. Burroughs.

Lieutenant — Hezekiah Hine.

Ensign — Richard E. Gay.

Sergeant — Samuel Munson.

Privates — Joel Baker, Abel Hine, Lyman Hine, Ephraim Brown.

RETURN OF FIRST COMPANY.

Second Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Lieutenant — Ira Morse.

Sergeants — Hamlet Coe, Jeremiah Jones, Alexander K. Hubbard.

Corporal — Caleb Mattoon.

Privates — William Hartzel, Robert Taylor, Jr., Moses Baldwin, Allen C.
Baldwin, Elijah Mott, John H. \Yhittlesey, Asahel Blakesley, Jesse SutliflF,
James Laughlin, Almon Chittenden, Abraham Hartzell, Ami Baldwin, Ralph
Granger, William A. Strong, Joseph Carter, John Quier, Horatio Day, Ezekiel
Mott, Ira Mansfield, Peter Hartzell, Peter Mason, John Hartzell, Jr. , Ephraim
B. Hubbard, Amos Morse, Garrett Packard.

RETURN OF SECOND COMPANY.

Second Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Captain — Frederick Caris, Jr.

Sergeants — David Collins, Titus Belding, Samuel Coe, Gersham Norris.

Corporals — Samuel B. Spellman, Ariel Case, Lemuel Chapman.

Fifer — Asahel Gurley.

Drummer — Alpheus Andrews.

Privates — Abraham Reed, Timothy Reed, Robert McKnight, Jr., John Will-
yard, Mason Richardson, Ephraim Chapman, Chester Chapman, Beman
Chapman, Daniel Collins, Joseph R. Bostwick, Calvin Ellsworth, Charles H.
Bostwick.

RETURN OF THIRD COMPANY.

Second Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Lieutenant — Charles Gilbert.

Sergeants— Hugh McDaniel, Lyman P. Gilbert, Truman Gilbert.

Corporals — Gaius Smith, Zebulon Walker.

Privates — Amasa Preston, Chauncey Lowry, Adna H. Bostwick, John Shaw,
John Fisher, James Tuttle, James Hazzard, Gabriel Cane, William Jewel,
Marvin Gilbert, Dalton Trowbridge, John McKelvy, Roswell Smith, David
Gano, Nicholas Shank, Joseph Lewis.

278 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

KETURN OF FOURTH COMPANY.

Second Battalion, Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade, etc.

Captain — Timothy Culver.

Lieutenant — Isaac Merriman.

Sergeants — Walter Dickinson, William Rogers.

Corporals — Oliver C. Dickinson, Ephraim Sabin.

Privates — Arad Upson, Freeman Upson, - Elisha Sears, John Goss, The-
ophilus Cross, Josiah Ward, Henry P. Hosier, Jehiel Savage, Joseph Harris.

After the eight companies I find a list of regimental officers, including
regimental stafif, as follows:

Major Commandant — Stephen Mason.

Major — Thaddeus Andrews.

Adjutant — Erastus Skinner,

Quartermaster— Charles Curtis.

Paymaster — Hiram Roundy.

Clerk — Frederick Wadsworth.

Assistant Quartermaster — Arthur Anderson.

Quartermaster Sergeant — William Kennedy.

Surgeon — Joseph DeW'olf.

Fife Major— Philo Hall.

Privates — Horace Burroughs, Greenwood Burroughs, Daniel Ward, Ashur
Garley.

With the wagon transportation, Robert Eaton and John Sabin are named,
and the United States is charged with their services with teams; Sabin's $13.-
75, and Eaton's $16.33. Total charged for the regiment, $546.60.

These muster or pay rolls are probably copies of those sent to the War
Department, on which the money was expected to be drawn. In copying, I
have abbreviated and omitted some formalities of the pay roll. As far as I
know, nearly all the adult male population were included in the rolls, as not
more than one man in ten was past forty-live.

On page 39 is the record of the draft made, agreeable to orders of July
34, 1812, to-wit: First Company, First Battalion, David Pond, Ezra Chaffee
and Eleazer Ladd. Second Company, First Battalion, Lieut. John Red-
ding, Hezekiah Higley as a substitute for Seth Cole, George Young and
David Wood. Third Company, First Battalion, David Thompson, David
Grier, William Jones, John Baldwin. Fourth Company, First Battalion,
Abel Hine.

For the First Company, Second Battalion, David Abbott, David Baldwin,
Lelon Landon, Merrick Ely, Robert Taylor, Jr., William Hartzell, Joseph
Hartzell (Fifer). For Second Company, Second Battalion, Sergt. Gersham
Norris, Ariel Case, Robert McKnight, Jr., Timothy Reed. For Third Com-
pany, Second Battalion, Corporal Zebulon Walker, Adna H. Bostwick, John
Shaw, Gabriel Cane, John Fisher. For Fourth Company, Second Battalion,
Levi Seeley, Jr., George Burr.

The following order was received from General Paine:

Painesville, September 18, 1813.
Col. John Campbell — Sir: You are hereby ordered to draft out of the regiment
under your command, thirty men, including one Lieutenant, two Sergeants, two Cor-
porals, and one Fifer, to be in readiness to march at a moment's warning; and you are to
march twenty-two men to join Capt. Lusk at the Portage, of the former draft. They
are to furnish themselves with knapsacks and blankets, and they are to be furnished with
arms and equipments by the public. Joel Paine, General- Brigade.

In compliance with the above order, orders were issued to the commandants
of companies, to furnish their respective quotas; and the following persons

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 279

were returned by the commandants of companies, as persons legally notified
to march on said tour of duty, viz. : David Pond, Eleazer Ladd, Seth Cole,
Ebenezer O. IMessenger, Harvey Messenger, David Thompson, Zenas Carter,
Norval Carter, Abel Hine, David Abbott, William Hartzell, David Baldwin,
Robert Taylor, Jr., Benjamin Marshall. Eobert McKnight, Jr., Timothy Reed,
Gabriel Cane, John Fisher, Adna H. Bostwick, John Shaw, Levi Seeley, Jr.,
and George Burr.

And also to comply with the said order of the 18th of September, the fol-
lowing persons were notified to hold themselves in readiness to march at a
moment's warning, viz. : From the First Company, First Battalion, Jotham
Atwater, Jacob W. Pettibone, William Russell, Sergt. Gersham Judson,
Corporals Moses, Mcintosh, Bazel Windsor, Jr. From Second Company, First
Battalion, Asahel Blair, Joseph Southard, Thomas Johnston. From the
Third Company, First Battalion, John Baldwin, John Shaler, Alanson Bald-
win, Isaac P. Skinner.

From the First Company, Second Battalion, Moses Baldwin, Allen C.
Baldwin, Elijah Mott, John H Whittlesey, Asahel Whittlesey. From the
Second Company, Second Battalion, Robert Collins, Jr., Abram Reed, Mason
Richardson. From the Third Company, Second Battalion, Jabez Gilbert,
William Jewel, David Gano, David Calvin. From the Fourth Company, Sec-
ond Battalion, Alpheus Dickinson, Arad Upson.

Verbal orders were given by Maj.-Gen. Wadsworth at the Portage, to
Stephen Mason, Major Commandant of the Second Regiment, Fourth Brigade,
Fourth Division, on the 28th of September, 1812, to march all the mounted
men, who could be immediately raised in said regiment, to Gen. Wadsworth's
headquarters at the Portage. And agreeably to said orders the following per-
sons mustered at Ravenna, Ist of October, marched to Portage, and reported
to Maj.-Gen. Wadsworth, viz.: Stephen Mason, Major Commandant; Joseph
DeWolf, Surgeon; Rufus Edwards, Quartermaster; Delaun Mills, Captain;
John Caris, Lieutenant; Asa Truesdale, Ensign; Titus Belding, Gersham Nor-
ris, Samuel Coe and Chester Adams, Sergeants; David A. Rumsay, Henry
Blair, Caleb Stow and Moses Mcintosh, Corporals; Daniel Ward, Drummer;
Joseph Skinner, Abraham Dyson, Bazel Windsor, Jr., Gersham Judson, Henry
R. Ferris, Horatio Taylor, John Willyard, John Redding, John Gardner, John
Shaler, Joseph R. Bostwick, Orrin Pitkin, Quartus Noble, Rodolphus Bancroft,
Simon Babcock, Samuel Judson, Samuel Moore, Jr., Titon Rudolph, William
Kennedy, Jr., W^areham Loomis, Ezekiel Ladd, Charles Bostwick, John
Smith and Ephraim Hacket, Privates.

The following order was issued:

Headquarters, Portage, October 2, 1813.
Maj. Mason — Sir: You will march all the mounted men of Col. Campbell's regi-
ment to Huron, with all possible dispatch. Furnish them with three days' provisions.
Keport yourself to Gen. Perkins. Elijah Wadsworth ,Major- General.

And in compliance with said orders, they marched to Huron and reported
to Brig.-Gen. Simon Perkins, who on the J 0th of October issued the follow-
ing order:

Maj. Stephen Mason — Sir: You will march the officers and privates named in the
annexed list to Headquarters at Portage, and report yourself to the commanding oflficer.

Simon Perkins, Brigadier- General.
Camp Avery, October 10, 1812.

It further appears by the record, that on the arrival of Maj. Mason, Capt.
Mills and their mounted men at Portage, "that Gen. Wadsworth gave orders
for their discharge, but it does not appear how many or who were discharged.

280 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

as the ^Hist annexecf^ mentioned in the order of Geo. Perkins' is not recorded.

It further appears, that Gen. Paine, on February 2, 1813, by an order
dated at Painesville, called for one Lieutenant, one Second Sergeant, one
Third Sergeant, one Second Corporal, and eighteen privates from the Second
Regiment, "to march to Lower Sandusky as soon as possible, to relieve the
men now in service," to comply with which order the following persons were
returned by commandants of companies on February 16, 1813, as legally
notified to perform said tour of duty, viz. : Virgil Moore, as a substitute
for Jotham Atwater, John Gardner as a substitute for Jacob W. Pettibone,
Asahel Blair, Joseph Southard, both of whom absconded, Thomas John-
ston, Phineas Pond as a substitute for Orrin Pitkin, Charles Carter as a
substitute for David Grier, William Jones, John Shaler, George Wilber,
Merrick Ely. Moses Baldwin, Allen C. Baldwin, Robert McKnight, Jr., Sergt.
Lyman P. Gilbert, John Fisher, Austin Purdy, Sergt. Waller Dickinson,
Corporal Oliver C. Dickinson, William Jewel, Richard Rogers, Jr., Alpheus
Dickinson and Arad Upson; and on February 15 Lieut. John Redding, Cor-
poral Oliver C. Dickinson, Richard Rogers, Jr, Robert McKnight, Jr., Alpheus
Dickinson, Virgil Moore, John Gardner, John Shaler, William Jones, and
Moses Baldwin appeared according to orders at Ravenna, had their equip-
ments appraised by Charles Curtis, Linus Curtis, and John Campbell,
appraisers, which is the last the record says of the services of those so drafted.

On page 42 is the following record: "The Major Commandant issued
orders to the Major of the Second Battalion, and to the commandants of each
company in the I'egiment, to meet at the Court House, in Ravenna, on the 29th
of March, 1813, for the purpose of assessing fines upon persons who refused
to perform tours of duty, when legally called on, and the commandants of
companies ordered to notify the delinquents in their respective companies."
And this is the last of our war record, as then follows some thirteen large
blank pages, left apparently to record the assessment of tines for non- perform-
ance of "tours of duty."' After the"se blank leaves follows the regular record
of ordinary regimental boards for ordinary business, but no more drafting
orders. I think, however, but few of our drafted men evaded the draft. I
knew of the services of many of them. Several I knew to be posted at Camp
Avery, which was near the present village of Milan, Erie County.

After our return from the service, September, 1812, I knew little of the
war movements, except what was found in the papers, and papers were then
scarce. I can give little information of the times subsequent to those records,
than what I have given in this communication, that would be valuable to the
Historical Society. I spent some time in Cleveland in December, 1812, and
there became acquainted with Maj. Jessup, Quartermaster Biddle, and his
assistant, Mr. Downing, son of Capt. Downing, of Frenchtown, River Raisin,
and was informed of the then recent raising and organization of a volunteer
company in Cuyahoga and Geauga Counties, with Clark Parker, Captain, and
Harvey Murray, Lieutenant. I think it was then out at one of the posts of
the West.

I was in Harpersfield in the summer of 1813, when Capt. James Harper
was recruiting, and was offered a position by him, but being still a prisoner
on parole, would not forfeit my parole. We were not informed of our
exchange for about two years after our return. But several of our company
did again enter the service, before we were informed of our exchange. I
believe Samuel C. Thompson, Charles Carter and John Smith, and perhaps
some others, were out in the service some time in 1813 and 1814. Though we
were not specially successful, we had much cause to rejoice, and be proud at

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 281

the prowess and progress of our armies thereafter, and of the final success of
our arms; and especially that the war finally broke up the baneful influence
of the British over the Western Indians, on our territory.

With this I close my communication on the subject of the war of 1812.

John Harmon, Ravenna, February, 1870.

In the summer of 1813 every able-bodied man in Portage County not then
in active service or on parole was ordered to Cleveland, and the scattered
settlements were left defenseless. It is a part of the tradition of that time
that the sound of the cannonading in the battle of Lake Erie, fought Septem-
ber 10, 1813, was plainly heard in this county. A messenger arrived at Raven-
na from Cleveland the same night, warning the women and children, in case
of Perry's defeat, to be ready to fly to Pittsburgh. All next day the families
residing in this section anxiously waited for definite information as to the
result of the battle, but as night came on the sound of a horn was heard in the
direction of Shalersville, then a voice was distinguished, and soon an excited
horseman dashed into the village with the joyful tidings of Perry's great vic-
tory. The terrible suspense and dread of Indians were past, and soon gave
way to thanksgiving and rejoicing over the brilliant success of the American
naval forces on Lake Erie.

The following distressing incident of this period may appropriately be
given in connection with the history of Portage County in the war of 1812.
Daniel Cross, an early settler of Randolph Township, hearing that produce
and provisions of every sort were very scarce and commanded high prices at the
military camp near Wooster, Ohio, set out from his home in December, 1812,
with a load of oats for that point. He was accompanied by his son, a young
man about eighteen years old. On arriving at Wooster and selling his oats,
he found teams so scarce that the army had no means of transportation, and,
by the offer of high wages, Cross was induced to go with the army as far as
Mansfield, and assist in transporting the forage and baggage of the camp.
Here he was paid off, and started for home. On the road between Mansfield
and Wooster he purchased seventeen head of oxen and steers, with which he
arrived at the latter town on the last day of December, 1812. The following
morning. New Year's, he and son started with their stock up the valley of the
Killbuck, intending to reach the house of Joseph Harris, who had removed
from Randolph Township to the site of Lodi, Medina County, in 1811. Soon
after they left Wooster, there came on a terrible snowstorm, which lasted three
days. Nothing further was seen or heard of Cross and his son, and the fol-
lowing March, his family in Randolph Township becoming alarmed at their
lengthened absence, sent another son in pursuit of them. Finding they had
left Wooster on the 1st of January for the Harris settlement, the son followed
their trail, and on reaching the settlement was informed that they had not
been there, but that several stray cattle had been " taken up " during the win-
ter for which no owner could be found. It was now evident that Cross and
his son had perished in the storm which came on soon after they left Wooster,
and the settlers of that section turned out en masse to try and find their remains.
Nearly three miles southeast of the settlement they found the skull of Cross
and some of his bones picked clean by the wolves, also his jack-knife and rem-
nants of his clothing, but no trace of the son was ever discovered. The
remains of two yokes of oxen, still in yoke, were also found near by. They
had been chained to trees, and therefore could not get away with the balance
of the cattle, but starved to death in their yokes. The bones of the unfortu-
nate Cross were gathered up and buried in a field just south of the present
town of Lodi, and his name was carved upon a beech tree which stood close
to where he met his death.

282 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Soon after the return of peace, in 1815, Congress passed a law re-organiz-
ing the militia, and making it obligatory for all males between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five to perform military duty. The State was divided into
military divisions, and certain points designated in each county where the dif-
ferent militia companies should meet and receive instructions in the science of
war. This was called " company muster," but once a year all of the compa-
nies were required to meet, usually at the county seat, to attend the "general
muster." The militia could not draw military equipments from the Govern-
ment, but at those musters armed themselves with rifles, shotguns, broom-han-
dles, sticks, or any other implement with which they could be put through the
manual exercises. The law also provided that if any company would furnish
their own uniforms, and otherwise comply with its provisions, the State would
supply them with arms and munitions. Several companies of this class were
organized from time to time in Portage County. On performing military duty
for seven years in time of peace, the members of those independent companies
were exempted from poll tax. Sham fights would sometimes be gotten up for
the purpose of indulging the popular taste for excitement. About 1833 a cel-
ebrated sham fight, with real Indians as opponents, took place in the southern
part of the county, which is yet well remembered by many of the older inhab-
itants. Those sham fights and training days were looked upon with much
favor by all classes, as they were days of recreation, social joys and friendly
greetings.

CHAPTER VII.

Internal Improvements— The Great Indian Trail— Pioneer Eoads of Por-
tage County— Mail Facilities and i^etter Postage— Stage Routes and
Drivers— Canals— Early Canal Legislation— The Ohio Canal Com-
menced and Completed— Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal — The Efforts
Made to Have it Built— Its Construction and Co3ipletion— First
Boats Arrive at Ravenna— Subsequent Success of the Enterprise-
Causes Which Led to its Abandonment— Railroads— Cleveland &
Pittsburgh — Cleveland & Mahoning Yalley— Atlantic & Great
Western— Cleveland, Youngstown & Pittsburgh— Connotton Valley —
Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Toledo— The Proposed Clinton Air Line, and
THE General Railroad Facilities of the County.

AS a matter of necessity, almost the first thing to be done after the settler
arrived was to cut out a road; in fact, it had often to be done before he
reached his land, and in many instances days of weary work in underbrushing
a path through the primitive forest intervened before he could move forward
with his ox teams and rude wagon. This latter necessity was the origin of
the first road in the county constructed by white men. When Benjamin Tap-
pan, Jr., in the spring of 1799, as detailed in Chapter IV. of the county his-
tory, arrived at a point on the Cuyahoga where now is the town of Boston,
Summit County, he unloaded his goods, and placing them in charge of one of
his hired men, proceeded, with the assistance of Benjamin Bigsby, to cut out
a road to his father's land, now known as Ravenna. After working two or
three days, Tappan struck the great Indian trail which crossed the Cuyahoga
at Standing Rock, a short distance east of the present site of Kent. Follow-
ing this trail, he soon reached the spot where he erected his first cabin, in the

^^'^-

%--^

~z^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 285

southeast corner of the township, the Indian trail passing out of Ravenna
exactly at the southeast corner. This great trail had been used from time
immemorial by the aborigines, and was their main thoroughfare in the upper
portion of Ohio. It extended from Fort Mcintosh, where Beaver, Penn. , now
is, to Palmyra Township; thence passing through Edinburg, Ravenna and
Franklin Townships, left Portage County, going northwestwardly to Sandusky.
As early as 1786 Col. James Hillman, one of the pioneers of the West, who
afterward lived to an advanced age in Youngstown, made six trips over this
route, he being engaged in forwarding goods and provisions for a firm in Pitts-
burgh. The road is said by old settlers to have been very compact and firm.

About the same time that Benjamin Tappan cut his road, one was under-
brushed from Atwater to Georgetown, Penn., for the purpose of obtainingpro-
visions. Capt. Caleb Atwater, Jonathan Merrick, Peter Bunnell and Asa
Hall did the work. The road was about forty miles long, and ran through
Atwater and Deerfield Townships, it being the present east and west center
road of those subdivisions. Ebenezer Sheldon also had cut a road from. the
center of Aurora Township in 1799, that ran northwestwardly until it inter-
sected a bridle path to Cleveland. In Nelson Township an east and west cen-
ter road was cut out shortly after the Mills brothers settled in that section. 'In
1802 the road running north from Ravenna through Shalersville and Mantua
Townships, to Burton, Summit County, was laid out, but it was several years
until it was completed. Also, in 1802 a road from Warren to Cleveland, which
ran through the center of Hiram and Mantua Townships, was begun. In 1804-
05 a road was cut from the center of Rootstown Township eastward to intersect
the great road from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, which passed through the center
of Edinburg Township. Not far from this time a road from Randolph Cen-
ter, standing at the creek just west of the Center, was cut to a point on the
line between Rootstown and Edinburg Townships, and from thence running
northwardly. There was also a horse path to Canton, and a trail to Atwater.
In 1805 Amzi Atwater siirveyed a road from his place in Mantua Township,
along the south line of Hiram Township to Garrett's Mills in Nelson, and in
1806 another was cut out running westward to Aurora. About the same time
a road was cut through Windham Township to Braceville, running thence to
Warren, and is now known as the State Road. In 1808 Alva Day, of Deerfield
Township, and Charles Chittenden, and Cromwell and Walter Dickinson, of
Randolph Township, cut out and bridged the road from old Portage to the
Seventeenth Range, west of Medina. In 1809 Erastus Carter, of Ravenna,
and Lemuel Punderson, of Newburg, laid out a road from Ravenna through
Rootstown and Randolph Townships toward Canton, as far as the south line
of the county, but it was not completed in Stark County till 1812. This road
afterward became the great north and south route over which J. O. Granger
ran his four-horse stage line. In 1817 David Mcintosh cut the center road
through from Shalersville Township to Freedom, at which time the latter
township was an unbroken wilderness, the first settler not arriving till the fol-
lowing year.

Mail facilities were extremely meager in the early days, and months would
elapse before news could reach the settlers in their new homes. As late as the
spring of 1801 Pittsburgh and Meadville, Penn., were the nearest postoffices to
the Western Reserve, and in October of that year the first mail arrived at Warren,
Ohio. Postage, even to a much later date, was high, and frequently a bushel of
wheat was refused as payment on a single letter. A considerable number of let-
ters were permitted to pass to the dead letter office, and in the advertised lists of
letters at the Ravenna postoffice, published in the Cornier of 1825-26, can be

286 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY

seen the names of many prominent citizens who at the time lived within a
stone's throw of the office. John Diver, of Deerfield, was one of the earliest
mail contractors and carriers on the Reserve. He had the contract for carry-
ing the mail from New Lisbon to Mausfield, via Canton and Wooster, and was
in the business over forty years. The Cleveland & Wellsville Turnpike was
finished in 1827 and became a great thoroughfare. It entered the county in
Streetsboro Township, passed diagonally across Ravenna, Edinburg and
Deerfield and left the county in the southeast corner of the last named town-
ship. Lines of stage routes were also opened east and west and north and
south about the same time as the Cleveland & Wellsville Turnpike.

The old stage coach was an institution of those early days, and was, of
course, the only means of traveling long distances. Several lines of them
passed through this county, and Jabez Gilbert, of Palmyra Township, was the
most noted driver and mail contractor in all this region. In the Western Cour-
ier of April 1, 1826, the editor says: " The line of stages between Pittsburgh
and Cleveland have always been more or less irregular, but arrangements now
are made by Mr. Gilbert, the enterprising proprietor of this end of the line, to
prevent these irregularities. * * * jje jj^a been at the expense of a new
stage, which, instead of two, is to be drawn by four horses. * * * ^he
line is now completely established from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, and will
run regularly twice a week." In the same month a line of stages is announced
to run from Beaver to Cleveland twice a week. The route was through a por-
tion of this county, and was much traveled, as it intersected at Stow, now in
Summit County, a line that ran due south to the interior of the State. Aug-
ust 5, 3 826, J. O. Granger advertises in the Courier that he will run regularly
twice a week a line of stages from Fairport, at the mouth of Grand River, to
Canton, through Painesville, Chardon and Ravenna, and the editor, speaking
of this new evidence of improvement, says: "Few country towns possess equal
facilities for the receipt and transmission of private and public documents;
there being 728 arrivals and departures of mails within the year at and from
Ravenna.'' In November the Pittsburgh and Cleveland line, run by Jabez
Gilbert, John Stokes and Horace Daniels, was increased to three trips per
week. In August of this year (1826) the new bridge across the Cuyahoga at
Carthage (Kent) was completed; and early in the following year a line of
stages was put on the road that passed over it, running from Ravenna to Mid-
dleburg (now Akron). By this date roads had been opened in every part of
the county, which through the passing years have been greatly improved, while
many others were built from time to time as the wants of the country demanded.

Canals. — The subject of canal building began to be eagerly discussed in
this portion of the Union during the first quarter of the present century; but
this system of navigation met with considerable opposition from sections of
the State off the lines of the proposed routes. Canal construction was one of
the first great measures to which Ohio gave attention, and as early as January,
1817, a resolution on the subject of canal navigation between Lake Erie and
the Ohio River was introduced into the Legislatiire. In 1822 a bill was passed
authorizing a survey of four several routes, viz. : From Sandusky Bay; from
the Maumee River; from the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, or the Black River,
by the Muskingum; and from the mouth of the Grand River, via the Mahoning,
to the Ohio.' At the next session of the Legislature the Canal Commissioners
reported all of the routes practicable, but requested further time to ascertain
the comparative advantages of each. At the session of 1823-24 the route
through the upper part of the Muskingum, the Licking, and the lower part of
the Scioto Valleys was recommended; but they also called attention to the
advantages of the route by way of the Miami Valley.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 287

In the summer of 1824 two lines of canal were located, one from Cincin-
nati to the Maumee River, and one from the mouth of the Scioto to Coshocton,
and thence by one of three different routes tq Lake Erie. By an act passed
February 4, 1825, the Canal Commissioners were authorized to begin work on
these two canal routes. The western route received the name of the Miami
Canal, while the eastern was called the Ohio Canal, and the line of the latter,
from Coshocton northward, was established by way of the Tuscarawas River,
to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, passing from south to north through what was
then the western range of townships of Portage County. Bids for the several
sections of the Ohio Canal were advertised for in May, 1825, ancj by the mid-
dle of June several miles were under contract. It was thought that the break-
ing of the first ground would take place at Portage Summit, then in Portage
County, and that Gen. LaFayette, who at that time was on a visit to America,
would attend, but the ceremony occurred July 4, 1825, at Licking Summit,
on which date that celebrated Frenchman had promised to be in Boston. The
invited guests, however, included many notables of the State and Nation. Gov.
DeWitt Clinton, of New York, raised the first spadeful of earth, and ex-Gov.
Jeremiah Morrow, of Ohio, the second. Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Lancaster,
Ohio, was the orator on the occasion. An immense crowd had gathered and
the scene was one of great excitement. The canal was completed from Cleve-
land to Akron in 1827, and three years afterward navigation was opened via
the Ohio Canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.

