Article Article Article Article Article Article Article Article Article Article Article Article

VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII.

Public institutions. Public debt and public works. Militia. County and township organizations. Apportionment. Finance and taxation. Corporations. Jurisprudence. Miscellaneous. Amendments. Elections. Municipal corporations

5. Schedule. CHAPTER II CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1802 The constitutions of the various states are the latest authoritative manifestations of the evolutionary development of ideas of popular government. In the older states the progressive steps are seen in the amendment and revision of written constitutions. Ohio is no exception to the general rule. "New occasions teach new duties," and the basic law of our commonwealth, like its social, industrial and political fabric, changes with the demands of the passing years. Under portions of our first state constitution we could still live and prosper ; under some of its provisions efficient administration would .now be impossible. It is a significant fact, paradoxical though it may seem, that our revolutionary forefathers; -even in the fresh and lambent glow of the Declaration of Independence, with its sweeping and all inclusive claims "that all men are created free and equal" and that "governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed," did not, if we judge from their laws and constitution entertain implicit faith in the capacity of the people for absolute self government—for direct and unrestricted participation in the election of rulers and the making of laws. In framing the Constitution of the United States they did not provide that citizens should vote directly for President, on the ground that they did not possess the requisite intelligence to make a wise choice for this high office. The people were given power to choose electors who in turn, after deliberate and conservative consideration of the whole field of eligibles, were to choose a President of the United States much as a modest and conscientious board of trustees choose a president of -a state university. The old form still remains, but the people have bound their electors to vote their choice, and thus virtually elect directly their chief magistrate, whose name under the party emblem tells them where to mark the ballot. The first constitution of Ohio reflects in a general way the dominant views of our young republic on matters of government. There are exceptions, of course, including the declaration against slavery that came down from the Ordinance of 1787. As frequently stated, the formation and adoption of this constitution was precipitated by the political conditions that prevailed in the Northwest Territory. The old federal party of Washington and Adams was not popular in the West, and the somewhat autocratic rule of Governor St. Clair, its chief exponent in this region, helped still further to array the people against it. Tiffin, Worthington, Massie and their friends wished speedily to erect a new state in order to dispose of St. Clair and add to the votes of Jefferson in the electoral college. The impelling power of party enthusiasm had much to do in rushing Ohio into the Union. But the zeal of party leaders and the progressive ideas of the Jeffersonian democracy, with its alluring and persuasive plea for a larger participation of the people in their government, did not advance our first constitution much beyond the restricted views of representative democracy generally prevalent at that early date. The convention organized November 1, 1802, by choosing Edward Tiffin, president; Thomas Scott, secretary, and William McFarland, assistant secretary. The records of the convention that framed the first constitution are - 13 - 14 - HISTORY OF OHIO indeed meager. Speeches, memorials and discussions, almost without exception, were not reported. The printed journal of proceedings is a mere outline of what was done from day to day, made up for the most part of formal resolutions and the record of votes. The proceedings of November 6, 1802, are typical : Mr. Putnam, from the committee appointed to prepare and report a preamble and the first article of the Constitution, which was received and read the first time. Whereupon : Ordered : That the said article be committed to a committee of the whole convention on Monday next. On Motion, Ordered : That forty copies of the said article be printed for the use of the members and officers of the convention. On Motion, Ordered : That a committee be appointed to prepare and report the second article of the Constitution on the supreme executive authority. And a committee was appointed of Mr. Paul, Mr. Byrd, Mr. Smith, Mr. Gatch, Mr. Darlinton, Mr. Kirker, Mr. Massie, Mr. Worthington, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Huntington, Mr. Milligan, Mr. Wells and Mr. Caldwell. The convention proceeded to consider the amendment reported on Thursday last, from the committee of the whole convention, to the preamble of the Constitution and the same being raid was agreed to. And then the convention adjourned until Monday morning, at 10 o'clock. It is interesting to note with what promptitude and industry the thirty-five delegates, with Edward Tiffin in the chair, proceeded with their work. These serious and enthusiastic statesmen of the frontier wasted no time in useless delays, social junkets and spectacular formalities. On the third .day of the session, the committee on rules for the