History of Hancock County CHAPTER I. SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE OF OHIO. Introductory—Derivation of Title and Early Explorations—Achievement of George Rogers Clark—State Cessions and Indian Treaties—Settlement—Indian Wars—St. Clair's Defeat ----Wayne's Campaign and Battle of Fallen Timber—Organization of the Northwest Territory—Organization of the State of Ohio. Hancock County constitutes a small portion of that vast domain known as the Northwest Territory, which embraced within its limits all of the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Yet the history of the county cannot be properly written without some account of the more important events that concern the exploration, development and organization of the territory as a whole. Long before the first white man had set foot on the soil of what is now Hancock County, her destiny was being shaped by events of even greater importance than any that have transpired within her own borders; and long prior to her organization as a county, wars were being fought, treaties made, and laws enacted through which alone her very existence was made a possibility. While the present work contemplates particularly an account of those events which are peculiar to Hancock County as a separate civil subdivision of the State, and while the reader must be referred to the larger and more pretentious histories of the North- west Territory and Ohio for fuller information regarding them as a whole, yet it is deemed necessary to a proper understanding of the history of the county to review some of the leading events that characterized the development of the entire domain, and to present, in outline, some of the chief circumstances that have contributed to the present condition of prosperity and power occupied by this widely extended area. DERIVATION OF TITLE. The claims first asserted to lands in the Western Hemisphere by European monarchs were based on discoveries made by their subjects. Accordingly we find all that vast region between the Allegheny and the Rocky Mountains, originally known by the general name of Louisiana, claimed by France, in consequence of the explorations, chiefly, of Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, and La Salle. In 1673 Marquette, accompanied by M. Joliet, starting from Mackinac, traced their way - 19 - 20 - HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY southward from there to the Wisconsin River, which they followed to its junction with the Mississippi. They then descended the Mississippi for a i,000 miles, and, on their return to Canada, urged in the strongest terms the immediate occupation of this vast and fertile region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries. There are other accounts of the discovery of the Mississippi, but the one ascribing it to Marquette seems to be the first that is authentic. Between the years 1678 and 1682 La Salle with Father Hennepin, conducted a series of explorations around the great lakes and along the Mississippi, going as far south as Peoria Lake, Illinois. Here they erected a fort, after which La Salle returned to Canada. Father Hennepin explored the region now embraced within the limits of Ohio and is said to have published a volume containing an account of his discoveries "in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean," together with maps of Lake Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat of the larger streams of Ohio. In 1683 La Salle went to France and induced the French Government to fit out an expedition for the purpose of planting a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The expedition failed completely, however, La Salle being murdered by one of his own men. The French still persisted in their efforts to gain possession of this vast region, west of the Alleghenies and the English colonies. Under the command of M. D'Iberville a second expedition sailed from France, entered the mouth of the Mississippi (March 2, 1699), and explored the river for several hundred miles. A chain of trading, missionary and military posts was ultimately established extending from New Orleans to Quebec by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and thence, by way of Mackinaw and Detroit, to Lakes Erie and Ontario. This route was afterward shortened by following the Ohio River to the Wabash, and then following the latter upward and down the Maumee to Lake Erie. The French colonies, increasing steadily in numbers and strength, aroused the jealousy of the English, who, to check their advancement, formed what was known as the Ohio Company. This company made some attempts to establish trading houses among the Indians. The French, however, established a chain of fortifications back of the English settlements and thus secured to themselves the entire control of the Mississippi Valley. Inasmuch as this same territory was claimed by the English Crown, it is necessary to consider the basis of the rights which she asserted. Her chief ground for claiming title to the territory west of the Alleghenies, was a treaty made with the Six Nations (otherwise known as the Iroquois) in the Ohio Valley. It was claimed that these nations had placed their lands under the protection of the British Crown. It was further asserted that in 1744 the British had purchased lands of these Six Nations by treaty at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1748 the Ohio Company, organized by a number of Virginians and Londoners, obtained a charter from the British Government with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio. The English, reverting to the times of the Cabots, claimed that by right they held the entire country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, bounded by the parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic Coast settlements. Inasmuch as France claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, together with the Great Lakes and their tributaries, Ohio was HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY - 21 within the disputed territory. When the surveys for the lands of the Ohio Company were begun, the Governor of Canada entered a vigorous protest by establishing the line of forts to which we have before alluded. The dispute over this territory between the French and English was finally settled by the treaty following what is familiarly known in history as the French and Indian War. By the terms of that treaty, made in Paris in 1763, the British Crown came into undisputed possession of all the vast territory northwest of the Ohio. The territory included within the present limits of Ohio, together with the entire domain