OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Gen. Simon Perkins [2] *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 12, 1999 *********************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio The Kelley Family Collections Newspaper article, Plains Dealer compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925 And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley 1998 *********************************************************************** 2nd in Series-- Whether Cleaveland Knew Simon before 1798 is not known, but the three Trustees agreed upon Simon's ability, jugement, and integrity. Coit would steadily write Simon, in the coming years, "----my confidence in your judgement being great, and in your integrity perfect--- do as you think best." And it was decided that Simon should spend March 29 with Cleaveland, to discuss the Erie Company affairs. Cleaveland, a Yale graduate and attorney, was to draw up the Company's agreement with and instructions to their agent. As a result of his own 1796 surveying trip as General Agent for the Connecticut Land Company, Cleaveland could give Simon first-hand information about conditions on the Reserve. Since he was also a Director of the Connecticut Land Company as well as a Trustee of the Erie Company, he could, in addition. Acquaint Simon with the history of the property and the problems involved in its sale and settlement. The property had, in fact, an interesting and unique history. By the charter granted to the colony of Connecticut by Charles II in 1662, that colony was given land bounded on the colony line, on the south by the waters of the Atlantic, and on the west by unlocated South Seas. This charter was intended to settle boundary disagreements which then existed between Connecticut and the colonies of Rhode Island and New Haven. Although these disagreements were settled shortly thereafter, Connecticut soon acquired new land-claim conflicts when Charles granted to his brother James, Duke of York, in 1664, and to William Penn, in 1681 lands which lay within the vaguely stipulated western bounds of Connecticut's charter. And the Pennsylvania conflict reached near-war proportions. By 1773, the Connecticut-based Susquehanna Land Company had planted a colony in the fertile Wyoming Valley. Connecticut expressed her intention to protect her claim to this land by making the Valley part of her Westmoreland County. Since the Valley was also claimed by Pennsylvannia under her 1681 charter, the Land Company's colony was opposed by the Pennamites, even to the point of actual combat. There was some respite in this conflict during the Revolution, but in 1778 the colonists suffered defeat by British Troops and a nearly total massacre by Indian fighters led by the maniacal Queen Esther. Injustice seemed added to injury when, in 1782. the Trenton Federal Court ruled in favor of Pennsylvania's claim to the Valley. When the various colonies , during and following the Revolution, ceded their land claims to the nearly formed confederacy, Connecticut again asserted her charter rights by reserving an area between the 41' and 42'2 parallels of North Latitude and extending 120 miles westward from the northern boundary of Pennsylvania. This area , which would be part of the future State of Ohio, was called Connecticut's Western Reserve, then New Connecticut, and finally the Western Reserve. Much history had been explored and documents examined, Simon realized this would be quite an undertaking and it would be slow and difficult, but he was willing and even eager to undertake the task. After that day it remained only for the Erie Company members to settle, in their April 2 meeting, the instructions to their agent Simon Perkins. It was a successful and illustrious group that gathered in the Norwich Courthouse on Apr. 2 at one o'clock for the first officially " warned" meeting of the Erie Company. Some of the group--The Major( Joseph Perkins ), Colonel Christopher Leffingwell, John Howland, Joseph Williams, and Lynde McCurdy--had been associated during the Revolution in a sort-lived organization that seized and sold for charitable purposes all the smuggled British goods they could discover. Colonel Leffingwell, dignified-looking in his high narrow-brimmed hat and long tight-waisted coat, had also distinguished himself durng thr Revolution for his service as a member of the Committee of Correspondence and for his bravery as Captain of a Light Infrantry troop which went to the defense of neighboring New London. An energetic business man. Leffingwell had established in Norwich a paper mill, a chocolate mill, and a highly successful stocking-weaving factory with a yearly production of twelve to fifteen hundred pairs of worsted , cotton, linen, and silk stockings. Joseph Howland and Joseph Williams were equally successful in the shipping business. Howland owned, with some of his relatives, the ship "Charlotte" and a fleet of brigs, schooners, and sloops which carried livestock and other cargo to the West Indies. Howland's shipping business was so well known that in 1801 and 1802 the warring British and French would both seek contracts with him to supply their forces in the West Indies. Joseph Williams was the principle owner of six trading vessels, one of which--The Snow--was made entirely of American materials, built in Norwich, by Joseph and John Kelley. Williams vessels were primarily engaged in the West Indies trade, but his sloop "Prosperity" carried on a profitable trade with the northern ports of South America. Several others of the group were, Major Joseph Perkins, successful merchants; from Lynde McCurdy one could buy fine broadcloth, laces, and even Indian, Damascus and Persian silks; from John Kinsman, brother-in-law to Simon and a Representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, one could buy a hat made in Kinsman's own shop. Among the illustrious of the group was, in addition to Zephaniah Swift, Senator Uriah Tracy. Tracy owned a store in Norwich with Joseph Coit, also a member of the Erie Company and was an attorney, a former member of Connecticut's General Assembly, and a congressional associate of Hamilton, Ames, and Adams. And there was also Samuel Huntington, Jr., the adopted son, nephew, and name sake of the late Samuel Huntington who had signed the Declaration of Independence and for more than ten years had been the Governor of Connecticut. The Junior Huntington had been educated at Dartmouth and Yale, had traveled in Europe, and was in 1798 an attorney in Norwich with offices in the Courthouse. With his background and education he could presumably look forward to a successful political career in Connecticut. But of his headstrong espousal of Jeffersonian principles had made him unpopular with his Federalist friends and neighbors. Asahel and Jabez Adams, Penuel Cheney, Erastus and Thomas Huntington, Daniel Lathrop, and William Wheeler Williams completed the membership of the Erie Company. As might be expected, the nineteen hard-working and ambitious proprietors were very demanding in their instructions to young Simon Perkins. According to the documents drawn up by Cleaveland, Simon was to be on hand in July and "continue there three months and longer if-----the business of the Company shall require ---- to imploy his time---in selling, surveying, laying out and exploring. ********************************************* To be continued in series 3--