regulation and government of the convention made its report, which was adopted. Other committees were appointed to prepare and report as follows: November 3, 1802. A preamble and first article of the Constitution. November 4. A bill of rights and a schedule for the purpose of carrying into complete operation the Constitution and Government. November 6. The second article of the Constitution on the supreme executive authority. November 9. The third article of the Constitution on the judiciary. November 12. The fourth article of the Constitution, designating the qualifications of electors. The fifth article of the Constitution declaring the manlier in which militia officers shall be chosen or appointed. The sixth article of the Constitution designating the manner in which sheriffs, coroners and certain other civil officers shall be chosen or appointed. November 15. An article comprehending the general regulation and provisions of the convention. It will be seen that the convention worked through committees, one for the consideration of each article. These committees from time to time, made reports to the convention, where they were considered in committee of the whole. These reports were usually printed and opportunity was afforded for any delegate to offer amendments. Debate was often spirited and at times acrimonious, but what was said is not a matter of record. It was known that Governor St. Clair desired to address the convention. A large majority of the members were opposed to him, but they did not carry their hostility to the extent of denying him the privilege to be heard. After considerable discussion, a motion was made and carried in this form : "That Arthur St. Clair, Senior, Esquire, be CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 15 permitted to address the convention on those points which he deems of importance." It will be noticed that he was not honored with the title of the office which he then held and the language of the resolution was little short of a studied personal insult. If the convention deserves censure for this unnecessary and discourteous action, it must be admitted that Governor St. Clair is open to rather severe criticism for the use that he made of the privilege extended. He could not let pass the opportunity to denounce the action of his political foes and to strongly oppose the purpose of an overwhelming majority of the convention to hasten the admission of Ohio into the Union. Promptly on the conclusion of the speech of the governor a resolution was offered declaring "it now expedient to form a constitution and state government." Only one member, Judge Ephriam Cutler, voted in the negative. The Territorial Legislature, which had been duly elected and had previously met, "stood adjourned to meet at Cincinnati on the fourth Monday in November." A resolution was introduced and adopted by the convention asking the governor to dissolve the Legislature, thus FIRST SEAL OF OHIO. affording evidence of their lack of faith in him and their suspicion that possibly he might influence the Legislature to obstruct the work of the convention. There seems to be no evidence that this action was necessary, as the Legislature did not convene and the governor made no effort to call it into session. Many resolutions were offered "relating to the people of color then residing in the territory." A careful observer who was at the time a member of the legislative council, writing on this. subject years afterwards, makes the rather indefinite statement that "probably one or two hundred" proposals of this character were offered. Some members wished to give the colored residents the full rights of citizenship others seemed willing to deprive them of all rights and limit them to conditions little short of slavery. Between these two extremes the flood of proposals rolled in. It is little singular that at this early date such intensity of feeling should be manifest on the color question. The attitude of the delegates is more fully considered in the chapter devoted to the anti-slavery movement in Ohio. It is sufficient here to know that the various proposals submitted on this subject were discussed with warmth and bitterness. The leaders of the convention became alarmed lest the color question might prevent the formation of a constitution. It was therefore tacitly agreed that the proposals should not be taken up for action. With a few exceptions to which reference will be made elsewhere, this policy was followed. The negro question and the negro were left rather 16 - HISTORY OF OHIO severely alone and it is practically true, as declared by Judge Jacob Burnet, that the constitution was created for white citizens. The Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory and made it impossible for a state convention to introduce it in any political subdivision of that territory. There is collateral evidence, however, that the people residing within the limits of the territory now embraced in the State of Ohio were opposed at the time of the adoption of our first constitution to the introduction of slavery. The fact that candidates for delegates to the convention were quick to deny any intention to favor the introduction of slavery is good evidence that there was no demand for it among the electors. The third article of the constitution of 1802, establishing the judicial department, was certain to prove unsatisfactory in practice. It was at first proposed to create one Supreme Court that should sit at the seat of state government. It