OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 59A ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 6, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio. And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid Bits- part 59 A by Darlene E. Kelley Notes by S. Kelly ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits - part 59 A Washington County The First Ohio Company Ohio Company of Associates. In 1776 Congress made an appropriation of lands to the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army; in 1780 the act was extended. By the terms of these appropriations those who fought or would fight for independance were to receive tracts of land according to their rank; to a major-general 1100 acres; a brigadier General 850; a colonel 500, and so on. Private soldiers and non-commissioned officers were to receive 100 acres each. At the time these appropriations were made the United States did not own an acre of land, and the fulfllment of the obligations incurred was dependant upon the individual States ceding their rights in western lands to the general government in case of conquest. Some of the States, notably Maryland, claimed that these lands belonged to the States in common. Congress never set up this claim, but recognized the title of individual States to the territory fixed by their charters. In 1782 a committee of Congress in its territorial claims against the king of England said; " Under his authority the limits of these States while in the character of colonies were established; to these limits the United States considered as independant sovereignties have succeeded. Whatever territorial rights, therefore, belonged to them before the Revolution were necessarily devolved upon them at the era of independence." The United States, however, eventually gained control of the western lands by cessions from the States, some with and some without reservations. These cessions were made to the general government that new States might be created out of the western territory, and to enable the general government to pay the debts incurred by the Revolutionary war by selling lands to settlers. The theory of making government lands a source of revenue was a new departure, and beginning in 1780 the methods to be adopted in disposing of these lands for several years largely occupied the attention of Congress. Col. Grayson, in a letter dated April 27, 1785, says; " I have been busily engaged in assisting about passing an ordinance for the disposal of the western territory. I think there has been as much said and written about it as would fill forty volumnes, and yet we seem far from a conclusion, so difficult is it to form any system which will suit our complex government, and when the interests of the component parts are supposed to be so different." The principal points in controversy were the New England plan of settlement by government survey into townships, as opposed by the Virginia plan of "indiscriminate locations," and as to the sale of lands in large or small tracts. The prohibition of slavery was also one of the questions involved. Gen. Washington favored the New England plan, and the sale of lands in large tracts; his letters expressing his views on these points had a strong influence toward their final adoption. In September, and again in October, of 1783, different committees had made reports recommending the formation of the western territory into States, but no action was taken by Congress until 1784, when, on March 1st, a committee, of which Mr. Jefferson was chairman, reported a temporary plan of government for the western territory; it had a clause prohibiting slavery after 1800, but this clause was stricken out, various amendments added, and on April 23d it became an ordinance of Congress. It remained inoperative until repealed by the ordinance of 1787. On May 10, 1786, September 19,1786, and April 26,1787, three separate ordinances for the government of the western territory were reported to Congress. On May 10, 1787, a fourth had reached its third reading, when further action was suspended by a proposition from Gen. S.H. Parsons, of Middletown, Conn., as representative of the Ohio Company, to purchase a large tract of land in the Ohio country. The Ohio Company was the outgrowth of an endeavor on the Revolutionary officers to secure the bounty lands due them for service in the war. On June 16, 1783, two hundred and eighty-eight officers, of all except fifty were from New England, had petitioned that their bounty lands be set off in " that tract of country bounded on the north of Lake Erie, east on Pennsylvania, southwest and south on the river Ohio, west on a line beginning at the part of the Ohio which lies twenty-four miles west of the mouth of the river Scioto, thence runing north on a meridian line till it intersects the river Miami which flows into Lake Erie; thence down the middle of that river to the lake." Gen. Rufus Putnam had forwarded this petition to Gen. Washington; accompanied by a letter requesting that it be