History of Franklin County CHAPTER I. THE GENESIS OF THE COUNTY. THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY SPANISH CLAIMS-THE FRENCH DOMINION- ENGLISH COLONIZATION-OHIO UNDER VIRGINIA-ORANGE AND AUGUSTA COUNTIES-THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-FOUNDING OF MARIETTA AND ACTS OF GOVERNOR ARTHUR ST. CLAIR-STATEHOOD AND ERECTION OF COUNTIES-LOCATION, BOUNDARIES AND ELEVATIONS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY. Twenty-four states of the Union have counties named for Benjamin Franklin, of which Franklin County, Ohio, is the largest in population and in wealth. But one other contains a state capital city. Benjamin Franklin was great even among the coterie of distinguished men who laid the foundations of our Republic, but for variety of genius, for diversity of accomplishment, and for the attainment of the wisdom that includes all else he stood alone then and has had but few peers in the history of the ages. How well the people of this county have helped to keep burnished the lustre of that name, it is the purpose of these pages to record. When Christopher Columbus departed from Palos on his first voyage in search of a new route to the Orient he was clothed with full authority to take possession of all newly discovered lands in the name of his royal patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella, for the benefit of the crown of Spain. Upon landing on the Island San Salvador, October 12, 1492, his first official act was to exercise this authority ; and on - 65 - 66 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY each of his three other voyages he religiously planted the banner of Castile and Arragon and extended the empire of his adopted country over a portion of the new found world. Sovereignty by right of discovery was then as well established as any other principle of international law and stands unimpaired today except for the rust of disuse slowly gathering because there are no further uncharted lands worth discovering. This claim of title by discovery was quickly followed by extensive explorations, thus strengthening the mere shadow of ownership by actual possession and more or less permanent settlements. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, discovered the Pacific Ocean, and opened the way for the conquest of Peru. Cortez invaded and conquered Mexico. Ponce de Leon, in 1513, landed on the mainland of Florida and explored the coast line for a considerable distance both east and west. De Soto landed at Tampa Bay in 1539, and for three years explored and took possession of a vast territory extending northward to the foot-hills of the Alleghenies and west beyond the Mississippi River. The Spanish claim to North America suffered no check until 1588 when Philip II, allowing ambition to overbalance prudence, launched the Great Armada at the shores of England and fell victim to one of the greatest disasters of all history. The results were of the most far-reaching importance. Spain's ability to reap the fruits of her discoveries in the western world were sadly impaired, while the naval supremacy of England was correspondingly strengthened and the spirit of adventure on the high- seas and into the great unknown was fanned into a yet-unquenched flame. Within a few years the English had established claims to most of the Atlantic coast from Florida to the forty-eighth parallel north and rapidly consolidated these claims by military and civil occupation. The English occupation, however, did not actually extend any considerable distance inland until a much later date. In 1534 Jacques Cartier, under the patronage of Francis I of France, made a voyage up the St. Lawrence River, took possession of everything within claiming distance in the name of France and, from time to time, other French voyageurs extended the discoveries and influence of their royal masters. However, the real French occupation of North American territory began with Champlain in 1603, when he made important excursions, followed in 1608 by the found- HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 67 ing of Quebec, from which point his associates and successors pushed out across the Great Lakes district, establishing posts and forts, at least one of which was within the present boundary of the State of Ohio, and taking actual possession of lands on both sides of the Ohio River. Thus was the shadowy title of Spain to the Ohio country dissipated and succeeded by the more substantial and better supported title of France which did not lapse until the conclusion of the French and Indian War, when, by the treaty of Paris, 1763, all the former French possessions on the continent east of the Mississippi, were ceded to England and those west of the Mississippi were recognized as yet belonging to Spain. So that, since the discovery of America, this part of the world has been under Spanish rule by right of discovery, under French dominion by right of exploration and military occupation, and under English sovereignty by conquest and colonization, before attaining to its present proud position of independence and self-government under a constitution and flag of its own. The first English contact with what is now our own country was through John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497 and 1498 ; but an entire century passed before British attention was seriously turned to the permanent occupation of any portion of the western hemisphere. While the Spanish adventurers sought for gold and precious stones through robbery of the natives and the French sought furs and