was understood that, for some time at least, the state capital would continue at Chillicothe. Delegates from the more distant and populous parts of the state were not satisfied with this plan. Roads were bad and the means of transportation were of the most primitive character. The prospect of occasional trips to the capital to try cases before the court of final resort was not satisfactory. The device was finally proposed of having the Supreme Court move from county to county. This proposal, impracticable as it obviously was, nevertheless was adopted and Ohio began with a Supreme Court on wheels, or rather on horseback, as that was more frequently the mode of travel. It required no prophet to foretell the results. Almost from the date of the admission of Ohio into the Union the greater portion of the time of the Supreme Court was spent in traveling from county to county. Decisions were hastily made, often with no law book for reference, and in time the judiciary became hopelessly overburdened. Temporary expedients did not, bring substantial relief and difficulties steadily increased as the state grew in population and the counties became more numerous. The framers of this constitution evidently believed in the short ballot. Under this instrument in the state at large the governor only was elected by the people. Other state officials were chosen by the General Assembly. The governor had very limited authority and could not exercise the veto power. This curtailment, as has been observed, was due chiefly to antipathy towards St. Clair. The limited power conferred upon the governor by our first constitution has attracted the attention of all who have studied that document. Having stripped the governor in large measure of the powers that are usually conferred upon the chief executive, the convention proceeded to confer those powers upon the General Assembly, which was authorized to appoint all other state officers, including the judges of the Supreme Court and the presidents and judges of the Common Pleas Courts. The General Assembly was, therefore, the dominant power under the constitution. It made the laws and appointed the officers, with the exception of the governor, to interpret and execute them. The convention finished its work in a comparatively short time. It assembled in Chillicothe, November 1, 1802. On the 29th day of that month it had framed, engrossed, adopted and signed the first constitution of Ohio. Of course the delegates had the constitutions of other states to guide them. It is said that those of Tennessee and Virginia were regarded with favor and that recourse was had to them in framing certain articles of the constitution. The first constitution of Ohio was not submitted to the people for their approval. It became operative without this formality, another apparent lapse from the principles of the dominant element in the convention. But they wanted a new state and they wanted it quick. What they did, if it had been submitted to a vote, would undoubtedly have been approved by an overwhelming majority of the people. CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 17 JEFFERSON'S VIEWS OF OHIO'S FIRST CONSTITUTION Inasmuch as this constitution was the work of the friends of Jefferson, his opinion concerning it may be of interest. "We are told that immediately after the formation of the constitution of Ohio, a leading citizen of our state visited the seat of the general government. In an interview with Mr. Jefferson, then President, that statesman remarked that he had received the evening before and read with much pleasure the constitution of the State of Ohio. It was an excellent document, he said, but the framers committed the grave mistake of making too many sections and attempting to go too much into detail. With many other statesmen, Jefferson thought that constitutions, like the Declaration of Independence, should contain broad and general provisions under which the interests of the people could be subserved through the enactment of special laws. The preamble of the Constitution of the United States, which in large part was included in the preamble of our first constitution, is an excellent example. "To establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our-serves and our posterity" is an ample and generous refuge for statesmen. Even Mr. Jefferson, himself a "strict constructionist," did not hesitate to hie himself thither in time of need, notably on the occasion of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. While our first constitution was criticised as too detailed and specific, and this was one of the chief reasons urged by an advocate of revision in 1849, it was the briefest and most general in its provisions that the state ever had or perhaps ever will have. The modern tendency is toward detailed, specific and somewhat lengthy constitutions. Our social fabric has become more complex ; there is so much more to regulate. "To make sure of it and fix it so that neither the Legislature nor the courts can tamper with it, we will put it in the constitution"—this is a course of reasoning not uncommon in our day. The results are seen in the detailed and somewhat prolix constitution of Oklahoma and the expanding basic law of Oregon, where to make sure that an act will not be thrown out by the Supreme Court, it is voted into the constitution in the form of an amendment. We were well on the way toward the same goal in Ohio, when political conventions by endorsing amendments caught the voters of straight tickets and virtually changed our constitution at the will of the leaders of the dominant parties. Our early statesmen appreciated the importance of providing for the amendment of state constitutions. On this subject Thomas Jefferson wrote : No society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation ; they may manage it, then, and what proceeds from it as they please during their usufruct. They are masters, too, of their own persons, and consequently may govern them as they please ; but persons and property make the sum of the objects of government. The constitution and the laws of their predecessors are extinguished, then, in their natural course, with those who gave them being. This could preserve that being till it ceased to be itself and no longer. Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of thirty-four years. On another occasion Jefferson expressed a preference for opportunity to amend "every nineteen or twenty years," and the latter was the period fixed in our constitution of 1851. Our first constitution, however, made amendment or revision possible at any time after the year 1806. This could be done only by a convention of delegates after two-thirds of the General Assembly had voted in favor of submitting the proposition to call such convention and it had been approved by a majority of the people voting for representatives at the next general election. To recapitulate : We had in our first constitution a comparatively 18 - HISTORY OF OHIO brief statement of basic principles, which was yet sufficiently specific in some of its provisions to make it inflexible to the changing conditions of a growing commonwealth. Under it the executive had little power and the judiciary was dominated by the Legislature, in whose members, elected by the people, was vested the chief sovereign power. We shall see how such a government stood the test of time and met the needs of a rapidly expanding and progressive state. MEN OF THE CONVENTION THAT FRAMED THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF OHIO Judge Jacob Burnet, who served in the legislative council of the territorial legislature and afterwards as United States senator from Ohio, writes thus of the choice of delegates to this constitutional convention : "The result of the choice was highly creditable to the intelligence of the inhabitants, as with but few exceptions the most intelligent men of the counties were selected." He further speaks of them as "men of vigorous mind and high standing in the confidence of their fellow citizens." Of the delegates five, Huntington, Kirker, Morrow, Tiffin and Worthington, afterward became governors of Ohio ; four, Morrow, Smith, Tiffin and Worthington represented the state in the United States Senate. Morrow and Caldwell were members of the lower house of Congress. Charles Willing Byrd, of distinguished ancestry, was an able lawyer. He was secretary of the Northwest Territory and on the removal of St. Clair became acting governor. He was one of the ablest men of the convention. He was appointed United States district judge by President Jefferson, a position which he held for the remainder of his life. Darlinton, Goforth, Massie, Smith, Tiffin, Worthington, Cutler, Dunlavy and Morrow had served in the legislature of the Northwest Territory. Abbot, Baldwin, Caldwell, Carpenter, Cutler, Humphrey, Huntington, Kirker, Massie, Milligan, Morrow, Paul, Sargent, Tiffin, Wells, Woods, and Worthington were subsequently members of the General Assembly of Ohio. Dunlavy became president judge of the Court of Common Pleas while Kitchel; Gatch and other delegates became associate judges. Massie, McIntire and Wells won enduring fame as founders of towns and cities. Putnam; Reily, Dunlavy ant Massie had served in the war for American independence. This brief survey confirms the judgment of Jacob Burnet that the ability of this pioneer constitutional convention was of a high average order. On following pages will be found more extended sketches of some of the members of the convention. CHARLES WILLING BYRD Charles Willing Byrd was the son of Colonel William Byrd of Westover, Virginia, and his wife whose maiden name was Mary Willing. He was educated in Philadelphia as a lawyer and emigrated to Kentucky. He married the daughter of Colonel David Meade who was a sister of the wife of Nathaniel Massie. He was appointed by President John Adams secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1799, and became acting governor on the removal of Gen. Arthur St. Clair from office in 1802. He was a delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution for Ohio. A little later he was appointed United States district judge by President Thomas Jefferson and served as such until his death in 1828. CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 19 JAMES CALDWELL James Caldwell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 30, 1770; received a liberal education ; moved with his father to what is now West Virginia in 1772, and located on the present site of Wheeling ; moved to St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1799 ; merchant, and subsequently a banker ; member of the constitutional convention which framed the first constitution of Ohio ; clerk of court of Belmont County, Ohio, 1806- 1810 ; captain in an Ohio regiment in War of 1812 ; member of the State Senate, 1811-1812 ; elected as a democrat to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth congresses (March 4, 1813, to March 3, 1817) ; again member of the State