OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 53 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 06 : Issue 53 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Tid-Bits - part 74. ["Maggie Stewart, OH Archives" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <00ad01c664f0$ada072e0$0301a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid-Bits - part 74. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 9:06 AM Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley 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. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:08:55 -0400 From: "Maggie Stewart, OH Archives" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <00b901c664f0$ed6362c0$0301a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid-Bits - part 75 A. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 5:41 PM Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley March 7, 2006 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid-Bits - part 75 A. by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S. Kelly [ ] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits - Part 75 A. The Toledo War. The most bizarre war in American history was the Toledo War fought in 1835. It was lead by Michigan's feisty 22 year old Territorial Governor, Stevens T. Mason and his small 250 person group of volunteers. They had gone to defend their territory from an Ohio take-over. It all started from a Northwest ordinance of 1787, which established an east-west line drawn from the southern tip of Lake Michigan across the base of the peninsula. The orginal line was drawn using maps that showed the line intersecting Lake Erie north of the Maumee River. This was a territorial " line of scrimmage " that Ohioans recognized when their constitution was drafted in 1803. When the Michigan Territory was created in 1805, suveyors realized the tip of Lake Michigan was actually further south and included the area that would later become Toledo. This revelation had the Ohioans in Congress sceaming " Offsides!" They immediately campaigned to have the northern line accepted as the official border. In 1817, U.S. Surveyor General, and the former Ohio Governor, Edward Tiffin, sent William Harris out to survey the line according to Ohio's constitution. The Michigan Territorial Governor, Lewis Cass, went to President James Monroe to protest the call. John A. Fulton was called into the fray to make another survey of the disputed claim in accordance with the Northwest Ordinance. It was not surprising that the two surveys resulted in two lines eight miles apart at the Indiana border, with a total of 488 square miles in between. Although Ohio still claimed the Toledo Strip as its own, the squabbling momentarily ceased and Michigan quietly assumed jurisdiction over the area. In 1832, Michigan Territorial Council petitioned Congress for an enabling act which would permit Michigan to call a constitutional convention. Congress refused the request because of the unresolved boundry dispute between Michigan and Ohio. Congress passed a law providing for a third survey of the Ordinance Line to be completed December 31, 1835. Andrew Talcott, captain of the U.S. Army Engineers was commissioned to undertake the project, and the actual survey was made by Lieutenants Washington Hood and Robert E. Lee. [ It is worth noting that Eastern capitalists had invested heavily in Port Lawrence real estate mistakenly guessing that the area would enjoy commercial success due to the construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal, hoping that it would terminate in Toledo instead of Maumee, thus keeping their holdings in wealthy and established Ohio. Michigan capitalists wanted Port Lawrence in their State. Two sizeable railroad projects were being initiated in Michigan and due to terminate in the Toledo area. ] Events that followed are; 1834-- In May, Congress turned down Michigan's petition for Statehood. June; The Talbot survey was reported to Congress. The Talbot Line practically coincided with the Fulton Line, thereby supporting Michigan's claims to Toledo. Late June; Congress enlarged Michigan's Territory to encompass Wisconsin , Minnesota, Iowa, and the eastern parts of North and South Dakota. July; Stevens Thomson Mason, age 23, became Acting Governor. He called a special session of the Michigan's Legislature to expedite Michigan's admission into the Union. November; Mason stressed the importance of retaining the Toledo Strip. He wanted Congress to create the Wisconsin Territory and return Michigan to its natural boundries. Mason wanted the Michigan legislature to press for Statehood after that. 1835 -- January; Michigan Territorial Legislature called for a constitutional convention on the second Monday in May, 1835, per Mason's request to gain Statehood. February 6; At the request of Gov. Robert Lucas, Ohio lawmakers passed a law extending the jurisdiction of their state over the disputed area. February 12; The Michigan territorial legislature responded. If Ohio would extend its control in the Toledo region, then Michigan would make it a criminal offense to do so. They passed the Plains and Penalties Act which fixed a fine up to a $1,000 and/or up to five years imprisonment at hard labor. Mason appointed Brigadier-General Joseph Brown of the Third U.S. Brigade to be ready to strike against any