established mere trading posts for the exploitation of the Indians, the English devoted their energies and abilities to the founding of colonies of their own people, to the cultivation of the land and to the raising of suitable products of commerce exchangeable for the over-productions of home industries without the necessity of exporting gold in payment. To this far-sighted commercial enterprise is to be attributed the success of England's colonial policy in America and final defeat of her European rivals. Two great trading companies were chartered in 1606 whose purpose was "to make Habitation, Plantation, and to deduce a colony of sundry of our people into that part of America called Virginia, and other parts and territories in America." Under its charter the London Company, in 1607, settled a colony at Jamestown, Virginia, and while its fortunes at one time fell to a low ebb, it was saved by timely help from home and stands today a monument to Anglo-Saxon courage and tenacity. The ter- 68 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY ritory assigned to the London Company extended from the thirty-fourth to the forty-first parallel of latitude north and west and northwest from the Atlantic seaboard to the "setting sun" or Cathay, whichever might be encountered first. As a matter of fact, the first recognized western boundary was the Mississippi River as indicated above. And, although Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York later made claims to the northern portions of what is now Ohio, the central and southern portions of the state were part of the colony of Virginia until the erection of the Northwest Territory after the independence gained by the Revolutionary War and the United States of America was well on its way as a separate political power. The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia constituted the western boundary line of English civilization until 1716, when Governor Alexander Spottswood, with a small company, crossed this natural barrier and opened a great new territory to the hardy pioneers ever in search of newer, cheaper and more productive land. From time to time new counties were established to provide government of some sort for the tide of emigration ever pressing westward, and in 1735 Orange County began its existence, its western boundary reaching to the utmost limits of Virginia ; and in 1738 Augusta County was created embracing "all that territory and tract of land at present deemed to be a part of the county of Orange, lying on the northwest side of the top of the said Blue Ridge mountains, extending from thence northerly, westerly and southerly beyond the said mountains to the utmost limits of Virginia." The territory thus included within the limits of Augusta County today comprises five states and over forty counties of West Virginia. The influence of old Augusta County persists today in this section through thousands of our citizens whose pioneer ancestors owed grateful allegiance to its sway. The colonial side of the Revolutionary War was conducted by a Congress existing by authority of the Articles of Confederation adopted in 1777. The government thus provided was weak in the extreme, but it afforded a center of contact for the member states and, by substituting diplomacy for power, somehow answered the purpose until the Federal Government, under the provisions of the Constitution was formed in 1789. Immediately following the conclusion of the war in 1781, there was a demand for land in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. The pioneer spirit had been HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 69 increased rather than diminished by the exciting years of conflict. There were always those who felt constrained if neighbors encroached within several miles and there were those who believed that a greater success could be attained on the plains and in the valleys lying beyond the Allegheny Mountains. Virginia and other states planned to pay their soldiers with land grants in the west. This pressure for western lands was particularly strong in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Therefore The Ohio Company of Associates was organized in Boston in 1786 in the interest of Revolutionary War soldiers who desired to move west. General Rufus Putnam, Samuel Parsons and Manassah Cutler were the moving spirits, and their activities were largely responsible for the preparation and adoption of the celebrated Ordinance of 1787, which provided for the formation of and practical government for the Northwest Territory, the first organized political addition to the thirteen original states. This Ohio company proposed to purchase a million acres of land in the southern part of what is now Ohio and about half that amount was finally bought and paid for at the rate of sixty-six and two-thirds cents per acre. Being residents of New England, and consequently good business men, they wished to acquire valid title and this could be procured only from the general government and under due process of law. Other large purchases were being proposed, some of them eventually consummated, and the National Treasury was promised replenishment at a time when funds were sadly needed by the young republic. So that, while- the Ordinance of 1787 is entitled to all the approbation it has received as being the model for all legislation forming subsequent territories and second only to the Constitution itself in importance and effects, it is also to be ranked as an early manifestation of the "big business" spirit, the aggregation of large capital by companies