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 296 Today's Topics: #1 Erie Co. History Part 1 [LeaAnn ] #2 Sabrina (Witter) Freeman Obits. - ["John E. Taylor, Jr." Subject: Erie Co. History Part 1 Historical Collections Of Ohio Henry Howe LL.D. Erie County Erie County was formed in 1838 from Huron and Sandusky Counties. The surface to the eye seems nearly level, while in fact it forms a gentle slope from the south line of the county, where it has an elevation of about 150 feet above the lake, to the lake level. It has inexhaustible quarries of limestone and freestone. The soil is very fertile. The principal crops are wheat, corn, oats and potatoes. It is very prominent as a fruit-growing county, productive in apples, peaches and especially so in grapes. Its area is 290 square miles, being one of the smallest in territory in the State. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 78,912; in pasture, 20,638; woodland, 11,825; lying waste, 3,941; produced in wheat, 247,824 bushels; in oats, 294,676; corn, 564,863; potatoes, 301,306; wool, 144,992 pounds; grapes, 1,571,045. School census 1886, 10,929; teachers, 172. It has 90 miles of railroad. Townships and Census 1840 1880 Berlin 1,628 2,042 Florence 1,655 1,330 Groton 854 1,038 Huron 1,488 1,910 Kelley's Island 888 Margaretta 1,104 2,302 Milan 1,531 2,239 Oxford 736 1,231 Perkins 839 1,878 Portland 1,434 15,838 Vermillion 1,334 1,944 The population in 1840 was 12,457; 1860, 24,474; 1880, 32,640, of whom 20,899 were Ohio-born; 1,651 New York; 534 Pennsylvania; 4,882 Germany; 1,196 Ireland; 702 England and Wales; and 287 British America. The name of this county was originally applied to the Erie tribe of Indians. This nation is said to have had their residence at the east end of the lake, near where Buffalo now stands. They are represented to have been the most powerful and warlike of all the Indian tribes, and to have been extirpated by the Five Nations or Iroquois two or three centuries since.* Father Lewis Hennepin, in his work published about 1684, in speaking of certain Catholic Priests, thus alludes to the Eries: "These good fathers were great friends of the Hurons, who told them that the Iroquois went to,war beyond Virginia, or New Sweden, near a lake which they called 'Erige' or 'Erie' which signifies 'the cat' or 'nation of the cat'; and because these savages brought captives from the nation of the cat in returning to their cantons along this lake, the Hurons named it, in their language, 'Erige,' or 'Ericke,' 'the lake of the cat,' and which our Canadians in softening the word, have called 'Lake Erie.' Charlevoix, writing in 1721, says respecting Lake Erie: "The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron (Wyandot) language, which was formerly seated on its banks, and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie, in that language, signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation. This name probably comes from the large number of that animal formerly found in this country." The French established a small trading post at the mouth of Huron River, and another on the shore of the bay on or near the site of Sandusky City, which were abandoned before the war of the Revolution. The small map annexed is copied from part of Evan's map of the Middle British Colonies, published in 1755. The reader will perceive upon the east bank of Sandusky river, near the bay, a French fort, there described as "Fort Junandat, built in 1754." The words Wandots are doubtless meant for Wyandot towns. In 1764, while Pontiac was besieging Detroit, Gen. Bradstreet collected a force of 3,000 men, which embarked at Niagra in boats and proceeded up the lake to the relief of that post. Having burned the Indian corn-fields and villages at Sandusky and along the rich bottoms of the Maumee, and dispersed the Indians whom they there then found, he reached Detroit without opposition.* Having dispersed the Indians besieging Detroit he passed into the Wyandot country by way of Sandusky bay. He ascended the bay and river as far as it was navigable for boats and there made a camp. A treaty of peace and friendship was signed by the chiefs and head men. ** Erie, Huron and a small part of Ottawa county comprise that portion of the Western Reserve known as "the firelands," being a tract of about 500,000 acres, granted by the State of Connecticut to the sufferers by fire from the British in their incursions into that State.*** The history which follows of the fire-lands and the settlement of this county is from the MSS. history of the fire-lands, by C.B. Squier, and written about 1840. "The largest sufferers, and, consequently, those who held the largest interest in the fire-lands, purchased the rights of many who held smaller interests. The proprietors of the fire-lands, anxious that their new territory should be settled, offered strong inducements for persons to settle in this then unknown region. But, aside from the ordinary difficulties attending a new settlement, the Indian title to the western part of the reserve was not then extinguished; but by a treaty held at Fort Industry, on the Maumee, in July, 1805, this object was accomplished, and the east line of the Indian territory was established on the west line of the reserve. The proprietors of the fire-lands were deeply interested in this treaty, upon the result of which depended their ability to possess and settle their lands. Consequently, the Hon. Isaac Mills, secretary of the company, with others interested, left Connecticut to be present at these negotiations. Cleveland was the point first designated for holding the treaty. But, upon their arrival, it was ascertained that the influence of the British agents among the Indians was so great as to occasion them to refuse to treat with the agents of the United States, unless they would come into their own territory, on the Miami of the lakes, as the Maumee was then termed. Having arrived at the Maumee, they found several agents of the British government among the Indians, using every possible effort to prevent any negotiation whatever, and it was fifteen or twenty days before they could bring them to any reasonable terms. Son after the conclusion of the treaty, the settlements commenced upon the fire-lands. It is quite difficult to ascertain who the first settlers were upon the fire-lands. As early, if not prior to the organization of the State, several persons had squatted upon the lands, at the mouth of the streams and near the shore of the lake, led a hunters life and trafficked with the Indians. But they were a race of wanderers and gradually disappeared before the regular progress of the settlements. Those devoted missionaries, the Movarians, made a settlement, which they called New Salem, as early as 1790, on Huron river, about two miles below Milan, on the Hathaway farm. They afterwards settled at Milan. These facts are derived from the beautiful "tradition of the Eries," published in the Buffalo Commercial, in the summer of 1845. That tradition (says the editor) may be implicitly relied upon, every detail having been taken from the lips of Blacksnake and other venerable chiefs of the Senecas and Tonawandas, who still cherish the tradition of their fathers. ** Lanman's Michigan ***Whittlesey's address on Bouquet's expedition. For some facts connected with the history of the fire-lands, see sketch of the western Reserve, to be found elsewhere in this work. ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 07:47:28 -0400 From: "John E. Taylor, Jr." Subject: Sabrina (Witter) Freeman Obits. - b:Cuyahoga Falls, OH, d: Williams Co., OH From The Bryan Democrat March 30, 1909, page 3. OBITUARY - Sabrina Witter Freeman died Saturday night at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Walter Brace. Mrs. Freeman fell Tuesday and broke her hip after which she suffered an attack of pneumonia. She passed the seventy-ninth milestone of her life on the 19th. of this month. She is survived by four sons and two daughters. She had been a widow many years and made her home with Mrs. Brace. Funeral services will be conducted this afternoon from the house conducted by Rev. Bell of the English Lutheran Church, there being no resident christian minister. Interment in Fountain Grove Cemetery. Original partial obituary from unknown newspaper-possibly The Bryan Press Obituary - Mrs. Sabrina Freeman was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio March 19, 1830. She was the daughter of Septimus and Mary Witter and a niece of Reverend Kingsley Witter, who was for 40 years pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Burton, Ohio. She was a great granddaughter of General Brooks of the Revolutionary War. She was married to Daniel D. Freeman at Akron in 1851. She moved to Bryan with her husband in 1856 and has resided here ever since. She was the mother of seven sons and two daughters, four sons and two daughters survive her. Mrs. Freeman has been an invalid and a great sufferer for many years and often expressed the desire to be at rest. She united with the Disciple church some years ago and was a member of that church at the time of her death. The funeral was conducted at the home of Mrs Walter Brace by the Reverend J. C. Shaw who was a former (obit. ends here). Cindy Taylor ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 14:37:20 -0400 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: Ohio Lands [Part 4a] "Ohio Lands - A Short History" Part 4a Michigan Survey.This original land survey is located in Northwest Ohio in Williams, Fulton, and Lucas counties. It is a continuation of the federal rectangular surveys starting from the Michigan Meridian and its base line, which is located north of Detroit. The land was claimed by both the state of Ohio and the territory of Michigan.This dispute nearly caused a war between the two in 1835. Ohio militia actually waited at the disputed state boundary line to invade Michigan. Some skirmishes occurred, and minor injuries inflicted before more peaceful means prevailed. The cause of this controversy had its origin in the Ordinance of 1787, when it was provided that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two states in that part of said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. The Act of April 30, 1802, that enabled Ohio to become a state, defined its north boundary to be an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east until it shall intersect Lake Erie. Ohio was admitted to the Union without Congress clearly defining its northern boundary. Congress tried to clear up the problem in 1817, when William Harris surveyed the boundary as set forth in the Ohio Constitution. Michigan objected to the Harris Line. John A. Fulton ran another survey in 1818 based upon the language in the Northwest Ordinance. Ohio objected to the Fulton Line because it was several miles south of the Harris Line and Ohio would lose the harbor at what is now Toledo. Finally, on June 15, 1836, the controversy ended when the President of the United States approved An Act to establish the northern boundary of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union upon the conditions therein expressed. The boundaries prescribed for Michigan took away all the land south of the Harris Line, 400 square miles. Michigan received 9,000 square miles (which now is its Upper Peninsula) for its loss. Also, it was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837 as part of the compromise. Moravian Indian Grants.The Moravian Indian Grants were the Moravian (United Brethren) Missionaries Indian Villages of Schoenbrun (May, 1772); Gnadenhutten (October, 1772); Salem (1780) and the adjoining lands. These three separate tracts, 4,000 acres each, are located in Tuscarawas County, with the Tuscarawas River flowing through each. The Land Ordinance of May 20, 1785 reserved these tracts for the sole use of the Christian Indians who formerly settled there, or the remains of that society. The Continental Congress reserved these tracts because 100 white men, acting as a corps of volunteer militia, slaughtered 96 innocent Christian Indians, including women and chil dren, at Gnadenhutten on March 8, 1782. These murders were in retaliation for hostile Indians raids on the settlers of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia. The three tracts were donated in trust to the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen (Moravian Brethren) under the Ordinance of September 3, 1788. This was to encourage the Moravian missionaries in the work of civilizing the Indians, and encourage the surviving Christian Indians to return to these villages. A U.S. Patent was issued February 24, 1798, to the United Brethren as trustees for the Indians, based upon the Act of June 1, 1796. By agreements signed between a U.S. Commissioner and the United Brethren (August 4, 1823) and the Christian Indians (November 8, 1823), the trust was revoked and the three tracts transferred to the United States government. The United Brethren Deed of Retrocession was executed April 24, 1824, and accepted by Congress on May 26, 1824. The three tracts were subdivided into farm lots in 1825. These farm lots were later sold at public auction by government appointed agents at the courthouse in New Philadelphia. Unsold farm lots were sold at the Zanesville Land Office. From the sale proceeds, the Christian Indians received a $400 annuity and the United Brethren Society received enough money to pay the debt remaining from its improvement of the tracts. - ----------------------------------- (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 #296 *******************************************