Land east of the Cuyahoga, exclusive of the Parsons tract in acres Land west of the Cuyahoga, exclusive of surplus land, islands, and sufferers' lands Surplus land, so-called Islands Parsons' or Salt Spring Tract Sufferers, or Fire Lands

2,002,970 827,291 5,286 5,924 25,450 500,000 3,366,921

Total acres in Connecticut Western Reserve   THE EQUALIZING COMMITTEE, The method in which the land was divided is so clearly and succinctly described in the History of Trumbull r and Mahoning Counties (Cleveland, 1882), that we shall close this chapter with a partial transcription of the account of that work. "After this survey was completed the Land Company, in order that the share holders might share equitably as nearly as possible the lands of the Reserve, or to avoid the likelihood of a part of the shareholders drawing the best, and others the medium, and again others the poorest of the lands, appointed an equalizing committee, whose duties we shall explain. "The amount of the purchase money, $1,200,000, was divided into four hundred shares, each share value being $3,000. The holder of one share, therefore, had one four-hundredth undivided interest in the whole tract, and he who held four or five or twenty shares had four or five or twenty times as much interest undivided in the whole Reserve as he who held but one. As some townships would bemorevaluable than others, the company adopted, at a meeting of shareholders, at Hartford, Conn., in April, 1796, a mode 0f making partition, and appointed a committee of equalization to divide the Reserve in accordance with the Company's plan. The committee appointed were Daniel Holbrook, William Sheppard, Jr., Moses Warren, Jr,, Seth Pease, and Amos Spafford, "The Directors of the Company * * * selected six townships to be offered for sale to actual settlers alone, and in which the first improvements were designed to be made. The townships thus selected were numbers eleven in the sixth range; ten, in the ninth range; nine in the tenth range ; eight, in the eleventh range ; seven, in the twelfth range ; and two, in the second range. These townships are now known as Madison, Mentor, and Willoughby, in Lake County ; Euclid and Newburg, in Cuyahoga County ; and Youngstown, in Mahoning, Number three, in the third range, or Weathers-field, in Trumbull County, was omitted from the first draft made by the company, owing to the uncertainty of the boundaries of Mr. Par- sons' claim, r This township has sometimes been called the Salt Spring township, The six townships above named were offered for sale before partition was made and parts of them were sold. Excepting the Parsons claim and the seven townships above named, the remainder of the Reserve east of Cuyahoga was divided among the members of the company as follows : MODE OF PARTITION. "The four best townships in the eastern part of the Reserve were selected and surveyed into lots, an average of one hundred lots to the township. As there were four hundred shares, the four townships would yield one lot for AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 85 each holder or holders of one or m0re shares every share. When these lots were drawn, participated in the draft. The committee selected township eleven in range seven, and townships five, six, and seven, in range eleven, for the four best townships. These are Perry, in Lake County, Northfield, in Summit County, Bedford and Warrenville, in Cuyahoga County. "Then the committee proceeded to select from the remaining townships certain. other townships that should be next in value to the four already selected, which were to be used for equalizing purposes. The tracts thus selected, being whole townships and parts of townships * * * are now known as Auburn, Newbury, Munson, -Cordon, Bainbridge, Russell and Chester townships, in Geauga County; Concord and Kirtland, in Lake County; Springfield and Twinsburg, in Summit County ; Solon, Orange and Mayfield, in Cuyahoga County. The fractional townships are Conneaut gore, Ashtabula gore, Saybrook gore, Geneva, Madison gore, Painesville, Willoughby gore, Independence, Coventry and Portage. "After this selection had been made they selected the average townships, to the value of each of which each of the others should be brought by the equalizing process of annexation. The eight best of the remaining townships were taken. * * * They are now .known as Poland. in Mahoning County ; Hartford, in Trumbull County; Pierpont, Monroe, Conneaut, Saybrook and Harpersfield, in Ashtabula County ; and Parkman, in Geagua County. These were the standard townships, and all the other townships of inferior value to these eight, which would include all the others not mentioned above, were to be raised to the standard value of the average townships by annexations from the equalizing townships. These last named were cut up into parcels of various sizes and values, and annexed to the inferior townships in such a way as to make them all of equal value, in the opinion of the committee. When the committee had performed this task it was found that, with the exception of the four townships first selected, the Parsons tract, and the townships that had been previously set aside to be sold, the whole tract would amount to an equivalent of ninety-three shares. There were, therefore, ninety-three equalized townships or parcels to be drawn for east of the Cuyahoga. THE DRAFTS. "To entitle a shareholder to the ownership of an equalized township, it was necessary for him to be the proprietor of $12,903.23 of the original purchase of the company, or, in other words, he must possess about three and three-tenth shares of the original purchase. The division by draft took place on the 29th of January, 1798. The townships were numbered from one to ninety-three, and the numbers, on slips of paper, placed in a box. The names of shareholders were arranged alphabetically, and in those .instances in which an original investment was insufficient to entitle such investor to an equalized township, he formed a combination with others, in like situation, and the name of that person of this combination that took alphabetic precedence was used in the draft, If the small