OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 102 ************************************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 March 07, 2008 http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/know.htm ************************************************ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid bits -- Part 102 notes by S. Kelly and the " Norwalk Reflector" Newspaper ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits -- Part 102 The Firelands or Sufferer's Lands This tract of land was locatd at the western end of the Connecticut Western Reseve in Ohio. During the Ameican Revolution there was very little military activity in Connecticut, but the citizens were busy manufacturing goods, shipping supplies and materials to the Contintal Army. These actions angered the British and they sent out a series of raids from New York City to destroy the supplies and cripple the shipping. These raids got out of hand and a good deal of property was destroyed in the towns of Danbury,Fairfield, Grenwich, Groten, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, and Ridgefield. Private homes, churches, schools, livestock, and schools were destroyed, looted, and damaged by fires set by the British forces. Several petitions were presnted after the war to the Connecticut legislature by the citizens who lost thier propert. Their 1787 appeal was referred to a legislative committee which reported back in1792 that the Sufferers might be paid, but the state had only western lands for compensation in lieu of cash. This western land was that part of the northeast Ohio now known as the Western Reserve. Connecticuts 1662 Royal Charter had granted land from one ocean to the other. When the western claims of various states were settled after the American Revolution, Commecticut kept only a tract 120 miles long on the south shore of Lake Erie. A half-milliom acres at the west end o the Western Reserve was given to the Fire Sufferers in 1792. The claims totaled $ 538,495.26 in 1792 dollars and the land was allocated at a value just over $ 1 per acre. A major problem to be overcome was paying off the Indian tribes who oned the land and then the surveying costs. This task took until 1808 and by then most of the Sufferers had died or had sold their claims to land speculators. Very few of the Sufferees ever saw their lands in Ohio. Geographically, the Firelands is the area which is now Huron and Erie counties as well as Danbury Township in Ottawa County and Ruggles Township in Ashland County. None of the Lake Erie islands was originally included, although they were attached later, for judicial purposes. Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay was a part of the half-million acres. Even before the surveying was completed in 1808 there were Americans squatting on the Firelands. Most of them living along the lake shore and traded with the Indians or hunted and trapped. John B. Flammand, a frenchman, operated a trading post on the river just south of Huron when the Americans arrived and his store was the only store on the Firelands. Settlement was slow before the War of 1812 due to the fact the remoteness of the tract and the difficulties in reaching it. Some of the land speculators were holding out for higher prices fr their land and the remoteness discourgaed settlement. When the War of 1812 broke out there was a small militia unit stationed at Fort Avery, a stockade on the Huron River north of Milan. These troops and local civilians fought a contingent of Indians on the Marblehead Peninsula in September 1812. This was the first battle of that war in Ohio and one of the few skirmishes in the State. Almost everyone left the Firelands due to the Indian threat and there were at least eight civilians murdered in route in 1812/13 Settlement resumed quickly after the War of 1812 due to the natural westward expansion and due also to the year of NO summer in New England in 1816-17. This phenomenon was caused by a volcanic eruption in the Far East whose cloud of dust obliterated the sun and caused frigid conditions across the Northern U.S. and Europe. As the roads improved and land prices were modified, more and more sttlers arrived. Most came from New York and New England, although a few middle states residents moved to the southland tier of townships of the Firelands. There were also great migrations from Europe in the 19th Century, making the Firelands a real melting pot, The architecters and physical surroundings of these areas reflect so readily the origins of the early residents. Ohio's Legislation organized the Firelands as Huron County in 1809 and attached it first to Portage and Geauga counties and in 1810, to Cuyahoga. By 1815, the counties population was sufficient to establish its own government and the initial meeting of the Huron County's commissioners took place August 1, 1815, at the first county seat north of Milan near the site of Fort Avery. In 1818 all functions of County government were moved to Norwalk and it has been the County seat ever since. During this time the western townships of Lorain County as well as most of Sandusky and Seneca Counties were attached to Huron County. As soon as these areas had suffient population, they assumed their own government functions. When the Wilderness had been formed some people began agitating for smaller Counties. In 1838 Erie County was formed by the Legislature in the northeast quadrant of the Firelands with the townships of Graton, Margaretta, Portland, Perkins, Danbury and part of Oxford. In 1840, Danbury was given to Ottawa County with Milan, Huron, Berlin, Florence, and Vermilion were taken from Huron County to make Erie County the size it is today. Ruggles Township was removed from Huron County in 1846 to help create Ashland County. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits continued in Part 103