The construction of the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal from the Portage
Summit to Pittsburgh, began to be mooted early in 1825, and during the sum-
mer of that year a number of gentlemen along the line of the proposed route
made explorations. On the 6th of September, 1825, a meeting of citizens of
Trumbull and Portage Counties was held at the Court House in Ravenna to take
into consideration the practicability and policy of constructing a canal from
the movith of Beaver River, via the Mahoning through the two counties to the
Portage Summit. Alva Day was Chairman, and Darius Lyman Secretary of
the meeting, which appointed Frederick Wadsworth, Dillingham Clark, Joshua
Woodward, Eliakim Crosby, William Wetmore, Jonathan Sloane, Simon
Perkins, Elias Harmon, Amzi Atwater, and Calvin Pease a committee to col-
lect information as to the most favorable route for the canal. The meeting
then adjourned to September 14, when another was held and arrangements
made for a survey of the proposed route. At the following session of the Ohio
Legislature a bill was introduced to incorporate the Pennsylvania & Ohio
Canal Company "for the sole purpose of making a navigable canal between
some suitable point on the Ohio River, through the valley of the Mahoning
River, to some suitable point on Lake Erie, or to some such point on the Ohio
Canal." Under the articles of incorporation, this act, if passed, was not to
become a law until the Pennsylvania Legislature would grant similiar rights
and privileges to said company. The bill was read the third time in Febru-
ary, 1826, but further action was postponed until the next session.

The people along the line were now thoroughly aroused, and in February,
1826, a canal meeting was held at Ravenna, of which William Stoddard was
Chairman and Cyrus Prentiss Secretary. The meeting appointed Seth Day,
Jonathan Sloane and William Coolman, Jr., a committee to obtain and com-
municate information on the advisibility and practicability of building a canal
from Portage Summit via the Mahoning and Big Beaver Valleys to Pittsburgh.
A similar meeting was held at Pittsburgh, March 4, with the same object in
view. On the 7th of March another meeting was convened at Ravenna, with
Jonathan Sloane Chairman and Seth Day Secretary. Jonathan Sloane, Seth

288 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Day aod Frederick Wadsworth were appointed to represent Portage County
in a canal convention of Ohio and Pennsylvania citizens at Beaver, Penn.,
which was held March 10. A canal meeting was also held at Warren, Ohio,
on the 2lBt of March, 1826; and on the 3d and 4th of May following a very
large convention assembled at Newcastle, Penn. , in which twenty delegates
from Allegheny, Mercer, Butler and Beaver Counties, Penn., and Trumbull
and Portage Counties, Ohio, were in attendance. Those from Portage were
Seth Day, Frederick Wadsworth and Jonathan Sloane. This convention
adjourned to meet at Warren, Ohio, October 25, 1826, on which date a bill
for the incorporation of the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal was prepared. The
next day the bill was approved and adopted, Jonathan Sloane and Frederick
Wadsworth, of Portage County, being two of the incorporators named in the
instrument. This bill was passed by the Legislature January 10, 1827, to
take effect whenever the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted a similar
charter. The latter State passed an act of incorporation in April, 1827, and
the legal power for the construction of this much cherished project was at
last obtained. Jonathan Sloane, then representing the Portage district in the
Ohio Senate, was the author of the bill, and also of a resolution passed during
the same session authorizing the State Board of Canal Commissioners to have
the proposed route surveyed and estimates made by a competent engineer the
same season, and report to the next session of the General Assembly. Several
surveys of the route were made but nothing positively decided at that time.
The Courier in its issue of July 3, 1829, announces the location of the Penn-
sylvania & Ohio Canal through llavenna, and says " the information was
greeted by the inhabitants of this village by the discharge of a national salute,
fired near the located route south of the village, accompanied by hearty cheers."
The survey was under the charge of Capt. Dumest, an accomplished engineer
of the United States Army.

Owinw to the uncertainty as to the point of intersection with the Penn-
sylvania Canal, and witnessing the steady progress that Pennsylvania was
making in extending her improvements towards the Ohio boundary, the Penn-
sylvania & Ohio Canal Company deemed it advisable to postpone the opening
of books for the subscription of stock. The enterjDrise, therefore, lay dor-
mant for several years, but in 1833 meetings began to be held along the sur-
veyed route, with the object of reviving the scheme. The friends of the
project went vigorously to work, and February 20, 1835, the charter, passed
in 1827, was renewed and amended, and ten years, from December 31, 1835,
given the company to complete the canal. On the 13th of April, 1835, the
Pennsylvania Legislature also passed a bill renewing the old charter. Sub-
scription books for stock were opened at Philadelphia, April 27, 1835, and in
less than one hour $780,000, the amount of stock to which that city was limited,
was all taken. The whole amount was placed at 11,000,000, and the remain-
ing $220,000, allotted to Portage and Trumbull Counties, Ohio, and western
Pennsylvania, was all taken before the close of May. The stock-holders met
at Newcastle, Penn., May 21, 1835, and elected the following Board of Direct-
ors: Abner Laycock, William Boyd, William Robinson, Joseph T. Boyd,
William Ray en, Leicester King and Jonathan Sloane; Abner Laycock,
President; Zalmon Fitch, Treasurer; Leicester King, Secretary. Messrs.
Sloane, Lacock and Rayen were appointed an Executive Committee to let
contracts and transact and superintend any other business connected with
the construction of the canal.

Col. Sebried Dodge and James D. Harris were appointed Chief Engineers
of Construction, and with their corps began surveying on the Ravenna Sum-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 289

mit, east of the village of Ravenna, June 8, 1835. By the middle of August
the survey was completed, and on the 17th and 18th of that month contracts
were let for the portion of the canal west of Ravenna, but the western ter-
minus being afterward changed to run by Cuyahoga Falls, the contracts for
the whole western division, extending from the east line of Portage (bounty
to Akron, were re-let November 16, 1835. The several secfiious of the eastern
division of the canal, extending fi-om the east line of Portage County to near
Newcastle, Penn. , were put under contract August 10, September 21, and
November 11, 1835. The whole length of the canal from its intersection with
the Pennsylvania Canal, about two miles below Newcastle, Penn., to its inter-
section with the Ohio Canal, at Akron, Ohio, was eighty- two miles. " Feeders "
from the small lakes in the western section of Portage County were also built
at the same time. The total estimated cost of the canal at that time was
about $913,000. The section east of Warren, accoi'ding to the terms of the
contracts, was to be completed on or before September 1, 1836, and that
between Warren and Akron via Ravenna and Franklin Mills (Kent), one year
later.

The work of construction was begun at once and pushed forward vigor-
ously. Hundreds of laborers found employment at good wages, but finally
on account of the stock- holders neglecting to pay their subscriptions according
to contract, the work was greatly retarded, and the canal was not finished at
the dates specified. Though the finances were very low, work was however
continued through the winter of 1836-37. In May, 1837, Gov. Vance,
in the name and on behalf of the State of Ohio, subscribed $450,000 to the
stock of the canal, and as soon as the money could be raised, paid the first
installment of $145,000 to the Treasurer of the company. For a time, in
the winter of 1837-38, the work lagged, but throughout the balance of the
latter year the canal bed was rapidly opened through this county. In June,
1839, the Pennsylvania Legislature subscribed and paid $50,000 to the capital
stock, which it was thought would complete the canal; and by April 1, 1840,
it was expected to be finished and opened for business. These expectations
were realized, for the writer found in a report of the Harrison Convention,
held at Ravenna, April 3, 1840, the proceedings of which were published in
the next issue of the Ohio Stai\ the following item relative to the canal:

From Trumbull County came first two crowded canal boats, with each a band of
music — the "Mohawk," of Beaver, and the "Tippecanoe," of Warren — the first that ever
passed through the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal now just completed.

On the 19th of April, 1840, the "Ohio City" arrived at Ravenna, on her
way to Pittsburgh, freighted with ashes, fish, etc. ; and on the following day the
"Huron*' arrived from Pittsburgh with merchandise, the first brought to
Ravenna by canal. Boats were now passing Ravenna daily, to and fro, along
the canal, and on the 4th of August, 1840, a celebration was held all along
the line. Gov. David R. Porter, of Pennsylvania, and other distinguished citi-
zens being passengers on one of the excursion packets which made the trip.
Meetings were held at nearly every town on the route of the canal, all expres-
sive of a deep satisfaction over the successful completion and operation of the
great enterprise.

For twelve years nothing occurred to mar the success of the canal, and
throughout the summer of 1851 a line of packets connected at Ravenna with
the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, which was completed to Ravenna early
in that year. But in March, 1852, the railroad was finished to Wellsville, on
the Ohio River, and therefore a superior mode of travel and shipment insti-
tuted between northern and southei-n Ohio and Pennsylvania. It, however,

290 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

did a coinpnratively good business for three or four years longer, or until the
completion of the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad, when its trafiSc
gradually dwindled away, and it became an unprofitable institution. In Jan-
uary, 1863, the State Board of Public Works sold the stock owned by the State
in the canal, being the one-third of the whole amount, to the Cleveland &
Mahoning Valley Railroad Company, for the sum of $30,000, by which pur-
chase this road obtained a controlling interest in the canal, and thus sounded
its death knell. In December, 1863, the warehouse at Ravenna was sold, and
though an occasional boat floated lazily along its sluggish waters, its day of
usefulness and prosperity had passed away, and it was gradually abandoned.
Its bed, which runs through Paris, Charlestown, Ravenna and Franklin Town-
ships, Portage County, is now occupied by the Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Toledo
Railroad, but nothing remains to be seen by the casual observer, save here and
there portions of its old channel.

Railroads. — Up to the close of 1850, 150 charters for the construction of
railroads had been gi-anted by the General Assembly of Ohio, and the work
was fairly under way for the net-work of roads now covering the State. The
year 1851 introduced a new era and an entire revolution on the subject of rail-
road legislation. During the session of the General Assembly this year,
twenty-one railroad charters were granted, and over forty amendments were
made to those already in existence. The charters and amendments all con-
tained power and authority to borrow money, and thirty-six of the amendments
authorized counties, cities, towns or townships to subscribe stock. The door
was thrown as wide open as legislation could go to enable railroad companies
to borrow money and procure stock subscription.

The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company was the first corporation to
obtain a charter from which Portage County subsequently reaped a benefit. It
was granted under a special act passed March 14, 1836, vesting that company
with the right to construct a railroad from Cleveland to some point on the
State line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, or on the Ohio River, in the direc-
tion of Pittsburgh. But little or nothing was done under the rights thus
granted, and an act of revival and amendment was passed March 11, 1845.
By the acts of February 16, 1849, March 9, 1850, and February 19, 1851, cer-
tain branching privileges were granted, under which the roads from Bayard to
New Philadelphia, and from Hudson southwest into Wayne County were sub-
sequently built. On the 8th of April, 1850, an act was passed by the Pennsyl-
vania Legislature authorizing the company to extend its railroad from the
eastern line of Ohio up the valley of the Ohio River to a point at or near the
mouth of the Big Beaver. The same Commonwealth also passed an act April
18, 1853, adopting the two first named acts of this State, and making the com-
pany a corporation of Pennsylvania with all the rights and powers granted by
the Ohio acts. Under those various acts the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad
Company constructed 199f miles of railroad (not including the branch from
Hudson, which was built by a separate company), extending from Cleveland to
Wellsville, and thence down the Ohio River to Bellair, and from Wellsville up
the Ohio to Rochester, and the Tuscarawas Branch from Bayard to New Phil-
adelphia.

By the fall of 1850 much grading had been done on the main line, and the
company began laying the track between Cleveland and Ravenna. On the
evening of March 6, 1851, the last rail connecting these points was laid and
the last spike driven about one mile southeast of Hudson, and Monday morn-
ing, March 10, the first passenger train left Ravenna for Cleveland, return-
ing the same evening. The first round trip from Cleveland was made on the

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 291

following Thursday, March 13, 1851, when the locomotive "Ravenna," draw-
ing one car filled with Directors of the road, came down from the city to exam-
ine the progress of the work. On the 18th of March regular daily trains began
running, connecting at Ravenna with a packet on the Ohio & Pennsylvania
Canal, which ran to Beaver, Penn., where the traveler took the steamer for
Pittsburgh. The trip was made in twenty-six hours, and the fare from Cleve-
land to Pittsburgh was $3.50 including meals and bed on the boat. At that
time a daily train (except Sundays) left Cleveland at 8:30 A. M. , arrived at
Ravenna at 10:30 A. M., and left the latter point for Cleveland at 2:30 P. M.
But after the 1st of April, 1851, an accommodation left Ravenna every morn-
ing (excepting Sunday) for Cleveland, and returned in the evening, so that, at
that early day, Ravenna enjoyed traveling facilities that many country towns
do not even yet possess.

The first week the road averaged 175 passengers daily, besides carrying
considerable freight, and from that time forward its business increased rapidly.
A telegraph ofiice was opened in Ravenna, in connection with the road,
April 22, 1851, which was the first established in the village. The work on
the road south of Ravenna was pushed along vigorously, and by May 28, 1851,
about eight miles of track were laid between Ravenna and Atwater. The track
was being put down at the rate of half a mile a day, and before the close of
June a passenger car on the construction train was making daily trips to
Atwater, Lima and Alliance, and many availed themselves of the accommoda-
tion thus afforded. The cars began running to Hanover, about seventy five
miles southeast of Cleveland, November 5, 1851, there connecting with the
stage for Wellsville on the Ohio River, and thence to Pittsburgh by a special
line of steamers. Leaving Cleveland at 8:45 A. M., the traveler arrived at
Pittsburgh at 10 P. M. the same day. The last rail completing the road to
Wellsville was laid on Saturday, February 14, 1852, and the same evening the
cars came through from Wellsville to Ravenna. But the first passenger train
came over the line from Wellsville to Cleveland February 23, and February
26 regular trains began running between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. On
Thursday, March 4, 1852, a grand celebration was held at Wellsville over the
completion of the road, and on the following day at Wheeling, West Va. The
line was subsequently built to Bellaire, Ohio, and Rochester, Penn. At the lat-
ter point the Cleveland & Pittsburgh connects with the Pittsburgh. Fort Wayne
& Chicago Railroad, which track it uses from Rochester to Pittsburgh, under
a twenty- five-year lease entered into between the two companies December 15,
1862, which went into effect April 1, 1863. On the 25th of October, 1871,
the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company leased its road to the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company for the term of 999 years from December 1, 1871.
The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad enters Portage County in the southwest
corner of Streetsboro Township, and thence passing in a southeast direction
across Franklin, Ravenna, Rootstown, Edinburg and Atwater Townships,
leaves the county on Lot 51 of the last mentioned subdivision. It is one of
the most prosperous roads in the country, and pays a large annual dividend to
its stock-holders.

The Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad Company was chartered by a
special act passed February 22, 1848, with authority to construct a railroad
from Cleveland to some point in or near Warren, Ohio, with the right of con-
tinuing the road to the east line of the State. The road was built under this
charter from Cleveland to Youngstown, and a branch from Youngstown to the
State line. It enters Portage County near the northwest corner of Aurora
Township, and passes through Aurora, Mantua, Hiram, Garrettsville, Nelson

292 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

and Windham Townships, striking the Trumbull County line near the north-
east corner of Windham. Most of the grading was done and the track partially
laid through this county in the fall of 1855. The Portage County Democrat
of November 7, 1855, says that the rails were then laid between Warren and
Mantua Station, and construction trains running between those points. In
the spring of 1856 the road was completed to Cleveland, and July 4 of that
year regular trains began running from Cleveland to Warren. The road east
of Warren was, after that date, rapidly pushed to completion. On the 7th of
October, 1863, the company leased the road to the Atlantic & Great Western
Railroad Company for the term of ninety-nine years, and it has since been
operated as a branch of that line.

The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad is one of the principal trunk lines
between the East and the West. It had its inception in three different charters
granted in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, that granted by the last-men-
tioned State being the one in which Portage County is more directly interested.
On the 10th of March, 1851, the Ohio Legislature granted a charter to the
Franklin & Warren Railroad Company, for the construction of a railroad from
Franklin Mills (Kent), Portage County, to Warren, Trumbull County, and
thence to the easti line of the State, with power to continue the road westward
or southwestward from Franklin Mills to connect with any other railroad in
Ohio. On the 21st of May, 1851, the company was organized by the follow-
ing incorporators: Marvin Kent, Zenas Kent, L. V. Bierce, Thomas Earl, O.
L. Drake, Cyrus Prentiss, Simon Perkins, H. B. Spelman, Charles Smith,
Jacob Perkins, Rufus P. Ranney, A. V. Horr, Daniel Upson, Fred Kinsman
and C. G. Sutliff. Marvin Kent, the leading spirit of the enterprise, was
elected President of the company July 8, 1851, and served five years continu-
ously. He was again elected President in July, 1859, and re-elected annually
five times, serving in that capacity until the fall of 1864, when he resigned the
office.

Another well-known citizen of the county, who from long connection with
the road deserves a passing notice, is Enos P. Bramerd, Esq. He became
Treasurer of the company in January, 1855, and for nine successive jears was
annually re-elected to the same position, which he resigned December 2, 1864,
He was, however, retained as Assistant Treasurer, and July 11, 1865, again
elected Treasurer, but lost the office upon the consolidation of the three com-
panies the following August.

In the meantime, dui'ing the summer of 1852, some gentlemen in Ohio and
Pennsylvania had proposed the project of continuing the broad gauge of the
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad through Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and
southwestern New York. This grand plan for a great broad gauge from St.
Louis to New York was subsequently submitted to the Directors of the three
local companies of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York (the two last-mentioned
having some years previously, under different titles, obtained charters covering
the construction of roads in the same general direction), and favorable action
taken thereon. By a decree of the Court of Common Pleas of Portage
County, dated October 17, 1854, the name of the company in Ohio was changed
to the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company. The Pennsylvania Com-
pany also changed its corporate name, by an act of the Legislature passed
April 15, 1858, to the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company of Penn-
sylvania. The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company of New York
was incorporated the same year, and it was the intention to build and operate
these three roads as one line, so far as such could be done by contracts with
each other.

IL>^

V^'

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 295

On the 20th of April, 1860, the engineers commenced work at Jamestown,
N. Y., and on the 27th the contractors began grading. On the 8th of May,
1860, the first rail was laid, and the first spike driven. In May, 1861, the
track was laid to Corry, Penn. Work was soon afterward suspended and it
was not until October 22, 1862, that the road was opened to Meadville, Penn.
During this time the work on the Ohio division was progressing very slowly,
but in the spring of 1862 it was energetically commenced, and vigorously
pushed throughout the summer. The first week in November, 1862, two loco-
motives were placed upon the track at Ravenna to aid in the work, and by the
12th of that month about seven miles of track were laid east of that town.
The telegraph office of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad was opened in
Ravenna September 20, 1862, and the first dispatch sent over the wires to
Corry, Penn., on that date. By December 10, 1862, the track between
Ravenna and Warren was completed, and the construction trains freely run-
ning from the latter town to a point four miles west of Ravenna; and January
4, 1863, the last rail, connecting Warren and Meadville, was laid in place.

On the 15th of January, 1863, thirteen freight cars loaded with rails
arrived at Ravenna from New York over the new line, being the first cars
direct from the eastern metropolis without change. On the evening of Febru-
ary 10, 1863, the first accomodation train reached Ravenna from Meadville.
The passengers were principally officers of the road. They were met at the
depot (then a temporary frame building), by a number of leading citizens,
taken in carriages to the Collins House and handsomely entertained, returning
to Meadville the following morning. The first freight was sent over this road
from Ravenna to New Y''ork February 11, 1863, and consisted of a car load of
flour fi'om one of the mills in the town. Two days afterward ten barrels of
sugar were received at Ravenna from New York, via the Atlantic & Great
Western. A regular accommodation train began running east from Ravenna
February 16, 1863. It made three trips a week each way, and was only intended
as a temporary arrangement to accommodate the people along the line until
the further completion of the road. Though the rails were laid and an accom-
modation running in connection with the construction train, as far west as
Kent, in February, 1863, the first through passenger train did not reach that
town until Saturday, March 7, 1863. The passengers consisted of President
Marvin Kent, Chief Engineer Thomas W. Kennard and other officials of the
road, who made the trip from New York to Kent without change. Up to
March 80, 1863, there were only three trains weekly each way, but on that
date daily trains began running. Business grew rapidly, and by the 18th of
May the company found it necessary to put on two daily passenger trains each
way to accommodate the traveling public. On the 26th of May, 1863, the line
was completed to Akron, December 27th to Gallon, and in June, 1864, to Day-
ton, there taking the broad gauge track on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton
Railroad to Cincinnati, which had been prepared for a connection to the new
line. In August of the same year a train was run from New York to St.
Louis, 1,200 miles of broad gauge, in forty-seven hours.

Under an agreement of August 19, 1865, the three companies of Ohio
Pennsylvania and New York were consolidated as the Atlantic & Great Western
Railway Company. On the 1st of April, 1867, the road went into the hands
of a receiver, and December 7, 1868, it was leased to the Erie Railway
Company for the term of twelve years, but was only operated by them four
months, when at the suits of creditors the courts of New York, Pennsylvania
and Ohio again placed the road in the hands of receivers. The Erie Railway
Company leased the road in February, 1870, but in July, 1871, it was sold,

296 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

the purchasers re-organizing as the A-tlantic & Great Western Railroad Com-
pany. The road again went into the hands of a receiver December 10, 1874,
and January 6, 1880, was sold and its name changed to the New York, Penn-
sylvania & Ohio Raih-oad. The track has been changed to the standard gauge
of the country. In March, 1883, it was leased for ninety-nine years to the New
York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, who still operate it. It strikes
the east line of Portage County in Lot 50, Windham Township, and taking a
general southwest course through Windham, Freedom, Charlestown, Ravenna
and Franklin, leaves the county at the northwest corner of Brimfield Township.
The machine shops at Kent, which employ a large number of men, were
located at that point by the Board of Directors April 5, 1854, though they were
not built for many years afterward.

The Cleveland, Youngstown & Pittsburgh Railroad, which passes up the
eastern side of Deerfield and Palmyra Townships and across the southeast
corner of Paris, sprung from the Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad,
chartered February 19, 1874, to run from Fairport, on Lake Erie, to Wheeling,
W. Va. Early in 1876 the work of construction was begun, and the road was
completed the same year from Alliance, Stark County, through Portage, to
Newton Falls, in Trumbull County, and the following summer to Braceville.
On the 9th of May, 1878, the road was sold, and on the 31st the purchasers
reorganized as the Alliance & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and in the fall
of 1879 completed the road to Phalanx. It was originally a narrow gauge,
but July 14, 1882, a consolidation was effected with some other companies,
under the title of the Cleveland, Youngstown & Pittsburgh, and the road
changed to a standard gauge.

The Connotton Valley Railway Company was formed by a consolidation of
the Connotton Valley Railroad Company and the Connotton Northern Railway
Company. The Youngstown & Connotton Valley Railroad Company was
incorporated August 29, 1877, to construct a line of road from Bowerstown to
Youngstown. In 1878 this company purchased the Ohio & Toledo Railroad,
which consisted of a finished track from Dell Roy to Minerva, and in the fall
of 1879 the route and terminus of the Youngstown & Connotton Valley was
changed, making Canton instead of Youngstown the northern terminus. By
a decree of the Court of Common Pleas, issued November 20, 1879, the name
of the corporation was changed to the Connotton Valley Railroad Company.
The Connotton Northern Railway Company was chartei-ed March 23, 1879, lo
build a road from Canton to Fairport on Lake Erie, but the northern terminus
was afterward changed to Cleveland. When the Connotton Valley was built
to Canton, and the Connotton Northern in course of construction, the two
companies saw that their interests would be better conserved by uniting, and
on the 25th of October, 1880, the consolidation was effected as the Connotton
Valley Railway Company. The road is a narrow gauge, which entering Port-
age County on the southern line of Suffield Township, takes a general northerly
course through Suffield, Brimfield, Franklin and Streetsboro Townships, and
crosses into Summit County on Lot 7, in the southwest corner of Aurora
Township. It was completed and trains running as far north as Mogadore by
the close of June, 1881, and during the same year was finished and opened
through to Cleveland.

The Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Toledo Railroad Company was incorporated
April 28, 1882, to construct a road from Newcastle Junction, in Lawrence
County, Penn. , to Akron, Ohio. Work was begun at once and pushed vigor-
ously throughout 1882 and 1883, the track being laid through Portage County
in the summer of the latter year. The road was opened for business February

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 297

1, 1884, but regular trains did not begin running until the 4th of March fol-
lowing. It follows the abandoned bed of the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal,
through Paris, Charlestown, Ravenna and Franklin Townships, and has proven
quite an acquisition to the railroad facilities of the country through which it

The foregoing are the only completed railroads which touch Portage County
territory, but from 1853 to 1856 considerable grading was done" on a proposed
road called the Clinton Air Line. It entered the State at Kinsman on the
Pennsylvania line, and passed southwest through Trumbull, Geauga, Portage,
and Summit Counties, thence onward in the same general direction. It struck
the northern boundary of Hiram Township, in Lot 4, and passed southwest
through Hiram, Mantua and Aurora Townships to Hudson, Summit County,
crossing the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad near the boundary line
between Mantua and Aurora. Some efforts have recently been made to revive
the project, but so far nothing definite has been effected, and it is very doubt-
ful if the road will ever be built. Portage County, however, is well supplied
with railroads, few counties in the State being able to point to six roads pass-
ing through their territory. Randolph and Shalersville are the only town-
ships in the county not touched by a railroad, yet railroad communications are
so close at hand that the inhabitants of those two townships probably derive
as much real benefit from the roads as if they passed within sight of their
doors.

CHAPTER VIII.

Education in Ohio— Lands Granted fok Educational Purposes— Commis-
sioners OF Schools and School Lands in 1822— The School Lands Sold
AND A School Fund Established— Pioneer Schools, Schoolhouses,
Teachers and Books in Portage County— Hoav Teachers were Em-
ployed and Paid— An Amusing Agreement— Growth of Education-
Government AND Progress of Schools Prior to 1851— Schools for Col-
ored Youth Established— Re-organization of Schools under the laws
of 1853— Present Government of Schools.

THE most casual observer cannot but have noticed, notwithstanding the
privation and discomforts attending the lives of the early settlers, the zeal
they manifested in education, and that, as soon as a sufiicient number of pupils
could be collected and a teacher secured, a house was erected for the purpose.
The period just preceding the Revolution was characterized by its number of
literary men, and the interest they gave to polite learning; and the patriots
who were conspicuous in that sti'Uggle for human liberty were men not only
of ability, but of no ordinary culture. We can readily understand that the
influence of their example had its weight in molding public sentiment in other
respects besides that of zeal for the patriot cause. To this may be added that,
for the most part, the early pioneers were men of character, who endured the
dangers and trials of a new country, not solely for their own sakes, but for
their children, and with a faith in what the future would bring forth, clearly
saw the power and value of education. Then we find, from the beginning,
this object kept steadily in view, and provision made for its successful prose-
cution; and the express declaration of the fundamental law of the State
enjoins that " the principal of all funds arising "from the sale or other distri-

298 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

bution of lands or other property, granted or intrusted to the State for educa-
tional purposes, shall forever be pi'eserved inviolate and undiminished, and
the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects
of the original grants or appropriations, and the General Assembly shall make
such provisions by taxation or otherwise as, from the income arising from the
school trust fund, shall secure a thorough and efficient system of common
schools throughout the State."