proprietors were, from disagreement among themselves, unable to unite, a committee was appointed to select and classify them, and those selected were compelled to submit to this arrangement. If, after they had drawn a township, they could not agree in dividing it between them, this committee, or another one appointed for that purpose, divided it for them. That township designated by the first number drawn belonged to the first man on the list, and the second drawn belonged to the second man, and so on until all were drawn, Thus was the ownership in common served, and each individual secured his interest in severalty. John Morgan, John Caldwell, and Jonathon Brace, the trustees, as rapidly as partition was effected, conveyed by deed to the several purchasers the land they had drawn. "The second draft was made in 1802, and was for such portions of the seven townships omitted in the first draft as remained at that time unsold. This draft was divided into 86 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY ninety shares, representing $13,333,33 of the purchase money. "The third draft was made in 1807, and was for the lands lying west of the Cuyahoga, and was divided into forty-six parts, each representing $26.687. "The fourth draft was made in 1809, at which time the surplus land, so-called, was divided, including sundry notes and claims arising from sales that had been effected of the seven townships omitted in the first drawing," CHAPTER XII THE SETTLEMENT OF OHIO Laud Bounties—The Ohio Company—Founding of Marietta—Abundance of Game—The Moravian Settlements—Founding of Columbia, Cincinnati, and North Bend—Floods Damage the Settlements—The Scioto Land Swindle—The Virginia Military District. At the time the Connecticut Land Company were engaged in surveying their purchase, there were several other settlements in a more or less satisfactory condition of progress along the banks of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, Immediately on the close of the Revolutionary War, thousands of the disbanded soldiers and officers who had been reduced to poverty in the long and arduous struggle for independence looked anxiously to the Western lands for new homes, or as a means of repairing their shatered fortunes. Their thoughts had been turned in this direction by the several acts passed by Congress in 1776, and subsequently during the war, providing for land bounties to the Continental soldiers, in quantities proportional to their rank in the service. Thus, a major-general was entitled to eleven hundred acres, a brigadier-general to eight hundred and fifty, a colonel to five hundred, a lieutenant-colonel to four hundred and fifty, a major four hundred, a captain three hundred, a lieutenant two hundred, an ensign one hundred and fifty, and privates and non-commissioned officers one hundred acres each. Those who lived in the South Were fortunate in having ready access to the lands of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the back parts of Georgia ; but owing to the disputes in Congress over the lands f the North- - 5 - west, which long delayed the surveys and bounties, the Northern soldiers almost l0st hope. A strong memorial was presented to Congress in June, 1783, asking for a grant of the lands between the Ohio and Lake Erie, An ordinance for the survey of the public lands west of the Ohio River was passed by Congress two years later, and provided for the system of rectangular surveys. by sections, townships, and ranges. The first surveyor-general was Thomas Hutchins, a man f high scientific attainments, who had served in the West as an officer of engineers in the Sixtieth British, Infantry, Assisted by Rittenhause, the official geographer of Pennsylvania, he established a base line extending due west from the point where the north bank of the Ohio River is. intersected by the west line of Pennsylvania, and upon this laid out the Seven Ranges which were the beginning of the land system of the United States, General Rufus Putnam of Massachusetts, who had taken a leading part in preparing the memorial, t0 which reference has been made, was appointed by that body one f the surveyors; but having work of a similar nature to do in Maine for the state of Massachusetts, he obtained the appointment of General Benjamin Tupper temporarily in his place. From Tupper General Putnam subse- 88 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY quently received so favorable an account of the country as to cause him to enter with great earnestness into a plan of western colonization, THE OHIO COMPANY. A meeting of officers and soldiers, chiefly of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut lines, was held at Boston on March 1st, 1786, at which a new Ohio Company was formed, in shares of $1,000, for the purchase and settlement of Western lands. The directors, General Putnam, General Samuel H. Parsons, and Rev, Manasseh Cutler, selected for their purchase the lands on the Ohio River situated on both sides of the Muskingum and just west of the Seven Ranges. It had been provided by Congress that the Continental currency in which the soldiers had received their pay, and which had greatly depreciated during the war, should be accepted at its par value in payment for public lands. There were many delays before the grant was finally ratilied by Congress. Some months were spent in waiting for a quorum of that body to assemble, and even after Congress had passed the ordinance, a long and tedious game of politics had to be played before the contract for the purchase was finally signed. The chief question at issue was the appointment of officers for the territory. The company wanted General Parsons for Governor, while there was a strong counter influence in .favor of General St. Clair, who was then president of Congress, but who seems to have taken no active part in advancing his own interests, Dr. Cutler, who represented the company, had also to contend against the influence of several rival companies of speculators in Western lands, one of which, composed of a number of prominent New York citizens, was represented by Colonel 'William Duet% then Secretary of the Treasury Board. A secret