OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 292 Today's Topics: #1 Ohio Lands History [Part 2a] [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] #2 Ohio Lands History [Part 2b] [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] #3 Ohio Lands History [Part 1b] [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 17:59:36 -0400 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: Ohio Lands History [Part 2a] "Ohio Lands - A Short History" Part 2a Congressional Control of the Western Territory The Continental Congress' title to the lands north of the Ohio River was derived from the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, and the cessions of four states. In 1784, the first Congressional Committee was appointed to prepare a plan for the disposal of these western lands. Thomas Jefferson was its chairman. The committee, and later the Continental Congress, was faced with the following problems: Revolutionary War Veterans demanding the land bounties promised them; squatters crossing the Ohio River and staking claims; the need for revenue to pay the national debt (Congress did not have the power to tax at the time); and what procedures to adopt for the survey and sale of the western lands. The Land Ordinance of May 20, 1785 resolved these issues. Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance, enacted July 13, 1787, established not only the manner in which the Northwest Territory was to be governed, but the procedures under which new territory could obtain full statehood. It also was the first general legislation by the Continental Congress on the subject of real property. The ordinance further provided for civil and religious freedom, the use of writs of habeas corpus; trial by jury; bail, except for capital offenses; no cruel or unusual punish-ments; the encouragement of schools and education; and forbade slavery or involuntary servitude forever within the territory. The rules and guarantees stated in the Northwest Ordinance have provided the legal framework by which most new states entered the Union since its enactment. This historic document, which predates the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, is reproduced in the appendix to this booklet. Statehood and the State Capitals On March 1, 1803, Ohio became the 17th state to enter the Union. Its entry was based upon the Northwest Ordinance, the Enabling Act of April 30, 1802, and the Ohio Constitution, adopted November 29, 1802. Formal Congressional admittance of Ohio into the Union was by a Joint Resolution of Congress (H.J. Res. 121), on August 7, 1953, to take effect March 1, 1803 (Public Law 204, Chapter 337). This 150-year lapse in formal admittance did not affect Ohio's legal status as a state. Edward Tiffin was elected the first Governor of Ohio on January 11, 1803, and took the oath of office March 3, 1803. The first legislature met on March 1, 1803. The state capital was at Chillicothe, 1803-1810; Zanesville, 1810-1812; Chillicothe, 1812 to October 1816, when the state offices moved to Columbus. Columbus was a wilderness when it was designated the permanent State Capital on February 14, 1812. The General Assembly named the new capital Columbus on February 21, 1812. The original deed to the 10-acre capitol grounds is kept in the State of Ohio Archives in the Ohio Historical Center, Columbus,Ohio 43211-2497. - ----------------------------------- (c) 1994 by the Ohio Auditor of State All Rights Reserved. FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Researched and written by Thomas Aquinas Burke Internet Address F491.3 B86 1994 977.1 Eighth Edition - September 1996 "Ohio Lands - A Short History" ReTyped & Graphics Rescanned December 1997 by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Email at http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 This booklet is available on the Auditor of State home page under Publications at: http://www.auditor.ohio.gov/auditor/ - ----------------------------------- ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 18:05:32 -0400 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: Ohio Lands History [Part 2b] "Ohio Lands - A Short History" Part 2b Federal Rectangular Survey System The Land Ordinance of May 20, 1785, became the foundation of the American Land System which lead to the orderly surveying, sale and settlement of public lands in the United States. The ordinance established the rectangular survey as the primary means to originally subdivide public lands. It provided that the western territory be divided into surveying townships of six-mile-square containing 36 sections, each one-mile-square (640 acres). Sections were numbered one to 36, commencing with number one in the southeast corner of the township, and running from south to north in each tier to number 36 in the northwest corner of the township. Townships were numbered from a base south to north in rows called ranges. Ranges were numbered east to west. This ordinance also set aside lands for Continental Army Land bounties (although this was changed in June, 1796); established the minimum price per acre; minimum land quantity which could be bought; reserved Section 16 out of every township for the maintenance of schools; and reserved Sections 8, 11, 26 and 29 for future sale or disposition by Congress. It further established that legal sale and settlement of the public lands could not occur until the land had been surveyed, and the survey accepted by the federal government. The first public lands to be surveyed in the United States