Ohio trespasser. March; Ohio passed a resolution confirming its belief in the Harris Line which had given Ohio the Toledo area. The Ohio legislature provided for a rerunning of the line to settle the controversy once and for all. Three commissioners, Uri Seely, Jonathon Taylor, and John Patterson, were to begin this project by April 1. Lucas called out the Ohio miltia to be on hand, if need be, when the three commisioners arrived at Perrysburg on April 1,-- April fools day. Mason was worried. John Thomson Mason, Governor Mason's father and former secretary of Michigan Territory, advised his son to be slow to act and let Ohio be the aggressor. Mason took his advice and wrote General Brown to hold off on any display of force, In reference to Lucas, his three Ohio commissioners and their guard. Mason wrote, " Let him get on our soil, arrest him, strike the blood at once, disgrace him and his state, and end the controversy." However, at the same time Mason wrote the General, he also ordered three additional units of the Michigan Militia into readiness. Lucas was an enemy and President Andrew Jackson showed no sign he had any intention of interfering. Mason received a letter from the U.S. Secretary of State, John Forsyth stating that Congress might use its prerogatives over a territory to force a compromise with Ohio, if Michigan refused to bend on the Plains and Penalties Act. This so distressed Mason that he asked Jackson to remove him as Governor if neither the President nor his adminstration coul support him in the boundary controversy. Mason thought Michigan was protecting itself against a law of Ohio empowering Ohio commisioneers, under the protection of the Ohio Governor, to rerun an Ohio boundary in Michigan Territory. If Michigan could not act, who could ? Governor Lucas has every intention of proceeding with the rerunning of the Harris Line, but he is anxious that it be done peacefully. He encouraged President Jackson to appoint a commission to arbitrate the dispute. March 23; Mason dispatched Senator John Norvell to talk with the President. Mason was also upset by some inhabitants in the disputed area who wanted to belong to Ohio because of interest in the Toledo canal. Norvell would press for presidential action. March 24; President Jackson appointed Benjamin C. Howard of Baltimore, and Richard Rush of Philadelphia to serve on a commission to arbitrate the disbute. March 31; Lucas and the Ohio line-runners set out for Perrysburg. April 1; Michigan held elections for township officials in the disputed area. April 2; Lucas and the Ohio line-runners arrive in Perrysburg. April 3; Rush and Howard ( President Jackson's commissioners ) reached Toledo. Both Ohio and Michigan had already created a situation for war. April 4; Michigan residents proceeded to the polls to elect delegates for the constitutional convention in May. April 5; Writing from Monroe, Howard indicated that all signs pointed to Governor Lucas' determination to carry out his designs. " He is very firm in his character." he noted. " And though doing what nine tenths of the nation will hereafter pronounce wrong, yet will listen to no argument upon the point, because he says that his State has decidied upon it and it is his duty to exercise her laws." April 6; Ohio held elections in the disputed area. April 8; The Monroe County sheriff and posse moved into Toledo and began arresting violators of the Pians and Penalties Act. The most publicized incident took place in the night. The Monroe contingent, numbering some thirty five to forty persons, entered into Major Benjamin F. Stickney's house and drove his two guests, George McKay and N. Goodsell, out of their beds, having first attempted to gouge out McKay's eyes and having throttled Stickney's daughter for sounding the alarm. They then carried the two to Monroe: had a mock trial; and released them on bail two days later. The alleged crime being interferance with the arrest of Toledoans loyal to Ohio. One witness wrote " We were driven from out homes for acting under the authority of Ohio; our houses broken open in the dead of night; citizens taken prisoners; bound hand and foot, and tied to fiery horses, gagged that they may not alarm the rest of the citizens; the females too in the same house are treated with violence being held and prevented from going to alarm the neighbors; and all this for saying to an individual, he need not obey the laws of Michigan. After the assault of April 8. two or three hundred Michigan horseman, armed with guns and bayonets, moved into the city and dishonored the Ohio flag by dragging it through the streets of Toledo on the tail of a horse. Benjamin F. Stickney wrote, soon after the outrage; " There cannot be a doubt that the generous Ohioans will turn out en masse to protect their northern border and restrain the savage barbarity of the hordes of the north." [ Note; Major Stickney was regarded as an ardent Ohio Patriot by the people of Ohio and as an overly verbose hypocrite by the people of Michigan. ] The outbreak of hostilities forced the Ohio officeholders elected on the sixth to make a fast retreat; likewise the Ohio line-makers, who were unarmed and unprotected. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to be continued in Part 75 B. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V06 Issue #53 ******************************************