arrangement was at last effected whereby St. Clair was made governor 0f the territory and the domain of the Ohio Company was enlarged by an addition of land on the west side for the benefit of the New York associates. After some further delay on the part of Congress the contract for the purchase was finally signed led October 27, 1787, by the Treasury Board, with Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent as agents of the Ohio Company. THE FOUNDING OF MARIETTA. In the following months of December and January, two companies, including; surveyors, boat-builders, farmers, carpenters, and laborers, were sent forward under the leadership of General Putnam. Uniting on the Youghiogheny River, they constructed boats, in which after having embarked their stores, they descended the Ohio River, and on the 7th of April, 1788, landed at the Muskingum. On the upper point, opposite Fort Harmar, they founded their town, which in July following received the name of Marietta, in honor of the French Queen, Marie Antoinette, the word being a compound of the first and last syllables of the Queen's name. On the arrival of Governor Si. Clair, which took place on July 17th, the government of the Northwest territory was formally installed, Washington County, with its courts and officers, was established, and by the end of the year the little capital had a population of one hundred and thirty-two men, besides women and children. To these were added in the following year one hundred and fifty-two men, fifty-seven of them with families. Major Denny, one of the army officers stationed at Fort Harmar, thus describes these settlers in his diary : "These men from New England, many of whom are of the first respectability, old Revolutionary officers, erected and are now living in huts immediately opposite us. A considerable number of industrious farmers purchased shares in the company, and more or less arrive every week. * * * These people appear the most happy folk in the world, greatly satisfied with their new purchase. They certainly are the best informed, most courteous and civil strangers of any I have vet met with, The order and regularity observed by all, their sober deportment, and perfect submission to the constituted authorities, must tend much to promote their settlements, The population of Marietta was still furth- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 89 er increased in 1790, owing to the survey and distribution of the Ohio Company's lands, so that the place could now boast of eighty houses, Settlements were extended to Belpre, to Newbury, twelve or fifteen miles down the Ohio, and to Big Bottom, ab0ut thirty miles up the Muskingum. In January, 1791, there were in all these settlements some 280 men capable of bearing arms. The danger from Indians was proved by the destruction in that month of the settlement at Big Bottom by a party of Delawares and Wyandots, Strong block houses were erected at each of these points and all possible measures were adopted to ensure the safety of these infant communities, THE ABUNDANCE OF GAME. The settlers were in no danger from hunger. The land in which they had cast their lot was veritably a land flowing with milk and honey. The soil was rich, and produced abundant crops : fruit was soon successfully cultivated, and fish, flesh and fowl were to be had in inconceivable quantities. Buffalo, deer and bear were numerous ; geese, clucks and pig-eons were everywhere in immense flocks, and the rivers fairly swarmed with fish. A story is told by Captain May of a pike weighing 100 pounds that was served up at the Fourth of July barbecue, and it was no uncommon thing to catch catfish sixty to eighty p0unds in weight. THE MORAVIAN SETTLEMENTS. Marietta was the first permanent settlement on the soil of Ohio. Other white settlements, however, which it is necessary to mention, had been previously made by the Moravian missionaries, who in 1772, planted villages on the banks of the Tuscarawas river, and devoted themselves to the conversion of the Indians, in which work they were remarkably successful ; their earnest, true, and simple character, with their sweet dev0tional music, made a great impression on many of the savages. The population of their villages on the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers at the close of 1775, -numbered over four hundred persons. That they were peculiarly adapted to the work in which they were engaged is shown, not only by the number of their converts, which was large, but by the conduct of the Christianized Indians, who repeatedly, in spite of great provocations, refused to go upon the war path, refrained from drunkenness, showed hospital ity to their enemies, and cheerfully cultivated other Christian virtues. They included in their ranks a number of distinguished chiefs. Lord Dunmore's war, and, above all, the Revolutionary War, proved disastrous to the Moravian missions. Situated on a line between Pittsburg and Detroit, they lay directly in the path of hostilities. Marauding parties were constantly passing that way. In the death of White Eyes, head war-chief of the Delawares, they lost a powerful and influential friend, and their misfortunes were increased by the arrival at Goschocking (or Coshocton), one of their settlements on the Muskingum, of the frontier desperadoes McKee, Elliott and Simon Girty, These nien, who had escaped from imprisonment at Pittsburg as spies and secret agents of the Tory cause, spread false reports among the Indians against the Moravians and instigated two attempts to assassinate Zeisberger, the leader of the missionaries, In 1780, some American militia, part of a force that had been sent out under Col, Broadhead from Pittsburg to surpress a hostile rising on the Muskingum, attempted to destroy the Moravian missions, under the impression, which seemed to be general among the lower class'of whites on the frontier, that the missionaries were secretly their foes, and were with difficulty prevented from doing so by a detachment of their comrades under Colonel Shepard of Wheeling. In the following year the missionaries were made to feel the hostility of the British commandant at Detroit, who