were the "Seven Ranges" located in Eastern Ohio. It also was the only land surveyed by government surveyors under the Continental Congress. On September 30, 1785, Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States, began to survey the geographer's line. The "Point of Beginning" was the intersection of the Pennsylvania stateline and the Ohio River. The line eventually ran 42 miles, "Seven Ranges," due west from that point which is now in East Liverpool. Townships in the "Seven Ranges" are numbered from the Ohio River. Sections are numbered as prescribed in the Land Ordinance of May 20, 1785. The only other surveys in the United States which used this same section arrangement are the: Between the Miami Rivers (M.Rs.) Survey and Symmes (Miami) Purchase Survey. By an Act of Congress, passed May 18, 1796, the numbering of sections within a six-mile-square township was changed. The act provided that "the sections shall be numbered, respectively, beginning with the number one in the northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately through the township, with progressive numbers, till the thirty-sixth be completed" in the southeast corner of the township. This became the standard section numbering found in all original Federal Surveys in the United States thereafter. The numbering of townships from the Ohio River, and the numbering of sections according to the Act of May 18, 1796, can be found in the following surveys: East of the Scioto River and West of the Ohio Company Purchase; North of the Seven Ranges between the United States Military District and Connecticut Western Reserve; East of the 1st Meridian-West of the Great Miami River and East of the 1st Principal Meridian. The problem of keeping townships six-mile-square, when the earth is curved, was solved in 1804 by Jared Mansfield, Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory. Mansfield established an arbitrary meridian and an intersecting east-west base line to survey the 2nd Principal Meridian in southern Indiana. Ranges of townships were progressively numbered eastward and westward from the meridian, while townships within each range were numbered northward and southward from the base line. This use of a principal meridian, and a base line, can be found in Northwest Ohio where the Ohio- Indiana line constitutes the 1st Principal Meridian and the parallel of the 41st degree latitude is the base line. There are 34 meridians in the United States, some designated by number, but most by names. Range, Township, Section, Part of Section, and the original land survey name have become the basic legal property description for most of the land originally surveyed by the United States government in the 29 public land states. The original subdivision of the United States Military District will be discussed later. The original field notes and plats of the United States government land surveys in Ohio have been deposited by the Auditor of State into the State of Ohio Archives at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus. - ----------------------------------- (c) 1994 by the Ohio Auditor of State All Rights Reserved. FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Researched and written by Thomas Aquinas Burke Internet Address F491.3 B86 1994 977.1 Eighth Edition - September 1996 "Ohio Lands - A Short History" ReTyped & Graphics Rescanned December 1997 by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Email at http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 This booklet is available on the Auditor of State home page under Publications at: http://www.auditor.ohio.gov/auditor/ - ----------------------------------- ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 17:45:51 -0400 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: Ohio Lands History [Part 1b] "Ohio Lands - A Short History" Part 1b By Acts of Congress dated May 30, 1830, and August 31, 1852, Virginia Military Warrants could be exchanged for land scrip. Land scrip could be used to acquire any U.S. public lands open for entry at private sale. The federal government issued land scrip for 1,041,976 acres in exchange for Virginia Military Warrants. Virginia relinquished and ceded to the federal government its claim to any unlocated land in the VMD on December 9, 1852. In 1871, Congress ceded this land to the state. Ohio set this land aside in 1872 as an endowment for The Ohio State University. At the time, 76,735 acres were believed available for sale by the university. The Ohio State University sold or quit-claimed these lands to individuals until the 1940's. Copies of the deeds are in the OSU Archives, Columbus, Ohio, 43210. The State of Ohio Archives has original VMD Entry and Survey records, a card index of entrymen, W.P.A. Plats of 16 of the 23 counties involved, and a list of the entries which were withdrawn. Inquires can be researched by surname, warrant number or survey Number (See Appendix). Additional VMD records can be found at the University of Illinois library at Urbana, Ill. 61801, and the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland. Soldiers applications are filed at the Virginia State Library, Richmond. Connecticut Western Reserve. The Connecticut Western Reserve Lands (Western Reserve, the Reserve, New Connecticut) are found in 14 northeastern Ohio counties. The Western Reserve started at the Pennsylvania-Ohio line and extended 120 miles westward to the present Seneca and Sandusky County lines. It is bordered on the north by Lake Erie, and on the south by the parallel of