OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 74 ************************************************************************ 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 March 2, 2006. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid-Bits - part 74. by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S. Kelly [ ] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits - part 74. Freeman's Oath. [ Ever wonder what it was like for our forefather's in the beginning of the colonies. After all -- they were original beginnings of our wonderul state of Ohio. Their trials and adjustments were not easy. They had rules which were placed on them that were firmly adhered to, and this was subject to the colony courts. ] The term " Freeman " in Colonial days had nothing to do with servitude or bondsman. Simply it meant you were a full citizen of the Colony. Under the first Massachusetts charter. only Freeman had the right to hold public office or vote in town meetings. Indentured servants and bonded servant were not eligible. To be admitted a freeman you must fulfill the requirements. They were; Must of Sworn Allegiance to the Crown. Must be a Male over 21 years of age. Membership in a duly recognized Church. Own personal property generally valued at 40 pounds or 40 shillings per year. Must be of a quiet and peaceful manner. Other Freeman in the area to endorse him. +++++++++++++++++++ If all requirements are met then they were allowed to take the Freeman's oath at a meeting of the town's selectmen. Being a Freeman brought certain duties and rights among others, they were; The right to vote in town meetings. The right to hold public office. The right to elect deputies to the General Assembly. Required to pay taxes. The right to elect new freeman. Help to support the church. ++++++++++++++++++ The Oath I, ..........................., being by gods providence, an inhabitant, and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the Government thereof; And therefore do hear swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Ever-living God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support there unto, with my person and estate, as I am equally bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof, submitting myself to the wholesome Laws and Orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or consent any that shall so do; but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawful Authority now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof. Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, that when I shall be called to give my voice touching such a matter of this State, in which Freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, so help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ. +++++++++++++++++++++ The Freeman's Oath was the first paper printed in New England. It was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stephen Day, in 1639. It was changed slightly from providence to providence. To become a Freeman after the Oath was taken, then it was a subject of the courts and approved only on the next meeting of the court, after sworn affidavates were taken by the witnesses. Unless the oath was taken in front of the Court and was on the Court agenda. These court preceedings were not held but every few months and sometimes only every six months. It depended on whether there was a jury appointed and approved or whether they could meet at the chosen time. In Connecticut, the court was very dependable. As it was appointed at a earlier Court hearing and juriors were appointed. Appointments were from various townsites, and usually were townsmen who had become Freemen. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cleveland and Its Newspapers The first newspaper in Cleveland was the Gazette and Commercial Register, started July 13, 1818. It soon simplified its name to the Cleaveland Register. It passed out quietly in March 1820. In the previous year a rival paper had started, the Cleaveland Herald, and this had quickly won the field. The Register had called itself Republican ( in the Jefferson sense) and the Herald, like its rival, a weekly publication, claimed to be independent in politics. But of local news there was little in either publication. Remote occurences, wars in South America, a reprint of a news item from an eastern paper ( and this is all probably three or four weeks old ) a report of a mission to some place like the Sandwich Islands, stories of sea serpents or other monsters or of a distant volcanic eruption, these and others like them took the greater part of the space. Perhaps the gem of an editor's efforts to entertain his readers was the reprint of an inspirational article fom the London Hermit on Maternity, or the companion one on the Batchelor's Lamentation. The advertisements are more revealing of local life. Undoubtedly the guiding principle in composing a newspaper in those times was to tell the local readers what was happening to the old home folks in the east, and something of the events of the great unknown world beyond the American horizon. It was unnecessary to write much about local affairs. In a village everyone knew those things anyway. As the editors gained in acquaintances and experience local news commanded more space. In the weekly news items from 1818 to 1825 there were many" firsts" of historical interest. The second issue of the Register announced that a mail coach had commenced to run between Painsville and Cleveland, leaving Painsville every Thursday at 4 P.M., arriving in Cleveland at 10 A.M. the following day. The return stage would leave Cleveland Friday at 2 P.M. and arrive in Painesville at 8 A.m. The line offered to take passengers, telling the public that the coaches were more confortable than riding by horse and the expense not so great. All true enough, they would ride a canvas topped coach, sit solidly on a springless wagon, with three plain boards for seats. The Herald added that it was expected that stage coaches would soon be running between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and so they were, and to Columbus and Sandusky, too, once a week, and later twice, weather permitting. Freight bearing wagons, also, were coming with a fair degree of regularity from Pittsburgh. One of the first issues of the Register recorded the arrival of the steamboat, Walk-in-the-Water from Buffalo on its way to Detroit. An event, indeed, for it was the first view of a steamboat on Lake