had ascertained that they were friendly to the American cause, and were even in correspondence with American officials to the prejudice of British interests. Through the agency of the Six Nations, who delegated their task to the Wyandots (the work having been first declined by the Ottawas and Chippewas), and assisted by Elliott, Girty 90 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY and McKee, the missionaries were seized early in September, their houses pillaged, their families turned out of doors and their books and papers destroyed. The Christian Indians were also robbed, and a famous Delaware chief among them—Glickhican—arrested. Though no blood was spilled on this occasion, the Wyandots having accepted their task reluctantly, the people suffered greatly during the following winter from exposure and famine. In the spring of the next year, 1782, a party of ninety-six Christian Delawares—men and women—while on a peaceable errand, were treacherously decoyed into two houses, shut up and mercilessly slaughtered, by a force of ninety men from the Ohio under one David Williamson, who passed for Colonel. About two months later another expedition under Colonel William Crawford, a worthy man who, without any desire or effort on his part, had been elected to command over Williamson, was sent out for the purpose of destroying what was left of the Moravian Indians at Sandusky, and also to lay waste the Wyandot towns. This force was ambushed and utterly routed by a party f Wyandots, Williamson, who had accompanied the expedition in a subordinate capacity, escaped with a part f the force. Colonel Crawford was taken prisoner and fell into the hands of Chief Pipe, who in rage for the massacre of the Christian Indians, whom he had for some time protected, caused him to be tortured and burned at the stake. This was the end of the Moravian missions on the Muskingum. Though the pious founders lingered for s0me time about the scenes of their early labors and successes, their triumphs were over ; the partly civilized Indian communities which they had built up were forever scattered and gone. But in spite of their failure, their work at any rate "was unexcelled as an attempt to brine, the bring Indian and white races on this continent into just co-ordination." Says Rufus King (Ohio : American Commonwealth Series), "That these missions, though not enduring, as sometimes imputed, were none the less the primordial establishment of Ohio, is as true as that Plymouth was the beginning f Massachusetts. Neither lasted long, but that was no fault f the Moravians. Plymouth, though equally obsolete, is proudly commemorated by the sons f Missachusetts. The Moravians may justly be remembered and honored as the pilgrims of Ohio." FOUNDING OF COLUMBIA, CINCINNATI AND NORTH BEND. The settlements by the Ohi0 Land Company on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers were followed by others along the Ohio, the Scioto and the Miamis, but by a different class f settlers from the sturdy, sober, New England pioneers who had begun the work of civilization in the southeastern part f the territory. These latter were of substantially the same stock as those on the Reserve, and founded a very similar society, identical in all its leading features and having as a mutual goal the same moral political ideals. The first settlers on the Miamis came, as it chanced, from New Jersey. Benjamin Stites, or Stiles, a trader from that State, who 'had joined a party f Kentuckians in a chase after some thieving Indians, after the party had given up the pursuit, crossed over with them to the Big Miami, and obtained a view f the rich valleys formed by these rivers. On his return home he immediately confided his discovery to Mr. John Cleves Symmes and other men of influence. Symmes, after himself making a trip down the Ohio to personally investigate the truth of Stites' story, organized a company of associates somewhat similar to the Ohio company, which included General Jonathan Dayton, Elias Boudinot, and Dr. Witherspoon, as well as Stites. On August 29, 1787, Congress was petitioned for a grant to the association of all the lands on the Ohio, between the Miamis, to be bounded on the north by an extension of the north line of the Ohio Company. In October this petition was referred to the Treasury Board, but without waiting for the result Symmes proceeded as though the bargain were closed. After giving Stites a covenant for 10,000 acres, at five shillings an acre, he issued, November 26th, a lengthy and high-sounding prospectus in which he depicted the advantages of settlement in the AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 93 new territory in the most vivid colors, and further announced that a contract had been entered into between the associates and the Treasury Board, and offering for sale any township, section, or quarter-section in the 4,000,000-acre tract for which he had applied. He reserved for himself, as the Site of a town that he proposed to lay out, an entire township at the confluence f the big Miami and the Ohio, besides fractional townships on the north, south, and west sides of it. The land was offered until May 1st following at two-thirds of a dollar per acre ; after that the price was to be raised to one dollar. The proposition proved attractive, and the best lands were soon taken. A large number of the purchasers soon found themselves deceived, as the Treasury Board refused to concede the entire front on the Ohio, and would execute no contract at all until October 15, 1788, when, through the influence of General Dayton and Daniel Marsh, they consented to a grant limited to twenty miles along the course of the Ohio, beginning a.t the mouth of the Big Miami, and with a northerly boundary to include 1,000,000 acres. This excluded the lands sold to Stites and others, and also dropped a township that had been reserved for the use of an academy. The result was an immense amount of litigation, arising out f the violated contracts between Stites and his associates and the purchasers; and the contentions in Congress and the local courts, in which latter Stites was a judge, were not ended until May, 