The Ohio Company; William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 4 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** The Ohio Company Kate Mason Rowland William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers. Vol. 1, No. 4 (Apr., 1893), pp. 197-203. THE OHIO COMPANY. BY KATE MASON ROWLAND. The Ohio Company presented a petition in 1748, to George II: "John Hanbury of London in behalf of himself and Thomas Lee, etc., Thomas Nelson, etc., [titles and offices given in each case] Col. Cresap. Col. William Thornton, William Nimmo, Daniel Cresap, John Carlyle, Lawrence Washington, Augustine Washington, George Fairfax, Jacob Giles, Nathaniel Chapman and Joseph Woodrup, for settling the countries on the Ohio and extending the British trade beyond the mountains on the western confines of Virginia." A royal instruction was given the Governor of Virginia to grant the petitioners half a million of acres within the bounds of the colony, two hundred thousand of which to be located at once. This portion was to be held ten years free of quit- rent provided the Company put there one hundred families within seven years, and built a fort to protect them. They agreed to do this, and sent to London for a cargo suited to the Indian trade which was to arrive in November, 1749. Other members of the Company, who entered it later than the date of the petition were Governor Dinwiddie, George Washington, George Mason, John Mercer of "Marlboro" and his three sons, George, James, and John Francis Mercer, Richard Lee of "Lee Hall", Thomas Ludwell Lee, Philip Ludwell Lee, Robert Carter of "Nomini", Col. John Tayloe of "Mount Airy", Gawin Corbin, the Rev. James Scott and Lomax. Page 198. In the Maryland Gazette, May 19, 1763, notice is given of a meeting of the Company to take place at Stafford Court House on Potomac Creek, the first Monday in July next; signed George Mercer. He was afterward sent to England as agent of the Ohio Company, and most of the papers relating to its affairs were to be found in the Mercer family. George Mason was also prominent in the Company, receiving supplies for the settlers and forwarding them, attending to the surveying of the land, under the Virginia government, and calling meetings of the members for business purposes. He labored also in the Assembly to secure the rights of the Company after the Revolution. In Sparks' Washington, Vol. II., Appendix VI., is an account of the Ohio Company, taken from the papers of Charles Fenton Mercer, a son of James Mercer. Mr. John Dick of Fredericksburg married a Miss Roy, sister of Ann Roy, second wife of John Mercer of "Marlboro." They had two daughters, one of whom married her cousin, James Mercer, and the other married Sir John Peyton, who is mentioned by Burke as having settled and married in Virginia. Captain Charles Dick had charge of the manufactory of arms established at Fredericksburg in July, 1775. Charles Fenton Mercer was a member of Congress from Virginia, for many years. He was much interested in the American Colonization Society, and his portrait was painted for and presented to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society in 1841. He made his home during the latter part of his life with the family of his niece, who had married the Rev. John Page McGuire, and at "Howard" (the Episcopal High School near Alexandria of which the Rev. Mr. McGuire was the principal). Mr. Mercer died May 4th, 1858, at the age of eighty. He had in his possession at this time, and left them with the family at "Howard," one or two trunks full of papers inherited from his father, many of them being of public interest as relating to the Ohio Company, and others of more or less value as Colonial and Revolutionary documents and correspondence. On the outbreak of the War between the States, in 1861, Mr. McGuire and his family left their home, when Alexandria was occupied by Federal troops, and took refuge in the Confederate lines. United States soldiers were soon stationed near the Theological Seminary and High School, and "Howard" was converted into a temporary hospital. The trunks of old papers which Mr. McGuire had been forced to leave in the house (with much else Page 199. of value) were soon broken open, and their contents in part thrown upon the camp fires. Fortunately this destruction was arrested by one or two of these men who, knowing the pecuniary value of the yellow manuscripts to the autograph collector and historian, secured the remaining portion. A shoe-box full of them was carried away by a Federal soldier and sold to a dealer in such wares, living in the Mohawk Valley, New York, who paid fifty dollars for the lot, and, through him, doubtless, they have found their way since into the collections of autograph seekers througout the country. The late Mr. Morven Jones of Utica, New York, a member of the Historical Society of that place, rescued a number of the Mercer papers and took them home with him. According to his own account he advertised in a Philadelphia paper for members of the Mercer family, but receiving no reply, he sold most of the manuscripts in his possession to a gentleman in Pennsylvania, who proposed to write the history of the Ohio Company, and with the money received for them, took a trip to Europe! Making the acquaintance by letter, some years later, of one of the Mercer family, Mr. Jones presented this gentleman with two or three specimens of the papers of his ancestors. The persons to whom these manuscripts originally belonged, their rightful owners, the family of the late Rev. John Page McGuire, have never recovered one of them, and it is only within recent years that they knew anything of their fate. Mr. Morven Jones gave the following list of the papers sold by him, and others which he had seen in the Mohawk Valley in 1880. Of the latter he only examined one bundle. There were a great many more of which no list was taken. Mercer Papers. A bundle of letters and papers in the hand-writing of John, George and James Mercer -- Journals, Records of the meetings of the Ohio Company. George Mercer's letters from England (one of these made fifty foolscap pages when copied.) Extensive journals of Christopher Gist. Charles Dick's pocket-book diary from 1778, June 5th to 1780, April 25th. Letter - H. Dawson to James Mercer, 1773. " Wm. Maitland to James Mercer, 1774. " Gabriel Jones to Js. Mercer, Aug. 19, 1776. " Henry Bradford " " " 1780. Page 200. " John Willis to " " 1781. " Robert Jones to Charles Dick, 1783. " John Hough to James Mercer, 1790. Hon. Ralph Wormeley in account with George Mercer, 1766 - 1774, with memorandum written and signed by each. A bill in equity addressed to Governor Dinwiddie - six pages folio - Grant vs. Steptoe et ux probably in the handwriting of John Mercer. Release dated Nov. 5, 1759, from George Mercer and James Mercer to John Tayloe and Presley Thornton, reciting a conveyance by John Mercer and Ann his wife to said George and James, dated 1759, of large tracts of land in various counties of Virginia and fifty shares, etc. Letter from John