laid before Congress, stating that it was the intention of the petitioners to become settlers, and speaking of townships, six miles square with reservations for religious and educational purposes. Washington transmitted the petition and General Putman's letter to Congress, together with a communication from himself in which he directed attention to the benifits to the whole country that would result from the settlement proposed and the obligations to the officers and soldiers of the army. Congress failed to take action; and no further effort was made to secure their bounty lands until January, 1786, when Generals Rufus Putman and Bejamin Tupper issued a call to the Revolutionary Officers ( who in 1783 had petitioned Congress ) to send deligates to a meeting to be held in March. Eleven delegates met at the " Bunch of Grapes " tavern in Boston, Mass., and on March 3, 1786, organized the Ohio Company of Associates. General Putnam was made President, and Winthrop Sargent, clerk. The object of the meeting was to raise a fund in Continental certificates for the sole purpose of buying lands and making a settlement in the western territory. In March, 1787, three directors were appointed: Generals Samuel H. Parsons and Rufus Putnam, and Dr. Manasseh Cutler. Major Winthrop Sargent was made secretary, and a meeting held the following August Gen. James M. Varnum, of Rhode Island, was made director and Richard Platt. of New York, elected Treasurer. General Parsons, as agent for the Ohio Company, failed to accomplish any satisfactory results, and he returned to Middletown. Dr. Cutler was then appointed agent, and on July 5, 1787, arrived in New York, Congress then being in session in that city. The following day he delivered to Congress his petition for purchasing lands for the Ohio Company, and proposed terms and conditions of purchase. A new committee, consisting of Messrs. Carrington, Lee, Dane, McKean, and Smith, on July 10, submitted to Dr. Cutler, with leave to make remarks and propose amendments, a copy of an ordinance which had been prepared for the government of the Northwest Territory As the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company was dependent upon the form of government of the territory in which those land lay, Dr.Cutler was deeply interested in this ordinance and proposed several amendments, which with but one exception ( on taxation ) were subsequently adopted as proposed. In the " North American Review " Mr. W.F. Poole, who has given an extended study to the subject, says: " The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio purchase were parts of one and the same transaction. The only difference was the associates attached to the Ohio Company title. The purchase would not have been made wthout the ordinance and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an essential condition of the purpose." On July 13, 1787, the ordinance was enacted with but one dissenting vote. No act of an American Congress has received greater praise than this. In his " History of the Constitution " Mr. Brancroft says: " An interlude in Congress was shaping the character and destiny of the United States of America. Sublime and humane and eventful in the history of mankind as was the result, it will not take many words to tell how it was brought about. For a time wisdom and peace and justice dwelt among men, and the great ordinance which could alone give continuance to the Union came in serenity and stilness. Every man that had a share in it seemed to be moved by an invisable hand to do just what was wanted of him; all that was wrongfully undertaken fell by the wayside; whatever was needed for te happy completion of the mighty wrk arrived opportunely, and just at the right moment moved into its place." In 1830 Daniel Webster said of this great " Ordinance of Freedom:" " We are accustomed to praise the law-givers of antiquity; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus; but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the ordinance of 1787. We see its consequence at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow." Having suceeded by rare diplomacy in uniting the different interests involved so as to secure the enactment of an ordinance, with provisions for education, religion, and prohibition of slavery, Dr. Cutler made a contract for the sale of 1,500,000 acres of land to the Ohio Company. This was signed by Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee of the Board of Treasury for the United States, and by Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent for the Ohio Company. The price was $1 per acre, payable in " specie, loan office certificates reduced to specie, or certificates of the liquidated debt of the United States." An allowance not exceeding one-third of a dollar per acre was made for bad lands. Section sixteen was to be reserved for schools; twenty-nine for the support of religion; eight, eleven, and twenty-six to be disposed of by Congress; and two townships for a university. ++++++++++++++++++ Ohio