1792, when Congress passed acts which extended the limits of the purchase to the original number of acres originally bargained for, though with somewhat different boundaries. Reservations were set apart in each township for the support of religion, schools, one complete township for an academy and other institutions of learning, a lot one mile square at the mouth f the Big Miami, and one of fifteen acres for Fort Washington. The people who had purchased lands from Symmes were granted the right of pre-emption on further payment of $2 per acre, Other schemes of settlement were soon under way. In November, 1788, Stites, with a strong party of friends and followers, and provided with all necessary implements for clearing and building, landed just below the Little Miami, built a fort or blockhouse, and .founded the town of Columbia. In the summer of that year, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, who had taken up the entire section of land opposite the mouth of the Licking, and who was ambitious to become the founder of a town, met at Limestone, Col, Robert Patterson, the founder of Lexington, Kentucky, who was meditating a purchase from Symmes. Denman accompanied the Colonel to Lexington, where, in company with John Filson, they formed a partnership in the town site which he had secured opposite the mouth of the Licking. Filson was a schoolmaster from Chester, Penn., who had turned surveyor and emigrated to Kentucky. The three drew up articles, which were formally executed August 25th, whereby Denman, in consideration of twenty pounds, Virginia currency, to be paid by Patterson to Filson, transferred to each an equal interest with himself in the section of land opposite the mouth of the Licking. Plans were made for laying out a town which was to be called Losantiville, the name being a forced and pedantic compound f three different languages—Greek, Latin and French—and intended to signify "the town opposite the mouth of the Licking," On the 22d of. September, 1788, Patterson and Filson, with a large company of Kentuckians, arrived on the ground and were there met by Denman, Judge Symmes and Israel Ludlow, chief surveyor of the Miami associates. This meeting may be regarded as the inauguration of Cincinnati, Though it was impossible to proceed to the immediate location of the plat, Ludlow was detached to "take the meanders of the Ohio," which measurement proved that Denman was within the line. Soon after Filson, who had accompanied Symmes, Patterson and a party of the Kentuckians on an expedition twenty miles into the country, becoming alarmed at the presence of Indians, separated himself from the party and attempted to rejoin the main body. He was never more heard of, and undoubtedly met his death at the hands of the savages. Ludlow acquired Filson's in- 94 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY terest, and became the surveyor and principal agent in the town affair, Denman returned to New Jersey, Patterson and Ludlow, with a party of twelve, left Limestone December 24th, to form a station and lay out the town. The time of their arrival, which is supposed to mark the date of the settlement of Cincinnati is not known, FLOODS DAMAGE THE SETTLEMENTS, In January, 1789, Columbia and Miami City were submerged by a great flood, which also caused Fort Finney to be abandoned, the garrison, under Captain Kersey, proceeding to the falls of the Ohio. Symmes thereupon, by blazing the trees, marked out the site of another town, which, from its location, he called North Bend. He and his associates also addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, complaining of their desertion by the soldiers, and in August Major Doughty was sent down to "choose ground and lay out a new work for the protection of the people settled in Judge Symmes' purchase." After reconnoitering for three days in order to find an eligible situation, he reported to Colonel Harmar that he had "fixed upon a spot opposite to the. Licking River, which was high and healthy, abounding with never-failing springs, and the most proper position he could find for the purpose." This settled the destiny f Cincinnati. Fort Washington, a substantial structure of hewn timber, about 180 feet square, two stories high, and with block houses at the four angles, was immediately erected, and on the 29th of December was occupied by Colonel Harmar, with the larger part of his regiment, two companies being left at Fort Harmar, Early in January, 1790, Governor St. Clair arrived and established the County of Hamilton, on which occasion Losantiville was made the county town, and renamed Cincinnati in honor of the military order of the Cincinnati, to which the Revolutionary soldiers in Colonel Harmar's command belonged. For some years Cincinnati remained a mere garrison town the residences were but cabins, and the inhabitants migratory. General Harrison, then a young ensign, who saw it just after St, Clair's defeat in 1791, when the remnants of his demoralized army were straggling in, describes it as lacking in almost everything but whiskey, of which everybody seemed to have an abundant supply, "I certainly saw more drunken men," said he, "in the forty-eight hours succeeding my arrival in Cincinnati than I had in all my previous life." In a few years the place began to improve, but in 1800 the population was but 750. THE SCIOTO LAND SWINDLE, It will be remembered that when St. Clair's appointment to the governorship had been arranged, the domain of the Ohio Company had been enlarged for the benefit of certain New York citizens, represented by Colonel Duer. Congress had authorized the sale of all the land between the Seven Ranges and the Scioto River. It was divided by the Treasury Board into two contracts. One included a tract on the Ohio between the seventh and seventeenth ranges with a north boundary to include a million and a half acres. There were the usual reservations for the support of religion and the public schools, with two townships for a uni- versity, and some sections in different town- ships reserved for disposal by Congress. The other contract included the lands between the seventeenth range and the Scioto River. By