The act of Congress providing for the admission of Ohio into the Union
offered certain educational propositions to the people. These were, first, that
Section 16 in each township, or, in lieu thereof, other contiguous or equiva-
lent lands, should be granted for the use of schools; second, that thirty-eight
sections of land, where salt springs had been found, should be granted to the
State, never to be sold, or leased for a longer term than ten years; and third,
that one-twentieth of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands in the
State should be applied toward the construction of roads from the Atlantic
to and through Ohio. Those propositions were offered on the condition that
the public lands sold by the United States after the 30th of June, 1802, should
be exempt from State taxation for five years after sale. The ordinance of
1787 had already provided for the appropriation of Section 16 to the support
of schools in every township sold by the United States. This, therefore,
could not, in 1802, be properly made the subject of a new bargain between the
United States and Ohio; and by many it was thought that the salt reserva-
tions and one-twentieth of the proceeds of the sale of public lands were inad-
equate equivalent for the proposed surrender of a right to tax for five years.
The convention, however, accepted the propositions of Congress, on their
being so modified and enlarged as to vest in the State, for the use of schools,
Section 16 in each township sold by the United States, and three other tracts
of land, equal in quantity respectively to one thirty-sixth of the Virginia Mil-
itary Eeservation, of the United States Military Tract and of the Connecticut
Western Keserve, and to give 3 per cent of the proceeds of the public lands
sold within the State to the construction of roads in Ohio, under the direction
of the Legislature. Congress agreed to the proposed modifications, and thus
was established the basis of the common-school fund of Ohio.

We have seen in the foregoing how Congress, by a compact with the peo-
ple, gave them one thirty-sixth part of all of the lands northwest of the Ohio
River for school purposes. The lands for this purpose set apart were, how-
ever, often appropriated by squatters, and through unwise, careless and some-
times corrupt legislation, these squatters were vested with proprietorship.
Caleb Atwater, in his history of Ohio, in speaking on this subject says:
" Members of the Legislature not unfrequently got acts passed and leases
granted, either to themselves, their relatives or to their partisans. One Sena-
tor contrived to get, by such acts, seven entire sections of land into either his
own or his children's possession." From 1803 to 1820 the General Assembly
spent a considerable portion of every session in passing acts relating to these
lands, without advancing the cause of education to any degree.

In 1821 the House of Kepresentatives appointed five of its members, viz.,
Caleb Atwater, Loyd Talbot, James Shields, Roswell Mills and Josiah Barber,
a Committee on Schools and School Lands. This committee subsequently
made a report, rehearsing the wrong management of the school land trust on
behalf of the State, warmly advocated the establishment of a system of educa-
tion and the adoption of measures which would secure for the people the
rights which Congress intended they should possess. In compliance with the
recommendation of the committee, the Governor of the State, in May, 1822,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 299

having been authorized by the Legislature, appointed seven Commissioners of
Schools and School Lands, viz. : Caleb Atwater, Rev. John Collins, Rev.
James Hoge, N. Guilford, Ephraim Cutler, Josiah Barber and James M. Bell.
The reason why seven persons were appointed was because there were seven
different sorts of school lands in the State, viz. : Section 16 in every township
of the Congress lands, the United States Military lands, the Virginia Military
lands, Symmes' Purchase, the Ohio Company's Purchase, tte Refugee lands
and the Connecticut Western Reserve. This commission of seven persons was
reduced by various causes to one of three, Messrs. Atwater, Collins and Hoge,
who performed the arduous duties incumbent upon them with but little remu-
neration and (at the time) but few thanks.

The Legislature of 1822-28 broke up without having taken any definite
action upon the report presented by the commission, but during the summer
and autvimn of 182-4 the subject of the sale of the school lands was warmly
agitated, and the friends of the measure triumphed over the opposition so far
as to elect large majorities to both branches of the General Assembly in favor
of its being made a law. The quantity of land set apart was ascertained in
1825 to be a little more than half a million acres, and was valued at less than
$1,000,000. The school lands were finally sold and the proceeds taken charge
of by the State, the interest accruing from the moneys derived from the sale
of the different classes of lands to be annually distributed among the counties
in the respective land districts, according to the school enumeration of each
county. It might be well to state here that the school age at this time was
fi'om four to sixteen, which was, however, changed whenever the General
Assembly considered such a change necessary or judicious. From the time
the school lands were sold up to the present, each county in the State has
received annually its quota of the interest obtained from this school fund.
Nearly one-half of the counties of Ohio pay more money into the common
school fund of the State than they receive back again, the surplus thus raised
going to poor or sparsely settled counties. This has been the case in Portage
County for many years. In 1875 she paid $16,412.86 and received $12,537.60,
or $3,875.26 less than she paid in. In 1880 she paid $15,785.11, and received
$11,662.50, or $4,122.61 less than paid into the State fund. These two years
will serve to illustrate what this county has been doing for the cause of educa-
tion, for besides educating her own youth she has and is paying annually for
the instruction of the school youth in other counties of the State.

In the early development of Portage County a great variety of influences
were felt in the way of general education. The settlements were and for
years continued to be sparse. The people, as the pioneers of all new counties
are, were poor, and lacked the means of remunerating teachers. Their poverty
compelled all who were able to labor, and the work of the females was as
important and toilsome as that of the men. Added to these, both teachers
and books were scarce. This condition of things continued perhaps for more
than a quarter of a century. Taking these facts into consideration, it is sur-
prising that they had any schools whatever.

The interest awakened in literature and science immediately after the Rev-
olution followed the pioneers to their Western homes; but to make their
efforts productive of useful results time became absolutely necessary. Just
as soon as the settlements were prepared for the experiment, schools were
opened; but at every step it was the acquisition of knowledge under difficul-
ties. Everything connected with them was as simple and primitive as were
their dwellings, food and clothing. Houses were built in the various neigh-
borhoods as occasion made necessary, not by subscription in money, but by

300 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

labor. Ou a given day the neighbors assembled at some place previously-
agreed upon, and the work was done. Timber was abundant; they were skilled
in the use of the ax, and having cut logs of the required length, the walls
were soon raised. The roof was made of clapboards, kept in place by heavy
poles reaching the length of the building. The door was of clapboards and
creaked on wooden hinges; the latch of wood and raised by a string. The
floor was "puncheon," or trees split in the middle, tolerably true, the edge and
face being dressed with the ax. The crevices between the logs forming the
walls were filled with " chinks," or split sticks of wood, and daubed with mud.
The tire-place was equally rude, but of ample dimensions, built on the out-
side of the house, usually of stone to the throat of the flue, and the remain-
der of the chimney of split sticks of wood, daubed with puddled clay within
and without. Light was admitted through the door and by means of an
opening made by cutting out one of the logs, reaching almost the entire width
of the building. This opening was high enough from the floor to prevent the
boys from looking out, and in winter was covered with paper saturated with
grease, to keep out the cold, as well as to admit light.

In the rural districts school " kept " only in winter. The furniture corre-
sponded with the simplicity of the house. At a proper distance below the
windows auger holes were bored in a slanting direction in one of the logs, and
in these strong wooden pins were driven, and on the pins a huge slab or
puncheon was placed, which served as a writing desk for the whole school.
For seats, they used the puncheon, or more commonly the body of a smooth,
straight tree, cut ten to twelve feet in length, and raised to a height of twelve
to fifteen inches by means of pins securely inserted. It has been said that
not infrequently the pins were of unequal length, and the bench predisposed to
" wabble. " Many of the pioneer teachers were natives of Ireland, who had
fled from the oppression of the English Government, prior to and succeeding
the struggle for Irish independenee, in 1798, and here in this land of freedom
were putting to good use that education obtained in their native isle. Dr.
Johnson's notion that most boys I'equired learning to be thrashed into them
was practically carried out in the pioneer schoolhouse. The pupils sat with
their faces toward the wall, around the room, while the teacher occupied the
middle space to superintend each pupil separately. In some rooms a separate
bench was furnished for those too young to write. Classes, when reciting,
sat on a bench provided for this purpose.

The books were as primitive as the surroundings. The New Testament
was a common reading book; the "English Reader" was occasionally found,
and sometimes the " Columbian Orator." No one book was common in all the
families. The reading class recited paragraphs alternately, and the book in
use was made common property, passing from hand to hand during recitation.
It was not unusual for the teacher to assist a pupil in one of his " sums," dis-
cipline a refractory scholar, and hear the reading class at one and the same
time. Dabold, Smiley and Pike's arithmetics were commonly used, with
the examples for practice almost exclusively in pounds, shillings and pence,
and a marked absence of clear rules and definitions for the solving of the dif-
ferent divisions. Webster's "American Speller" was the ordinary spelling-
book, which afterward made way for Webster's "Elementary Speller." This
latter book maintained its popularity for half a century. The spelling class
closed the labors of the day. All who could spell entered the " big class," and
the rivalry was sharp as to who should rank first as good spellers. The class
was numbered in the order in which they stood in line, and retained the num-
ber until a miss sent some one above them. Spelling-matches were frequent,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 301

and contributed largely to make good spellers. Grammar was not often taught,
partly for the reason that books were hard to get, and partly because some
of the teachers were Qot proficient in this branch of learning. When the sci-
ence was taught, the text-book was the earlier and larger edition of Murray,
which, by the close of the first quarter of the century, was largely superseded
by Kirkham, which, though of little real merit, stimulated a taste for grammar.
The boys and girls went to the same school, but sat on opposite benches.

It occasionally happened that teachers were employed who had learned that
an elephant may be led by a hair, or more probably were blessed with gentle
natures, and won the hearts and life-long affection of their pupils by their
pleasant and loving ways; but these were exceptions.' The standard of excel-
lence was often measured by the ability and swiftreadiness to thrash the schol-
ars on any provocation. Disobedience and ignorance were equal causes for the
use of the "birch." "Like master, like boy." The characteristics of the one
tended to develop a corresponding spirit in the other, and the cruelty of the
one, with the absence, too frequently, of all just discrimination in the use of
the rod, excited animosities which lasted through life. There were few boys
of that day who did not cherish the purpose to "whale the master" on sight
at some future time.

The schools were supported by subscription, the charge being from $1 to
$3 per term of three months during the winter, to begin at 8 o'clock in the
morning, with an hour to an hour and a half recess at noon, and close at 5
o'clock. One-half of Saturdays, or alternate Saturdays, made part of thfe term.
Writing was taught to all the larger pupils, and the only pen used was the
goose or turkey quill, made into a pen by the skillful hand of the teacher.
Mending the pens was an essential part of the work. Copy-books were made
of sheets of foolscap paper stitched together, and copies were "set" by the
teacher during recess, which were commonly taken from the maxims in use
from time immemorial. Sometimes the teacher was partly paid in produce or
other commodities, which were the equivalent to him for money, while his sup-
port was often obtained by "boarding around." As an illustration of the
mode of employing teachers during the pioneer days of Portage County, the
writer inserts the following amusing agreement made December 3, 1823,
between the Directors of a school in Edinburg Township, and Austin Loomis:

Agreed with Austin Loomis, of Atwater, to teach school in Edinburg three months,
for twelve bushels of wheat per month ; one-half to be paid at the end of three months in
grain, and the remainder iti some other trade, such as cattle, sheep and w7iisky.

It would bother a modern school teacher to cipher out how twelve bushels
of wheat could be paid in "cattle, sheep and whisky," but probably the arith-
metic now is not as it used to be, and the pioneer teacher may have had little
difficulty in solving the problem to his own satisfaction. The early settlers
were forced to resort to many expedients in the transaction of business,
because of the stringency of the money market. That necessary ingredient
was very scarce, and to m&ke change it was the common usage to halve and
quarter pieces of silver coin. The introduction of schools in one settlement
was an incentive to their speedy adoption in others, and the foregoing descrip-
tion applies to all of the earliest schoolhouses erected in this county. The build-
ing of saw-mills, and the opening up of wagon-roads, brought about a better
order of things, and plank, weather-boarding and glass took the places of
clapboards, puncheon floors and desks, log beeches and greased paper win-
dows. The first schools opened in the different townships of Portage County
are spoken of in the township sketches, to which the reader is referred for
further information on the subject.

302 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

The gradual development and progress of education in Ohio was encour-
aged and fostered by State laws that were the germs from which came forth
the present common school system, and believing that a brief synopsis of those
enactments would be valuable for future reference, the writer has compiled the
following facts from the Ohio statutes, trusting they will enable the reader to
understand more thoroughly the history of the schools on the Western Reserve
up to the adoption of the Constitution of 1851. On the 2d of January, 1806,
three Trustees and a Treasurer were authorized to be elected in each township,
for the purpose of taking charge of the school lands, or the moneys arising
therefrom, and applying the same to the benefit of the schools in said town-
ship. In 1810 this act was more fully defined, and in 1814 every scholar was
entitled to his or her share of said school funds, even when attending a school
outside of their own township. In 1815 those moneys were distributed accord-
ing to the time of school attendance, an account of which each teacher was
required to furnish to the Trustees, and the apportionment made accordingly.
No act of any importance was then passed until January 22, 1821, when a vote
was ordered to be taken in every township for the purpose of deciding for or
against organizing the same into school districts; also for the election of a
School Committee of three persons, and a Collector, who was also Treasurer in
each district. The inhabitants were authorized to erect schoolhouses in their
respective districts on land donated or purchased for that purpose, said schools
to be paid for by donations and subscriptions, together with the taxes raised
for that object. This act authorized that all lands located in said districts
liable to State or county taxation were also liable to taxation for erecting
schoolhouses, and for educating the children of those unable to pay for school-
ing. Parents and guardians were assessed in proportion to the number of
children sent to school by them, but those unable to pay had their assessment
remitted, and such deficiency was paid out of the fund raised by taxation. Of
course, the moneys accruing from the school lands went into the school fund
held by the Treasurer of each district.

The first general school law was passed February 5, 1825, and it provided
"that a fund shall hereafter be annually raised among the several counties in
the State, in the manner pointed out by this act, for the use of common schools,
for the instruction of youth of every class and grade without distinction, in
reading, writing, arithmetic and other necessary branches of a common
education." This was in harmony with the constitution, which asserted that
schools and the means of instruction should forever be encouraged by legisla-
tive provision. This act provided for a general tax to be levied for the foster.-
ing of common schools throughout the State, which was to be collected annu-
ally and used for general educational purposes. Three School Directors were to
be elected annually in each district, to transact the business of said schools, erect
buildings, employ teachers, receive and expend all moneys derived from any
source, etc. The Court of Common Pleas in each county was authorized to
appoint annually "three suitable persons to be called Examiners of Common
Schools," whose duties it was to examine teachers for qualification and grant
certificates, also to visit and examine the schools throughout the county. If
any district neglected to keep a school therein, at any one time for the space
of three years, its proportion of the school fund was divided among the other
districts in said township that employed teachers. The school fund of each
county was taken charge of by the Auditor, who distributed the same between
the several townships. In 1827, this act was amended. The Directors were
instructed to appoint a Treasurer for each school district. Fines imposed by
any Justice of the Peace, for offenses committed in any given district, were to

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^^y:^<^s^.

:r£V

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 305

be paid to the Treasurer, to be used for the support of education in said dis-
trict. Taxes were levied to build new houses and repair old ones. Every
householder, whose tax was less than $1, had to pay that amount, or give two
days' labor toward the building or repairing of schoolhouses. The number of
Examiners was increased, but at no time were they to exceed the number of
townships in the county.

In February, 1829, a law was enacted providing more fully for general
education, but the children of black or mulatto persons were not permitted to
attend these schools, nor wore such persons compelled to pay taxes toward their
support. The official term of Examiners was designated as two years, and
their number to be not less than five in each county, nor more than one in each
township thereof. Whenever the regular school fund ran short, the teachers,
if not paid by voluntary subscription, were to be paid by those sending schol-
ars to said schools. Often the regular fund did not pay for more than three
months' schooling annually, so that even then the schools, though slowly
improving, were anything but flourishing. The act of 1830 did not materially
improve them, and in March, 1831, the following clause appears in a law
relative to raising the school fund. It says a general fund shall be raised "for
the instruction of the white youth of every class and grade," so that, although
Ohio was a free State, a black man was debarred from, the educational advan-
tages accorded to his white brother, and though his body was not kept in
slavery his mind was kept in ignorance as far as the State laws had the power
to do so. With all this injustice the property of negroes was exempt from
taxation for school purposes, which was at least a small grain of justice to the
despised race. The school age was changed so as to include those between
four and twenty-one years, and the number of Examiners read "not less than
five in each county, nor more than two in each township." '

On the 2d of March, 1831, an act was passed authorizing the establish-
ment of a fund to be designated " The Common School Fund," the income to
be used for the support of common schools. All moneys arising from the sale
of school lands were to be put into this fund, and the State guaranteed a cer-
tain interest on all such moneys paid into the State Treasury. The County
Auditors were authorized to draw said interest and distribute it among the
several districts in their respective counties, to which said lands originally
belonged. , Donations and bequests were also put into this fund and used for
the same general purpose. These moneys, however, were to be funded annu-
ally, until January 1, 1835, after which date the interest was divided among
the several counties in proportion to the number of white males over twenty-
one years of age residing therein.

tip to this time women were not eligible as school teachers, for we find
that an act was passed December 23, 1831, allowing Directors to employ
female teachers, but the Directors had to signify in writing to the School
Examiners that it was the desire of the inhabitants of said district to employ
" a female teacher for instructing their children in spelling, reading and
writing only. " The Examiners were then empowered to give the lady "a
special certificate" to teach those branches. It is unnecessary for the writer
to comment on this injustice; he takes it for granted that the most illiberal of
men will agree with him that this discrimination against women was a griev-
ous wrong and unworthy of this great Commonwealth. In 1833 other provis-
ions and amendments were made to the school laws, whose object was to
increase their influences, but no material changes were made in former ones.

The office of State Superintendent of Schools was created March 7, 1837,
and made permanent a year from that date. He was elected by the General

306 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Assembly for a term of five years, but on the 23d of March, 1840, the office
was abolished, and the Secretary of State required to perform the duties
thereof. In 1838 a fund of $200,000 was provided for, to be annually dis-
tributed among the several counties, according to the number of white youth,
unmarried, between the ages of four and twenty-one. It was known as the
"State Common School Fund," was reduced, March 7, 1842, to $150,000 and
again raised to $300,000 on the 24th of March, 1851. By Article VI of the
Constitution of 1851 it is declared that the principal of all funds accruing
from school lands, donations or bequests, "shall forever be preserved inviolate
and undiminished." It was enacted by the law of 1838 that the Township
Clerk should be Superintendent of Schools within his township, and this law
remained in force until the re-organization of the school laws, in 1853. By
this same law the County Auditor was endowed with the position of Superin-
tendent of Schools throughout the county. The number of School Examiners
was reduced to three members for each county, who were appointed by the
Court of Common Pleas.

On the 16th of March, 1839, an act was passed providing for the establish-
ment of night schools in towns, wherein male youth over twelve years of age,
who could not attend school in the daytime, might be instructed. This law
also enacted that scholars could attend German schools and yet receive their
quota of school money. Subsequently the German language was introduced
into the schools as a part of the regular studies.

On the 24th of February, 1848, a law was passed authorizing the estab-
lishment of separate schools for colored children. This law was amended in
1849, and was thought by many to be contrary to the spirit of the constitution,
but the Supreme Court declared it constitutional. Separate school districts
were authorized to be organized and managed by Directors chosen by the
adult male colored tax-payers, whose property was alone chargeable for the sup-
port of said schools. Colored children were not really debarred under the con-
stitution at that time from attending the schools provided for white children, but
it amounted to about the same thing as the objection of any parent or guardian
whose children attended said school prevented the attendance of colored
youth. Thus the law existed until 1853, when the schools for colored chil-
dren were placed upon the same basis as those for white. By the law of 1853,
^Boards of Education were directed, whenever the colored youth in any school
district numbered more than thirty, to establish a school for them. This law
was so amended in 1864 that two or more districts could unite for the same
purpose. Much trouble has been caused in different towns by the colored peo-
ple insisting on sending their children to the schools for whites. In some
places little or no opposition has been manifested, while in others a bitter
struggle resulted. In the country districts and smaller towns white and col-
ored children usually attend the same schools, and, as far as the writer has
investigated the plan, it seems to work harmoniously.

The school law of 1853 made ample provision for the education of every
class and grade of youth within the State. We have seen in the preceding
pages that those who participated in the organization of the Northwest Terri-
tory, and subsequently the State, recognized religion, morality and knowledge
as necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind. We have
also seen the gradual development of education from its earliest inception in
the State up to its present permanent foundation through the law of 1853.
Under the present law the State is divided into school districts as follows:
City districts of the first class, city districts of the second class, village dis-
tricts, special districts and township districts. To administer the affairs of

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 307

the districts, and to look after and promote the educational interests therein,
the law has provided for the establishment of Boards of Education in each
district. These boards may acquire real or personal property for the use of
their districts, and are required to establish schools for free education of the
youth of school age, and may establish schools of a higher grade than the
primary schools. They are to determine the studies to be pursued and the
text-books to be used in the schools under their control; to appoint superin-
tendents of schools, teachers and other employes, and fix their salaries. They
are authorized to make such rules and regulations as they may deem expedient
and necessary for the government of the board, their appointees and pupils.

The State Commissioner of common schools is elected by the people, and
his official term is three years. He is required to superintend and encourage
teachers' institutes, confer with Boards of Education or other school officers,
counsel teachers, visit schools and deliver lectures calculated to promote popu-
lar education. He is to have a supervision over the school funds, and has
power by law to require proper returns to be made by the officers who have
duties to perform pertaining to schools or school funds. It is his duty to give
instruction for the organization and government of schools, and to distribute
the school laws and other documents for the use of school officers. He is
required by law to appoint a Board of State Examiners, consisting of three
persons, who hold their office for two years. This board is authorized to issue
life certificates to such teachers as may be found, upon examination, to have
attained "eminent professional experience and ability." These certificates
are valid in any school district in the State, and supersede the necessity of all
other examinations by the county or local Boards of Examiners. Each appli-
cant for a State certificate is required to pay a fee of $3.

There is in each county in the State a Board of Examiners appointed by
the Probate Judge, their official term being three years. The law provides
that " it shall be the duty of the Examiners to fix upon the time of holding
the meetings for the examination of teachers, in such places in their respective
counties as will, in their opinion, best accommodate the greatest number of
candidates for examination, notice of all such meetings being published in
some newspaper of general circulation in their respective counties, and at such
meetings any two of said board shall be competent to examine applicants and
grant certificates: and as a condition of examination, each applicant for a
certificate shall pay the Board of Examiners a fee of 50 cents." The fees
thus received are set apart as a fund for the support of teachers' institutes.

In city districts of the first and second class and village districts having a
population of not less than 2,500, the Examiners are appointed by the Boards
of Education. The fees charged are the same as those of the County Boards,
and are appropriated for the same purpose.

There are, in the different townships, subdistricts, in which the people elect,
annually, a local Director, whose term of office continues for three years.
From this it will be seen that each subdistrict has a board consisting of three
Directors. These Directors choose one of their number as Clerk, who presides
at the meetings of local Directors, and keeps a record thereof. He also keeps
a record of the proceedings of the annual school meetings of the subdistrict.
The Board of Education of each township district consists of the Township
Clerk and the local Directors, who have been appointed Clerks of the sub-
districts.

The law provides that " in every district in the State, there shall be taken,
between the first Monday in September and the first Monday in October, in
each year, an enumeration of all unmarried youth, noting race and sex, between

308 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

six and twenty-one years of age, resident within the district, and not tempo-
rarily there, designating also the number between sixteen and twenty-one years
of age, the number residing in the Western Reserve, the Virginia Military
District, the United States Military District, and in any original surveyed
township or fractional township to which belongs Section 16, or other land in
lieu thereof, or any other lands for the use of schools or any interest in the
proceeds of such land: Provided, that in addition to the classihed return of
all the youth residing in the district, that the aggregate number of youth in
the district resident of any adjoining county, shall be separately given, if any
such there be, and the name of the county in which they reside." The Clerk
of each Board of Education is required to transmit to the County Auditor an
abstract of the returns of enumeration made to him, on or before the second
Monday of October.

The County Auditor is required to transmit to the State Commissioner, on
or before the 5th day of November, a duly certified abstract of the enumera-
tion returns made to him by Clerks of school districts. The law provides that
"the Auditor of State shall, annually, apportion the common school funds
among the different counties upon the enumeration and returns made to him
by the State Commissioner of Common Schools, and certify the amount so
apportioned to the County Auditor of each county, stating from what sources
the same is derived, which said sum the several County Treasurers shall retain
in their respective treasuries from the State funds; and the County Auditors
shall, annually, and immediately after their annual settlement with the County
Treasurers, apportion the school funds for their respective counties accord-
ing to the enumeration and returns in their respective offices."

The law ])rovides that the school year shall begin on the Ist day of Sep-
tember of each year, and close on the 31st of August of the succeeding year.
A school week shall consist of five days, and a school month of four school
weeks. The law also provides, in relation to common schools, that they shall
be "free to all youth between six and twenty- one years of age who are children,
wards or apprentices of actual residents of the school district, and no pupil
shall be suspended therefrom except for such time as may be necessary to con-
vene the Board of Education of the district, or local Director of the subdis-
trict, nor be expelled unless by a vote of two-thirds of said Board of local
Directors, after the parent or guardian of the offending pupil shall have been
notified of the proposed expulsion, and permitted to be heard against the
same; and no scholar shall be suspended or expelled from the privilege of
schools beyond the current term: Provided, that each Board of Education shall
have power to admit other persons, not under six years of age, upon such
terms, or upon the payment of such tuition as they prescribe; and Boards of
Education of city, village or special districts shall also have power to admit,
without charge or tuition, persons within the school age who are members of
the family of any freeholder whose residence is not within such district, if any
part of such freeholder's homestead is within such district; and provided fur-
ther, that the several Boards of Education shall make such assignments of the
youth of their respective districts to the schools established by them, as will,
in their opinion, best promote the interests of education in their districts; and
provided further, that nothing contained in this section shall supersede or
modify the provisions of Section 31 of an act entitled "an act for the re-or-
ganization, supervision and maintenance of common schools, passed March 14,
1853, as amended March 18, 1864."

Provision is made by law for the establishment and maintenance of teach-
ers' institutes, which are established for the professional improvement of

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 309

teachers. At each session competent instructors and lecturers are employed
to assist the State Commissioner, who is required by law to superintend and
encourage such institutes. They are either county, city or joint institutes of
two or more counties, and the examination fees paid by teachers to Boards
of Examiners are devoted to the payment of the expenses incurred by these
instructions.

History teaches us that no art or science, wealth or power will compensate
for the lack of moral and intellectual stability in the minds of a nation. Hence
it is admitted that the strength and perpetuity of this Republic must consist
in the morality and intelligence of its people. Every youth in Ohio under
twenty-one years of age may have the benefit of a public school education, and
since the system of graded and high schools has been adopted, may obtain a
general knowledge from the alphabet to the classics. The enumerated branches
of study in the public schools of this State are about thirty-four, including
mathematics and astronomy, French, German and the classics. Thus Ohio,
which was in the heart of the wilderness one hundred years ago, and has been
a State only eighty-two years, now presents to the world not merely an unriv-
aled development of material prosperity, but a good system of popular educa-
tion.

CHAPTER IX.

Public Officers— Members of Congress— State Senators— Territorial
AND State Representatives — County Commissioners— Treasurers-
Clerks— Recorders— Auditors — Sheriffs— Coroners— Surveyors — Pro-
bate Judges— Seat of Justice and Public Buildings— Prison Bounds-
County Infirmary— Political Statistics of Portage County— First
Election Held; with the Names of the Candidates and Voters-
Gubernatorial AND Presidential Vote.