Erie. It was a service irregular, and soon ended by the tragic wrecking of the ship. On the Walk-in-the-Water's first visit in Cleveland came as a new settler Rueben Wood, a young Vermont lawyer, to add to the forceful men who were to have a large part in the next phase of Cleveland's history. Another issue of the Herald in 1818 carried the advertisement of Leonard Case, who wanted to sell 90 acres of land in Warrensville for cash, salt, flour, whiskey, wheat or rye. Leonard Case was a Pennsylvanian by birth who early in life had come with his family to the Western Reserve, and made a place for himself in the Southeastern portion of the Reserve as a land agent for the Proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company and finally a lawyer. His first home was in Warren but in 1816, he moved to Cleveland, continuing his law practice. The handicap of what may have been infantile paralysis that befell him in early manhood and left him a cripple, diverted a vigorous personality from farm work to a city business career. Leonard Case became another of those who were soon to be among the leaders of a new Cleveland. >From 1821 to 1825 he was Presdent of the Village and adopted Cleveland as his home. One hopes that the cultural development of Cleveland was advanced in 1820 when Herschel Foote opened a book store, and listed in an advertisement the books he had for sale. The subject matter was largely theological, histories of remote countries, travel in strange lands, and strange phenomena. Nothing that pertained directly to the life of the time and place. Neither the newspapers nor the book stores in Cleveland were peculiar in that respect. More significant was an item of news in June, 1822: " A neat and convenient Academy, built of brick, with a handsome spire and with a spacious room on the second story, designed for public use, is now nearing completion." There it was. Two school rooms on the ground floor; built by private subscription; location on St. Clair Street; the school rooms to be let to teachers who would make up their salaries from tuition charges. From an avertisement in the Herald it appears the Academy was open to " Ladies as well as Gentlemen," probably in order to eke out an adequate income for the teacher. For reading, writing and spelling the tuition was $1.75 per term; geography and grammer might be added for another dollar. A full course including higher mathematics, Latin and greek was $4.00 per term. In 1824 Harvey Rice, who had graduated from Williams College, became the principal. It was an event of more than ordinary significance. Harvey Rice soon abandoned teaching for law, but he made himself in the following years in Cleveland's history one of its foremost writers and a leader in the cultural life of his times. In the columns of the Herald, Cleve- landers saw the announcements of other opportunities for education on the Western Reserve at the older academies at Burton and Tallmadge and the Female Seminaries at Painsville and Middlefield. At the time Cleveland missed an opportunity that came its way. In 1824, a commission of the Presbyteries of the Western Reserve, trying to found a college for the education of young men for the ministry, put an announcement of their plans in the newspapers of the Reserve. They would require ten acres for a campus and fifty acres as nearby as possible for other purposes. It was in effect and in fact an invitation to some town to become te cultural center of the region. In Cleveland the records show, there was talk of inviting the Erie Literary Society to move in, though at least one opponent said he would rather have yellow fever in the town than the brand of theology taught at Burton. The issue was soon settled, but Cleveland lost out. David Hudson had the vision of a land speculator or a religious leader, perhaps of both, for visions in the human mind often find strange companionship. Those in Cleveland interested in natural history should take note. , the papers announced. The Register of July. 1818. informed its readers that " not a summer has been passed for more than three years, but that one of the most terrific of all sea monsters ever in existence has been seen in different parts of the lake." One sailor was sure its head and tail were out of the water as much as 30 feet. The passengers were terrified; each one was sure he was the object on which the monster was determined to feast. Later the Herald carried an advertisement of a Philosophical Ammusement Exhibition of Chemical Experiments --- Use of Nitrous Oxide --- An Exhilerating Gas to amuse those that Inhale --- 25 cents. And at another time an Exhibition of a Large and Learned Elephant ---18 Years of Age. Likewise an Asiatic Lion -- Majestic, and other Animals. At one time there was a Museum of Wax Figures, a Painting resembling the Great Sea Serpent, etc, As might be expected the papers gave their ailing readers hope with the news of useful remedies that were possible ---- one for whooping cough by rubbing the backbone with garlic. From time to time the lighter side of village life appeared. One announced that he would open a dancing school, Five Dollars per quarter. The Mountaineers --- with songs, duets etc.; doors opened at early candle light. The Christmas sport in 1823 was " to expose to the aim of our sharp shooters a few dozen geese, pigs, dunghill fowls, etc. Pigs at 350 feet, 9 cents a shot, dinner for all and spirits at a low rate." The arrival of local forums about 1820 was a significant sign of changing local life. The subject of debate at the school house one night, " Was Washington or Bonaparte the Greater Military Commander," in 1822 already a dead issue; another night, " Ought Females of Full Age to have equal share with Males in the Government of the Nation." generations ahead of living issues; again " Is Love a Stronger Passion than Hatred." The village seemed to be growing up when the paper published for the Trustees a series of " Do Nots." For example, allowing swine or geese to run at large, race horses or throw dead cats in the streets, exhibit games, puppets or wild animals or hold theatricals for money without a license. A constructive step in village planning was the advertisement for bids on a public well to be dug near Superior and Bank Streets, the center of Town. Cleveland had grown into a new era. And Cleveland Newspapers had a part in it as they expanded and grew. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continued in tid-bits - part 75.