the provisions of the first named contract the Ohio Company were granted possession and use of the lands east of the west line of the fifteenth range, containing one-half the purchase, which line intersects the Ohio just below Gallipolis. The Ohio Company then transferred the western portion in accordance with the arrangement which had been made between Dr. Cutler and Colonel Duer. The New York associates, styled the Scioto Company, then sent Mr. Joel Barlow to Paris, to act as their agent in the disposal of the lands. He was assisted there by De Saisson, a Frenchman, and William Playfair. of Edinburgh, who had taken a prominent part in the destruction of the Bas-tile. Barlow was a poet, of winning address, and apparently gifted with a most exuberant AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 95 imagination. He issued some very alluring but mendacious advertisements and maps in which the lands of the colony were described as "being immediately adjacent to the settled and cultivated country, and having charms of climate, health, and scenery such as to rival Arcadia or the Vale of Tempe." All the comforts and most of the luxuries of life—the gastronomic luxuries, at least—were to be obtained at substantially no cost of labor or trouble. "A couple f swine," said he, "will multiply themselves a hundredfold in two or three years without taking any care of them." All sorts of wild game were in plenty, there Was no danger from wild animals, no taxes to pay, and no military duty to perform. To tickle French ears the Ohio River was referred to only by the name f La. Belle Riviere, the name given to it by La Salle. To complete all, the land was offered for sale on easy terms and at the most tempting prices. These advertisements had due effect. Hundreds of people, most of whom were wholly unfitted for the arduous and dangerous life of the frontier settler, were inveigled to the Ohio. Upon their arrival they were soon undeceived. St, Clair, on his return from the West, found about four hundred of them "at a place three miles below the Kanawha, which they had named Gallipolis. A hundred more were waiting at Marietta, and another hundred were on their way through Pennsylvania. They were living in long rows of cabins provided for them by the Scioto Company." A deputation of them waited on St. Clair with a paper reciting an account of their wrongs. He promised to investigate the matter, and in the meanwhile counselled them to organize themselves at once. by appointing civil and military officers, as well for their own peace and order as for defense against the Indians. But many of these people had been brought up to trades useful only in highly civilized and refined communities, and though some were farmers and mechanics, and a few men of education, as a body they lacked the capacity to help themselves out of the unfortunate situation into which they had been so cruelly duped. Without the ready resources and adaptability of the English, Scotch, Irish and German races, having failed in their main prioject, they were unable to substitute for it any other practical scheme, or to make the best of the circumstances in which they found themselves. They gradually scattered and dwindled away, and though Congress came to their relief in March, 1795, with a donation of land known as the French grant—for the New York promoters of the enterprise not having paid for their lands, all the titles had. lapsed—it does not appear that they took any practical advantage of it. Their famous countryman, Volney, who visited them at Gallipolis. in the summer of 1796, found them "forlorn in appearance, with pale faces, sickly looks,. and anxious air, still inhabiting a double row-of whitewashed log huts, patched with clay, unwholesome and uncomfortable," When this scandalous transaction was investigated there was some evidence apparently going to show that the Ohio Company, or at least some of its officials, were to a certain extent implicated in the fraud, but as the subject is obscure and. complicated, and moreover, is not closely con-. nected with the history f Mahoning County,. it will not here be entered into save by this. brief reference. In view of the fact that their-culpability was never proven it may be as well_ to give them the benefit of the doubt. THE VIRGINIA MILITARY DISTRICT. When in March, 1784, Virginia ceded to the United States her claims to northwest territory, it was stipulated that she should be reimbursed for the expense of subduing the British posts, that 150,000 acres at the Falls of Ohio were to be granted to Colonel George Rogers Clark and his officers and soldiers, and that "in case there should not be a sufficient quantity of good lands south of the Ohio River to provide for the bounties due to the Continental troops of the Virginia line, the deficiency should be made up by good lands to be laid off between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers." In the winter of 1790-91 General Nathaniel Massie, who had been appointed by Virginia some time before to make a survey of the district, impressed by the flourishing. 96 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY condition f the settlements on the Muskingum and the two Miamis, determined to plant a Virginia colony north of the Ohio. Such a settlement, he thought, would enhance the volue f the lands f his State, and incidentally be a means of protection f his party while they were engaged in surveying the wilderness, a work that he had already begun. A site on the north bank of the river was chosen, and a town laid out which received the name of Massies Station, This was afterwards changed to Manchester, by which name the place is now known. Free land was 0ffered to the first twenty-five families who should settle in the town, and this advertisement being circulated widely throughout Kentucky brought responses from some thirty families who were eager to accept the offer. The settlement was commenced in March, 1791, streets were marked out, a number of cabins built and surrounded by a stockade as a protection against the Indians, and soon the little station was in a flourishing condition. It enjoyed practical immunity