northwest of the Ohio River of unknown extent, was originally claimed by Virginia. Her title rested upon three grants from the British Crown. The first charter was granted in 1606 by James I. to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers and others, authorizing them to establish two colonies, the first being known in history as the "London Company," and the second as the "Plymouth Company." The grant to the London Company covered a strip of sea coast fifty miles broad between the 34.th and 41st parallels. In 1606 King James granted a second charter to the London Company. The territorial limits of the first charter were extended to embrace the whole sea-coast, north and south, within two hundred miles of Old Point Comfort, extending "from sea to sea, west and northwest." A third charter, granted in 1612, annexed to Virginia all the islands within three hundred leagues of the coast. Virginia, however, was not undisputed in her assertion of title to the whole of this extensive region. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts claimed portions of the territory. In 1662 Charles II. granted to certain settlers upon the Connecticut all the territory between the parallels of latitude which include the present State of Connecticut, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The claims of Massachusetts were founded on a similar charter granted thirty years later. New York also had claims which she asserted. A glance at the map will show the territories thus loosely defined in these different charters, overlapped each other, which subsequently gave rise to serious disputes between the States concerned. ACHIEVEMENT OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. By the treaty of peace, signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, the claims of the English monarch to the whole of the northwest territory were ceded to the United States. "The provisional articles which formed the basis of the treaty, more especially as related to boundary, were signed at Paris, November 30, 1872. During the pendency of the negotiation of these preliminary articles, Mr. Oswald, the British commissioner, proposed the River Ohio as the western boundary of the United States, and but for the indomitable perseverance of the Revolutionary patriot, John Adams, one of the American commissioners, who opposed the proposition, and insisted upon the Mississippi as the boundary, the probability is that the proposition of Mr. Oswald would have been acceded to by the United States Commissioners." That the British were prevented from making a reasonable claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio was due, in large measure, to the fact that this extensive domain was wrested from their hands during the Revolutionary war through the valor and foresight of General George Rogers Clark. On the outbreak of the Revolution he saw 22 - HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY through the whole plan of the British who held all the outpost, Kaskaskia, Detroit, Vincennes and Niagara. It was the hope of the British that by means of these outposts they might encircle the Americans and also unite the Indians in a common war against them. Clark knew that many of the Indian tribes were divided in their feeling or but indifferent in their support of the British. He conceived the idea that if the British could be driven from their outpost, the Indians could be easily awed into submission or bribed into neutrality or friendship. Acting upon this theory, and first enlisting the support of Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, he organized an expedition which was entirely successful in wresting control of the country west of the Ohio from the British. To him, as well as to John Adams, is due unlimited credit for the fact that the Ohio River was not made the boundary between Canada and the United States. STATE CESSIONS AND INDIAN TREATIES. At the close of the Revolutionary war, the title to the British possessions having passed to the several colonies, each one, as a sovereign and independent state, claimed the right of soil and jurisdiction over the lands which had been originally granted it in its charter. As we have already observed, several states laid claim to portions of the vast, unappropriated tracts northwest of the Ohio. It was insisted by those States whose charters gave them no claims to any portion of this territory that inasmuch as the entire domain had been won from the British by the united efforts of all the colonies, the lands themselves should be appropriated for the benefit of all the states. It was repeatedly urged upon the states themselves which claimed ownership in these lands, that they should cede them for the common benefit of all. Responding to this demand the State of Virginia, on March 1, 1784, ceded to the United States her claims to ownership and jurisdiction over the entire part of the country embraced in her charter lying northwest of the Ohio. She made a condition, however, that in case the lands lying south of the Cumberland River were not sufficient to satisfy the bounties in land which she had issued to her soldiers during the Revolutionary War, then this deficiency was to be made up out of lands in this territory, lying between the rivers Miami and Scioto. The jurisdiction over all the land, however, passed to the United States. Likewise Connecticut, on September 13, 1786, relinquished to the United States all her claims to lands lying within this same territory, with the exception of the tract known as the Western Reserve. This she deeded to the United States May 3o, 1800. The president, however, immediately conveyed the fee of the soil to the governor of the State for the use of grantees and purchasers coming under her, similar to the manner in which Virginia had also been allowed the fee of the soil in a certain portion to satisfy her military warrants. Massachusetts and New York also gave up their claims, thus giving to the United States a clear title to the whole of this vast region in so far as it had been claimed by European powers. There still remained, however, the claims of the Indians to the lands as the original possessors of the soil. It was necessary that these should be disposed of before the white settlers could rightfully take possession. Accordingly a treaty was made with the Six Nations, embracing the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras, at Fort HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY - 23 Stanwix, October 27, 1784. By the terms of this treaty, all the lands west of a line drawn from the mouth of Oswego Creek, about four miles east of Virginia, to