Senate, 1819-1824 ; resumed banking and mercantile business in St. Clairsville, Ohio ; died in Wheeling, Virginia, in May, 1838 ; buried at St. Clairsville, Ohio. EPHRAIM CUTLER Ephraim Cutler was born at Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, April 13, 1767. He was the son of Manasseh Cutler and grandson of Hezekiah Cutler who was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1707. Manasseh Cutler, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a graduate of Yale, a minister of the Gospel, a Revolutionary soldier, agent of the Ohio Land. Company and member of Congress. Ephraim and his brother Jervis were taken to Killingly, Connecticut, when they were both quite young, and were left there in the care of their grandparents. Ephraim grew up on a farm but did not realize his grandfather's ambition by graduating at Yale: Lack of funds prevented this and his work was needed on the farm to support his aged grandparents. He had private instruction, was a great reader and acquired a good practical education. On. June 15, 1795, with his wife and children he left Killingly for the Ohio country. On the way he joined Col. Israel Putnam, Israel Putnam, Jr., and their families. After a long and sorrowful journey, on which he lost a son and a daughter and a number of the company were seriously ill, he reached Marietta on September 18, 1795. In October of the same year he moved with his family to Waterford on the Muskingum above Marietta and engaged with others in making salt. for the settlements at the springs near that place. Early in May, 1799, he moved to the new settlement of Ames, in what is now Athens County, Ohio. In September, 1801, he was elected a representative in the legislature of the Northwest Territory and later was chosen a delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio. In the latter body he was one of the most active and influential members. He was, perhaps, the most radical of the little group of federalists in the convention and was the only delegate that voted against proceeding to form a constitution. On every roll call, when the issue was presented, he voted to accord to the negro the rights vouchsafed in the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the original abolitionists of the state and defended with persistence and vigor the anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance of 1787. After the convention he worked at surveying and farming. "Democracy was in the ascendant," he writes, "and I soon found myself nothing in the political drama but simply the justice of the peace for Ames township." In November, 1807, his wife died. On April 15, 1808, he was married to Miss Sallie Parker of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Ohio, 1819- 1822 and a state senator, 1823-1824. In both of these bodies, as in the constitutional convention, he was active and influential. His son, William P. Cutler, was a member of the second constitutional convention of Ohio and a representative in Congress from Marietta district. Ephraim Cutler left a journal and many valuable manuscript papers which form the basis of a substantial volume entitled "Life and Times of 20 - HISTORY OF OHIO Ephraim Cutler," by his daughter, Julia Perkins Cutler. This is a valuable source book of information on early Ohio history and matters of national interest. He died July 8, 1853. ISRAEL DONALSON Israel Donalson was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, February 2, 1767. The family later moved to Cumberland County in the same state, where young Donalson received a fair education. In 1787 he left his New Jersey home for the West. He first located in Ohio County, Virginia, where he remained until the spring of 1790. He farmed, taught school and on occasion took part in the Indian wars. He formed the acquaintance of Gen. Nathaniel Massie and in the spring of 1791 went to live in the stockade at Manchester. He aided Massie in making surveys. Near Wrightsville he was captured by the Indians and carried to the camp of their tribe. Here he was dressed after Indian fashion, had his hair decked out with feathers and a ring of tin put in his nose. A few days later by gnawing off the thongs that bound his limbs he escaped from the Indians and finally reached Fort Washington, the military post where Cincinnati now stands. In 1798 he,married Miss Annie Pennyweight. In 1802 he was elected a delegate to the convention that framed Ohio's first constitution. He was postmaster of Manchester from 1801 to 1813. He served in the War of 1812. He was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church and lived till February 9, 1860, when he died at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He was a last surviving member of the constitutional convention of 1802. JOSEPH DARLINTON Joseph Darlinton was born July 19, 1765, on his father's plantation near Winchester, Virginia. He was the fourth in a family of seven children. He had a fair education. After the surrender of Burgoyne, a prison camp was established on his father's plantation where British prisoners of war were kept until the close of the Revolution. He was greatly interested in what he learned from some of these of the outside world and longed to travel. His wish was in a measure gratified. He went to Philadelphia, thence by sea to New Orleans and back by boat by way of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. On this trip he met Miss Sarah Wilson at Romney, Virginia, and afterward married her. She was heir to extensive lands and a number of slaves. Later he and his wife moved to Fayette County, *Pennsylvania. While here he was elected county commissioner. In 1794 he moved to Limestone, Kentucky. In 1797, believing that the county seat of Adams County would be at Washington, below the mouth of Brush Creek, he moved there. He was appointed probate judge by Governor St. Clair. In 1803 he moved to West Union. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature, 17991802 ; delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio ; state senator, 1803; was an associate judge of Adams County; clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and of the Supreme Court ; recorder of Adams County, 1803-1810, 1813-1834 ; brigadier-general of militia, and known as General Joseph Darlinton. He died August 2, 1851. FRANCIS DUNLAVY Francis Dunlavy was of Spanish Protestant ancestry. His forefathers fled from Spain to France and thence finally to Ireland. His father, Anthony Dunlavy, came to Virginia and settled near Winchester in 1745. Here Francis Dunlavy was born in 1761. The family moved to Washington, Pennsylvania. While here Francis, at the age of fourteen, volunteered to take the place of a neighbor who was in poor health and had been drafted to serve in the Revolution. From 1776 to 1782 CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 21 the lad was almost continuously in the service of his country. In the latter year he was in Crawford's defeat. After the close of the Revolution he was sent to Dickinson College to prepare for the ministry and continued his studies under his uncle, Rev. James Hoge. He finally concluded not to preach and became a teacher, conducting a classical school for some time in Virginia. In 1792 he came to Columbia, in Hamilton County, and taught school there with John Reily. He was a member of the Legislature of the Northwest Territory in 1801; a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio ; state senator, 1803. He was president judge of the Court of Common Pleas 1803-1817; continued actively in the practice of law for twelve years. The later years of his life were devoted to study and the reading of books, chiefly religious. He became an active opponent of American slavery. His death occurred November 6, 1839. SAMUEL HUNTINGTON Samuel Huntington was born in Coventry, Connecticut, October 4, 1765. He was the adopted son of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, president of Congress and governor of Connecticut. The subject of this sketch was graduated at Yale in 1785 ; was married in 1791 to Hannah, daughter of Judge Andrew Huntington ; was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Norwich, Connecticut ; moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1800 ; appointed by Governor St. Clair lieutenant colonel of militia in 1802 ; was delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio ; state senator and speaker of the senate, 1803 ; judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, serving 1803-1808 ; governor of Ohio, December 12, 1808-December 8, 1810 ; moved to Painesville, Ohio, in 1805. He died June 8, 1817. Samuel Huntington was considered a staunch federalist when he was elected as delegate to the constitutional convention of 1802. The federalist delegates from Marietta expected substantial aid from him. In this they were disappointed. On most of the issues before the convention he voted with the anti-federalists. When the subject of the rights of negroes was up before that body he seldom recorded his vote with that of his party colleagues. The anti-federalists, however, were also much divided on questions relating to the status of the negro and a number of them voted with the federalists from Marietta under the leadership of Ephraim Cutler and Gen. Rufus Putnam. Huntington's subsequent political preferment in the new state may have been the result of his attitude in the convention. THOMAS KIRKER Thomas Kirker was born in Ireland in 1760. At the age of nineteen years he came with his father's family to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After the death of his father he moved from Lancaster County to Kentucky, shortly after his marriage to Sarah Smith in 1790. In 1794 he moved to Adams County, Ohio, and settled in Manchester. Two years later he moved to Liberty Township, Adams County. He was a member of the first Court of Quarter Sessions held at Manchester in 1797. He was elected delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio ; was state representative, 1803, 1817; state senator, 18031814, 1821-1824. During most of his service in the Senate he was speaker. He was also speaker of the House of Representatives from December 15, 1816, until January 28, 1817. Before the close of the term of office of Governor Edward Tiffin in 1807 he was elected United States Senator. This left a vacancy in the governorship which was filled by Kirker as speaker of the Senate. Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., received the most votes for governor in 1807, but did not serve because he was declared ineligible to the office at that time. Thomas Kirker suc- 22 - HISTORY OF OHIO ceeded to the vacancy thus created. He was a candidate to succeed himself, but was defeated by Samuel Huntington. He served as associate judge in Adams County for a little less than one year, 1821. In 1824 he was presidential elector and voted for Clay. He reared a family of thirteen children, and his descendants live in many states. He died February 20, 1837. JOHN MCINTIRE Among the early builders of cities in Ohio was John McIntire, "founder, patron and benefactor" of Zanesville. He was born at Alexandria, Virginia, in 1759 ; learned and practiced the trade of shoemaker ; moved to Wheeling, Virginia, (now West Virginia) ; at the age of thirty-five years he married Sarah Zane, daughter of Col. Ebenezer Zane, whose "trace" through the wilderness between Wheeling and Maysville, Kentucky, became the basis of the National Road and Maysville Turnpike; aided his father-in-law in blazing Zane's Trace ; was given a half interest in the mile-square tract of land granted to Zane, where the "trace" crossed the Muskingum River and where the City of Zanesville now stands ; in 1799 moved with his wife from Wheeling to a comfortable cabin on the site of Zanesville ; established a tavern there, the first in the town, which became famous in its day; delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution for Ohio ; devoted his energies to the upbuilding of his town ; headed an unsuccessful movement to have the state capital located there ; launched the Zanesville Canal and Manufacturing Company and a project which included the construction of a dam across the Muskingum and a canal for manufacturing sites ; died July 29, 1815, before a number of the improvements that he had planned were completed. He left a large estate and careful provision for the completion of his larger project's. The provisions of his will were faithfully executed and his estate increased in value. He had provided generously for his widow and his adopted daughter, Amelia, stipulating that in case of the death of both, the estate was to be devoted to "the support of a poor school in the Town of Zanesville." Amelia McIntire died at the age of twenty years. In 1836 the "poor school fund" had grown to a sum sufficient for the erection of Zanesville's first free school—the McIntire Academy, which was finally absorbed in the free school system of the state. The McIntire bequest was then used for the erection of the McIntire Children's Home, which is a living monument to the founder of Zanesville. NATHANIEL MASSIE Nathaniel Massie was born in Goochland County, Virginia, December 28, 1763. He was of cavalier-English ancestry. His grandfather, Charles Massie, came with three brothers from Chestershire, England, to Virginia about the year 1690. His father, Nathaniel Massie, Sr., married Elizabeth Watkins in 1760. The subject of this sketch was their first child. His grandson and biographer, Hon. D. Meade Massie, of Chillicothe, tells us that but little is known of his early years. He had three brothers and a sister. When he was eleven years old his mother died. His father two years later married again and he had "a large number of half brothers and sisters." He had a good education as evidenced by the correct English of his correspondence and the accuracy of the numerous land surveys that he made in the Virginia Military District of the Northwest Territory. His father was a captain of militia and saw active service in the Revolution. The son, young Nathaniel, at the age of seventeen years, served in the militia of his county in the campaigns against the British CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION OF OHIO - 23 under Tarleton, and may have been present at the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1783, at the age of twenty years, he moved to Kentucky, where Daniel Boone had located lands for his father. Here he spent much of his time locating and surveying claims for others. He made his first expedition into the Northwest Territory in 1788. He was appointed deputy land surveyor of Virginia military lands in 1790. Preparatory to extensive surveys of lands north of the Ohio, Massie established a station on that side of the river in 1790 opposite the lower of the three islands, about twelve miles above the present Village of Maysville, Kentucky. This was first called Massie's Station and afterward Manchester. It was enclosed by a strong picket defense with block houses at the angles. From this point Massie's surveying expeditions were conducted. He was actively engaged in surveying land in the Virginia Military District north of the Ohio from 1791 to 1793. His surveying party had a number of engagements with the Indians, one of the most serious near the falls of Paint Creek early in the year 1795, after which surveying in the Scioto Valley was abandoned for the remainder of the year. With his party he returned and between Paint Creek and the Scioto laid out the Town of Chillicothe in the spring of 1796. On April 1st of that year he commenced erecting the first cabins of the town, and those who came with him with their thirty plows turned the sod of 300 acres of prairie land and planted it in corn. The treaty at Greenville ended the Indian wars in this section and the town grew rapidly. He laid out the Town of Bainbridge in 1805 and other towns at different dates numbering in all about fourteen. His brother, Henry Massie, founded Portsmouth in 1803. Nathaniel Massie was not, at the outset of his activities in the Ohio Valley, interested especially in politics, except as the attitude of those in authority affected his interests and rights in the field of his residence and business ventures. When Adams County was organized, Massie was eager to have the Town of Manchester made the county seat. Governor St. Clair decided in favor of Adamsville, and as the Ordinance of 1787 was silent on the authority to name county seats, the