for the purpose of doing the things that were too great for individual enterprise. Following the consummation of the Ohio Company's deal, two parties of pioneers of intrepid spirit and unsurpassed stock, one from Massachusetts and the other from Connecticut, left their homes in November, 1787, and January, 1788, respectively, and met at a point on the Youghiogheny River where they remained until the spring of 1788 building the necessary boats to convey themselves and their impedimenta on the voyage down the Monongehela and the Ohio to 70 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY the mouth of the Muskingum River, where they landed on the 7th of April, 1788, and founded the city of Marietta, the first capital of the Northwest Territory. There were only forty-seven men in this pilgrimage (their familes came later) but they opened the gates so wide that thousands quickly followed. The one fact that within fifteen years a wilderness was converted into a state makes comment on their success unnecessary. General Putnam was in personal charge of the company. He came provided with a temporary dwelling place and he had the hospitality of Fort Harmar, with its equipment, at his back. He and his men wrought the great magic of directed labor. A thriving town was developed almost overnight. And then, on the 9th of the succeeding July, came General Arthur St. Clair, Revolutionary soldier, late President of the Continental Congress, the newly-elected Governor of the Northwest Territory, with his retinue, his regimentals and all the paraphernalia necessary to provide civil government for this Empire of the Forests. He was clothed with all the powers Congress had to confer and these he proceeded to exercise without delay. Within a month he established Washington County, named for the Father of His Country, a personal friend of General St. Clair, which included within its far-flung boundaries the eastern half of Franklin County. In 1792, after Governor St. Clair had removed his headquarters and incidentally the capital of the Northwest Territory to Cincinnati, Hamilton County was enlarged, extending the length of the state from north to south, the eastern line bordering Washington County and thus including all that part of Franklin not included in Washington County. Then followed, in 1797, the erection of Adams County out of the territories of Washington and Hamilton and including all of Franklin County as it now exists. The next step was the erection of Ross County, largely at the expense of Adams, but to some extent reducing the area of Washington County and including all of Franklin County. Other counties created under the territorial government were Fairfield, Belmont, Jefferson, Trumbull and Wayne. The next historical step was the formation of the State of Ohio. In 1802 the Federal Congress passed the necessary legislation providing for the establishment of the state and its boundaries and consequently its admission to the Union when a constitution should have been adopted and the necessary officials elected. The constitution HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 71 was adopted by convention at Chillicothe in November, 1802, and by its provisions an election was held on January 11th, 1803, at which Edward Tiffin was chosen as Governor and members of the Legislature elected. On March 1st the newly-elected Legislature convened and on March 3rd Governor Tiffin appeared before that body and took the oath of office and the 17th state of the Union was full fledged. It was not long until the new legislative body began its duty in the matter of establishing counties. On April 30th Gallia and Franklin were formed ; on May 1st Scioto, Warren, Butler, Montgomery, Greene and Columbiana. Thus Franklin was the second county created by the new state and its official description appears to be: "Beginning on the western boundary of Range 20 of townships east of the Scioto, at the corner of Sections 24 and 25, Township 9, Range 21, surveyed by John Matthews ; west until it intersects the boundary of Greene County ; north with said line to the state line ; easternly with the state line to the northwest corner of Fairfield County; with the western boundary line of Fairfield to the point of beginning." This description is not all that could be desired because the northwest corner of Fairfield County did not reach the state line as it then existed, but it is clear that Franklin County extended from about the center of what is now Pickaway County to Lake Erie and included all of Madison, Delaware, Marion, Crawford, Wyandot, Seneca and Sandusky counties, with portions of Champaign, Clarke, Logan, Hardin, Hancock and Wood. The county assumed its present form, size and location in 1851 after being subjected to the following legislative alterations : March 1st, 1805, it was diminished by the formation of Champaign. March 1st, 1808, a part of Fairfield was added. April, 1808, it was diminished by the formation of Delaware. In fact, so far as the action of the Legislature could accomplish such a thing, Franklin County was literally cut in two by the formation of Delaware, leaving a complete county both north and south with Delaware in the center. However, the next change (1809) attached the isolated northern part to Delaware County. March 1st, 1810, again diminished by the formation of Pickaway and Madison counties. January 27, 1817, a part of Licking County was attached. 