AFTER much labor and research among the musty, age-dimmed records
stowed away in the Court House vaults, we have carefully compiled the
roster of Portage County officials embraced in this chapter, together with their
respective terms of service, from the organization of the county up to the pres-
ent. In regard to the members of Congress, State Senators and Representa-
tives, the reader will bear in mind that they respectively represent the district
of which the territory now embraced in Portage County formed a part since
the organization of the second grade of Territorial government in 1799. The
latter lists were obtained from the annual reports of the Secretary of State,
and may therefore be regarded as reliable.*

Members of Congress. — "William H. Harrison, of Harbilton County, 1799,
resigned in 1800, to accept the Governorship of the Territory of Indiana;
William McMillan, of Hamilton County, vice Harrison, resigned, 1800 to
1801; Paul Fearing, of Washington County, 1801 to 1803; Jeremiah Mor-
row, of Warren County, 1803 to 1813; John S. Edwards, of Trumbull County,
1813, resigned in April, 1813; Rezin Beall, of Wayne County, vice Edwards,
resigned, April, 1813, Beall also resigning in August, 1813; David Clendeneu,
of Trumbull County, vice Beall resigned, August, 1813 to 1817; Peter Hitch-
cock, of Geauga County, 1817 to 1819; John Sloan, of Wayne County, 1819
to 1823; Elisha Whittlesey, of Trumbull County (now Mahoning), 1823 to

* For Common Pleas and Associate Judges, and Prosecuting Attorneys see Chapter X.

310 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

1833; Jonathan Sloane, of Portage County, 1833 to 1837; John W. Allen, of
Cuyahoga County, 1837 to 1841: Sherlock J. Andrews, of Cuyahoga County,
1841 to 1843: Daniel R. Tilden, of Portage County, 1843 to 1847; John
Crowell, of Trumbull County, 1847 to 1851; Eben Newton, of Mahoning
County, 1851 to 1853; George Bliss, of Summit County, 1853 to 1855; Ben-
jamin F. Leiter, of Stark County, 1855 to 1859; Sidney Edgerton, of Summit
County, 1859 to 1863; James A. Garfield, of Portage County, 1863 to 1879;
William McKinley, Jr., of Stark County, 1879 to 1881; Ezra B. Taylor, of
Trumbull County, 1881, third terni expires in 1887.

State Senators.- — Samuel Huntington, district Trumbull County, 1803;
Benjamin Tappan, same district, 1803 to 1804: George Tod, same district,
1804 to 1806; Calvin Cone, district Trumbull and Geauga, 1806 to 1808;
David Abbott, district Portage and Geauga, 1808 to 1810; David Abbott, dis-
trict Portage, Geauga and Cuyahoga, 1810 to 1812; Peter Hitchcock, district
Portage, Geauga, Cuyahoga and Ashtabula, 1812 to 1816; Aaron Wheeler and
Almon Buggies, district Portage, Geaaga, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Huron,
1816 to 1818; Aaron Wheeler and John Campbell, same district, including
Medina County, 1818 to 1819; John Campbell and Almon Ruggles, same dis-
trict, 1819 to 1820; Jonathan Foster, district Portage and Medina, 1820 to
1822; Jonathan Sloane, same district, 1822 to 1824, Aaron Norton, same dis-
trict, 1824 to 1825; Elkanah Richardson, vice Aaron Norton, deceased, same
district, 1825 to 1826; Jonathan Sloane, same district, 1826 to 1828; Darius
Lyman, district Portagef 1828 to 1832; Chauncy Eggleston, same district,
1832 to 1834; Darius Lyman, same district, 1834 to 1835; Frederick Wads-
worth, same district, 1835 to 1836; Daniel Upson, same district, 1836 to
1838; Gregory Powers, same district, 1838 to 1839; Simon Perkins, Jr., same
district, 1839 to 1840; Elisha N. Sill, same district, 1840 to 1841; Elisha N.
Sill, district Portage and Summit, 1841 to 1842; John E. Jackson, same dis-
trict, 1842 to 1844; William Wetmore, same district, 1844 to 1846; Asahel
H. Lewis, same district, 1846 to 1848; Lucian Swift, same district, 1848 to
1850; Darius Lyman, same district, 1850 to 1851.

Under the Constitution of 1851 the State was divided into fixed Senatorial
districts. Portage and Summit were designated as the Twenty-sixth District,
and have so remained to the present time. The Senators since then have
been as follows: Ransom A. Giilett, 1852 to 1854; William H. Upson, 1854
to 1856; Oliver P. Brown, 1856 to 1858; George P. Ashmun, 1858 to 1860;
James A. Garfield, 1800 to 1862; Lucius V. Bierce, 1862 to 1864; Luther
Day, 1864, resigned in the summer of 1864, and was succeeded the following
October by Alphonso Hart, who served until 1866; N. T. Tibbals, 1866 to
1868; Philo B. Conant, 1868, resigned in August, 1868, and was succeeded by
William Stedman, who served until 1870; Henry McKinney, 1870 to 1872;
Alphonso Hart, 1872 to 1874; N. W. Goodhue, 1874 to 1876; Marvin Kent,
1876 to 1878; David D. Beebe, 1878 to 1882; S. P. Wolcott, 1882, second
term expires in 1886. Senator Wolcott, under the apportionment of 1881,
was chosen to represent the Twenty -fourth and Twenty-sixth Districts, the
former embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga, and the latter
Summit and Portage.

Territorial and State Representatives. — James Pritchard, district Jeffer-
son County, 1799 to 1801; Edward Paine, district Trumbull, 1801 to 1803;
Ephraim Quimby and Aaron Wheeler, same district, 1803; David Abbott and
Ephraim Quimby, same district, 1803 to 1804; Amos Spotford and Homer
Heine, same district, 1804 to 1805; Homer Heine and James Kingsbury, same
district, 1805 to 1806; John P. Bissell and James Kingsbury, district Trum-

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 311

bull and Geauga, 1806 to 1807; John W. Seeleyand James Montgomery, same
district, 1807 to 1808; Abel Sabin, district Portage, 1808 to 1809; Benjamin
Whedon, same district, 1809 to 1810; Elias Harmon, same district, 1810 to
1812; Rial McArthur, same district, 1812 to 1815; Moses Adams, same dis-
trict, 1815 to 1816; Darius Lyman, same district, 1816 to 1818; Darius Lyman,
district Portage and Medina, 1818 to 1820; Jonathan Sloane and James
Moore, same district, 1820 to 1822; George B. DePeyster and Joseph Harris,
same district, 1822 to 1823; George B. DePeyster and James Moore, same
district, 1823 to 1824; William Coolman, district Portage, 1824 to 1828;
Van R. Humphrey, same district, 1828 to 1830; Thomas Earl, same district,
1830 to 1832; Gregory Powers, same district, 1832 to 1833; Roan Clark,
same district, 1833 to 1834; Amos Seward, same district, 1834 to 1835; Joseph
Lyman, same district, 1835 to 1836; William Quimby and Thomas C Shreve,
same district, 1836 to 1837; Solomon Day and William Wetmore, same dis-
trict, 1837 to 1838; Elisha Garrett and George Kirkum, same district, 1838 to
1839; Rufus P. Spalding and Ephraim B. Hubbard, same district, 1839 to
1840; Jason Streator and Hiram Giddings, same district, 1840 to 1841; John
Streator, same district, 1841 to 1842; Thomas Earl and Samuel H. Pardee,
same district, 1842 to 1843; Plimman C. Bennett, same district, 1843 to 1844;
Robert F. Paine, same district, 1844 to 1845; David Mcintosh and Thomas C.
Shreve, district Portage and Summit, 1845 to 1846; Luther Russell, district
Portage, 1846 to 1847; William Coolman and Amos Seward, district Portage
and Summit, 1847 to 1848; George Sheldon, district Portage, 1848 to 1850;
Lorin Bigelow, same district, 1850 to 1851.

Since the adoption of the Constitution of 1851, Portage County has com-
posed a separate legislative district, and has been represented in the Lower
House by the following citizens: Lorin Bigelow, 1852 to 1854; L. W. Coch-
ran, 1854 to 1856; Erasmus Needham, 1856 to 1858; Cyrus Laughlin, 1858 to
1860; William Stedman and A. J. Squire, 1860 to 1862; David L. Rockwell,
1862 to 1864; Samuel E. M. Kneeland, 1864 to 1866; William Stedman,
1866 to 1868; Reuben P. Cannon, 1868 to 1872; Joseph R. Conrad, 1872 to
1874; Orvil Blake, 1874 to 1878; Charles R. Harmon, 1878 to 1882; Egbert
S. Woodworth, 1882 to 1884; Aaron JM. Sherman, 1884, term expires in 1886.

County Commissioners. — Abel Sabin, from June 8, 1808, to October, 1808;
Joel Gay lord, June 8, 1808, to October, 1809; Lewis Day, June 8, 1808, to
October, 1810; Joseph Harris, October, 1808, to October, 1811; Oliver Snow,
October, 1809, to October, 1812; Samuel King, October, 1810, to October,
1813; John T. Baldwin, October, 1811, to October, 1814; Oliver Snow (re-
elected), October, 1812, to October, 1815; Owen Brown, October, 1813, to
October, 1816; John T. Baldwin (re-elected), October, 1814, to October, 1817;
Amzi Atwater. October, 1815, to October, 1818; Owen Brown (re-elected),
October, 1816, to October, 1819; Rufus Ferris, October, 1817, resigned March,
1818; Alexander K.Hubbard, April, 1818, to October. 1820; Dillingham Clark,
October, 1818, to October, 1821; George Clark, October, 1819, to October, 1822;
Asa K. Burroughs, October, 1820, to October, 1823; James Coe, October, 1821, to
October, 1824; Elkanah Richardson, October, 1822, to October, 1825; Asa K.
Burroughs (re-elected), October, 1823, to October, 1826; James Coe (re- elected),
October, 1824, to October, 1827; Asaph Whittlesey, October, 1825, to October,
1828; Owen Brown, October, 1826, to October, 1829; James Coe (re elected),
October, 1827, to October, 1830; Hiram Giddings, October, 1828, to October,
1831; Jonathan Foster, October, 1829, to October, 1832; Edwin Wetmore, Octo-
ber, 1830, to October, 1833; Andrew Bassett, October, 1831, to October, 1834;
Elisha Garrett, October, 1832, to October, 1835; Alanson Baldwin, October,

312 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

1833, to October, 1836; Solomon Day, October, 1834, to October, 1837; Henry
Chittenden, October, 1835, to October, 1838; Royal Taylor, October, 1836, to
October, 1839; EphraimL. Williams, October, 1837, to October, 1840; Henry
Chittenden (re-elected), October, 1838, resigned June, 1840; Moses Eggleston,
October, 1839, to October, 1842; Arthur Anderson, June, 1840, to October,
1840; Miner Merrick, October, 1840, to October, 1841; Leverett Norton, Octo-
ber, 1840, to October, 1843; Miner Merrick (re-elected), October, 1841, to Octo-
ber, 1844; Moses Eggleston (re-elected), October, 1842, to October, 1845;
William R. Kelso, October, 1843. to October, 1846; Benjamin Marshall,
October, 1844, to October, 1847; Caleb Carleton, October, 1845, to October,
1848; William R. Kelso (re-elected), October, 1846, to October, 1849; Orsa-
mus L. Drake, October, 1847, to October, 1850; Carnot Mason, October, 1848,
to October, 1851; Hiram Spencer, October, 3849, to October, 1852; Joel H.
Curtis, October, 1850, resigned December, 1852; Moses A. Birchard, Decem-
ber, 1851, to December, 1854; Ebenezer S. Harmon, November, 1852, to Decem-
ber, 1855; David K. Wheeler, December, 1852, to December, 1850; Sylvester
Huggins, December, 1854, to December, 1857; Evan E. Davis, December,
1855, to December, 1858; Charles Goodsell, December, 1856, to December,
1859; Horace Adams, December, 1857, resigned January, 1858; David K.
Wheeler, February, 1858, to December, 1858; S. A. Hinman, December, 1858,
to December, 1860; E. D. Carlton, December, 1858, to December, 1861; A.
H. Weatherbee, December, 1859, to December, 1862; L. C. Merrill, December,
1860,to December, 1863; Thomas Gorby, December, 1861, to December, 1864;
E. D. Carlton (re-elected), December, 1862, to December, 1865; P. P. Daw-
ley, December, 1863, to December, 1866; Joseph R. Conrad, December, 1864,
to December, 1867; Ozias Allyn, December, 1865, to December, 1868; P. P.
Dawley (re-elected), December, 1866, to December, 1869: Joseph R. Conrad
(re-elected), December, 1867, to December, 1870; H. J. Noble, December,
1868, to December, 1871; N. B. Jennings, December, 1869, to December,
1872; Smith Sanford, December, 1870, to December, 1873; Isaac Brown,
December, 1871, to December, 1874; Luther H. Parmelee, December, 1872,
resigned December, 1874; Smith Sanford (re-elected), December, 1873, to
December, 1876; Edward A. Parsons, December, 1874, to December, 1875;
Wanzer Holcomb, December, 1874, to December, 1877; Edward A. Parsons,
December, 1875, to December, 1878; Edgar Whittlesey, December, 1876, to
December, 1879; P. C. Nichols, December, 1877, to December, 1880; A. B.
Merrill, December, 1878, to December, 1881; Edgar Whittlesey (re-elected),
December, 1879, to December, 1882; P. C. Nichols (re-elected), December,
1880, to December, 1883; A. B. Merrill (re-elected), December, 1881, to Decem-
ber, 1884; Orrin Smyth, December, 1882, term expires in December, 1885;
J. L. Thompson, December, 1883, term expires in December, 1886; Wanzer
Holcomb, December, 1884, term expires in December, 1887.

Treasurers. — Elias Harmon, June, 1808, resigned November, 1810; Gersham
Bostwick, from November, 1810, to June, 1814; Hemaii Oviatt, June, 1814, to
June, 1815; Gersham Bostwick, June, 1815, to June, 1816; William Wetmore,
June, 1816, to June, 1824; Isaac Swift, June, 1824, to June, 1832; Frederick
Williams, June, 1832, to June, 1840; Henry L. Tilden, June, 1840, to June,
1846; Enos P. Brainerd, June, 1846, to June, 1848; Jackson T. Green, June,
1848, to June, 1852; Charles Green, June, 1852, to June, 1856; Lyman Bryant,
June, 1856, to June, 1858; Harvey C. Newberry, June, 1858, to September,
1860; George Sanford, September, 1860, to September, 1862; Samuel D. Har-
ris, September, 1862, to September, 1866; Gustavus P. Reed, September,
1866, to September, 1870; Edward G. Hinman, September, 1870, to Septem-

^A&O^^UCy^ '^(f-C-\A^\

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 315

ber, 1874; John C. Beatty, September, 1874, to September, 1878; Nathan H.
Smith, September, 1878, to September, 1882; Wilbur A. Jenkins, September,
1882, second term expires in September, 1886.

Clerks. — Benjamin Whedon, August, 1808, to December, 1809; William
Wetmore, December, 1809, to March, 1813; Ira Hudson, March, 1813, to Octo-
ber, 1817; Seth Day, October, 1817, to October, 1831; George Kirkum, Octo-
ber, 1831, to October, 1838; William Coolman, Jr., October, 1838, to June,
1845; Horace Y. Beebe, July, 1845, to February, 1852; Ebenezer Spalding,
February, 1852, to February, 1855; Edmund Bostwick, February, 1855, to
February, 1861; Horace M. Clark, February, 1861, to February, 1867;
Andrew Jackson, February, 1867, to February, 1873; John Meharg, February,
1873, to February, 1882; John Porter, February, 1882, second term expires
in February, 1888.

i?ecorders.— Titus Wetmore, October, 1808, to April, 1810; William Wet-
more, May, 1810, to February, 1813; Ira Hudson, March, 1813, to September,
1817; Seth Day, October, 1817, to August, 1831; John N. Skinner, August,
1831, to October, 3849; Rodolphus Bard, October, 1849, to October, 1852;
Andrew Jackson, October, 1852, to October, 1855; Joshua T. Catlin, October,
1855, to January, 1862; James Norton, January, 1862, to January, 1868;
George W. Barrett, January, 1868, to January, 1877; Philo Bierce, January,
1877, third term expires in January, 1886.

Auditors. — This office was created by an act of the Legislature passed
February 8, 1820. the duties then belonging to the position having previously
been performed by a clerk appointed by the Commissioners. Under the old
regime but six men filled the office, viz.: Abel Sabin and Seth Day, in 1808;
Seth Day, 1809; Oliver C. Dickinson, 1810-11: Stephen Mason, 1812-17;
Alexander K. Hubbard, 1818; Orvill Crane, 1819 to February, 1820. Since
that time the Auditors have been as follows: Rial McArthur, February, 1820,
to February, 1823; Samuel D. Harris, March, 1823, to February, 1831; Sam-
uel Foljambe, March, 1831, to February, 1841; George B. De Peyster. March,
1841, to January, 1844; Charles L. Rhodes, February, 1844, to February,
1847; Caleb Atwater, March, 1847, to February, 1849; John G. McBride,
March, 1849, to February, 1853; Lorenzo Frost, March, 1853, to February,
1855; Thomas W. Browning, March, 1855, to February, 1857; H. L. Carter,
March, 1857, to February, 1859; Alfred Baldwin, March, 1859, to February,
1861; Frank L. Sawyer, March, 1861, to February, 1863; Henry H. Stevens,
March, 1863, to February, 1869; William Grinnell, February, 1869, to Novem-
ber, 1880; Le Grand A. Olin, November, 1880, second term expires in Novem-
ber, 1886.

Sheriffs. — Alva Day, June 8, 1808, to December, 1810; John Campbell,
January, 1811, to November, 1812; Stephen Mason, November, 1812, to Novem-
ber, 1816; Asa K. Burroughs, November, 1816, resigned in March, 1820;
William Coolman, April, 1820, to November, 1824; John King, November,
1824, to November, 1826; James Perry, November, 1826, to November, 1830;
Frederick Wadsworth, November, 1830, to November, 1834; George Y. Wal-
lace, November, 1834, to November, 1838; Laurin Dewey, November, 1838, to
November, 1842; Willam Frazer, November, 1842, to November, 1844; David
W. Jennings, November, 1844, to November, 1846; John Gillis, November,
1846, to November, 1850; James Woodward, November, 1850, to November,
1854; Ferris Couch, November, 1854, to November, 1856; Ira Gardner,
November, 1856, to January, 1859; Thomas R. Williams, January, 1859, to
January, 1863; William F. Parsons, January, 1863, to January, 1865; Henry,
C. Jennings, January, 1865, to January, 1869; Otis B. Paine, January, 1869, to

316 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

January, 1873: O. C. Risdon, January, 1873, to January, 1877; Benjamin F.
Keller, January, 1877, to January, 1881; William Wilcox, January, 1881, to
January, 1885; H. T. Sheldon, January, 1885, term expires in January, 1887.

Coroyier's. — Lewis Day, June 8, 1808, to October, 1808; Lewis Elv, October,
1808, to 1814; William Frazer, 1820, to 1823; J. V. Gardner, 1832, to 1839;
William Frazer, 1840, to 1841; E. M. Crane, 1842, to 1843; R. J. Thompson,
1844, to 1845; A. W. Stocking, 1846. to 1847; E. Needham, 1848, to 1849; J.
M. Tilden, 1850, to 1851; E. B. Babcock, 1852, to November, 1854; Ephraim
B. Hubbard, November, 1854, to November, 1856; D. R. Bissell, November,
1856, to October, 1857; George Sanford, October, 1857, to January, 1860;
James O. Gurlej'^, January, 1860, to January, 1862; D. C. Stockwell, January,
1862, to January, 1864; Chauncy B. Curtis, January, 1864, to January, 1866;
E. W. Crain, January, 1866, to February, 1866; Luther H. Parmelee, March,
1866, to January, 1869; Recellus Root, January, 1869, to January, 1871;
Lyman Bryant, January, 1871, to January, 1874; Thomas R. Williams, Jan-
uary, 1874, to January, 1876; Aaron M. Sherman, January, 1877, to January,
1879; A. H. Barlow, January, 1879, to January, 1885; O. D. Olds, January,
1885, term expires in January, 1887.

Surveyors. — Among the first Surveyors of Portage County were Amzi
Atwater, Rial McArthur, Abel Sabin and A. K. BuiToughs, who discharged the
duties of the office for the first seven years of the county's history, since
which time the following citizens have filled the position: John Harmon,
1815 to 1827; Orrin Harmon, 1828 to 1832; Samuel D. Harris, 1833, to 1835;
John E. Jackson, 1836, to 1838; Samuel D. Harris, 1839, to 1840; Daniel
Woodruff, 1840, to 1843; Samuel D. Harris, 1844, to 1857; Ruggles Bostwick
1858 to 1863; Isaiah Linton, 1864 to 1866; C. J. Gillis, 1867 to 1869; Jede-
diah Cole, 1870 to 1884; C. B. Wadsworth, 1885, term expires in December,
1887.

Probate Judges. — Luther L. Brown, February, 1852, to February, 1855;
Darius Lyman, February, 1855, to February, 1864; Oliver P. Brown, February,
1864, resigned in May, 1864; Joshua T. Catlin, May, 1864, to February,
1867; Jacob V. Mell, February, 1867, to February, 1873; Gideon Seymour,
February, 1873, to February, 1882; Cornelius A. Reed, February, 1882, sec-
ond term expires in February, 1888.

Seat of Justice and Public Buildings. — The act erecting Portage County
designated the house of Benjamin Tappan as the place for holding the courts
of said county until a permanent seat of justice should be established. This
house, the second one occupied by Judge Tappan, was a frame building, which
then stood about a mile east of Ravenna on what is now the Marcus Heath
farm, and was erected by John McManus for Tappan about 1804. A tradition
exists that on the first meeting of the Court of Common Pleas August 23, 1808,
this house was found in ruins, having been burned down the previous night.
The journal of that date does not mention where the Court first met, but says
that after organizing and accepting the report of the Commissioners, Robert
Simison, Samuel Hunter and Rezin Beall, appointed by the Legislature to
select a seat of justice for Portage County, it adjourned to meet the same
afternoon at the house of Robert Eaton. The journal of the Commissioners of
Portage County shows that their first session was held at tbe house of Robert
Eaton on the 8th of June, 1808. The Eaton house, which is yet standing in
a fair state of preservation, is located about two miles and a half southeast of
Ravenna, and is now (January, 1885,) the residence of R. J. Thompson, Esq.
It is a two story frame structure of large dimensions, and was utilized for
both Court House and Jail until tbe completion of the first public buildings at
Ravenna in 1810.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 317

Eavenna was laid out by Benjamin Tappan early in 1808, and tbe plat
acknowledged by him April 22 of that year before Henry O'Neill, a Justice of
the Peace of Franklin Township, Trumbull Co. (now in Portage), Ohio, which
township then embraced a large scope of territory in Portage County, subse-
quently divided into several townships. The State Commissioners previously
mentioned soon afterward selected Ravenna as the seat of justice for Portage
County, and reported the result of their labors to the Court of Common Pleas
of said county at its first session the following August. The original town
plat contained 192 lots, four of which were donated by Judge Tappan for pub-
lic uses, viz.: Nos. 22 and 78 for school sites, and Nos. 52 and 108 for churches.
He also gave a piece of ground at the southwest corner of the town plat
for a grave-yard, for which purpose it was used several years. On the 25th of
April, 1809, the Commissioners of Portage County purchased of Judge Ben-
jamin Tappan, as the agent of his father, Benjamin Tappan, of Northampton,
Mass., Lots Nos. 55, 56 and 57, whereon the Court House and Jail now stand,
for the sum of $300, the acknowledgment of the deed for said lots being
made by Judge Tappan on the same date before Joseph Harris, a Justice of
the Peace of Portage County. The next things necessary were a Court House
and Jail, and under the date of December 5, 1809, the following item appears
on the Commissioner's journal:

Mr. William Tappan entered into an agreement in behalf of himself and John Tap-
pan, to erect at the seat of justice in Ravenna at their own expense a Court House forty
feet long, thirty feet wide and twenty feet high, the lower story to be finished for the
accommodation of the Court, etc. ; and to build a log Jail two stories high, twenty-five feet
long and twenty feet wide, the lower story to contain three rooms, and a chimney to con-
tain two tire-places, one on each story; and the said William and John, on the completion
of the said Court House and Jail, are to receive those lots given by Benjamin Tappan for
the use of the county.

From the wording of this agreement we would naturally infer that Ben-
jamin Tappan had donated some lots to the county, but there is not the stroke
of a pen on record to show that Portage County ever received a foot of land
from Judge Tappan or from any other member of the Tappan family, only
what she paid for. We have already shown that the lots upon which the
Court House and Jail now stand were purchased of Judge Tappan for the
sum of $300, a copy of the deed for which may be found in the Recorder's
office, and this is the only transaction on record relating in the remotest
degree to the subject, as the lots given for the sites of churches and schools, as
well as the block of land for burial purposes, were for the use of the citizens
of Ravenna and not for Portage County. Judge Tappan, however, may have
agreed to donate certain lots for public uses, though never legally transferring
them to the county, and the Commissioners concluding to locate the public
buildings on their present site, turned over their right to said lots to William
and John Tappan, to whom the deed was subsequently made, yet there is not
an iota of evidence on record to give any foundation for this theory, only the
agreement for erecting the Court House and Jail made between the Tappans
and the County Commissioners December 5, 1809.

The buildings were completed in the summer of 1810. The Court House
was a frame structure, and stood a little northwest of the present commodious
building. The Courier in its issue of October 21, 1826, thus comments on
this structure: "Portage County can boast, on the score of public build-
ings, nothing but a shell, which is alternately occupied by bipeds and quad-
rupeds, and which, from its dilapidated state, is equally easy of access to both
— and in which, we may, at different times, hear the preachers of the Gospel,
the expounders of the law, and the birch of the schoolmaster, and consequently

318 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

the squalls of the children, the squealing of the pigs and the bleating of
sheep. 'Tis, in fact, occupied as a Court House and meeting-house, and we all
know it has become proverbial as the county sheep-pen."

In 1829 it was sold to Gen. Samuel D. Harris, who removed it to the site of
Merts & Riddle's factory. After standing unoccupied for several years it was
purchased by James Clark & Co., who converted it into a carriage-shop, which
was subsequently owned and operated by N. D. Clark & Co. The factory
passed thence into the possession of Merts & Riddle, and was burned down
August 11, 1871. The first story of the Jail was built of hewn logs, eighteen
inches square, and was floored and roofed in the same manner. The Sheriff's
residence was in one side of the building, while the second story over the Jail
proper was also occupied by that officer. This building stood on the south-
west corner of the present Jail site, but was removed soon after the completion
of the second Jail, in November, 1819. It does not seem to have given very
good satisfaction, judging from the following protests made to the Commis-
Hioners by two successive Sheriffs.

Portage County, July 16, 1810.

To the Clerk of Commissioners of Portage Go^inty. — I protest against the Jail of this
couuty with my solemn declaration that it is an insufficient Jail. Alva Day, Sheriff.

Portage County, February 9, 1811.

I, the subscriber, do hereby protest against the Jail of Portage County, it being
entirely insufficient to secure a prisoner. John Campbell, Sheriff'.