people seemed not disposed to recognize either as the seat of justice. In 1798 the first Legislature of the Northwest Territory was chosen. Massie was interested in the result. He and Joseph Darlinton were elected to represent Adams County in this first popular Assembly that convened within the present limits of Ohio. When the Legislature met the following year a bill was passed fixing the seat of justice for Adams County at Manchester. Other bills were passed creating additional counties and fixing the seats of justice. At the close of the session these were all vetoed by Governor St. Clair and the foundation was laid for differences between him and the representatives of the people— especially those from Virginia and Kentucky—and the bitter struggle that resulted in the admission of Ohio into the Union and the lighting of the fires of partisanship in the Ohio country was inaugurated. The biographer of Edward Tiffin describes this as "a war to the knife and the knife to the hilt." As the breach between St. Clair and his opponents widened, Massie became the most relentless of the Virginians in his hostility. St. Clair was a federalist and his opponents very naturally became anti-federalists. With not a few of them that was sufficient reason for their party allegiance. If St. Clair had been an anti-federalist they would probably have been federalists—so thoroughly had the personality of St. Clair become the basis of the contest. Massie was elected to the Second Territorial Legislature and as delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio, under which he served as state senator and speaker of the Senate in 24 - HISTORY OF OHIO 1803 ; state representative in 1806 and 1809. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1807 against Return Jonathan Meigs and was later defeated for the United States Senate. He was Presidential elector in 1804 and 1808 and voted respectively for Jefferson and Madison. In the spring of 1813, when the news came that Fort Meigs was besieged by the British and Indians, Massie raised a large number of volunteers in the Paint Creek Valley and Chillicothe and hastened to Franklinton, where he was chosen commander. Before he and his men reached Fort Meigs, however, they heard that the British had raised the siege and returned home. This was his last public service. In 1800 he married Susan Everard Meade, of Kentucky, and they moved to a fine home that he had built near the falls of Paint Creek, about two miles west of Bainbridge. Here he lived happily the remainder of his days. He died November 3, 1813, before he had reached the age of fifty years. He left a large estate, and a wife and five children. When it is remembered that Nathaniel Massie was a soldier of the Revolution and a volunteer officer, in the War of 1812 ; that he came to the Ohio country and the Scioto Valley before the arrival of Tiffin and Worthington, and that in ability and party zeal he was the peer of either of these two members of the Virginia triumvirate that overthrew St. Clair, it may seem, as political rewards go, that he did not receive recognition proportionate to his services. This was probably due primarily to his indifference to political preferment. In a letter to Thomas Worthington, under date of February 8, 1802, after declining to be considered as a candidate to succeed Governor St. Clair in the event of his removal from office, Massie wrote in part as follows : "I must be suffered to tell you that a short time hence I will not be seen in public life; not that I believe myself possessed of any extraordinary talents to render my country that service which at present she requires, but I believe, after a state government is formed, I can, with safety and peace of mind remain at home, where social happiness is only to be found." The chief interests and ambition of Nathaniel Massie were to develop the resources of his adopted state, to clear away the forests, to encourage immigration, to found towns and cities, to build mills and factories, to lead in the material progress of the goodly land of his chosen home. He had faith in its future; he planned well, and accomplished much. In a very special sense he was one of the founders of the State of Ohio. JEREMIAH MORROW Jeremiah Morrow was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The name Morrow is a modification of the Scotch surname Murray. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Jeremiah Murray, a son of Scotch parents, a Covenanter, was born in Ireland and came from Londonderry to what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, "a generation before the Revolution." He was the father of eight children, seven daughters and one son, John Morrow, who was born in 1743. John Morrow was the father of nine children, six daughters and three sons. The eldest son is the subject of this sketch. Jeremiah Morrow was born on a farm in Adams County, Pennsylvania, about five miles from the present site of Gettysburg and four miles north of the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary line, October 6, 1771. He was educated in the rural schools and for a short time attended an institution of academy grade. In 1794 he started to the Ohio country ; arrived in Columbia, near Cincinnati, in the spring of 1795 ; about two years later moved to his cabin in Warren County with his young bride ; representative in the Legislature of the Northwest Territory, 1800-1802 ; delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution of Ohio ; state senator,