the 41st degree North Latitude. Connecticut claimed this land under an English Charter issued in 1662 by King Charles II. Reserved by Connecticut in its September 13, 1786 Deed of Cession, the Western Reserve contains approximately 3,366,921 acres (5260 + square miles) including the Fire Lands. Connecticut released its jurisdictional claim to this land by a Deed of Cession to the United States of America on May 30, 1800. The Western Reserve, with the exception of the Fire Lands, was sold by the state of Connecticut for $1,200,000 to the Connecticut Land Company by 35 quitclaim deeds dated September 2, 1795. The Connecticut Land Company consisted of 48 persons who, individually or in groups, pledged money to acquire the land. Each individual or group being the grantee (buyer) of as many as 1,200 thousandths, in common and undivided, of that part of the Connecticut Western Reserve as each had subscribed dollars to the purchase price. For example, the quitclaim deed to Moses Cleaveland was for 32,600 twelve hundred thousandths. Starting in 1798, the Connecticut Land Company divided the land into shares called "drafts" which were drawn for by its members at the company's office in Hartford. The value of the shares varied depending upon the year of the drawing. For example, in 1807, 46 shares (drafts) of land west of the Cuyahoga River were drawn. The value of each share was $26,087. On March 2, 1801, President John Adams issued a U.S. patent for the Connecticut Western Reserve lands. This U.S. patent was conveyed to Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of the State of Connecticut, and his successors, as well as for the use of the persons holding and claiming the Western Reserve Lands through deeds given by the state. Indian title to the Western Reserve lands lying east of the Cuyahoga River, was extinguished by the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785, and confirmed by the Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795. The lands West of the Cuyahoga River were given up by the Treaty of Fort Industry, July 4, 1805. In 1796, the Connecticut Land Company decided to subdivide their purchase into five-mile-square surveying townships. Surveying townships bordering Lake Erie do not contain the full 16,000 acres because of the irregular coastline. The interior subdivisions of the surveying townships were irregularly subdivided by the purchaser into tracts and lots of various sizes and land quantity. For example, the civil township of Brooklyn, in Cuyahoga County, contains 90 lots, while Madison Township, Geauga County, contains tracts subdivided into lots of various shapes and sizes. The State of Ohio Archives does not have original records relating to the Connecticut Western Reserve lands. However, researchers can contact the Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Street, Hartford, Conn. 06115. The library has records relating to the Connecticut Land Company, Western Reserve Deeds, 1800-1807; Registrar of Certificates, Mortgages 1796-1800; Register of Deed Transfer, 1795-1807; Proceedings and Votes and Stock Ledgers. The Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, Conn. 06759, has the original Connecticut Land Company proceedings. The Trumbull County Recorder, Warren, Ohio 44481, has deeds recorded in "Western Reserve Draft Book," pages five to 73, inclusive. Other sources of information include county records and the extensive collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio 44106. Fire Lands or Sufferers Lands. In September, 1781, the British and Tories invaded Connecticut. They destroyed by fire the towns of New London, Greenville, Fairfield, Danbury, Ridgefield, Norwalk, New and East Haven, and Groton. Benedict Arnold, then a British General, personally oversaw the destruction of New London. More than 1,800 supporters of the American Revolution suffered because of the destruction of the nine towns. On May 10, 1792, the Connecticut Legislature set aside 500,000 acres at the west end of the Reserve to compensate these persons. The Sufferers, as they became known, their heirs or legal representatives formed an Ohio Corporation on April 15, 1803, to manage their Ohio lands. By November 1808, their Board of Directors devised a plan to partition the "sufferers lands" among the sufferers or their assignees. They divided their land into five-mile- square surveying townships, and further subdivided the surveying townships into four-quarter townships, containing 4,000 acres each. The whole amount of the sufferers loss was, therefore, divided into 120 equal parts, for which they held a drawing which determined the location of the land the individual sufferers would receive. The Fire Lands are located in Erie and Huron counties, Ruggles Township, Ashland County, and Danbury Township, Ottawa County. - ----------------------------------- (c) 1994 by the Ohio Auditor of State All Rights Reserved. FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Researched and written by Thomas Aquinas Burke Internet Address F491.3 B86 1994 977.1 Eighth Edition - September 1996 "Ohio Lands - A Short History" ReTyped & Graphics Rescanned December 1997 by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Email at http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 This booklet is available on the Auditor of State home page under Publications at: http://www.auditor.ohio.gov/auditor/ - ----------------------------------- -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #292 *******************************************