from Indian attacks. This was mainly due to the character of its inhabitants—all hardy frontiersmen, courageous, watchful, and self-reliant, and long accustomed to brave the toil and dangers f the wilderness. General Massie subsequently attempted to found a town in the heart of the Virginia Military District, but the attempt was not successful, owing to Indian hostilities. A later effort in the following year resulted in the founding of Chillicothe, which at the end of two years became the seat of civil government. Civilization in Ohio had now fairly begun. Commencing, as we have seen, at the river, it had invaded that long, dark stretch of forest which lay between it and the lake, and through which the native red man had hitherto roamed in undisputed sway. Soon the busy axe sounded here the knell of his approaching extinction. In despair he made one last desperate effort to preserve the Ohio as the natural boundary between the white man's territory and his own hunting grounds. The four years' war, beginning with the destruction of the Big Bottom settlement on the Muskingum, January 2, 1791, and followed by the discomfiture of Harmar and the utter rout of St, Clair, inspired him with a temporary hope that was forever shattered by Wayne's victory of the Fallen Timber, in August, 1795, to which reference has already been made. The great barrier to white settlement was removed by the subsequent treaty of Greenville, and the full tide of emigration swept in. Settlers' cabins soon began to dot the landscape; forest shades gave place to open clearings, soon to be transformed into smiling farms and fruitful orchards; thriving towns sprang up as if by magic, and civilization began its march of progress in Ohio, never again to meet with serious interruption. CHAPTER XIII SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF MAHONING COUNTY Lines of Development—Date of the First Settlement on the Reserve—First Wheat Cut on the Reserve—First Postal Service—Early Conditions of Life—A Primitive Time Threshing—Bounty on Wolf Scalps—Olden School Pays—Early Youngstown Citizens—Draft of 1812—Homemade Soap—The Old Ash Hopper—Soap SpookeryThe Old Ashery—The Stage Driver—Matches Unknown—If Fires all Went Out—Wild Pigeons; Where are They ?—Pioneer Milling Enterprises—Slavery—County Seat Located—Early Elections—First County Seat Issue—Useless Legislation—Renewal of the Strife—Some Interesting Old LettersCounty Seat Changed. The conditions of life in the wilderness made it necessary to obtain food from the soil as soon as possible. It was also f vital importance to be within reach of some channel, however difficult and obstructed, through which trade with the outside world could be carried on. As Lake Erie was the best natural highway available for settlers in the Western Reserve, there was a strong tendency to build homes near its shores. This, however, was checked in the earliest period of settlement by the menacing attitude of the English north of the lake, and at its western end, and their influence over the Indian tribes of the region. Home-seekers felt safer, and more surely in American territory when within easy reach of the Ohio. Moreover, the soil was more productive, as a rule, and the danger from malaria less, at a good distance from the lake. The result was a double line f development, one-half governed by trade, and the other by farming, For a time the latter so far prevailed that Cleveland had a hard and seemingly doubtful race with other towns in the Connecticut Reserve. As late as 1812, when the first bank was established in the Western Reserve, it was not located in Cleveland, but in Warren, Trumbull County, DATE OF FIRST SETTLEMENT ON THE RESERVE Soon after the partition of the Reserve was completed, many of the grantees removed to their land, and made it their future home. Others sent out agents, Purchasers from the grantees removed to the new country, clearings were made in the forests, log houses were erected, crops were put in the ground, and in the spring of 1798 was commenced the regular settlement of the Reserve. The first house on the Reserve was probably the log house erected by John Young and 98 - HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY Colonel James Hillman about 1797, This house stood on the east bank of the Mahoning River, near Spring Common, Youngstown. Another early house, which still exists in Canfield, was built in 1800-1801 by Major-General Wadsworth, hero f two wars, and a member of General 'Washington's staff during the War of Independence. Major-General Wadsworth received a large tract of land in the Western Reserve before the State of Ohio was organized. When Mahoning County was organized, in 1846, the house was used as a jail, sheriff's residence, and general county office, until the new courthouse was built. General Wadsworth died in 1818, and his body now lies buried in the little cemetery not far from the house. FIRST WHEAT CUT ON THE RESERVE, The first wheat reaped by white men within the limits of the Reserve was cut near Conneaut in 1796, That was the year when the first settlement was made in Cleveland, and the date shows that the pioneers lost no time in getting land under cultivation and crops in the ground. FIRST POSTAL SERVICE. The first regular postal service in the Western Reserve was established and opened in October, 1801. The route extended from Pittsburg to Warren, passing- through Beavertown, Georgetown (on the Ohio River), Canfield and Youngstown. The mail was carried on horseback and delivered once in two weeks. The first mail contract was awarded to Eleazer Gilson, of Canfield, and was for two years, at the price of $3.50 per mile per year, counting- the distance one way. Samuel Gilson: a son of the contractor, carried the mail the greater part f the time, and as one source of information says, "on foot, carrying the mail bag on his back," but it is probable that it was only distributed on foot in the different towns, as, according to old documents and papers, bequeathed by the late Elmer Kirtland, through Miss Mary Morse, to the Western Reserve Historical Society, the route between the towns was covered on horse-back. Calvin Pease was appointed postmaster at Youngstown, Elijah Wadsworth at Canfield, and Simon Perkins at Warren, these three men being the first postmasters on the Reserve. In 1803 the population warranted a weekly delivery, requiring three days each way. A proposal to carry the mail, dated 1805, reads : "I will engage to carry the mail from Pittsburg, via Canfield, Poland and Youngstown, to Warren, once a week, for $850 a year." Detroit was added to the route in 1805, but not until 1823 was there mention of stage coaches, or any vehicle for the accommodation of passengers. The quarterly account of Dr. Charles Dutton, who was the second postmaster on the Reserve, being- appointed in July,. 