72 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY April 1st, 1820, again diminished by the formation of Union and Madison enlarged by a strip from the western border. March 4, 1845, the Franklin-Madison line again altered. March 25, 1851, a part of Fairfield was attached, ending the changes and bringing the county to its present boundaries. The county thus evolved lies between 39̊ 49' and 40̊ 71/2' north latitude and 82̊ 451/2' and 83̊ 15' west longitude, the eastern boundary line being but a few miles west of the geographical center of the state. It contains 332,165 acres. The fortieth parallel north latitude passes through the campus of the Ohio State University, being marked by a sun dial east of the library building, and between Fourth and Summit streets in Fifteenth avenue in the city of Columbus intersects the eighty-third meridian. The surface is undulating, the elevations ranging from 950 feet above sea level in the northwestern part of Washington Township and 1,120 feet in Plain Township to 680 feet at the intersection of the Scioto River with the Pickaway County line. The level of the water at the State Dam in the Scioto River near Mound street is 702 feet and of the water-bench at the Court House 777 feet. With this preliminary view of the political changes that have located, limited and defined our present place of residence, we may proceed to a consideration of the acts of men that form the events of history proper. CHAPTER II. MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS. THE MYSTERY OF THE MOUNDS-MOUND STREET NAMED FOR DESTROYED MONUMENT-POPE AND CAMPBELL MOUNDS-WORTHINGTON EARTHWORKS- THE INDIANS, POPULATION AND DISTRIBUTION-THE IROQUOIS CONQUEST- THE SCIOTO HIGHWAY-DUnMORE'S WAR-MINGO VILLAGES AND THEIR FATE-WYANDOT PIONEERS-TARHE AND LEATHERLIPS. The discoverer and early explorers of the western world found their new possessions already inhabited, and, thinking that they had reached the eastern shores of India, named the natives "Indians." The misnomer has persisted, partly because the Americans resembled the people of India more than those of any European country, partly because the Indians themselves had no word applicable to all the tribes and nations differing from each other in customs, language and probable ancestry, and because no genius came forward with a fitting name for the christening of the new fifth race—at least nothing better than "Red Men." The Indians of North America had no written language and very little in the way of legends or folklore to preserve their own ancient history. Old men's tales, recited about the evening camp fire, were sagas of wars and warriors and the heroes of the chase, rather the fiction of poetry than the cold facts of prose. They knew nothing of whence they came and their manner of life was not conducive to either deeds or works that make for permanency ; so that the Indians living in Ohio when the first white man came into this state had not the slightest information to give in regard to the strange mounds, earthworks and effigies found along the streams, on the hills and at strategic positions seeming to indicate a military purpose. They could only say that these things were here before they came, and that - 73 - 74 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY their fathers and their fathers before them knew nothing more. So, it was assumed by the white men that the Indians were not the true aborigines, that they had been preceded by a vanquished people possessing some engineering skill, the organization ability to undertake arduous labors on a large scale and a culture differing, if not more advanced, from that of their successors. For want of a name they were dubbed "Mound Builders," and that is the designation used today in referring to the men who first inhabited this part of the world and left a record of their residence. To the great majority of students these were the men of mystery. Books have been filled with fantastic theories as to their origin, as to why they erected enduring monuments of earth, and as to their fate. All these subjects well may be left to the archaeologists who are patiently collecting all the data possible and who, in the course of time, will be able to answer some of the questions at least and tell us how much is to be added to the book of the unknowable. It is sufficient for our purpose to take a glance at the records left in Franklin County by these former residents and acknowledge them as the true pioneers of our territory. In this connection it is pertinent to remark that, so far, not one authenticated piece of evidence has been found pointing to the existence of men in Ohio prior to the. glacial era. Objects found in the glacial deposit from time to time have all been identified by competent experts as owing their locale to accident or design in comparatively recent times. Mounds and earthworks similar to those in Ohio are found in some twenty states, principally within the basis of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. There are probably more of these remains in the State of Ohio than in any other equal area and more intelligent labor has been expended in studying them and in analyzing and classifying their contents. The excavating and reclaiming of the contents of mounds in Ohio have been carried on for many years, first by representatives of the Smithsonian Institute and other eastern organizations and later by the able officers and experts of our own State Archaeological and Historical Society. The results have amply repaid the effort. The human remains reveal to the anthropologist unquestioned and close relationship to the later Indian sojourners, and the utensils, ornaments, articles of dress, implements of war and incidentals of re-