Company Stockholders A. Samuel Aborn; David Adams; Samuel Adams; John Alden; Israel Angel; Nathan Angel; Stephen Arnold; Thomas Arnold; Welcome Arnold; William Arnold; Moses Ashley; Joseph Ashton; John Atkinson; Caleb Atwater; Ebneezer Atwood. B. Abijah Babcock; Andrew Backus; James Backus; Eleazer Baker; Joseph Barrel; William Bartlett; William Barton; Berekiah Basset; Joseph Bates; Boon Baughn; Josiah Baughn; Ercurius Beatty; Sebastian Beauman; Silas Bent; Timothy Biglow; Seth Bird; Thomas Blake; Augustus Blanchard; John Bond; John L. Boss; Elizabeth Bowdoin; James Bowdoin; Israel Bowen; Jabez Bowen; Obediah Bowen; Henry Bowers,Jr.; John Bowers; William Bradford; James Bradford; Philander Brazier; Samuel Brazier; William Breck; John Breeze; Joseph Briggs; Daniel Britt; Samuel Broome; Abigail ( Francis ) Brown; Alice Brown; Anne Brown; George Brown; Jacob Brown; James Brown, James Brown; John Brown; Moses Brown, Jr.; Nathaniel Brown; Nicholas Brown; Sally Brown; Sarah Brown; William Brown; William L. Brown; William Browning, Jr.; David Buel; Samuel Buffington; Aaron Bull William Buriegh; Isaac Burnham; John Burnham; John Burnham; William Burnham; Samuel Burr; Shubael Burr; Jeremiah Butler. C. Squire Cady; William Caldwell; Jonathan Call; Elnathan Camp; Asael Carpenter; Thomas Carpenter; Henry Carrington; John Carter; Wanton Casey; Jonathan Cass; Alexander Catlin; Abraham Champlin; Christopher Champlin; Redwood Champlin; Caleb Champney; Levi Chapman; Lot Cheever; John H. Chevallie; John Child; Francis Choat; Jonathan Choat; Caleb Clap; Daniel Clap; Joshua Clap; Ethan Clark; Pegleg Clark; Moses Cleaveland; William Cleaveland; Aaron Clough; Benjamin Cobb; David Cobb; Asa Coburn; Joseph Coit; Wheeler Coit; Henrietta Colden; Thomas Coles; Abijah Colton; Thomas H. Condy; James Congdon; William Constable; Alpheus Converse; Benjamin Converse; Stephen Cook; Ezekiel Cooper; George Corlis; John Corlis; Joseph Corlis; Archibald Crary; John Crock; Ebenezer Crosby; Florence Crowley; Benjamin Cumstock; Samuel Currier; Nathaniel Cushing; Ephraim Cushing; Ephraim Cutler; Manasseh Cutler. D. Northrup Daniel; James Davenport; John Davenport; Daniel Davis; Puah Davis; Joseph Day; Marquis de Chapedelaine; Marquis de Neufville; Charles de Wolf; Jonathan Deane; Nathaniel Deane, Jr.; John Delafield; Mary Dermont; Rebecca Dermont; Jonathan Denning; Ebenezer Denny; John Deslion; Jonathan Devol; John L. Dexter; Samuel L. Dexter; Timothy Dexter; Elijah Dix; Isaac Dodge; John Dodge of Beverly; Oliver Dodge; Richard Dodge; William Doll; Ebenezer Dorr; Samuel Dorrance; John Doughty; John Douglas; Richard Douglas; Eliphalet Downer; Solomon Drown; Daniel Dunham; Eliphalet Dyer; John Dyer. E. Nicholas Easton; William Edgar; Jedediah Ensworth; Israel Evans; Moses Everett. F. Major Fairchild; Isaac Farewell; Paul Fearing; Andrew Fitch; Caleb Fisk ; Peleg Fisk; Samuel Flagg; Jeremiah Fogg; Peregrine Foster; Theodore Foster; Samuel Fowler; Reuben Fox; Andrew Francis; Daniel Friend; Ebenezer Frothingham; Samuel Frothingham; Frederick Frye; John Fulham; Daniel Fuller; Oliver Fuller; Nathaniel H. Furnass. G. James Gammon; Caleb Gardiner; David Gardiner; Jelsee Gay; Elbridge Gerry; George Gibbs; Benjamin I. Gilman; Ezekial Goldthwait; Nathan Goodale; Noah Goodman; Asa Graves; Josiah Green; Catherine Greene; Charles Greene; Christoher Greene, Elihu Greene; Griffin Greene; Job Greene; John Greene; Gov. William Greene; William Greene; William Gridley; Abel Griswold; Sylvanus Griswold; Nathan Grosvenor; Thomas Grosvenor; Joseph Guthrie. H. Elias Hall; Thomas L. Halsey; Alexander Hamilton; Abijah Hammond; William Hammond; Thomas Hanshorn; Joseph Hardy; Josiah Harmer; Edward Harris; Elnathan Haskell; Jonathan Haskell; Benjamin Haywood; Ebenezer Hazzard; Abigal Heart; Jonathan Heart; Peleg Heart; David Hedges; Hugh Henderson; Jedidiah Hennington; Samuel Henshaw; John J. Herd; Peter Heyleger; Samuel Hildreth; Asa Hill; Michael Hillegas; Abel Hine; Ebenezer Hinkley; Samuel Hitchburn; Enos Hitchcock; William Hobroyd; Amos Horton; William Hoskins; Timothy Hosmer; Aaron Howe; Thomas Howland; Elijah Hubbard; Nehemiah Hubbard; Thomas Hughes; David Humphrey; William Humphrey; Elijah Hunt; Henry Hunter; Benjamin Hunting; Andrew Huntington; John Hurd. I. George Ingersol. J. Henry Jackson; John Jeffers; John Jenks; Joseph Jenks; Stephen Jewett; Daniel Jones; John G. Jones; John P, Jones; Elizabeth Judd; David Judson. K. Hamilton Kerr; Samuel King; Zebulon King; Ephraim Kirby; Isaac Knight; Charles Knowles; Henry Knox; Henry Kuhl. L. John Lamb; Timothy Larrabee; Elijah Lathrop, Jr.; John Lawrence; Joseph Leavens; David Leavit; Isaac Ledyard; Arthur Lee; Isaac Lenter; William Lession; Christopher Liffingwell; Christopher Lipper; Brockholst Livingston; Walter Livingston; Libbens Loomis; Abner Lord; Elisha Lord; William Lord; Daniel Loring; Azariah Lothrop; John Lucas; Porter Lummis; Ezra Lunt; Daniel Lyman; Humphrey Lyon; John Lyon. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to be continued in Tid Bits - Part 59 B.