Mercer to "Dear Jemmy" (James Mercer) July 17, 1768, three full, fine pages. Letter from Joseph Wharton to Hon. James Mercer, dated Philadelphia, October 19, 1779, relating to an application to General Washington in behalf of George Mercer, that the latter might return to America and enjoy his estate, etc. (Very interesting letter). Letter from John Mercer to James Mercer, August, 1762. Statement of account between John Mercer and Carlyle and Dalton, March 1st, 1763. Letter from Richard Parker to James Mercer, Oct. 2nd, 1774. Certified copy of lease, dated 1767, from Lord Fairfax to Benjamin Rutherford, 529 acres in Hampshire County, Va. These are all the papers belonging to the eighteenth century. There were others of a later date not set down here. The following letter from George Mercer to the Ohio Company was one of those given by Mr. Morven Jones to Mr. William R. Mercer. Extracts from it are published in the biography of George Mason. Loudon, November 21st, 1767. Gentlemen: The circumstance of establishing new governments in America, which I mentioned in my last letter, is now no longer a secret. Thursday last and the two preceding days, the Board of Trade were entirely employed in examinations on that subject. Among others I was called upon and inter- rogated very particu- Page 201. larly, as to the practicability, necessity, use, advantage to Great Britain, expense, etc., etc., etc., of such establishments. I found my answers to these questions were very agreeable to the new adventurers, and I hope to their lordships. I took an opportunity in the course of my examination, to mention the disappointments of the Ohio Company, to show the use and necessity of their scheme of settlement, and made the petitioners for the new governments acknowledge, they were convinced it was the best, if not the only, communcation they could have for transporting any goods from Great Britain to the countries they proposed to settle. An officer, who was in the Illinois country twelve months and who went up the Mississippi with the troops, declared that, under the most favorable circumstances, he believed it impossible to go from Orleans to Fort Chartres, where he was and where the settlement is proposed, up the Mississippi, under three months; that he had been himself four in accomplishing it, and had at times, more than half the soliders complaining, and really worn out with fatigue. He told thier lordships at the same time, that expresses, etc., had arrived there twice or thrice in eight and ten days from Fort Pitt. This declaration was much in favor of the Company, as I understand the Illinois will be settled and formed as spearate governments at all events, as they find it the only method to procure the Indian trade on that quarter. I took the liberty to remark to their lordships, that from the first report of settlements being intended on that quarter, and from the begin- ning of my application, I had not only as my private conversation and opinion, but in every memorial I had the honor to present, pointed out that communication as absolutely necessary to be used, being the most practicable and cheapest, and that it must be the door to all the new acquired countries of Indians and those in amity formerly with us, and at the same time I thought it hard treatment to the Ohio Company, that a set of gentlemen just informed of the fertility of that world, should be allowed to settle it, and have all the advantages which the first execution of a settlement there must at first enjoy over a later one, while the Ohio Company were restrained from what they esteemed a right, and for which they had paid very heavily, while these adventurers acknowledge themselves, not only indebted to the discoveries made at the expense of the Company for part of their information, but for the passage they had, at a great expense too, opened Page 202. for them through the mountains, as they should always use the Company's road to convey everything and their settlers to their government. Indeed, I complained as much as I thought I dared to do, of the delays the Company had met with, and especially in the last reference of their claim to the Governor of Virginia. I told them I was prepared with every proof he can possibly send a copy of, and could tell them more of my own knowledge than the Governor could write them, but, even without considering our former claim, I could hope we might be put on a footing with other new petitioners, and, as they acknowledged they must use the communication the Company had made for them, I should scarce imagine they would injure the Company's interest so far as not to allow them to begin their settlements at the same time with the new Adventurers. I was told the Company's affairs were discharged from their consideration, and that they could not resume any care or debate upon them without orders from the King. I immediately determined to put in a memorial to the King setting forth the facts I have here stated, and have accordingly prepared one which I shall present on Thursday next when I am told there will be a Council, and I have not the least doubt in my mind but it will be immediately referred to the Lords of Trade, and I think it is as clear to me the Company's claim will be allowed without waiting for the Governor's report, though I would not permit my- self to think the Company will be less assiduous in endeavoring to procure that as soon as possible, for it is mere opinion I speak upon, and no one's judgment is infallible. The Governor's report I am sure cannot hurt, if the business should be done before it arrives, but if they determine to wait for it, I believe you will agree no time should be lost in sending it over. I am willing to save all I can for the Company, and have really been so hurried about their business lately that I have not had time to copy my memorial to send you. A question has been put to me, which, as [I] was neither authorized or prepared to answer fully, I did evasively. I was asked if the Company would establish a government on the Ohio at their own expense. I replied that they only asked what they had a very long claim to, which I hoped they would obtain, and, afterwards I believed I might venture to say on proper encouragement, the Company would do everything in their power for the public good, and certainly were as capable of an extensive undertaking as any of the new petitioners. Page 203. I am told, I think from authority, that the government will give up the expense and management of the Indians and the trade to several Provinces. I was examined on this subject by the Lords of Trade, and could scarcely believe the information I had there of the annual expense; indeed I should not have credited it had been less authenticated, for the annual expense I am told, is near if not about L100,000 to the crown. God knows whether the poor savages get it. I shall write you again so soon as I know the success of my memorial. Permit me to assure you I am with great regard and esteem, Gentlemen, Your obliged and obedient humble servant, Geo MERCER.