A few years after the erection of the first Court House and Jail, a very sub-
stantial one-story brick building, 30x60, was erected upon the site of the new
portion of the present Court House. It contained two rooms, which were
occupied as the offices of the Recorder, the Clerk, and the Commissioners'
Clerk. This building continued in use until the second Court House was in
process of erection, when it was torn down, and the material used in the walls
of the new structure.

In April, 1818, steps were taken by the Commissioners toward the erection
of a new Jail, and three lots in Ravenna, viz.. No. 175, 176 and 177, were pur-
chased of William Tappan for the sum of |90, the purchase being agreed to
December 31, 1818, and the contract consummated on the 5th of January fol-
lowing. On the last day of December, 1818, a contract was made with Oviatt
& Kent for the erection of a frame Jail, to cost $1,520. As these old buildings
are of some historic interest to the present generation, we here give a partial
copy of the agreement. Oviatt & Kent having given bond in the sum of
$3,050 for the faithful performance of the contract, the agreement goes on to
say:

The conditions of the above obligation are such that, whereas, the above bound Oviatt
& Kent hath undertaken to build a good and sufficient Jail for the county of Portage,
thirty-two feet in width by thirty-four feet in length, two stories high, and furnish them-
selves with all the materials, and finish it off complete for the sum of $1,520, the building
to be divided in the following manner, viz. : The lower story, fourteen feet off one end to
be built of good sound white oak timber, hewn fourteen inches square, without wane, and
divided into two rooms, witli a space-way between of four feet in the clear, and floored
under and over with timber of the same description as the walls, with one fifteen-light
window in the back end of the hall, in two sashes and very strongly grated with iron; one
door out of the space-way into each of the prison rooms, and one into the other part of
the house, all made double with two-inch white oak plank and covered on the inside with
sheet-iron at least one-eighth of an inch thick, and doubled over the edge of the door and
very strongly nailed with stout nails, and hung with large iron hinges suitable for doors of
such weight and size, and one large and sufficient lock on each of the three doors. * *

Those two prison rooms were supplied with ventilation and light through an
iron-grated hole, fourteen inches in height by three feet in length, cut through
the log walls into the dividing hall-way. When the reader is informed that
under each of those cells, and connecting therewith, were the closets or sinks

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 319

used by the prisoners, the excrement being allowed to filter through a stoned
drain, he can readily discern the great improvements that have been made in
the sanitary condition of our prisons during the past three-quarters of a cen-
tury. This portion of the building was to have a solid hard-head atone foun-
dation, the remainder to be of common stone well laid. The other twenty
feet of the lower story was divided into four rooms: a Sheriff's office, a bed-
room, a kitchen and a buttery, a large fire-place at the end of the building
serving the two-fold purpose of cooking and heating. A strongly- walled cel-
lar, fourteen feet square, was constructed under the kitchen, and the second
story was reached by a stairway from the same room. The upper story was
divided into seven apartments. Two debtors' rooms were constructed imme-
diately over the lower prison cells, and of the same dimensions as the lower
ones, but each was provided with an iron-grated window from which the
inmates might view their fellow citizens upon the outside who had not the
misfortune to be burdened with the crime of poverty. Those rooms also pos-
sessed a small fire-place, while the occupants of the lower cells had to get
along without tire. On the opposite end from the debtors' prison Avere four
rooms, two of which were used as sleeping apartments, and the others for
various purposes. The building was covered on the outside with two-inch
white oak plank laid on perpendicularly, and framed into the sill and
upper plate, and pinned on the joists, and then weather-boarded with common
siding. This Jail was completed according to contract by the middle of Novem-
ber, 1819, and stands across the alley from the Congregational Church, on the
northeast corner of Meridian and Oak Streets. Upon the erection of the pres-
ent Jail the log portion was removed, and the building converted into a dwell-
ing, which is now (December, 1884,) occupied as the residence of S. L. Jen-
nings, Esq.

On the 5th of September, 1826, the Commissioners took into consideration
the expediency of building a new Court House, and gave public notice that
sealed proposals would be received at the Auditor's office until the first Mon-
day in December for furnishing materials for the new structure. In the latter
month the Commissioners advertised for proposals for 150,000 bricks to be
delivered near the Court House in Ravenna by the first Monday of March, 1828.
The contract for the erection of the building was finally let to Zenas Kent in
the spring of 1828, and on the 11th of February, 1830, it was completed and
accepted by the Commissioners, having cost in full about $7,000. It was a
long, two-story brick building of the Grecian Temple order, six wooden col-
umns on the front upholding a projecting roof, which was surmounted by a
cupola. The county offices were located in the lower story, while the court-
room is the same one now occupied. In the erection of the new Court House
about twenty feet were cut off the front part of the old one to make room for
the more modern structure.

The present two-story stone Jail on the public square bad its inception
June 13, 1836, when the Commissioners concluded to take the necessary meas-
ures toward the erection of a new Jail, and bids were ordered to be advertised
for in the county papers. The plan of the Jail, adopted September 6, 1836,
was drawn by Mr. Medbury, Warden of the Ohio Penitentiary, while the small
residence adjoining it on the west was an after consideration, added to the
plans by John N. Skinner, the Recorder, and Samuel Foljambe, the Auditor.
On the 20th of October, 1836, the bid of Ebenezer Rawson was accepted, but
it was not until the 8th of December following that the contract was let to
Rawson, for the sum of $9,100. Toward the completion of the building a dis-
agreement arose between the contractor and the Commissioners as to the proper

320 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

remuneration for certain work needed on the Jail, which the specifications did
not expressly stipulate. The matter was left to a board of arbitration, which
on the 16th of July, 1839, decided that Rawson should put in certain extras
and receive $284.68 over and above the original contract price of the Jail.
Rawson was evidently dissatisfied with the decision, for he neglected to f alfiU
its terms, and the building was finally comj)leted, in May, 1840, by William
Stinaff, whom the Commissioners employed to carry out the decision of the
arbitration. The building has fully answered the purposes for which it was
erected, but its location for many reasons is objectionable, and it is only a
question of a few years when it will be replaced by a more modern one,
located on a more eligible site. On the 13th of October, 1856, the Commis-
sioners purchased of John G. DeWolf Lot 58, upon which the engine house
now stands, for $1,500; and July 13, 1857, the legal right to the public alley,
which originally ran east and west in the rear of the Court House, was obtained,
and the alley became the property of the county.

The elegant and commodious Court House now adorning the public square
in Ravenna, was built by authority of a special act of the Legislature passed
March 11, 1881, " to authorize the Commissioners of Portage County to build
a fire proof addition and to remodel and repair the present Court House in said
county and to issue bonds therefor.'' The design of the building was pre-
pared by Samuel W. Lane, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio, and the contract for the
erection of the new structure and remodeling the old one was awarded to Mr.
P. B. Carpenter, of Conneautville, Penn., in June, 1881, for the sum of $32,-
226, but subsequent changes in the specifications ran the cost up to $39,622.90.
The new building was completed and occupied in September, 1882, and the
old portion subsequently remodeled and finished. The following figures are
an authentic estimate of the original cost of the Court House: Contractor,
$39,622.90; architect's labor, $1,540; steam-heating apparatus, $4,600; vaults,
$619.35; furniture, $3,815; clock, $1,250; grates and mantels, $435; gas fix-
tures, $340.22; carpets for court room, $293.13; stone pavement in front of
Court House, $444; total cost, $52,959.60. It is a handsome brick structure,
two stories and a half in height, with a lofty mansard roof (making the build-
ing more than three stories high), and with its artistic stone trimmings, both
modern in design and finish, will favorably compare with the best county
buildings of the State. A fine clock occupies the tower, and a large figure
of justice surmounts the dome. At the main entrance is a substantial
stone portico, upheld by six handsome stone pillars, adding much to the
beauty of the front view of the building. On the first floor are the offices
of the Recorder, Treasurer, Auditor, Commissioners, Sheriff, Prosecuting
Attorney and Surveyor; and on the second floor those of the Probate Judge
and Clerk, also the court room and jury rooms. The whole interior is hand-
somely finished in black walnut and butternut, and the stairways partly in
cherry, while the large, well-lighted offices, furnished in black walnut, and
possessing fire-proof vaults, where the valuable records are absolutely safe
fl'om destruction, harmonize thoroughly with the progressive spirit of the
age. The halls and stairways are wide, and the ceilings high and airy, while
a general air of utility and comfort pervades throughout the building.

Prison Bounds. — Upon the establishment of the American Government,
many of the laws previously existing under English rule were partly or wholly
retained on the statute books of the young Republic. Imprisonment for debt
was one of those relics of barbarism which existed for seventy-five years after
the Declaration of Independence. This law was an outrage upon honest pov-
erty, and the cause of untold misery to hundreds of struggling pioneer families.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 321

The prisoner confined for debt, upon giving good security to his creditors, was
allowed his freedom inside of a certain defined limit surrounding the Jail
known as the "prison bounds," but by crossing the established line he forfeited
even this small grain of liberty. In 1799 a law was enacted by the Terri-
torial Assembly establishing 200 yards as the dimensions of the prison bounds.
This was increased in 1800 to 440 yards, but reduced in 1805 to 400. In 1821
the village or town limits became the boundary line, and in 1833 the "bounds"
were made co-extensive with the county. Thus they remained until the adop-
tion of the Constitution of 1851, when the law having almost become a "dead
letter," was expunged from the statutes of Ohio. At the April term of the
Court of Common Pleas of Portage County, in 1809, the Court assigned the
following prison bounds: "Beginning at a stake and stones eleven chains
north, forty-five degrees east from said prison, thence south twenty chains;
thence west fifteen chains; thence north twenty chains; thence east fifteen
chains to the first bounds." The action of the Court was in conformity with
the then existing State law; but with the progress of civilization all such laws
become obnoxious to the spirit of humanity which true civilization engenders,
and therefore give way to a more just and enlightened policy.

County Infirmary. — Throughout the pioneer days of Portage County each
township supported its own poor, but finally this duty devolved upon the county,
and the indigent were "farmed out" to those who would keep them the cheap-
est. This method did not prove very satisfactory, as the unfortunate poor
were in many cases treated badly. It was finally decided by the Commission-
ers to establish a county farm where the poor could be collectively supported,
and at the annual election held in April, 1839, the citizens of Portage voted
in favor of the proposed institution. The Commissioners advertised at once
for a cultivated farm of from 125 to 200 acres on which to erect a "County
Poor House," and on the 29th of April accepted the proposal of David Mcin-
tosh, to sell them his farm in Shalersville Township, consisting of 162 acres
of land, in Lots Nos. 62 and 79, with buildings, stock and farming imple-
ments thereon, for the sum of $5,000. On the 3d of May following the pur-
chase was completed and possession given, and on the same date the Commis-
sioners appointed Darius Lyman, David Mcintosh and Frederick Williams, a
Board of Directors to take charge of and manage the affairs of said poor
farm.

For ten years no additions were made to the farm, which was found ample
for the necessities of the institution; but the number accepting its benefits
kept increasing with the growth in population, and in April, 1849, the Com-
missioners purchased of Erastus Chapman an additional tract of 129.47 acres,
located in Lots Nos. 63 and 64, for the sum of $2,524.60. In June, 1850, they
exchanged 56.41 acres of land in Lot No. 62, being the north part of the
original farm, with Noble Haven for the same amount in Lot No. 61, adjoining
the farm on the south. The buildings finally became inadequate, and a new
one was regarded as a necessity, therefore, in April, 1858, the Commissioners
advertised for bids to erect a new brick Infirmary building. The plans of H.
N. Bostwick, Esq., were adopted, and in May the contract was let to Samuel
H. Bloomer, Abraham Bloomer, Elisha Brigham and J. S. Brigham, for the
sum of $4,988, the building to be completed by the 25th of November, 1858.
This structure, together with the frame buildings standing there when the
farm was purchased, served the purposes of the institution for about fourteen
years, but on the 8th of February, 1872, the contracts for an additional wing
to the main Infirmary building were let as follows: The masonry, brick work,
etc., to Messrs. Brigham & Jennings, for the sum of $5,400, and the carpeu-

322 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

tering, painting, glazing, etc., to Johnson & Babcock for $4,588. The addi-
tion was completed in the fall of 1872, but extras ran the cost a good deal
above the original contract price. Brigham & Jennings were paid in Novem
ber, 1872, $1,091.59 for flagging and repairs; while Peter Martin, of Cleve-
land, received $4,000 for putting in the heating and ventilating apparatus,
making the total expense of the improvements carried out in 1872 over $15,-
000. The main Infirmary building is an L shaped brick structure, two and a
half stories high, but a portion of the original building purchased with the
farm is yet standing and in use. The farms now contain about 300 acres of
first-class land, while the institution is self-supporting, and pays a good inter-
est on the capital invested, besides having furnished through the passing years
a comfortable home for hundreds of unfortunate poor.

Political Statistics. — The political history of Portage County, even if
written correctly and devoid of prejudice, would be of very little utility to the
average reader, and when we take into consideration the utter impossibility of
accomplishing such a task, we think it best, for the sake of historical truth, to
illustrate the county's political complexion by simply giving the vote it cast
for each Gubernatorial candidate since 1808, together with that polled in a
few of the Presidential contests. It may, however, be of some interest to the
present and future generations to know who the candidates for the several
county offices were at the first election, held June 8, 1808, also the names of
the voters at that election. The polling place was at the house of Benjamin
Tappan, which stood where Marcus Heath's residence now stands, east of
Ravenna. Eighty -seven votes were cast, distributed as follows: For Commis-
sioners, Abel Sabin, of Randolph, 86; Joel Gaylord, of Hudson, 84; Lewis
Day, of Deerfield, 49; Elias Harmon, of Mantua, 42. For Sheriff, Alva Day,
of Deerfield, 47; John Campbell, of Charlestown, 38 (these two gentlemen
were again the candidates for Sheriff in October, 1808, with the following
result: Alva Day, 151; John Campbell, 140). For Coroner, Lewis Day, of
Deerfield, 38; Samuel Andrews, of Rootstown, 31; David Root, of Rootstown,
14. All of the successful candidates were supporters of President Jefferson's
administration.

The following list of voters at the election of June 8, 1808, together with
the present names of the townships in which they then resided, were copied
from the returns made at that time, and are therefore reliable. John Campbell
and Abel Sabin, though candidates, did not vote:
Silas Tinker, Jr., Mantua. Heman Oviatt, Hudson.

Frederick Caris, Jr., Rootstown. Stephen Upson, Suffield.

Benjamin Tappan, Ravenna. Horatio Day, Deerfield.

Frederick Caris, Sr. , Rootstown. Joel Baker, Shalersville.

John Caris, Rootstown. John Creighton, Ravenna.

William Chard, Ravenna. David Hudson, Hudson.

Samuel Bishop, Hudson. Benjamin Whedon, Hudson.

Samuel Simcox, Ravenna. Josiah Ward, Randolph.

Moses Thompson, Hudson. Isaac Mills, Nelson.

James Robinson, Northampton. Jonathan Foster, Suffield.

Aaron Norton, Tallmadge. Oliver Dickinson, Randolph.

Robert Walker, Ravenna. Delaun Mills, Nelson.

David Jennings, Ravenna. John Goss, Randolph.

John Boosinger, Ravenna. John Wright, Sr., Ravenna.

Daniel Haynes, Ravenna. William Wetmore, Stow.

John Chapman, Deerfield. Jacob Eatinger, Ravenna.

Thomas Wright, Ravenna. Jacob Stough, Ravenna.

/- A

> f

Jpy^y'co^o-^T^i^;^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

325

Arthur Anderson, Ravenna.
Phillip Willyard, Eootstown.
Michael Simcox, Ravenna.
Nathan Chapman, Rootstown.
John Wright, Jr., Ravenna.
Abraham Toms, Ravenna.
Jotham Atwater, Mantua.
Abel Forsha, Ravenna.
Samuel Baldwin, Aurora.
John Ward, Ravenna.
Jotham Blakesly, Ravenna.
Samuel McCoy, Rootstown.
Oliver Mills, Hiram.
James Laughlin, Deerfield.
Samuel Moore, Mantua.
Oliver Forward, Aurora.
Henry Rogers, Deerfield.
George W^ilber, Atwater.
Samuel H. Ferguson, Aurora.
Beman Chapman, Rootstown.
Nathan Muzzy, Deerfield.
Ephriam Chapman, Rootstown.
Asa Betts, Deerfield.
Enoch Harrymon, Ravenna.
Stephen Mason, Deerfield.
Joseph Murrill, Deerfield.

Calvin Ward, Randolph.
Henry Ely, Randolph.
Jeremiah Sabin, Randolph.
Ebenezer Goss, Randolph.
Joseph Harris, Randolph.
Amzi Atwater, Mantua.
Joel Gaylord, Hudson.
Samuel Andrews, Rootstown.
David Goss, Randolph.
Elias Harmon, Mantua.
Lewis Day, Deerfield.
Seth Day, Deerfield.
David Root, Rootstown.
Bazel Windsor, Jr., Mantua.
Bela Hubbard, Randolph.
John McWhorter, Ravenna.
Henry O'Neil, Rootstown.
William Price, Ravenna.
Asa D. Keyes, Shalersville.
Conrad Boosinger, Ravenna.
Henry Sapp, Ravenna.
Aaron Weston, Randolph.
Robert Campbell, Ravenna.
David Moore, Ravenna.
Gersham Bostwick, Rootstown.
Reuben Tupper, SufiQeld.

Alva Day, Deerfield.

1808 — Vote for Governor: Samuel Huntington, 118; Thomas Worthington,
152; Thomas Kirker, 9. Total, 279.

1810 — Vote for Governor: Return J. Meigs, 250; Thomas Worthington,
28. Total, 278.

1812— Vote for Governor: Return J. Meigs, 295; Thomas Scott, 000.
Total, 295.

1814 — Vote for Governor: Thomas Worthington, 367; Othniel Looker, 78.
Total, 445.

1816 — Vote for Governor: Thomas Worthington, 99; James Dunlap, 000;
Ethan Allen Brown, 320. Total, 419.

1818 — Vote for Governor: Ethan Allen Brown, 558; James Dunlap, 1.
Total, 559.

1820 — Vote for Governor: Ethan Allen Brown, 679; Jeremiah Mon-ow, 24;
William Heory Harrison, 28. Total, 731.

1822— Vote for Governor: Jeremiah Morrow, 833; Allen Trimble, 202;
William W. Irvin, 16. Total, 1,051.

1824 — Vote for Governor: Jeremiah Morrow, 60; Allen Trimble, 1,090.
Total, 1,150.

1826— Vote for Governor: Allen Trimble, 1,055; John Bigger, 2; Alexan-
der Campbell, 1; Benjamin Tappan, 7. Total, 1,065.

1828 — Vote for Governor: Allen Trimble (National Republican), 1,414;
John W. Campbell (Democrat), 437. Total, 1,851.

1828 — Vote for President: John Quincv Adams (National Republican),
2,110; Andrew Jackson (Democrat), 853. Total, 2,963.

1830 — Vote for Governor: Duncan McArthur (National Republican), 1,562;
Robert Lucas (Democrat), 625. Total, 2,187.

326 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

1832 — Vote for Governor: Darius Lyman (Whig and Anti-Mason), 2,084;
Robert Lucas (Democrat), 1,368. Total, 3,452.

1832 — Vote for President: Andrew Jackson (Democrat), 1,406; Henry
Clay (Whig), 2,327; William Wirt (Anti-Mason), 2. Total, 3,735.

1834 — Vote for Governor: Robert Lucas (Democrat). 2,074; James Find-
lay (Whig and Anti -Mason), 2,362. Total, 4,436.

1836 — Vote for Governor: Joseph Vance (Whig and Anti- Mason), 3,056;
Eli Baldwin (Democrat), 2,525. Total, 5,581.

1836— Vote for President: William Henry Harrison (Whig), 3,302; Mar-
tin Van Buren (Democrat), 2,683. Total, 5,985.

1838 — Vote for Governor: Wilson Shannon (Democrat), 3,051; Joseph
Vance (Whig and Anti-Mason), 3,252. Total, 6,303.

1840 — Vote for Governor: Thomas Corwin (Whig), 2,544; Wilson Shan-
non (Democrat), 2,120. Total, 4,664.

1840 — Vote for President: William Henry Harrison (Whig), 2,542; Mar-
tin Van Buren (Democrat), 1,963; James G. Birney (Liberty), 16. Total, 4,503.

1842 — Vote for Governor: Wilson Shannon (Democrat), 2,181; Thomas
Corwin (Whig), 2,301; Leicester King (Abolition or Free Soil), 133. Total,
4,615.

1844— Vote for Governor: Mordecai Bartley (Whig), 2,467; David Tod
(Democrat), 2,360; Leicester King (Abolition or Free Soil), 234. Total, 5,061.

1846— Vote for Governor: William Bebb (Whig), 1,858; David Tod
(Democrat), 1841 ; Samuel Lewis (Abolition or Free Soil), 163. Totai, 3,862.

1848— Vote for Governor: John B. Weller (Democrat), 2,234; Seabury
Ford (Whig), 2,249. Total, 4,483.

1850 — Vote for Governor: Reuben Wood (Democrat), 2,104; William
Johnston (Whig), 1,249; Edward Smith (Abolition or Free Soil), 000. Total,
3,353.

1851 — Vote for Governor: Reuben Wood (Democrat), 2,198; Samuel F.
Vinton (Whig), 1,117; Samuel Lewis (Abolition or Free Soil), 787. Total,
4,102.

1853— Vote for Governor: William Medill (Democrat), 2,160; Nelson
Barrere (Whig), 682; Samuel Lewis (Abolition or Free Soil), 1,222. Total,
4,064.

1855— Vote for Governor: William Medill (Democrat), 1,861; Salmon P.
Chase (Republican), 2,660; Allen Trimble (American or Know-nothiug), 10.
Total, 4,531.

1857 — Vote for Governor: Salmon P. Chase (Republican), 2,696; Henry
B. Payne (Democrat), 1,956; Philip Van Trump (Know-nothing), 000. Total,
4,652.

1859 — Vote for Governor: William Dennison (Republican), 2,620; Rufus
P. Ranney (Democrat), 2,038. Total, 4,658.

1860 — Vote for President: Abraham Lincoln (Republican), 3,065; Stephen

A. Douglas (Democrat), 1,970; John C. Breckinridge (Democrat), 117; John
Bell (American or Union), 7. Total, 5,159.

1861— Vote for Governor: David Tod (Republican), 3,274; Hugh J. Jewett
(Democrat), 559. Total, 3,833.

1863— Vote for Governor: John Brough (Republican), 3,677; Clement L.
Vallandigham (Democrat), 1,788. Total, 5,465.

1864 — Vote for President: Abraham Lincoln (Republican), 3,478; George

B. McClellan (Democrat), 1,918. Total, 5,396.

1865 — Vote for Governor: Jacob D. Cox, (Republican), 2,853; George W.
Morgan (Democrat), 1,932. Total, 4,785.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 327

1867— Vote for Governor: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), 3,342; Allen
G. Tharman (Democrat), 2,817. Total, 5,659.

1868 — Vote for President: Ulysses S. Grant (Republican), 3,604; Horatio
Seymour (Democrat), 2,362. Total, 5,966.

1869— Vote for Governor: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), 3,213:
George H. Pendleton (Democrat), 2,241. Total, 5,454.

1871— Vote for Governor: Edward F. Noyes (Republican), 2,970; George
W. McCook (Democrat), 2,139; Gideon T. Stewart (Prohibition), 47. Total,
5,156.

1872 — Vote for President: Ulysses S. Gi'ant (Republican), 3,478; Horace
Greeley (Independent Republican and Democrat), 2,438; James Black (Green-
back), 27; Charles O'Connor (Independent Democrat), 50. Total, 5,993.

1873— Vote for Governor: Edward F. Noyes (Republican), 2,285; William
Allen (Democrat), 2,056; Gideon T. Stewart (Prohibition), 272; Isaac Collins
(Liberal), 24. Total, 4,637.

1875 — Vote for Governor: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), 3,402;
William Allen (Democrat), 2,859; Jay Odell (Prohibition), 54. Total, 6,315.

1876— Vote for President: Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat), 3,006; Ruther-
ford B. Hayes (Republican), 3,712; G. Clay Smith (Prohibition), 27; Peter
Cooper (Greenback), 14. Total, 6,759.

1877— Vote for Governor: William H. West (Republican), 3,031; Richard
M. Bishop (Democrat), 2,624; Stephen Johnson (Greenback), 287; Henry A.
Thompson (Prohibition), 69. Total, 6,011.

1879 — Vote for Governor: Charles Foster (Republican), 3,652; Thomas
Ewing (Democrat), 3,104; A. Sanders Piatt (Greenback), 114; Gideon T.
Stewart (Prohibition), 56. Total, 6,926.

1880— Vote for President: James A. Garfield (Republican), 3,990; Win-
field Scott Hancock (Democrat), 3,147; James B. Weaver (Greenback), 86;
Neal Dow, (Prohibition), 36. Total, 7,259.

1881 — Vote for Governor: Charles Foster (Republican), 3,365; John W.
Bookwalter (Democrat), 2,548; Abraham R. Ludlow (Prohibition), 116; John
Seitz (Greenback), 70. Total, 6,099.

1883 — Vote for Governor: Joseph B. Foraker (Republican), 3,381; George
Hoadly (Democrat), 3,002; Ferdinand Schumacker (Prohibition), 167;
Charles Jenkins (Greenback), 41. Total, 6,591.

1884 — Vote for President: Grover Cleveland (Democrat), 3,273; James G.
Blaine (Republican), 3,931; John P. St. John (Prohibition), 217; Benjamin
F. Butler (Greenback Labor Reform), 122. Total, 7,543.

328 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

CHAPTER X.

The Judiciary— Organization of the Court of Common Pleas in Ohio, and
ITS Subsequent Changes— Pioneer Courts of Portage County— Sessions
of 1808-09, AND the Juries and Trials of Those Two Years— Anecdotes
OF Pioneer Justice in This County— Common Pleas Judges— Associate
Judges— Prosecuting Attorneys— Eiding the Circuit — Pioneer Resi-
dent AND Visiting Lawyers— Brief Sketches of Leading Members of
the Bench and Bar— Present Bar of Portage County— The Portage
County Medical Association.

AS people often fail to agree respecting their rights and duties, and as they
sometimes violate their agreements, and even disobey those rules
and regulations prescribed for their conduct, it is necessary that tribunals
should be provided to administer justice, to determine and declare the rights
of disagreeing parties, to investigate and decide whether the laws are observed
or violated, and to pronounce judgment according to law and the just deserts
of the citizen. These determinations are called judicial. Upon the organi-
zation of the Northwest Territory, courts were established and laws promul-
gated for its proper government. The Court of Common Pleas was the first to
take shape, being established by the Governor and Judges at Marietta, August
23, 1788. This Court was first composed of not less than three and not more
than five Justices, appointed by the Governor in each county, and known as the
"County Court of Common Fleas," but in 1790 the number of Justices was
increased to not less than three and not more than seven in each county, and the
regular sessions were, by the same act, increased from two to four annually.
When Ohio was admitted into the Union, its judiciary was re-organized. The
State was divided into circuits, for each of which a Judge, who had to be a
lawyer in good standing, was elected by the General Assembly, whose term of
office was seven years. Three Associate Judges were chosen in each county by
the same body, and for the same length of service, and were usually farmers
or intelligent business men. The President Judge with the Associates com-
posed the Court of Common Pleas of each county, and thus this Court remained
until the re-organization of the judiciary under the Constitution of 1851.
That instrument provided for the division of the State into judicial districts,
and each district into subdivisions. It abolished the office of Associate Judge,
and directed- that in each sub-division one Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas, who had to be a resident thereof, should be elected by its qualified elec-
tors. The official term was fixed at five years, and the Legislature reserved
the power to increase the number of Judges in each subdivision whenever such
became necessary.