1803, shows the amount of business clone by the ffice at that time. The amount collected on letters was $35 ; on newspapers, $3.79 ; total, $38.79. Postmaster's commission, $13,19 ; paid general postoffice, $25.60; total, $38.79. EARLY CONDITIONS OF LIFE. A description of the conditions under which the early settlers lived, and their manner of life may be found in a small history of Ohio. by Caleb Atwater, published at Cincinnati in 1838. He says in substance : "The people were quite uncouth in their aspect, but n0t so unhappy as one would suppose. The greatest difficulty with which they had to contend was sickness. The farmer kept many clogs to guard his sheep, hogs, fowls and himself. His fences were very high ones, and his clogs were always ready to defend their master's family and property, Hogs became so numerous in the woods that many of them became wild and multiplied until the War of 1812 gave their flesh a value, and they were killed. Cattle and horses had multiplied greatly in the meantime, and the people had begun to drive them over the mountains at an early day to market. The people lived in log houses, raised Indian corn for their bread, and as to meat, they found deer and wild turkeys in abundance in the woods. Domestic fowls and hogs multi- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 99 plied wonderfully in a country where there was so little winter for which to provide (here he seems to be referring chiefly to the southern part of the State), and as for pleasure carriages, we do not believe there was one in the State when it was first organized. Not a few persons wore moccasins of deer skins for coats or hunting skirts and pantaloons. Thus dressed, equipped with a large knife and a good rifle gun, the men went about their daily business, When the State was first organized we do not believe there was even one bridge in it. The roads were few, and it was no easy matter for a stranger to follow them. For ourselves we preferred following a pocket compass or the sun to most of the roads in the Virginia Military Tract, and this even ten years after the organization of the State government. Travelers carried their provisions with them when starting from any of the towns into the then wilderness." What was true in this respect of the Virginia Military Tract was doubtless true of the 'Western Reserve at this early period, Captain J. C. Hartzell, a prominent citizen of Sebring, who has at different times contributed much interesting pioneer information to local journals, describes in a recent article, the days "when our good old mothers told time by a noon mark, and made not only their own soap, but most other useful and needful things in housekeeping. They baked their own bread in a clay or brick or stone out-oven, and lighted the home with a lard lamp or cruisie, a strip of canton flannel, or a bit of candle wick in the melted lard or candle, dipped, and later along moulded them in tin moulds. "Then they made their own sugar, and plenty of it made their own clothes from wool off the sheep's back to the woven web, the warm and durable linsey-woolsey dress, or from the flax patch to the linen coat, gown, or towel ; doctored their own or neighbors' families with medicines of their own on arnering from gardens, field, and forest. * * * Each old pioneer opening- in the virgin forest would have a most interesting story to tell of the beginning of civilized home life, if there were only some ready writer to set it clown in good black print, while there are vet a few, a very few, of the living witnesses of the labor in that. struggle with the wilderness." A PRIMITIVE MILL. The Captain thus describesa primitivehand. mill : "I am reminded of an old hand mill, the stones of which are buried in the earth, and form part of the foot-walk from the front door-of the old Snode 'home to the little entrance. gate into the yard. They are about two feet in diameter, and furrowed faces tell truthfully that this low estate in which we find them today was not the intent of the original designers. Our good mother Snode says they were. brought along with the family pioneer wagon from New Jersey, when they came' to this neighborhood. The old parchment deed for the home farm, signed, I think, by James Madison, President, is still in their possession, Mother Snode is ninety years old (1907), and has spent nearly her entire life near where she now resides. "The mill, of which the stone above men tioned formed a part, was most likely the first grain-grinding machine in the settlement. The stones are perhaps two and a half or three. inches thick. The upper stone, or runner, has. an oblong eye in the center, and hole or socket not far from the outer edge, a stout stick reach ing from the socket to a fixed timber above, with a like socket directly over the center of the stones all loosely fitted, composed the mill, The grinding, or p0wer, was after the Armstrong patent. The family used it and it was free to the neighbors, and the toll executed by the proprietor was good neighborship. Mrs. Snode says that she has ften ground grain upon it, and eaten corn cakes and mush, and all the good things that came from the king of grain. Then in her home you will find an old sun dial, which, with the aid of the compass made the noon mark nearly accurate. Here are also the cards that prepared the wool for the spinning wheel, the big wheel, the little wheel, and the reel, sickles for cutting grain, an old platter with the date of 1702, an old