 |
Ohio 1873 |
(Ed's Note: The notes below are extracts from The Official Ohio Lands Book written by Dr. George W. Knepper. A nice short, but very informative document about land settlement in Ohio. I also put some notes concerning this sketch.)
|
Ohio 1873 |
The War for
Independence was still in progress on October 10, 1780, when the Continental
Congress resolved that western lands it might acquire by treaty with Great
Britain or by cession from the states "shall be disposed of for the common
benefit of the United States." Republican states were to be formed in the
ceded land, and they would enjoy "the same rights of sovereignty, freedom,
and independence, as the other states." Great Britain surrendered her claim
to western lands in the Peace of Paris (1783), but several states had claims
based on their colonial charters. Both Virginia and Connecticut had western land
claims that would affect the future state of Ohio. In 1781, Virginia offered her
western lands to Congress, which accepted the offer three years later.
Connecticut’s cession was accepted in 1786. These state land cessions, plus
those of Massachusetts, paved the way for Congress to establish, in the region
north and west of the Ohio River, the first public domain.
The legal matters of ownership having been settled, Congress
was still faced with the reality of Indian occupancy. The Treaty of Ft. McIntosh
(1785) was the first of many treaties between the United States and various Ohio
Indian tribes, each treaty releasing additional Indian land to the control of
the new nation. Even as Congress sought access to Indian-occupied land, American
settlers were crossing the Ohio, encroaching on Indian land, carving out small
clearings in the wilderness, providing liquor to Indian peoples, and often
cheating them in trade. These squatters had no legal right to the land they
occupied, but most were tough, independent, self-righteous, and resisted
authority, so it proved impossible to remove them. Easterners sometimes referred
to them as "banditti," a favorite put-down of the time.
In 1783, Congress ordered Josiah Harmar, commander of the
tiny United States army stationed at Pittsburgh, to roust these people from
their new homes and send them back across the Ohio. The army had little success,
even though resorting to the burning of cabins and fields. Once the army had
left and the ashes cooled, these determined folk rebuilt on Ohio soil. Ft.
Harmar, erected in 1785 at the confluence of the Muskingum and the Ohio, was
designed to stem the flow of squatters, but it, too, proved ineffective.
It was with a sense of urgency, therefore, that Congress considered
how best to develop western lands. It was imperative that the West be
governable, preferably by responsible people amenable to legal norms. Congress’
first attempt was to enact the Ordinance of 1784. Thomas Jefferson was the
moving spirit behind this plan to create ten new states north of the Ohio. He
proposed the states be laid out in rectangular form with no consideration of
natural boundaries. Before the ordinance was implemented, however, Congress came
forward with a superior plan which initiated many features of a federal land
policy.
On May 20, 1785, Congress enacted a
land ordinance which became one of the most significant pieces of legislation
ever passed by the federal legislature. The Land Ordinance of 1785 created
rules for the orderly survey, sale, and settlement of the public domain, with
settlement to occur only on surveyed land. Land ceded by the states and
purchased from the Indians was to be divided into six mile square townships
created by lines running north and south intersecting at right angles with
east-west lines. Townships were to be arranged in north-south rows called
ranges. Most townships were to be subdivided into 36 one mile square sections.
Each range, township, and section was to be numbered in a regular, consistent
sequence.
The first north-south line was to be the western boundary of
Pennsylvania, and the first east-west line (called the Geographer’s Line or
Base Line) was to begin where the Pennsylvania boundary touched the north bank
of the Ohio River.
The Geographer’s Line was to extend westward through
"the whole territory" which at that time was meant to include lands
lying between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. The first actual survey extended 42
miles westward, but it did not proceed north of the Geographer’s Line. The
Geographer of the United States was to make a return of the survey after each
seven ranges had been completed, at which time the Secretary of War was to
choose by lot one seventh of the land to compensate veterans of the Continental
army. The rest of the lots were to be sold at auction in New York, then the
nation’s capital. A section (one square mile or 640 acres) was the smallest
unit for sale, and some townships were to be sold in their entirety. The minimum
price was one dollar per acre to be paid in cash or in land warrants of
equivalent value. No land would be sold on credit.
The Ordinance’s other provisions had long term
consequences. In each township, section number 16 was to be reserved for the
support of public schools. (This was the first federal aid to education,
predating the Constitution itself.) Sections number 8, 11, 26, and 29 in every
township were reserved for future sale by the federal government when, it was
hoped, they would bring higher prices because of developed land around them.
Congress also reserved one third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper
mines to its own use, a bit of wishful thinking as regards Ohio lands.
On the last day of September,
1785, Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States, and his crew began the
first survey of federal land–the Seven Ranges in eastern Ohio. As directed
in the Ordinance, they pushed the Geographer’s Line 42 miles westward from
Pennsylvania. Every six miles they ran lines south to the Ohio River, and within
these ranges ran township lines. Using the 1785 numbering system, ranges were
numbered westward from the Pennsylvania border, townships were numbered south to
north within each range, and sections were numbered in sequence starting with
section 1 located in the township’s southeast corner, then running south to
north in each tier until section 36 was reached in the northwest corner. As
directed in the Ordinance, section 16 was reserved for the support of public
schools, and sections 8, 11, 26, and 29 set aside for future sale.
In the Land Act of 1796, Congress changed the section
numbering system. Sections were now to be numbered so that section 1 was located
in the township’s northeast corner. Numbers would then progress west and east
alternately through the township "with progressive numbers" until
number 36 was reached in the township’s southeast corner. This system of
section numbering became standard thereafter in all original federal surveys.
Range, Township, Section, Part of Section, and the original land survey name
have become the basic legal property description for most of the land originally
surveyed by the United States government in the 29 public land states. The
original field notes and plats of the United States government land surveys in
Ohio have been deposited by the Auditor of State into the State of Ohio Archives
at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus.
 |
 |
| Section numbering after 1796 & before 1796 | The Seven Ranges |
| CONGRESS LANDS Initially all of the public domain could be described as Congress Lands, but that name was replaced in those regions developed in special surveys such as the Seven Ranges or the United States Military District. What remained in the public domain outside these particular regions was still referred to as Congress Lands, and they were surveyed under the federal rectangular system, with six mile square townships, and with the numbering system of 1796. |
 |
| Lands East of the Scioto River This tract contains more than 3,500,000 acres lying east of the Scioto River, south of the Refugee Tract and the United States Military District, west of the Seven Ranges, the Donation Tract and the Ohio Company Purchase, and north of the Ohio River. The major portion of this tract was coveted by the Scioto Company, a speculative venture led by the influential William Duer, which attempted to ride the coat tails of the Ohio Company to success. The Ohio company did succeed, of course, but mismanagement and fraud doomed the Scioto Company. It was unable to pay Congress for its purchase and the land remained in the control of the federal government. This survey was integrated into the Ohio Company and Seven Ranges surveys with the six mile square townships numbered south to north and ranges numbered east to west. (Ed's Note: Reviewing the original patent list for the land in Wayne Township, the Ohio River Survey is credited with establishing the initial plats. On the above/below maps, the particular area of concern for this sketch is Range XII, Township 12, (Wayne Township) just southeast of Zanesville. Within that township, Joseph Rash purchases 100 acres in the SW Quarter of section 12 from Isaac Barton for $400 in 1833. (Please ignore the arrow highlighting the Refugee Tract)) |
|
|
Adobe Copy of The Official Ohio Lands Book written by Dr. George W. Knepper