Prior to the erection of Portage County, all of its judicial business, except-
ing that transacted by its Justices of the Peace, was done at Warren, the
county seat of Trumbull County. The first session of the Court of Common
Pleas in this county left the following record of its preliminary proceedings:

"State of Ohio, County of Portage, Tuesday, August 23,- 1808. This
being the day appointed by law for the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas
for said county, the Court opened, present Calvin Pease, Esq. , President, and
William Wetmore, Aaron Norton and Amzi Atwater, Esqs., Associate Judges.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 329

"The report of Robert Simison, Samuel Hunter and Rezin Beall, Com-
missioners appointed to fix the seat of justice for the County of Portage, was
made to the Court, which being read was ordered to be recorded.

" Ordered that the Court adjourn till 2 o'clock in the afternoon to meet at
the house of Robert Eaton.

" Tuesday, 2 o'clock, afternoon, the Court opened pursuant to adjournment,
present, the same judges as in the morning.

"The grand jury being called, came to-wit: Ebenezer Pease, Samuel
Bishop, David Hudson, Robert Bissel, Moses Thompson, Stephen Baldwin,
Samuel Andrus, Jacob Reed, John Campbell, Wiley Hamilton, Ethelbert
Baker, Alfred Wolcott, John Hutton, Jeremiah Root and David Abbott. The
Court appointed David Hudson, Esq., foreman of the grand jury, and the
jury being sworn and affirmed, were charged by the Court and sent out."

The act erecting the county designated the house of Benjamin Tappan as
the place for holding the courts until a seat of justice should be selected; but
tradition says that when the Court met at the appointed place on Tuesday
morning, August 23, 1808, Tappan's residence was a smoldering rain, having
been burned to the ground the previous night, and that the Court organized in
the open air under the spreading branches of a large tree. The writer cannot
vouch for the truth or falsity of this pioneer tradition, but it is, however, a
fact, that after organizing and accepting the report of the Commissioners
appointed by the Legislature to select the site for the county seat, the Court
adjourned to meet at Robert Eaton's house in the afternoon of the same day.
This building, which is yet standing in a good state of preservation, is now
(January, 1885,) the residence of R. J. Thompson, Esq., and is located about
two miles and a half southeast of Ravenna. It was utilized by the Common
Pleas' and Commissioners' Courts until the completion of the first Court House
in 1810, and is therefore very closely identified with the early history of the
county.

The first case that came before the Court at this session was the petition in
chancery of James Beatty vs. Benjamin Tappan and Benjamin Tappan, Jr , which
was continued until the succeeding term. The second case was a petition for par-
tition of Ezekiel Williams, Jr., and others vs. Timothy Burr and others, which
was also continued to allow notice of said petition to be advertised in the Westeim
Herald, of Steubenville, Ohio, and the American Mercury, of Hartford, Conn.
The next business was the appointment of Joel Walter as administrator of
the estate of Heman Lucas, deceased, of Hudson, with David Hudson, Owen
Brown and Abraham Thompson, appraisers of said estate. The Court then
appointed Asa D. Keyes Prosecuting Attorney, which position he filled until
the close of 1808. John Cochrane and Amzi Atwater, administrators on the
estate of Solomon Cochrane, were given authority to fulfill the terms of a con-
tract previously entered into by the deceased, in the sale of fifty acres of land
to James Nutt. By this time the evening of the first day was fast approaching,
and, the whisky bottle having circulated pretty freely, some of the audience had
grown boisterous. The Court thereupon decided to uphold its dignity, which
the following official item attests:

State of Ohio, )

vs. >• Summary proceeding for contempt.

Samuel Taylor. )
This day came the said Samuel Taylor in custody of the Sheriff, and is set to the
bar of the Court, to receive the sentence of the law for a contempt this day committed in
open court, by disorderlj' and contemptuous behavior, of which the said Samuel is con-
victed on the personal view of the Court, whereupon it is considered by the Court that the
said Samuel for the contempt aforesaid pay a fine of $5 into the treasury of the County of
Portage, and the cost of prosecution, and stand committed until sentence is performed.

330 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

The last business of the first day's proceedings was a cas'e in debt of Zebina
Wetherbee vs. John Haymaker and George Haymaker, which was continued
till the next term. The Court then adjourned until the following morning,
Wednesday, August 24, which was largely ta^en up with probate business and
suits in debt, the latter being generally continued. The grand jury, however,
appeared with two indictments against William Simcox, of Franklin Township,
one for larceny and one for "breach of the Sabbath," after which it was dis-
charged. The larceny case consisted of an accusation that Wilcox shot a tame
deer, valued at |3, belonging to David Jennings, of Franklin Township, and
took the carcass to his home. The following jury was impaneled and tried the
case: Abraham Thompson, George W. Holcomb, Oliver Forward, William
Skinner, William Kennedy, Jr., William Price, John Campbell, Frederick
Caris, William Calhoon, John Whittlesey, Enos Davis and Ephraim B. Hub-
bard. The accused pleaded not guilty, and though vigorously prosecuted by
Prosecutor Keyes, he was so found by the jury, and discharged from custody.
The second charge against Simcox was, that on the 15th of June, 1808, he "wick-
edly and maliciously interrupted, molested and disturbed the religious society
of said Franklin Township, while meeting, assembled and returning from
divine worship, by sporting and hunting game with guns and hounds." We
would be apt to conclude upon reading this serious charge, that the defendant
was what is now commonly known as a " bad man,'' but those were the days
when any deviation from the Puritanical ideas of the majority of the first set-
tlers, was looked upon as a heinous crime. Simcox pleaded guilty to the charge
of Sabbath breaking, and was fined $1.50 and costs, the latter amounting to
$5. This closed the first session of the Court of Common Pleas of Portage
County.

On the 27th of December, 1808, the second session of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas opened, with William Wetmore, Aaron Norton and Amzi Atwater,
Associate Judges, on the bench, and lasted three days. The grand jury
called at this term was composed of the following pioneers: David Daniels,
Ira Morse, David Jennings, Amos Lusk (foreman), Moses Pond, John Red-
ding, Titus Wetmore, George Darrow, Sr., Nathan Moore, George Taylor,
Enoch Judson, Caleb Wetmore, David Hudson, Jeremiah Root and Stephen
Mason. It found but one indictment, viz. : Against John Boosinger, for
assault, who acknowledged his guilt, and was fined $4 and costs, the whole
coming to $9.21. The three days were principally taken up in probate busi-
ness, cases of debt, petitions in chancery and partition, most of the suits being
continued until the following term.

The proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas during the second year
were almost a repetition of the first, though breaches of the peace became
more numerous as the population increased, and at every session there were
more or less cases tried in which muscular development had attempted to
invade the rights of the law by settling disputes in the old-fashioned way of
personal combat. The April term, 1809, was held by the three Associates who
presided at the previous December sitting, with Thomas D. Webb as Prosecut-
ing Attorney. The grand jurors called at this session were Elias Harmon
(foreman), James Carter, Gersham Bostwick, Owen Brown, Hiram Roundy,
Nathan Sears, Ebenezer Goss, Bela Hubbard, David Waller, Gersham Jud-
son, James M. Hendry (now spelled Henry), Stephen Upson, Timothy Bishop,
Jacob Reed and David Root. Indictments were returned against Epaphrodi-
tus Stiles and John McManus for assault and battery. The term lasted four
days, from the 25th to the 28th inclusive, and the only petit jury empaneled
were as follows: Pascal R. Mcintosh, Oliver Dickinson, Oliver C. Dickinson,

HISTORY OF rORTAGE COUNTY. 331

Benjamin Oviatt, Mahlon Calvin, Ezra Wyatt, Daniel Stow, Thomas Vanhy-
ning, Silas Waller, Asher Ely, David Baldwin and Stephen Cotton, before
whom James Walker was tried for an assault upon Robert Campbell, and con-
victed.

The next session was held August 22, 23 and 24, 1809, by Hon. Calvin
Pease and the three Associates of the previous terms. The grand jury was
composed of the following citizens: Gamaliel Kent, Isaac Mills, John
Rudolph, David Jennings, Arthur Anderson, Ebenezer Bostwick, James Laugh-
lin, Aaron Miller, David Hudson (foreman), Jonathan Sprague, Raphael Hurl-
but, George Darrow, Jr., Amos Lusk, Lewie Ely and Samuel Bishop. The
first petit jury of this term tried a non-assumpsit case of John Wright, Sr.,
vs. Frederick Caris, and decided in favor of the plaintiff. The jurors of this
panel were Jeremiah Root, David Pond, Moses Smith, Anson Beman, Mun
Day, Adam Vance, Henry Vanhyning, Elisha Perkins, Reuben Parker, Henry
Bryan, William Neil and Joseph Fisher. The second petit jury tried and
convicted John McManus for assault and battery. Its members were Reuben
Parker, Joseph Fisher, Henry Vanhyning, Frederick Caris, Jr., Jeremiah
Root, William Neil, David Pond, Elisha Perkins, Moses Smith, Anson Beman,
Mun Day and Henry Bryan. The third jury trial of this session was a no7i-
assumpsit suit of Caleb Wetmore vs. Elijah Wadsworth, the jury being the
•same as in the second panel, excepting John Wright, Jr., and Adam Vance
replacing Moses Smith and Anson Beman. The case was decided in favor of
the defendant. The fourth jury of this term was also the saoje as the second,
excepting Adam Vance instead of Anson Beman, and tried a non-assumpsit
suit of James Arbuckle for the use of John Keating vs. William and Titus
Wetmore, which was decided in favor of the plaintiff.

The last session of the second year was held December 26, 27 and 28, 1809,
the same President and Associate Judges being on the bench, except Judge
Wetmore, who was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and the
vacancy on the bench was not filled until the meeting of the Legislature in
1810. The grand jurors of this session were Lewis Ely, Robert Campbell,
John Blair, Ebenezer Sheldon, Josiah Starr, Joseph Darrow, Heman Oviatt,
(foreman), James Robinson, Josiah Mix, Henry Chittenden, Champlin Minard,
Benjamin Stow, Erastus Carter, John Oviatt and Jeremiah Root. Indictments
were found against John Bolles, David Wright and Philip W^ard, for assault
and battery; against Joshua King for selling liquors in less quantities than
allowed by his license; and against Isaac Bacon for a breach of the revenue
laws. The case against David Wright for an assault upon Jacob Vanhyning,
was tried before the following jury: Joel Walter, Stephen Cotton, Elisha
Sears, John McWhorter, Gideon Chittenden, Jacob Reed, Erastus Skinner,
Joel Gaylord, David Root, Wiley Hamilton, Ebenezer Bostwick and Arthur
Anderson, who found Wright guilty as chai'ged in the indictment. We have
now run through the first two years of the record of the Court of Common
Pleas, and given a brief outline of its proceedings. In giving the lists of the
several juries, the sole object the writer has in view is to furnish the reader
with the names of those pioneers M'ho took the most active part in the judicial
affairs of Portage County during the earlier years of its history.

The pioneers troubled their brains very little about the written code, but
were a law unto themselves. As good illustrations of their peculiar mode of
administering justice in their inferior courts, the following cases will serve
our purpose. A man in Randolph Township was arrested for breaking the
Sabbath, found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in Jail for six hours.
But the joke of it was there was no Jail, and the prisoner wa,s set free and the

332 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

complainant ordered by the Court to pay the costs of the trial. Another amus-
ing case was tried July 8, 1815, before Elijah Alford, the first Justice of the
Peace of Windham Township, being that of Hiram Messenger vs. Thatcher
F. Conant, "for the value of an otter's hole." In going to Garrett's Mill,
Messenger tracked an otter into its hole, and, as he supposed, fastened him in
with a stone, and then went on his way rejoicing. Meeting Conant he sold
his claim to him for $3. The purchaser had no trouble in finding the hole,
but if it ever had contained an otter the animal had vanished, and Conant,
therefore, refused to pay for the empty hole. Messenger sued him before
Squire Alford, and recovered judgment for the $3. Conant thereupon gave
notice of appeal, which the Squire prevented by paying Messenger the money,
and remitting the costs of the suit. Thus the case was settled to the entire
satisfaction of both parties, and the only loser in the affair was the good-
natured Justice of the Peace, who took this means of preventing an expensive
lawsuit, and at the same time upholding the justice of his decision.

Common Pleas Judges. — Calvin Pease, from August, 1808 to December, 1809;
Benjamin Ruggles, January, 1810, to October, 1815; George Tod, October, 1815,
to February, 1830; Reuben Wood, February, 1830, to February, 1833; Mathew
Birchard, February, 1833, to January, 1837; Van R. Humphrey, January, 1837,
to February, 1844; Eben Newton, February, 1844, to January, 1847; Ben-
jamin F. Wade, February, 1847, to March, 1851; George Bliss, April, 1851, to
January, 1852. As previously mentioned in this chapter, the Judges of the
Court of Common Pleas, prior to 1851, were chosen by the General Assembly
of the State, but the constitution framed that year abolished the Associate
Judgeship, and divided the State into judicial districts and the districts into
subdivisions. The counties of Portage, Trumbull and Mahoning then
became the second subdivision of the Ninth Judicial District, and have so
remained up to the present. The Judges elected by the people in this subdi-
vision since that time, together with their respective terms of service are
as follows: Luther Day, from February, 1852, to February, 1857; Benjamin F.
Hoffman, February, 1857, to February, 1862; Charles E. Glidden, February,
1862, to January, 1867; George M. Tuttle, January, 1867, to January, 1872;
Philo B. Conant, (extra Judge), October, 1868, to October, 1878; Charles E.
Glidden, February, 1872, to February, 1877; Frank G. Servis, elected in the
fall of 1876, died in March, 1877; Ezra B. Taylor, appointed March 16, 1877
(vice Servis, deceased), and elected in October, 1877, resigned in September,
1880; William T. Spear, October, 1878, second term expires in October, 1888;
George F. Arrel, appointed September 20, 1880 {vice Taylor, resigned),
elected in the fall of 1881, term expires in February, 1887.

Associate Judges. — William Wetmore, February, 1808, resigned in
December, 1809; Aaron Norton, from February, 1808, to February, 1815; Amzi
Atwater, February, 1808, to February, 1815; Samuel Forward {vice Wetmore
resigned), February, 1810, to February, 1815; Elias Harmon, February, 1815,
to February, 1836; Samuel King, Jr., February, 1815, to February, 1820; Alva
Day, February, 1815, to February, 1829; Augustus Baldwin, February, 1820,
to February, 1827; Elkanah Richardson, February, 1827, to February, 1834;
George B. DePeyster, February, 1829, to February, 1836; Charles Sumner,
February, 1834, to February, 1840; Ira Selby, February, 1836, to February,
1843; Joseph Lewis, February, 1836, to February, 1843; Jeremiah Moulton,
March, 1840, to March, 1847; Jonathan Foster, February, 1843, to February,
1850; Thomas B. Selby, February, 1843, to February, 1850; Isaac Swift,
March, 1847, to January, 1852; Isaac Bray ton, February, 1850, to January,
1852; Luther L. Brown, March, 1850, to January, 1852.

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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 337

Prosecuting Attorneys. — Asa D. Keyes, 1808; Thomas D. Webb, from
January, 1809, to April, 1810; Benjamin Tappan, 1810; Thomas D. Webb,
1811, to 1812; Peter Hitchcock, 1813, to 1814; Calvin Pease, 1815, to Febru-
ary, 1816; Darius Lyman, March, 1816, to 1818; Jonathan Sloane, 1819;
Darius Lyman, 1820, to 1828; Lucius V. Bierce, January, 1829, to January,
1889; Daniel E. Tilden, January, 1839, to January, 1844; Luther Day, Janu-
ary, 1844, to January, 1846; Robert F. Paine, January, 1846, to January,
1848; Luther Day, January, 1848, to January, 1851; Samuel Strawder, Janu-
ary, 1851, to January, 1856; Ezra B.Taylor, Januai-y, 1856, to January, 1858;
Joseph D. Horton, January, 1858, to January, 1860; Philo B. Conant, Janu-
ary, 1860, to January, 1862; Alphonso Hart, January, 1862, to January, 1865;
Horace H. Willard, January, 1865, to January, 1868; E. L. Webber, Janu-
ary, 1868, to January, 1870; C. A. Heed, January, 1870, to January, 1874;
George F. Robinson, January, 1874, to January, 1878; O. S. Ferris, January,
1878, to January, 1880; Joseph D. Horton, January, 1880, to September,
1882; John Meharg, September, 1882, to January, 1884; I. T. Siddall, Janu-
ary, 1884, term expires in January, 1887.

In the early days of mud roads and log-cabins, the lawyers rode the circuit
with the Judge, on horseback, from county to county, equipped with the old-
fashioned leggins and saddle-bags. The party usually had their appointed stop-
ping places where they were expected, and, on their arrival, the chickens, dried
apples, maple sugar, corn dodgers and old whisky suffered, while the best story-
tellers regaled the company with humor and anecdotes. Among the pioneers
of Portage County were some who possessed a fair knowledge of the law, and
two at least who were full-fledged lawyers — Benjamin Tappan and Asa D.
Keyes. Upon the organization of the county, and the selection of Ravenna as
the seat of justice, lawyers' offices began to make their appearance in the vil-
lage. The disciples of Blackstone and Kent seem to have alwa3'8 looked upon
Ravenna as a fruitful field for their profession, for there has been no period
of its history when it has not contained one or more of the leading attorneys
of northeastern Ohio.

Hon. Benjamin Tappan was the first lawyer to locate in Portage County.
He was born in Massachusetts, in 1773, received a good education in his native
State, and there read law and was admitted to the bar. In the summer of
1799 he located in what is now the southeast corner of Ravenna Township, and
built the first log-cabin in that subdivision. In the summer of 1800 he went
to Connecticut, and married Miss Nancy Wright, and with his young bride
returned to his cabin in the primeval forest of this county. In 1803 he was
chosen to represent the Trumbull district in the Ohio Senate, and served one
term. The act erecting Portage County designated his house as the temporary
place for holding the courts of said county, until a seat of justice should be
selected. By this time he had removed to the second residence built by him,
which stood on the farm now owned by Marcus Heath, about one mile east of
Ravenna. His father was the owner of the south division of lots in Ravenna
Township, and had appointed his son Benjamin as his agent, and as such the
latter laid out the old town plat of Ravenna, early in 1808, which was sub-
sequently selected by the State Commissioners for the seat of justice of Port-
age County. About 1809 Judge Tappan left this county and located at
Steubenville, though for several years afterward he attended court at Ravenna,
and was the Prosecuting Attorney in 1810. He became President Judge of
the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and in 1833 was made United States District Judge.
His name is widely known as the compiler of " Tappan' s Reports." In 1826
Judge Tappan was one of four Gubernatorial candidates, yet strange to say

338 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

received only seven votes in Portage County. In December, 1838, he was
elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, Thomas Ewing being his
Whig opponent, and served until 1845. After a long and useful public career,
Judge Tappan retired from active life, and died in 1857, at the ripe age of
eighty-four.

Asa D. Keyes, whose father, Daniel Keyes, settled in Shalersville Town-
ship in 1807-08, was, doubtless, the second resident attorney of the county.
He was a native of Connecticut and a young man of considerable talent but of
intemperate habits. At the first session of the Court of Common Pleas of
Portage County, beginning August 23, 1808, Mr. Keyes was appointed Prose-
cuting Attorney and served in that capacity until the close of the year. Little
further is known of him, and he must have removed from the county at an
early day. He once hired a horse of Judge Amzi Atwater to go to AVarren,
and on his return said to the Judge, that he believed he had changed the
bridle. " Yes," said Judge Atwater, " and the horse too — that is a better horse
than I let you have." It was afterward discovered that Keyes, and a Squire
Tyler, of Hubbard, had been imbibing pretty freely all day, and on getting
ready to leave Warren were so " full" that each mounted the other's horse,
and rode home without having the faintest knowledge of the comical blunder.

Hon. Darius Lyman was the next attorney to open an office in Ravenna.
He was born in Litchfield County, Conn., July 19, 1789, graduated at Will-
iams College, in 1810, studied law in Norfolk, Conn., was admitted to prac-
tice and came to Ravenna in 1814. He was Prosecuting Attorney from 1816
to 1818, and again from 1820 to 1828, and represented Portage County in the
Ohio Legislature from 1816 to 1820. From 1828 to 1832 he served in the
State Senate, and was elected to the same position in 1833 and in 1849, serving
one term at each period. In 1832 he was the Whig and Anti- Masonic candi-
date for Governor of Ohio, but was defeated by Robert Lucas, the Democratic
nominee. He continued in the practice of law at Ravenna until his election
to the office of Probate Judge in the fall of 1854, in which position he served
nine years. Judge Lyman was neither an orator nor a brilliant advocate, but
his love of justice and unswerving integrity gave him influence with Court and
jury, and made him a formidable competitor. After retiring from the Probate
Judgeship, in 1864, he removed to Cleveland, where he died about ten years
ago. He was twice married aud was the father of six children. His eldest son.
Prof. Darius Lyman, Jr., has served twenty years in the Treasuiy Department
at Washington, D. C, and a grandson, Henry D. Lyman, has been Second As-
sistant Postmaster General.

Hon. Jonathan Sloane settled in Ravenna in 1816, where he continued in
the practice of his profession until 1837, in which year he retired from active
life. He was born in Pelham, Mass., in November, 1785, and graduated at
Williams College in the class of 1812. Soon after graduating he commenced
reading law in the office of Jonathan Lyman, Esq., of Northampton, Mass., and
was admitted to the bar in 1816. He then came West, took up his residence
in Ravenna, and soon gained an honorable position at the bar. He was Pros-
ecuting Attorned' in 1819, a member of the Legislatvire in 1820-22, was in
the Ohio Senate 1822-24 and 1826-28, and represented the Fifteenth
Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives
from 1833 to 1837. From the commencement of Mr. Sloane'a resi-
dence in Ravenna, he was the general agent of the Tappan family for
the sale of their lands in this section, which position he held many years,
and by means of which he became well and favorably known to most of the
early settlers, being always lenient and obliging to those who purchased land

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 339

of him. He took an active part in obtaining the charter of the Pennsylvania
&'Ohio Canal, and the successful completion of this then important public
work was greatly due to his influence and efficient efforts in its behalf. At
the expiration of his second term in Congi-ess he gave up the practice of law.
and gradually withdrew from business life. He never married, and physical
infirmities growing upon him, he retired from society many years before his
death, which occurred April 25, 1854, always relishing, however, the visits of
his old friends and associates. Mr. Sloaue possessed none of the graces of
oratory, but during his prime he was a forcible, energetic advocate, and a
sound and able counsellor, achieving the distinction of being the best Chancery
lawyer on the Western Reserve.

Gen. Lucius V. Bierce comes next in the order of time. He was a native
of Litchfield County, Conn., but came to Ohio when young; graduated from
the Ohio University at Athens, where he subsequently studied law, and was
admitted to the bar at Ravenna in September, 1825. Gen. Bierce became quite
distinguished as a criminal lawyer throughout northern Ohio, and was Prose-
cuting Attorney of Portage County from 1829 to 1839. He remained in
Ravenna until October, 1851, at which time he removed to Akron, where he
followed the practice of his profession until his death, about ten years ago.
From 1862 to 1864 he represented the Twenty-sixth Senatorial District in the
Ohio Assembly, and held various other offices. He was twice married, but left
no children. He devoted considerable time to writing historical sketches of
the Western Reserve, exhibiting considerable taste and ability in literary
pursuits.

At the close of 182o we find but three resident attorneys in what is now
Portage County, viz. : Darius Lyman, Jonathan Sloane and Lucius V. Bierce.
But there were a number of visiting attorneys who practiced regularly at this
bar from the time the county was organized, among the most prominent of
whom might be mentioned John S. Edwards, Robert S. Parkman, Elderkin
Potter, Calvin Pease, Thomas D. Webb, Peter Hitchcock, Benjamin Tappan,
John C. Wright, Elisha Whittlesey, Reuben Wood, Van R. Humphrey, George
D. Norton, Andrew W. Loomis and a Mr. Metcalf, all of whom won their way
to high positions. Among later visiting lawyers we find Gregory Powers, D.
K. Carter, Wyllis Sillman, Samuel W. McClure, Eben Newton, Henry McKin-
ney and Milton Sutliff.

William Turner was admitted to the bar in Ravenna in January, 1828, and
about the same time John Pearson opened an office in the village. Turner was
a fine classical scholar, and after many years' practice removed to Wooster,
abandoned the profession and subsequently died in Cleveland. Little is
remembered of Pearson, who did not remain long in this county.

William S. C. Otis was also one of the pioneer lawyers of Portage County.
He came to Ravenna at an early day, and was associated in law practice with
Hon. Jonathan Sloane, under the firm name of Sloane & Otis. Through legal
ability Mr. Otis attained to an eminent position at the bar in Portage and
surrounding counties. He removed to Akron and afterward to Cleveland, and
became somewhat famous as a railroad lawyer, devoting most of his time to
that branch of practice. Mr. Otis died in Cleveland a few years ago. A more
exhaustive sketch of this gentleman will be found among Ravenna Township
biographies.

Hon. Rufus P. Spalding was born at West Tisbury, Mass., May 3. 1798,
graduated at Yale College in 1817, read law in the office of Chief Justice
Zephaniah Swift, of Connecticut, and was there admitted to practice. In 1820
he opened an office at Little Rock, Ark., but after remaining there a year and

340 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

a half, returned East and located at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio. He
continued the practice of his profession at Warren until 1838, when he removed
to Ravenna, whei'e he soon became recognized as a leading attorney, and
represented Portage County in the Ohio Legislature from 1839 to 1840. In
the latter year he removed to Akron, and in 1841-42 seryed another term in
the Legislature, representing the new county of Summit. The General
Assembly of 1848-49 elected him a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, for
the term of seven years, but through the Constitution of 1851 the office became
elective by the people, and his term thus expired after three years' service. On
leaving the bench he removed to Cleveland, and in October, 1862, was elected,
as a Republican, to Congress, re-elected in 1864 and again in 1866. Upon
the expiration of his third term he returned to the practice of law. He has
been twice married, three children surviving from the first marriage. Judge
Spaulding, though yet living in Cleveland, has not been engaged in active
practice for some years, as he is now (March, 1885,) within two months of
being eighty-seven years old. As a lawyer and statesman he achieved a wide
reputation. He possessed in his prime a profound knowledge of the law,
great power as a debater, and the ability of strongly impressing both courts
and juries, while his dignified appearance and manner heightened the effect of
his arguments.