the mouth of Buffalo Creek and on to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania, thence west along that boundary to its western extremity, thence south to the Ohio River, were ceded to the United States. There were other Indian nations, however, besides those mentioned, who also asserted ownership over this territory. They included the Wyandot, Chippewa, Delaware and Ottawa Nations. With these also the United States made a treaty at Fort McIntosh on the 21st day of January, 1785. By this treaty the boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware Nations was declared to begin "at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga and to extend up said river to the Portage, between that and the Tuscaroras branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing-place above Fort Laurens, then westerly to the Portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in 1752 ; then along said Portage to the Great Miami, or Omee River, and down the south side of the same to its mouth ; then along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, where it began." "The United States allotted all the lands contained within said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware Nations, to live and hunt on, together with such of the Ottawa Nations as lived thereon, saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the mouth of the Miami or Omee River, and the same at the Portage, on that branch of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Lake of San- dusky where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky River." This treaty was afterwards renewed and confirmed by Governor St. Clair, and the Wyandot, Chippewa, Pottawatomie, and Sac Nations at Fort Harmar in 1789. On the 3rd of August, 1795, a treaty was made with the Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Eel River Indians by General Wayne after the close of his succesful campaign against them, terminating in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The basis of this, treaty was the previous one at Fort Harmar, the boundaries made at that time being reaffirmed, and the whites secured on the lands now occupied by them or granted by former treaties. This treaty marked the close of the Indian wars. A treaty was made with the Indians at Fort Industry, on the present site of Toledo, in 1805, by which the United States acquired, for the use of the grantees of Connecticut, all that part of the Western Reserve which lies west of the Cuyahoga. The lands west of Huron and Richland Counties, and north of the Indian boundary line fixed by Wayne's treaty at Greenville, to the western limits of Ohio, were purchased by the United States in 1818 by a treaty made at St. Mary's. The lands ceded at this time were called the New Purchase. Certain reservations were made within the purchased tracts to the Delawares, Wyandots, Senecas, etc., which were subsequently ceded to the United States, the last by the Wyandots in 1842, they then being the only Indian tribe left within the State. Thus through a long series of explorations, wars, cessions and treaties has the title of the United States to lands of Ohio been derived. The organization of 24 - HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY the Northwest into a territorial subdivision and the subsequent formation and admission to the Union, of the State of Ohio, has been reserved for later consideration. SETTLEMENT. The first English attempt at settlement of which we have any record, within the present limits of the State of Ohio, was at a point in Shelby County on Loramie Creek, about sixteen miles northwest of the present city of Sidney, and since known by the name of Loramie's Store. Here some English traders established themselves about the year 1749, and gave it the name of Pickawillany from the tribe of Indians there. The settlement however, was doomed to be of short duration. As we have heretofore seen, this location was clearly within the limits claimed by the French, and immediately aroused them to action. They could not endure so evident an invasion of their country, and gathering a force of the Ottawas, and Chippewas, their allies, they attacked the fort in June, 1752, having first demanded its surrender of the Miamis, who had granted the English the privilege of its erection. In the battle that ensued, fourteen of the Miamis were slain and all of the traders captured. They were either burned or taken to Canada as prisoners. Most historians have regarded the settlement at Marietta, on April 7, 1788, as the first permanent white settlement in Ohio, but a closer investigation would seem to confer that honor upon Steubenville in Jefferson County, which was previously the site of Fort Steuben. This fort was visited by Major Ekuries Beatty in February, 1787, it being then guarded by Captain Hamtramck's and Mercer's companies. Although the garrison was removed in 1787, the fort. continued to be a refuge for set-: tiers until 1790, when it was accidentally destroyed by fire. Quite an account of life within its palisades was given by John Matthews, a nephew of General Putnam, who was one of the surveyors. According to Mr. Matthews' journal, this fort was not merely a small military garrison, but a busy center of frontier life, where people were coming and going, and where the foundations of a permanent and prosperous community were being laid. All this was in the year preceding the settlement of Marietta and that settlement was made possible by the work done here. It is very likely that the Marietta Argonauts landed at Steubenville on the way down, where the fort and settlement had already stood for a year and a half, and where there were already more people than in the visiting party. However this may be, a brief sketch of the Marietta settlement will be of interest as being an important part of the early history of the State, and the following facts, therefore, are worthy of attention. We have already traced the various steps by which the title to the lands became vested in the United States, and through which alone the settlers could be secure in their possession. The final cession by the various states claiming rights in the northwest territory, to the Central Government, was the occasion for the formation of various land companies in the East, having for their purpose the settlement of this western country. The Ohio Company, before mentioned, emerged from the past and again became active. In the year 1786 Benjamin Tupper, a Revolutionary soldier, and General Rufus Putnam, circulated a pamphlet proposing the formation of a company for the purpose of settling the Ohio lands. It invited all