Hon. Daniel R. Tilden was born in Lebanon, Conn., in November, 1807,
came to Ohio about 1830, studied law with Rufus P. Spalding at Warren,
Ohio, and was there admitted to the bar in 1837. The same year he entered
into partnership with his preceptor, and in 1838 both came to Ravenna,
opened an office and remained in law practice together until 1839. In 1839-40
he was a member of the law firm of Sloane & Otis, and from 1839 to 1844 was
Prosecuting Attorney of this county. About this time he went into partnership
with John L. Ranney, under the firm name of Tilden & Ranney, which con-
tinued until his removal to Akron in 1850. He practiced his profession in
Aki'on until 1852, when he removed to Cleveland. Mr. Tilden was elected to
Congress from the Portage District in 1842, re-elected in 1844 and served
until 1847. Soon after settling in Cleveland he was elected Probate Judge,
and at the close of his present term will have held the position thirty-three
years. During all the years of Mr. Tilden's legal practice, he sustained the
reputation of being an able advocate, a good lawyer and an honorable member
of the profession. As a legislator he was loyal to his own convictions of right,
and the best interests of his constituents.

John L. Ranney was born in Blandford, Mass., November 14, 1815, and in
1824 his father removed with his family from the East, to Freedom Township,
Portage Co., Ohio. The educational advantages of John L. were limited to
the common schools, and a brief academic course. He read law in Jefferson,
Ashtabula County, with his brother Judge R. P. Ranney and Senator B. F.
Wade. After being admitted to the bar, he settled in Ravenna, and soon after
formed a partnership with Daniel R. Tilden, under the firm name of Tilden
& Ranney. This law firm continued business until Mr. Tilden's removal to
Akron in 1850. Subsequently the firm of Ranney & Taylor was organized,
and later the law firm of J. L. & H. C. Ranney, which continued until Febru-
ary 22, 1866, the time of J. L. Ranney' s death. He was the Democratic can-
didate for Congress in 1858, and was President of the First National Bank of
Ravenna from its organization to the close of his life. If not so distinguished
as his brother. Judge Rufus P. , he may be safely classed among the leading
lawyers of his time in this county. He was a gentleman of high intelligence,
strict integrity and untiring industry in the prosecution of his professional
labors.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 341

Hou. Luther Day. For biography of this gentleman see personal sketches
under heading of Ravenna Township.

Ebenezer Spalding came from Connecticut to Ravenna about 1840, where
he engaged in the practice of law. He was Clerk of the Court of Common
Pleas from 1852 to 1855, and subsequently followed his profession until
November, 1861, when he removed to St. Louis, Mo., where he died in August,
1866.

Christopher P. Wolcott located in Ravenna a few years after Ebenezer
Spaulding, whence he removed to Akron. He became quite a prominent law-
yer, and was Attorney- General of Ohio from 1856 to 1861.

Hon. Robert F. Paine studied law with Daniel R. Tilden, was admitted to
practice, and opened his first office at Garrettsville, whence in March, 1846, he
came to Ravenna. He represented Portage County in the Ohio Legislature in
1844-45, and was Prosecuting Attorney in 1846-48. In the latter year he
removed to Cleveland, where he was subsequently elected Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas. If not profound, Judge Paine is adroit and successful as
a jury lawyer, and has won and retained a large practice at the Cleveland bar,
of which he is still an active member.

Hon. Ezra B. Taylor was born in Nelson Township, Portage Co., Ohio,
July 9, 1823. He acquired an academic education, and studied law at Gar-
rettsville with Hon. Robert F. Paine. After his admission to the bar, in
August, 1845, he commenced practice in Garrettsville, whence he removed to
Ravenna in 1847, and for some years was the partner of John L. Ranney. He
was Prosecuting Attorney in 1856-58, and for many years was recognized as
one of the leading lawyers of the Portage County bar. He removed to War-
ren in 1861, was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, vice Judge
Servis, deceased, and in October, 1877, elected as his own successor. In Sep-
tember, 1880, he resigned the Judgeship, and the same fall was elected to
Congress by the Republican party, and has been twice re-elected, being now
in his third term.

Hon. O. P. Brown was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., March 11, 1817,
and in 1829 removed with his parents to St. Catharines, Canada, and the fol-
lowing year to Ashtabula County, Ohio. He received a good common school
education, and taught for several winters to assist him in completing his
higher scholastic and professional studies. At the age of twenty he entered
the law office of Wade & Ranney in Jefferson, Ohio, and read with this cele-
brated firm until 1839, when he was admitted to practice. He immediately
opened an office in Chardon, Geauga County, and was soon regarded as a ris-
ing young man of fine promise. While at Chardon he assisted in establishing
the Jeffersonian Democrat, which he edited one year. In the fall of 1850 he
ran against Hon. Peter Hitchcock for a seat in the Constitutional Convention,
and after a splendid campaign was defeated by only 180 votes. In 1852 he
removed to Ravenna, and formed a partnership with Samuel Strawder. He
was the first Mayor of Ravenna, elected in 1853, and re-elected the following
year. He was the State Senator from the Portage -Summit District in 1856-
58, and in September of the latter year was one of the Republican candidates
in this district for Congressional nomination, and on the twenty-second ballot
received exactly half the votes of the convention, but after the next ballot he
withdrew from the contest. In the fall of 1863 he was elected Probate Judge
of Portage County, and took his office in February* 1864, but disease had laid
its heavy hand upon him, and being unable to attend to his official duties, he
resigned on the 9th of May following, and died June 25, 1864. Judge Brown
was a genial man of fine natural endowments, and highly gifted as a popular

342 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

speaker. Rising at times to true eloquence, lie then exhibited great powers of
persuasion, and produced a marked effect upon his audience. He was at once
the champion of temperance and freedom, and did all in his power to stem the
tide of strong drink and abolish the curse of slavery.

Hon. Philo B. Conant, though yet an active member of the bar, has been
80 long and prominently associated with it that he can with propriety be
classed among its later pioneers. He was born in Windham Township, Por-
tage Co., Ohio, August 3, 1837; studied law with a maternal uncle, Alexander
Bierce, in Canton, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in Ravenna in 1850. He
began practice in 1853, and in 1860-62 served as Prosecuting Attorney. In
1867 he was elected to the State Senate, but resigned in August, 1868, to
accept the Common Pleas Judgeship, in which position he served ten years.
Judge Conant is recognized as a lawyer of good abilities, and both upon the
bench and at the bar has ever been guided by conscientious convictions of
justice and right. Upon retiring from the bench in October, 1878, he resumed
the practice of his profession, in which he has since been actively engaged.

Joseph D. Horton was born in Randolph Township, Portage Co., Ohio,
January 3, 1833. For several years he lived in Nelson Township, there
enjoyed brief academic advantages, and followed teaching a short time. In
1853 he entered the law office of Ranney & Taylor, in Ravenna, and was
admitted to the bar in 1855. Soon after his admission the firm of Taylor &
Horton was formed, and subsequently Judge Luther Day became a member of
the firm, which as Day, Taylor & Horton, existed three years. The old firm
of Taylor & Horton was then resumed, but subsequently took in John Meharg,
who, however, retired from the firm upon taking the office of Clerk of the
Court of Common Pleas, but which he again entered. in 1882. Mr. Horton
died September 14, 1882, after a professional experience of twenty-seven years.
He was Prosecuting Attorney in 1858-60, and again in 1880-82. He was
Mayor of Ravenna several terms, and dm-ing the early part of the war was
Military Commissioner of the county. He represented Portage County in the
Constitutional Convention of 1873, ranking as one of its ablest members. In
his professional life, Mr. Horton was engaged in nearly every prominent trial,
and among the members of the bar his conclusions and opinions upon points
of law were usually accepted as sound. As an illustration of the position he
occupied in his profession, the following anecdote is told by one who knew
him well. Some years ago a group of lawyers were discussing a knotty point
of law, and none could clear it up. "There comes Horton," said Judge Tay-
lor, "ask him, he knows more law than all of us." This frank expression of
Judge Taylor's seems to be the opinion of nearly every lawyer who knew Mr.
Horton, for his assistance was generally sought whenever intricate questions
were involved.

Hon. Alphonso Hart came to Ravenna from Trumbull County, Ohio, in
July, 1854, and with R. E. Craig purchased the Portage Sentinel of Samuel
D. Harris, Jr., one of the founders of the paper. He conducted the Sentinel
until the close of 1857, but during this time had read law and was admitted
to the bar. In 1863 the firm of Hart & Reed was formed and lasted ten years.
Mr. Hart soon gained a prominent position at the bar, was Prosecuting Attor-
ney from 1862 to 1865, State Senator in 1864-66, and again represented this
district in the Ohio Senate in 1872-74. He was the Presidential Elector from
this Congressional district. in 1872, and cast his vote for Grant and Wilson.
In 1873 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio, and in that year removed
to Cleveland. He afterward went from Cleveland to Hillsboro, Ohio, where
he was elected to Congress. During his term in Congress he was recognized
as a sound thinker and an able, ready debater.

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 343

Among the attorneys who have been members of this bar in the past are
Samuel Strawder, Lyman W. Hall, F. W. Tappan, Archibald Servoss, N. L.
Jeffries, E. Ferry, H. H. Willard, J. W. Tyler, O. W. Strong, Edward P. Bas-
sett, Lester L. Bond, J. S. Hinman, James Hall, B. F. Curtiss, William Mc-
Clintock, H. B. Foster, G. F. Brown, L. D. "Woodworth, H. C. Ranney, J.
Crowell, O. A. Taylor, C. W. Leffingwell, J. G. Hole, A. AV. Beman, H. A.
Waldo, J. H. Terry, E. L. Webber, S. E. Fink, E. W. Stuart, Will Pound,

A. A. Thayer, I. N. Frisbee, F. O. Wadsworth, A. J. Dyer, W. L. Marvin,
H. C Sanford, M. G. Garrison and M. A. Norris.

The present bar of Portage County embraces twenty -nine attornej's, some
of whom, however, are not very actively engaged in the profession. The law-
yers of Ravenna are Philo B. Conant, Michael Stuart, William B. Thomas,
Cornelius A. Reed, John Meharg, Andrew Jackson, Gideon Seymour, John
Porter, George F. Robinson, David L. Rockwell, Seth D. Norton, Isaac T.
Siddall, Bradford Howland, John H. Dussel, Augustus S. Cole, James H.
Nichols, Isaac H. Phelps, Orion P. Sperry, Arthur E. Seaton, Mark W. Phelps
and James W. Holcomb. In Kent there are S. P. Wolcott, O. S. Rockwell,
W. W. Patton and T. W. Peckinpaugh. In Garrettsville we find O. S. FeiTis,

E. W. Maxson and R. S. W^ebb; and C. D. Ingell, at Mantua Station.

The Portage County Medical Association was organized at a meeting of
physicians held at the Gillett House, in Ravenna, in June, 1866. The meet-
ing was called to order by Dr. Joseph Waggoner, upon which Dr. P. C. Ben-
nett was elected Chairman, and Dr. F. F. McCreary Secretary. The Chair
appointed Drs. A. M. Shermao, E. Warrington and O, Ferris a committee to
draft a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society, which were
subsequently reported and adopted. The following physicians then signified
their intention of becoming members of the association viz. : Drs. P. C. Ben-
nett, A. Belding, J. G. Lewis, O. Ferris, J. W. Shively, Charles E. Poe, G.

B. Baldwin, George Sadler, A. M. Sherman, P. H. Sawyer, Joseph Waggoner,

B. F. Pitman, Ezra Rose, E. Warrington, A. W. Alcorn, C. S. Leonard and

F. F. McCreary. After their names were recorded they at once proceeded to
the election of oflScers, with the following result: Dr. P. C. Bennett, Presi-
dent; Dr. A. Belding, Vice President; Di-. F. F. McCreary, Secretary; Dr. C,
S. Leonard, Treasurer. The several committees were then appointed, and Dr.
P. Barron admitted as an honorary member, after which the society adjourned
to meet at Ravenna, January 27, 1867. On that date Drs. Joseph Price, F. C.
Applegate and W. S. Hough were admitted to membership. Dr. Isaac Swift,
who located in Ravenna in 1815, was made an honorary member the same day,
and at the succeeding June meeting Dr. Joseph DeWolf, who opened an office
in Ravenna in 1810, was also admitted to an honorary membership.

The officers of the society elected each June since 1866, have been as fol-
lows: 1867 — Dr. A. Belding, President; Dr. Joseph Price, Vice-President; Dr.

C. S. Leonard, Secretary; Dr. Charles E. Poe, Treasurer. 1868 — Dr. Joseph
Price, President; Dr. Joseph Waggoner, Vice-President; Dr. George Sadler,
Secretary; Dr. O. Ferris, Ti-easurer. 1869 — Dr. Joseph Waggoner, President;
Dr. A. M. Sherman, Vice-President; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, Secretary; Dr. E.
Warrington, Treasurer. 1870 — Dr. A. M. Sherman, President; Dr. C. S.
Leonard, Vice-President; Dr. E. W. Price, Secretary; Dr. P. H. Sawyer,
Treasurer. 1871 — Dr. C. S. Leonard, President; Dr. G. B. Baldwin, Vice-
President; Dr. John Ewing, Secretary; Dr. Joseph Waggoner, Treasurer.
1872— Dr. G. B. Baldwin, President; Dr. P. H. Sawyer, Vice-President; Dr.
A. W. Alcorn, Secretary; Dr. Joseph Waggoner, Treasurer. 1873 — Dr. E.
Warrington, President; Dr. F. C. Applegate, Vice-President; Dr. A. W.

344 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Alcorn, Secretary; Dr. Joseph Waggoner, Treasurer. 1874 — Dr. F. C. Apple-
gate, President; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, Vice-President; Dr. H. P. Hugus, Secre-
tary; Dr. C. S. Leonard, Treasurer. 1875 — Dr. A. W. Alcorn, President: Dr.
O. Ferris, Vice-President; Dr. H. P. Hugus, Secretary; Dr. C. S. Leonard,
Treasurer. 1876 — Dr. O. Ferris, President; Dr. George M. Proctor, Vice-
President; Dr. H. P. Hugus, Secretary; Dr. C. S. Leonai'd, Treasurer. 1877
— Dr. George M. Proctor, President; Dr. E. W. Price, Vice-President; Dr. H.
P. Hugus, Secretary; Dr. C. S. Leonard, Treasurer. 1878 — Dr. E. W. Price,
President; Dr. B. B. Laughead, Vice-President; Dr. H. P. Hugus, Secretary;
Dr. C. S. Leonard, Treasurer. 1879 — Dr. B. B. Laughead, President; Dr. H.
P. Hugus, Vice-President; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, Secretary; Dr. C. S. Leonard,
Treasurer. 1880 — Dr. H. P. Hugus, President; Dr. H. H. Spiers, Vice-Presi-
dent; Dr. F. R. Morath, Secretary; Dr. George M. Proctor, Treasvirer.
1881— Dr. H. H. Spiers, President; Dr. W. G. Smith, Vice-President; Dr. H.
P. Hugus, Secretary; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, Treasurer. 1882— Dr. W. G. Smith,
President; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, First Vice-President; Dr. Charles A. May, Sec-
ond Vice-President; Dr. F. E. Morath, Secretary; Dr. H. P. Hugus, Treas-
urer. 1883 — Dr. Charles A. May, President; Dr. C. S. Leonard, First
Vice-President; Dr. Joseph Price, Second Vice-President; Dr. Joseph Wag-
goner, Secretary; Dr. B. B. Laughead, Treasurer. 1884 — Dr. G. O. Frazier,
President; Dr. A. W. Alcorn, First Vice-President; Dr. George M. Proctor,
Second Vice-President; Dr. Joseph Waggoner, Seci'etary; Dr. B. B. Laughead,
Treasurer.

The principal object of the society is to stimulate and encourage the dis-
semination of medical science among its members, and so control their mode
of practice as to bring it within the code of medical ethics usually adopted
by the societies of the "regular" school of medicine. The most important
feature of such societies is the interchange of thought and discussion which
takes place between the members at their meetings. ,Any strange or diflScult
cases that may have come under their observation are reported and discussed,
and opinions exchanged as to the most successful mode of treatment to be fol-
lowed. A well-conducted medical society thus becomes a training school for
the profession, and the meetings are looked forward to with much pleasure and
interest. The greater number of the "regular" physicians of this county
have belonged to the Portage County Medical Association at some period of its
existence. Some have died, others have removed from the county, and still
others have severed their connection with the society, and no longer take any
interest in its doings. The society, however, is continually receiving new
members, and is now in a flourishing condition. It contains at this writing
(March, 1885,) twenty-two members, whose names are as follows: Drs. Joseph
Waggoner, A. W. Alcorn, C. S. Leonard and B. B. Laughead, of Ravenna;
Drs. A. M. Sherman, J. W. Shively, E. W. Price and J. D. Davis, of Kent;
Dr. E. Warrington, of Atwater; Drs. Joseph Price, G. O. Frazier and C. S.
Hiddleson, of Randolph; Drs. W. G. Smith, L. C. Rose, William Jenkins,
and B. B. Davis, of Palmyra; Dr. F. C. Applegate, of Windham; Dr. Seth
L. Sloan, of Freedom; Dr. George M. Proctor, of Shalersville; Dr. Charles
A. May, of Streetsboro; Dr. W. H. McConnell, of Brimfield, and Dr. H. H.
Spiers, of Edinburg. In 1866 and 1867, the meetings of the society were
semi-annual, in 1868, quarterly, but ever since the latter year they have been
monthly, and are productive of great benefit to the members of the association.

'^^c^J^'%^z^cJ2^

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 347

CHAPTER XI.

The Most Noted Criminal Events in the History of Portage County-
Trials AND Sentences of the Culprits— The Alleged Crime of John
McManus— The Murder of Mathews by Aunghst— The Murder of

CUMMINGS BY BARRIS— THE MURDER OF CATHERINE McKlSSON BY HER

Brother-in-law, David McKisson— The Heathman Manslaughter Case
— Alanson Baldwin Stabbed to Death by His Nephew, Lemuel W.
Price— Attempted Killing of Prentiss by Flower— The Shorts-Wil-
son Shooting— The Murder of John Khodenbaugh by Jack Cooper
AND Joel Beery— Harriet Musson Murdered by Wilson S. Roof-
Shooting OF Alfred L. Harris by His Father- The Kelso-Montague
Case— The Newell-Roberts Affair.

ALL organized communities, it matters not what may be their geographical
location or their general moral and religious status, have criminal rec-
ords, some of which are replete with deeds of violence and bloodshed, while
others are not quite so bad. There are many facts of a criminal character of
such importance belonging to the legitimate history of Portage County, that
they cannot with historical propriety be left out of this work. It is not the
intention of the writer to give a record of all the deeds of a criminal nature
that have been committed in this county, but only those where life was taken,
or where the culprit was tried for murder or intent to commit that crime.

The first murder trial that occurred in Portage County took place at the
October term of the Coiu't of Common Pleas, in 1813, whereof Hon. Benjamin
Ruggles was President Judge, and Aaron Norton, Amzi Atwater and Samuel
Forward, Associates. John McManus was the defendant in this case, being
indicted for the murder of Betsy McManus, his wife, and lived on what was
then and since known as the Bell lot, in Ravenna Township. The indictment
charged that McManus assaulted his wife while she was lying in bed, soon after
the birth of a child, and struck her with a boot- jack, breaking the shoulder-
blade and one of the ribs upon the right side, making a wound eight inches
long and six inches wide, and that he also kicked her. The injuries were in-
flicted on the 12th of May, 1813, and the woman died upon the 27th of the
same month. Benjamin Whedon was the foreman of the grand jury finding
the indictment. The following are the names of the jurors before whom the
case was tried: Gipson McDaniels, Jr., Palmyra; Isaac Osmun, Boston; Paul
Williams, Portage; James McCormick, Springfield; Asher Gurley, Rootstown;
W^illiam Sprague, Tallmadge; Theophilus Anthony, Atwater; George Walker,
Hudson; Jonathan Foster, Mantua; Robert Taylor and David W'ay, SuflSeld;
William Price, Ravenna. The case was conducted by Peter Hitchcock as
Prosecuting Attorney, and by Benjamin Tappan and John C. Wright for the
defense. After a protracted and exciting trial, the defense claiming that the
woman died of child-bed fever, the accused was acquitted of the charge of
murder, and discharged. McManus is described as a quarrelsome man, who
was perpetually in trouble, and indicted for assault and battery several times.
He was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and from ailments contracted in that
service died in 1814 or 1815.

The first premeditated murder in this county was the killing of Epaphras
Mathews by Henry Aunghst, August 20, 1814. Capt. Waller, of Palmyra

348 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

Township, while on his way to Ravenna, discovered the body of a man lying
behind a log, in the woods, near the schoolhouse now standing on the corners
of the Charlestown and Edinburg roads, a mile and a quarter east of Ra-
venna. The body proved to be that of Epaphras Mathews, a peddler, of
Pittsburgh, Penn. An investigation proved that Mathews was last seen at the
tavern at Campbellsport, on the 20th of A-Ugust, and on the same day by a
pax'ty grinding scythes in front of the present residence of Richard J. Thomp-
son. It was noticed that a man was traveling with him, and to this man sus-
picion attached as the murderer. On the night of August 19, Mathews and the
strange man, who afterward proved to be Henry Aunghst, stayed at the tavern
of Jabez Gilbert, in Palmyra. Taking these facts as a starting point, Robert
Eaton and Lewis Ely started in pursuit of the murderer, whom they followed
about a month, and arrested in a blacksmith shop in Center County, Penn.
They were paid by the county $222.87 for their services and damages inflicted
upon their horses in apprehending and bringing the culprit back to Ravenna.
Mr. Ely was also paid the $100 reward which had been offered for the capture
of Aunghst, and Abraham Reed was paid $28.50 for eight days spent in hunt-
ing for the murderer. The meshes of the inevitable fatality surrounding a
murderer seemed woven about Aunghst, and without any of the modern resources
for tracing a great criminal, his pursuers at once struck his trail, and steadily
followed him until their pursuit culminated in his capture.

Some weeks prior to the murder, Mathews and Aunghst left Pittsburgh in
company, and traveled together until the hour of the murder. What pretext
Aunghst gave to his victim is unknown, but upon his confession he stated that
his purpose was to effect a robbery of his friend and companion. At first his
plan was to seize and bind Mathews to a tree in the woods, rob him and flee,
but chance, or destiny, fi-ustrated the. purpose in each instance. Once, when
in the woods near Poland, when a suitable moment seemed to have arrived,
Deacon Sacket, of Tallmadge, traveling with his wife, came upon them. The
Deacon knew Mathews well, and the meeting was an agreeable one between
the two friends, and formed an important link in the chain of evidence against
the murderer, as Deacon Sacket afterward visited Aunghst in jail and recog-
nized him as the man he saw with Mathews in the woods near Poland. At
times on their travels, when going into a village, Aunghst would take some
goods and visit a few of the houses making sales, giving the money up to
Mathews. The idea of murdering Mathews, Aunghst stated, first occurred to
him about the time they reached Campbellsport. So many times had various
plans of robbery been frustrated, that, grown desperate, when this suggested
itself he acted upon it at the first opportunity. The murder was committed
with a blue beech fence stake or club, which the murderer purloined from the
premises of Gen. John Campbell, at the *' Port." Coming to the spot where
the murder was committed, he dealt his victim a vigorous blow with the club.
Seeing at once he had given his victim a death-blow, he seized the body, threw
it over a log and the club after it; next unharnessed the horse and turned it
loose in the woods, dropping the harness on the thills, rifled the wagon and
walked off. The money obtained consisted of $270 or thereabouts, in coin,
which the murderer tied up in a pocket handkerchief. Coming to Ravenna,
Aunghst stopped at Greer's Tavern, got a drink of whisky and enquired the
road to Pittsburgh. While at the tavern he placed his handkerchief of coin
on the bar. He was next seen at Daniel Collins', in Rootstown, and in the
afternoon of the same day in Randolph, and the next day in Deerfield, enquir-
ing, from point to point, the road to Pittsburgh. Next we hear of him at
Canfield, where he bought a horse, paying for it in silver. Next at Petersburg,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 349

where he fell in with Gen. Simon Perkins and Judge Calvin Austin. With
Gen. Perkins he exchanged the greater portion of his silver for paper money,
stating that he had made it boating on the river, and, intending to buy some
land near Wooster, had brought the silver, supposing he could do better with
it than with paper money. Not liking the country as well as he expected, he
was going back, and had got tired of "lugging the coin " So the General
gave him all the paper money he had with him for coin. So from point to
point he was traced on his route to Pittsburgh, and from that city to the forge
in Center County, where he was arrested.

At the January term of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1815, the grand
jury, of which Wiley Hamilton was foreman, found an indictment against
Aunghst. He was arraigned and plead not guilty, and the case continued. At
the October term, 1815, Hon. George Tod, Presiding Judge, his counsel, John
C. Wright, jnoved his discharge in consequence of some error in the indict-
ment. The Court overruled t^ie motion. The grand jury, however, of which
Erastus Carter was foreman, found a new indictment, which was certified to
the Supreme Court, the prisoner electing to be tried by that court.

At the June term, 1816, he was again indicted, Lewis Day being foremaa
of the grand jury, and Darius Lyman Prosecuting Attorney. These proceed-
ings were certified to the Supreme Court. This last indictment proved to be
sound, and at the September term, 1816, of the Supreme Court, Hon. Ethan
Allen Brown, of Cincinnati, and Hon. Jessup N. Couch, of Chillicothe, upon
the bench, the trial was had. Darius Lyman and Benjamin Tappan were the
attorneys for the State, and John C. A\'righfr for the defense. A motion for
change of venue to Columbiana County was made, it being alleged that the
prisoner could not have an impartial trial in this county. The motion was
overruled, and the trial proceeded.

The following persons out of a panel of thirty-six were chosen as the jury
to try the case: Daniel Collins, Rootstown; Simeon Crane, Lyman Hine, Asa
K. Burroughs, and David Hine, of Shalersville; David Thompson, Ravenna;
Benoni Thompson, Shalersville; Joseph Lewis, Palmyra; Daniel Burroughs,
Shalersville; Elijah Burroughs, Shalersville; Frederick Willard, Franklin; J,
F. Wells, of Ravenna. The trial terminated in finding the accused gailtj
of murder in the first degree; whereupon the following sentence was pro-
nounced :

It is considered, by the Court, that the said Henry Aunghst be taken from hence to the
Jail of the County of Portage, from whence he came, there to remain until the last Satur-
day of November next, being the 30th day of November, on which day he be taken to the
place of execution, between the hours of 12 o'clock at noon and 2 o'clock in the after-
noon, and there to be hanged by the neck until he be dead.

Aunghst was from twenty-five to thirty years of age, and was six feet,
seven inches high. He was a man of powerful muscular organization and
great strength. He was a foundry-man, or iron- worker, by trade, but natur-
ally sluggish in his motions and movements. It was told of him that when at
work in Pittsburgh he would pick up a trip-hammer, weighing 500 pounds, and
lift it into an old-fashioned Pennsylvania wagon. He was a man of easy dis-
position. The Jail in which he was confined, was a log one, and the Jailer wae
in the habit of storing some of his household effects in the prison portion of
the Jail. One day the Jailer's wife — Mrs. Mason — went into the prison t®
deposit a spinning-wheel. Aunghst pushed her aside at the door and ran out.
Mrs. Mason gave the alarm, and immediate pursuit was made. After running
a short distance Aunghst gave out and turned back to his pursuers, laughing,
and gave up the race, and, puffing and blowing, came back to the Jail. This

350 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

old log-building in which Aunghst was confined from the time of capture
until his execution, was the first Jail erected in the county. The prisoner was
a German, or a " Pennsylvania Dutchman," and Howard Carter says that
though he feigned his inability to speak or understand English during the
trial, could subsequently converse glibly enough with the school children who
would stand upon a barrel and talk through the iron grating covering the win-
dow of his cell.

When the day of execution arrived, November 80, 1816, Asa K. Burroughs
was Sheriff of the county, and William Coolman, William Frazer and Almon
Babcock his deputies. A militia force was called out, under command of Col.
Solomon Day, of Deerfield, as special guard on the occasion. The gallows
was erected in the center of what is now Sycamore Street, near the corner of
Spruce, and about 1,800 people witnessed the execution. Upon the gallows
Aunghst made a partial confession, the substance of which the writer has given
in the foregoing account. The neck of the wretched man was dislocated, but
not broken by the drop, and after being pronounced dead, the body was cut
down and buried near the foot of the scaffold.

The night after the execution the body was dug up by some parties, who
doubtless desired it for anatomical purposes. They were discovered soon after
the body was out of the cofiin, and attempted to flee with it. Hot pui-suit was
made, and they were forced to drop their prize, and left it on what is now the
corner of Oak and Meridian Streets. The body was carried to the Court House
and guarded that night. The next day a party of German residents of the
town took the body with the intention of sinking it in " Mother Ward's Pond,"
to "keep it from the doctors." William Tappan, an erratic Justice of the
Peace, pursued this party, and commanded them, in the name of the State of
Ohio, to return the body. This they did with fear and trembling, and again
the body lay in state at the Court House, surrounded by the Sheriff's posse.
It was finally re-interred in the original grave, the coffin being filled with
lime, and the largest log possible placed upon it. It was ru.mored that the
doctors got the body after all, but Homer Frazer says: "I was present when
the grave was opened many years afterward, and the skeleton was found in a
fair state of preservation."

The next murder trial on record is that of Abner S. Barris for the murder
of Nathan Cummings, December 9, 1832. This murder was committed on the
canal north of the village of Akron, which was then included in Portage
County, and the victim was a lad who drove the horses for the canal-boat.
Barris, it seems, had had a quarrel with the helmsman of the boat, and in
order to have his revenge had secreted himself at the side of the tow-path, with
a gun, intending to shoot the helmsman. As the boat came up, putting him
in range of his adversary, Barris took aim and fired, missing his intended
mark, the shot taking effect upon the left side of the neck of the lad, Nathan
Cummings, causing almost instant death. Suspicion at once attached to Barris,
and with but little delay he was arrested and lodged in jail at Ravenna. At
the session of the March term of the Court of Common Pleas, whereof Matthew
Birchard was President Judge, and Elkanah Richardson, Elias Harmon and
George B. De Peyster were Associate Judges, an indictment for murder was
found against Barris by the grand jury, of which Jonathan Metcalf, of Hud-
son, was foreman.

The prisoner, electing to be tried in the Supreme Court, was tried at the
September term of that court, 1833. Hon. Ebenezer Lane, of Norwalk, pre-
sided at this term, and Lucius V. Bierce was Prosecuting Attorney. The fol-
lowing persons constituted the jury before whom the trial took place, having

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 351

been selected from a panel of thirty-six men: Elisha Garrett, Garrettsville;
William N. Merwin, Palmyra; Daniel Everett, Nelson; George Y. Wallace,
Northfield; Lyman Hine, Shalersville; Enoch Drake, Freedom; Caleb
Atwater and John A. Whittlesey, Atwater; Jonah Hine, Randolph; Abel
Sabin, Randolph; Merrick Ely, Deerfield; Joseph Lewis, Palmyra. The trial
was not protracted, and scarcely any witnesses were examined save the hands
upon the canal-boat. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the
second degree. The Court sentenced Barris to the penitentiary for life.

Barris never, according to the writer's information, denied the commission
of the murder, and a remark he made when brought to Ravenna will show his
own conviction on the subject. When tirst brought to town he was taken to
the Globe Tavern, kept by William Coolman, Esq. Mr. Coolmau recognizing
Barris, said to him that he was told he was charged with a desperate crime.
Barris looked at him a moment, drew himself up, and then replied, " It was
not Abner Barris that did it, it was whisky." Barris was a day laborer, a
rather passionate man, and about forty years of age. He worked in Ravenna
by the month about a year, not long previoias to this occurrence. It is under-
stood that Barris died a number of years ago in the penitentiary.

TheMcKisson murder was committed in the township of Northfieldin what
is now Summit County, on Monday, July 24, 1837. The victim of this mur-
der was Mrs. Catherine MoKisson, the wife of Robert McKisson, a stout,
robust woman about thirty-five years of age, and weighed 175 pounds. The
murder was committed about 11 o'clock at night. Robert McKisson, the hus-
band, was absent from home at the time, and the family consisted of Mrs.
McKisson and her daughter (by a former marriage), Lucinda Croninger, and
a man named John Johnson. The two women slept in the same room in dif-
ferent beds and Johnson up stairs. That night Johnson went to bed about
dark, the two women between 9 and 10 o'clock. The miirderer entered Mrs.
McKisson' s room and in doing so aroused Lucinda, who was rendered tempor-
arily senseless by a blow on the head, but recovered enough to see the last blow
that was struck her mother. The murderous weapon used was an axe, with which
the blows were given Mrs. McKisson, one on her back, one on the top of her
head and one on the side of her head. The mortal wound was upon the right
side of the head, about two inches deep^ four inches long and half an inch
wide. Mrs. McKisson lived until the next day — July 25 — and declared the
murderer to be Samuel McKisson, the father of her husband. Lucinda, the
daughter (aged about eighteen), was also positive that Samuel McKisson was
the murderer. Samuel McKisson was arrested the next day by Col, Arthur.
He was a man about seventy-two years old, and was somewhat crippled in his
hand. He manifested no trepidation and even went to his son's house and
kissed the corpse.

Suspicion was attached to David McKisson, son of Samuel and brother of
Robert. He was seen in the neighborhood the evening of the murder, and it
was well known that in the March previous he had a bitter quarrel with his
brother, and entertained ill will toward his wife. Col. Arthur set out in pur-
suit of David, and, the Saturday after the murder, arrested him on Turtle Island,
in Maumee Bay. When found by Col. Arthur be was on a pile driver, and
was told he must go with the Colonel. He did so without demur, said good-
bye to some of the workmen, saying, " I shall never see you again," or " I never
expect to see you again." This was before he was told why Col. Arthur wanted
him. After being brought back he had an interview with his brother Robert,
who said to him, "What have you brought us to, David?" "What have I
brought you to, Robert ? " was the reply. "No, these hands never did that

352 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

deed." When David first caught sight of Robert he extended his hands and
cried out, '"Oh, my wronged brother, my poor wronged brother, but you can't
be righted." David seemed much distressed and said to Robert, " I little
thought the words we had in the lane would put me in irons, did you?" Fur-
ther than these things David McKissou never admitted his guilt, but asserted
his innocence to the end, and upon the scafi^old said "these hands never did
the deed,"

At the September term of the Court of Common Pleas, 1837 — Hon. Van R.
Humphrey, President Judge, Charles Sumner, Ira Selby and Joseph Lewis,
Associates — the grand jury indicted both Samuel and David McKisson for
murder. Both plead not guilty, and were allowed separate trials.

The trial of Samuel McKisson commenced on the 4th of October, before the
following jury: Jonathan Brown, Edward Sumner, Hiram Collins, Ezra S.
Bassett, Urial Case, David Collins, William N. Merwin, Isaac Ozmun, Bowen
Blair, Moses Eggleston, Harvey Baldwin and Jonathan Metcalf. A portion
of the evidence in the case developed the fact that the accused had a quarrel
with Robert and his wife about a cow, and the evening before the murder, in
passing the two women at a spring on their premises had uttered a threat to
them. They wore laughing at the time, and the old man cried out — "Laugh
on! your laughing will soon be turned to trouble and sorrow." The case was
conducted by L. V. Bierce and Eben Newton on behalf of the State, and by D.
K. Carter and Wyllis Silliman for the defense. The jury were out but a short
time and returned the verdict of not guilty, and the accused was discharged.

The trial of David McKisson was commenced on the 6th of October, before
the following jury: Charles Reed, Peter Mason, Silas Comstock, Ashbel Bost-
wick, William Coolman, Jr., A. K. Hubbard, Miner Merrick, Hugh Judson,
Jonathan Foster, John N. Whittlesey, Alva Day and Daniel Trowbridge.
This trial was conducted with spirit and ability by L. V. Bierce and Eben
Newton on the part of the State, and by R. P. Spalding, David Tod and N.
M. Humphrey for the accused. It was proven by a witness on this trial, that
in May previous to the murder, David had said to his sisters Mary and Mar-
garet, at Cleveland — "I will kill Robert's wife. By G — d I will; and then if
Lucinda has a mind to have me she may, or she may go to hell." The jury
found the prisoner guilty of murder in the first degree, and the sentence of the
Court was pi'onounced that he should be hung upon the 9th day of February,
1838. The gallows was erected between what is now Prospect and Walnut
Streets, immediately east of the Disciples' Church, in Ravenna.

From the Ohio Star' of February 15, 1838, the following account of the
execution is taken: "On Friday afternoon, the 9th inst. , David McKisson
was executed for the murder of his brother's wife. From the day of his con-
viction to the last moment of his existence he declared himself innocent of the
crime laid to his charge, but his conduct seems more indicative of great deprav-
ity than of innocence. Until the day previous to his execution, he almost
uniformly spoke of bis situation in the most indifferent manner, and studi-
ously banished from his mind all thoughts of his condition. On that day he
seemed to be somewhat affected at the near approach of death, and on the
morning of the execution he requested the presence of Elder Stevens. To the
Elder, who visited him in his cell and accompanied him to the gallows, he
professed that he had asked for and obtained mercy, and declared that he could
die in peace. On his way to the place of execution McKisson appeared sol-
emn and thoughtful, and when he first arrived in sight of the gallows he was
evidently overcome by the spectacle and swooned away, but recovered himself
and sat firm and erect on his seat. He then handed to the Rev. Mr. Graham,

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 353

who also accompanied him, his farewell address which he had prepared,
remarking that, he intended to read it upon the gallows, but that he should
not be able to do it. On arriving at the gallows he got out of the carriage with-
out assistance, requested Elder Stevens and Mr. Graham to accompany him
upon the scaffold, and then firmly and unhesitatingly ascended the same with
the Sheriff. He then addressed the spectators in a speech of nearly a half
hour's length, consisting partly of admonition to the wicked and vicious, and
partly of an examination of the testimony upon which he was convicted, and
concluded by declaring his innocence and his preparation for death. He
then i-equested prayers, and he appeared to respond to the petition which was
offered.

" The rope was then adjusted, his arms pinioned, and the cap drawn down
over his face by the Sheriff, who then descended from the scaffold; as he
reached the bottom he trod upon the spring which supported the platform,
and McKisson suddenly dropped about seven feet. Once or twice he shrugged
his shoulders, and four or five times he drew up his legs, probably in conse-
quence of the contraction of the muscles, and all was over. After hanging
until he was dead, his body was taken down and delivered to his brother Rob-
ert, who took it to Northfield for interment. An immense concourse of peo-
ple attended to witness the execution. The number is variously estimated at
from 1,500 to 3,000, of which, we are sorry to say, at least one-eighth part wei'O
females. What there can be in such a spectacle calculated to excite the curi-
osity and attract the presence of woman, delicate and sensitive woman, we are
utterly at a loss to determine."

Sylvester Heathraan was tried and convicted of manslaughter at the Febru-
ary term of the Court of Common Pleas in 1838. It appears from the evidence
that on the day when the disastrous occurrence took place, the defendant, with
his two brothers, John and Elisha, had been absent from home until nearly
night. How they were employed was not apparent, but about supper time John
Heathman (the deceased) returned to the house of his widowed mother much
intoxicated, and was seated at the table eating his supper when the defendant
(Sylvester) entered the room. John immediately addressed Sylvester with the
inquiry, " Where is Elisha? " " He has gone up North." " You are a d — d
liar! " replied John, " and the truth is not in you; " and upon uttering these
words he caught up his fork and threw it at the head of his brother, and
inflicted something of a wound upon his nose. This violence on the part of
John was followed with a threat that if Sylvester came up stairs that night
" he would be the death of him" About this time, said the witness, Mary
Heathman (a sister, and the only person in the room at the time), there was
heard a noise resembling the rattling of knives and forks near the place where
John had been seated. At this instant Sylvester seized a chair and with it struck
John a severe blow on his side. The young woman then left the room for
the purpose of calling her mother. Upon their entering the room after the
space of a minute John exclaimed, " Mother, I am going to fall," and imme-
diately fell to the floor. At this time blood was discovered running from his
shoes, and the odor of whisky pervaded the room. Sylvester advanced to the
prostrate body of his brother and exclaimed, " John, brother John!" "You
may call him now," said the poor mother, " but he cannot hear you, for you
have killed him." Sylvester then endeavored to procure the attendance of a
physician, but none arrived before the death of John, which took place about
thirty minutes after the blow was inflicted.

Upon examination it was ascertained that the deceased had, in his right
pantaloons pocket, at the time of the blow, a junk bottle filled with whisky;

354 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

that the chair had been hurled with so much force as to break the bottle into
small pieces, one of which had been driven into the groin so as to cut the
artery, by means of which the deceased bled to death. The cause was argued
to the jury by Messrs. Bierce and Spalding for the State, and Messrs. Carter
and Newton for the defendant. A verdict of guilty was returned by the jury,
and the culprit was sent to the penitentiary for one year.

The murder of Alanson Baldwin, of Aurora, took place November 8, 1859,
and was perpetrated by Lemuel W. Price, also a resident of Aurora, and the
nephew of his victim. Price was a man about sixty, a hard drinker and at
times uncontrollably passionate. On the morning of the 8th of November he
became offended with Mr. Baldwin, though causelessly so, and watching his
opportunity stabbed him with a shoe knife upon the left side of the abdomen,
the wound going through to the abdominal cavity. Mr. Baldwin died the next
day after being stabbed. Price was indicted at the December term, 1859.
The case began before Judge Benjamin F. Hoffman, February 23, 1860, on
an indictment for murder in the second degree, to which the accused pleaded
not guilty. The following persons were the jurors in the case: James Hudson,
Ravenna; C. O. Brainerd, Randolph; O. B. Highley, Windham; C. M. Taylor,
Hiram; Silas Clark, Nelson; A. B. Bristol, Edinburg; Alden Bissell, Roots-
town; Nathan Sanford, Edinburg; H. B. Fenton, Randolph; E. Hawley and T.
Stewart, Paris; D. C. Davis, Palmyra. The theory of the defense consisted of
two points: insanity, and death from other causes. During the trial Price
manifested a listless indifference, and received his sentence without emotion.
The jury were out but forty-five minutes, and returned a verdict of guilty of
murder in the second degree. The Court sentenced Price On the 25th to the
penitentiary for life. The case was conducted by P. B. Conant and E. B.
Taylor for the State. Price being without counsel, the Court assigned him
Alphonso Hart and O. P. Brown.

To keep unbroken the chain of this narrative, brief allusion is made to the
murderous assault made upon J. C. Prentiss, in the store of D. M. Clewell, in
Ravenna, upon the morning of December 17, 1864, by W. W. Flower, for the
purpose of effecting a robbery of the safe in the store. The case was tried
before Judge Charles E. Glidden, at the January term, 1865, of the Court of
Common Pleas. The jury were in deliberation but ten minutes and returned
a verdict of guilty of assault with intent to murder. The Court sentenced
Flower to the penitentiary for seven years, the severest penalty prescribed for
the crime by the statutes of Ohio. H. H. Willard and Alphonso Hart con-
ducted the case for the State; Luther Day and P. B. Conant for the accused.

Upon the 17th of March, 1865, a young woman named Harriet Shorts was
shot in her mother's house, and died of the wound, by a man who was reported
to be her husband. This individual, Joseph N. Boor, alias Charles AVilson,
was arrested for murder, but set up the defense of accidental shooting. The
accused in the case was indicted at the May term. Trial was not had until the
September term, when the case was heard before Judge Glidden and the fol-
lowing jury: G. B. Purdy, William Stedman, R. F. Gardner, W. J. Gardner,
H. E. Brush, A. J. Shuman, Reuben Brobst, Smith Sanford, A. Chittenden,
A. H. Barlow, Arvin Olin and H. J. Cannon. The indictment charged that the
accused, "on the 17th of March, 1865, made an assavilt upon Harriet Shorts
with a shot-gun, inflicting upon the middle of her back one mortal wound of
the length of one- half of one inch, and the depth of ten inches, of which mor-
tal wound she immediately died. This did Joseph N. Boor, alias Wilson, with
premeditated malice to kill and murder the said Harriet Shorts." After hear-
ing the testimony and arguments of counsel, the jury returned a verdict of

;if'-

' C^5<5 ^-^ '"

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. Sbl

manslaughter. The Court imposed a sentence upon the prisoner of one year
in the penitentiary from the 19th day of September, 1865. The case was con-
ducted by H. H. Willard and x\lphonso Hart for the State, and P. B. Conant
and E. L. Webber on behalf of the accused.

John Rhodenbaugh, a citizen of Franklin Township, residing upon his farm
aboiat three miles from the village of Kent, in that township, and about the
same distance from flavenna, was foully murdered between 7 and 8 o'clock on
the night of October 24, 1865, while returning home from Kent, and within a
little more than a mile from his home. The spot chosen for the scene of
the murder was upon the road leading from Ravenna to Hudson, passing
between Lakes Brady and Pippin, at a pointwhere the road runs parallel with
the C. & P. R. R., and within a few rods of the crossing of the latter with the
carriage road leading to Kent, within sight of the lakes and the farmhouse
of Joseph Heighton. Mr. Rhodenbaugh had resided in Franklin Township
over thirteen years, and was well known in this and adjoining counties as a
public auctioneer. He was fifty-six years of age on the 19th of September,
1865, and left a family consisting of a wife, four sons and a daughter, all of
whom were present at the trial. He was fond of company and the social glass,
and at times drank freely, and was, under such circumstances, apt to discourse
largely upon his pecuniary means.

On the afternoon of the day of the murder, commencing at about 3 o'clock,
we find him at Kent in the company of Cooper, Beery and others, playing
cards, drinking and the like. Leaving Kelso's billiard and drinking saloon at
or near 7 o'clock on that evening, soon after drinking with Cooper and Beery,
he set out for home. Having proceeded two-thirds of the distance alone in an
open wagon, he was assaulted and dealt two blows upon the head (caus-
ing instant death) with a heavy club, cut near the scene of the murder. His
person was robbed of a watch and the money he had with him, supposed to be
nearly |200. The murder was discovered shortly after its committal by George
Dewey, a resident of the neighborhood. A Coroner's inquest was held on the
25th before Justice D. L. Rockwell. Suspicion at once attached to Jack Cooper
and Joel Beery as the perpetrators of the awful crime. Before 9 o'clock of the
25th they were arrested near Ravenna by officers R. W. Buck and S. L. Jen-
nings, and at once incarcerated in Jail. An affidavit was made before Justice
Coolman against these men, and an examination held upon Saturday, October
28, occupying from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M. , the result of which was that the accused
were committed to Jail for trial at the next term of the Court of Common Pleas.

The grand jury at the January term, 1866, H. M. Lewis, foreman, found
indictments against Cooper and Beery, alleging the facts previously narrated.
Being arraigned upon Thursday, February 1, both the accused plead not
guilty thereto, and separate trials were ordered them. Being unable to pay
counsel, the Court assigned Messrs. E. B. Taylor, J, D. Horton and P. B.
Conant as counsel for the defense. On the part of the State H. H. Willard,
Prosecuting Attorney, assisted by Alphonso Hart, conducted the prosecution.

The trial of Jack Cooper was commenced on Monday afternoon, February
5, 1866, before Hon. Charles E. Glidden. The first proceeding in the case
was the impanneling of the following jury: Franklin H. Snow, Windham;
E. F. Jagger, Windham; M. P. Higley, Windham; H. S. Johnson, Nelson;
R. H. Miller, Garrettsville; Charles Goodsell, Nelson; Isaac Stowell, Gar-
rettsville; Jason Rider, Hiram; Benjamin Waters, Hiram; I. J. Rhodes, Man-
tua; Edwin Sanford, Mantua; William L. Coe, Edinburg. As soon as the
jury were sworn, Mr. Willard, on the part of the State, made an elaborate
statement of the case to the jury, detailing the items of proof it was intended

358 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

to present. Mr. Taylor, on behalf of the defense, made a general denial of
the allegations of the State, meeting them all with the simple plea, not guilty.
For three days the trial progressed with unflagging interest. Thirty-six wit-
nesses were examined, and elaborate arguments made by both prosecution and
defense. On the evening of the third day the attorneys' pleas were finished,
and Judge Glidden delivered his charge to the jury, which retired at 6
o'clock. Near the hour of midnight the jury returned to the court-room with
a verdict of murder in the first degree. For a moment Cooper buried his face
in his hands, and then as if accepting the death-knell of his doom asked to
speak to some of the jurors. A short time was devoted to this, and the doomed
man, encircled by stalwart guards, was returned to his prison cell, there to
meditate and prepare as best he could for the consummation of the dread
penalty of that law he bo mercilessly violated.

The trial of Joel Beery as aider and abettor of Jack Cooper in the murder
of John Rhodenbaugh, the next scene in this drama of crime, was commenced
before Judge Glidden, on Thursday morning, February 8, 1866. The case waa
conducted by H. H. Willard and Alphonso Hart for the State, and Ezra B.
Taylor, J, D. Horton and P. B. Conant for the defense. The prisoner, as he
sat within the bar, was attended by his mother, and his brother, H. L. Beery.
The pressure of attendance during the trial was unabated, and the court- room
was crowded to its very utmost capacity during the entire progress of the case.
Beery belonged to Portage County, and had many relatives and friends living
here, while Cooper was a comparative stranger and but little known in this
section. The following jury was impaneled and sat upon the case: John
Webber, Deerfield; Caleb Steele, Deerfield; J. V. Mell, Deertield; George
Webber, Deerfield; Stephen Frazer, Deerfield; John H. Hofiinan, Deerfield;
J. M. Fry, Deerfield; T. H. Whittemore, Deerfield; John Mansfield, Atwater;
Curtiss Goddard, Edinburg; George Brigden, Edinburg; Cornelius Mott,
Deerfield. After the selecting of the jurors was completed, the trial was
opened by a full statement of the case to the jury by Mr. Hart, on behalf of
the prosecution, of the State vs. Joel Beery, for aiding and abetting Jack
Cooper, on the 24th of October, 1865, in murdering John Ehodenbaugh.
The theory of the defense was then ably presented to the jury by Ezra B.
Taylor. Nearly fifty witness were examined on this trial, which also lasted
three days, and untiring efforts were put forth by Beery's counsel to clear him.
The jury was charged by Judge Glidden on Saturday forenoon, February 10,
and retired at half past 12 o'clock. For more than twelve hours the jury wres-
tled with the evidence before reaching a unanimous conclusion. At a quarter
past 1 o'clock on Sunday morning they filed into the court-room with a verdict
of murder in the second degree. The verdict was received by the people
with great surprise, as it was the general opinion that Beery was equally
guilty with Cooper, and should have received the extreme penalty of the law;
and the jury was, at the time, considerably criticised and blamed for letting
him off so easily.

On Monday morning, February 12, the convicted murderers, Cooper and
Beery, were brought before the bar to receive sentence. The latter was the
first to appear in Court, and after being asked if he had anything to say in his
own behalf, and answering that he had not, was sentenced to hard labor in the
penitentiary for life, where he was soon afterward taken. The sentence was
received with but little or no emotion by the prisoner, and as no effort was
made by his counsel to get a new trial, we can readily infer that both they and
Beery were satisfied with the lenient justice of the verdict. Upon receiving
sentence, Beery was returned to his cell, and Cooper brought into Court. A

HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY. 359

motion for a new trial was made by Cooper's counsel and promptly overruled
by Judge Glidden. Before pronouncing sentence the Court asked the prisoner
if he had anything to say why the penalty of the law should not be pronounced
upon him. Thereupon, Cooper arose and answered that he had little to say
about his innocence, but he could hardly feel as if he had been fairly dealt
with, or he would not have been convicted of murder. He said he was not a
smart, or an educated man, and could not speak very well, but did not think
on the evidence against him, he ought to be hung. The prisoner then resumed
his seat, and Judge Glidden, after an able and exhaustive summing up of the
evidence upon which he was convicted, and showing beyond a reasonable doubt
that he was guilty of the crime charged, sentenced him to be hanged on the
6th of April, 1866.

The verdict and sentence in the Cooper case gave universal satisfaction. It
was the third in which the death penalty was pronounced upon a criminal in
Portage County; and a full, thorough, unbiased review of the testimony can
leave no shadow of doubt of the equal justice and propriety of the verdict,
inflicting, as it did, upon the culprit, the direst penalty of the law. The ter-
rible deed was deliberately planned and cruelly executed.

In the management of the Cooper and Beery trials. Judge Glidden
exhibited an impartiality and cleai'ness upon legal questions that commended
him in a high degree to the bar, and the many hundreds of citizens who
watched their progress. The attorneys for the State, Messrs. Willard and
Hart, performed their duties with a fitting sense of the responsibility resting
upon them, and with a zealous care that through no default of theirs should
the interests of the people be allowed to suffer. Of the defense made for the
prisoners by Messrs. Taylor, Horton and Conant, it can truly be said, that no
man could have been defended with greater ability, pertinacity or zeal. Had
the culpi'its been members of the most influential or wealthy families, instead
of having to depend upon the cou.nty for their defense, greater efi"orts could
not have been made in their behalf. The State thus throws her mantle of
protection around the accused, guaranteeing him every chance for a fair and
impartial trial.

After Cooper's conviction, he gave a history of his career. His real name
was Samuel Wittum, and he was born in Elk Creek Township, Erie Co., Penn.,
a few miles east of the Ohio line, October 22, 1837. His father, Artemus
Wittum, had previously resided in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and also in Indi-
ana. Both his parents died when Samuel was about six years old, and he
then went to live with a farmer named James Bird or Baird. This man
treated him badly, and one of his sisters learning the facts came and took him
away. He began life for himself on the Beaver & Erie Canal, and henceforth
followed a wild, roving career. He was twice married, and is said to have
been a gambler, counterfeiter, horse thief and murderer, and to have served a
term in the Missouri penitentiary, ere committing the deed for which he finally
sufi"ered death. Wittum, or Cooper, as he is best known to our readers, was
respited by the Governor from the 6th until the 27th of April, for the purpose
of giving a sister living in the East an opportunity to visit him. Though at
first professing repentance for his crime, he tried to break Jail three times, the
last being a desperate attempt. He fiercely attacked Sheriff Jennings, secured
a fastening bar used on one of the doors, and calling on some other prisoners
for assistance, which they, however, refused, made a superhuman effort to
gain his freedom. The alarm was given and the Jail soon surrounded by a
crowd of excited citizens, and Cooper, seeing that escape was now impossible,
threw down the bar and retired to his cell cursing and swearing like a maniac.

360 HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

He refused to allow the Sheriff to enter his cell for the purpose of putting
irons on his hands and feet, and exhibiting a knife which he had in some
unknown manner secured, swore he would kill any man who would attempt to
do so. Science now came to the r