HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY, OHIO

CHAPTER I

FULTON COUNTY ANTIQUITIES

BEFORE the white man, the Indian; before the Indian—who? The archaeology of any county forms one of its most interesting chapters. Who the ancient dwellers were, what they

did, what lives they led, are all questions of conjecture now. Their history appears only in their silent monuments, as silent as the race, the fact of whose existence they perpetuate. The relics they left are the only key that we possess of their lives, and these give a history whose antiquity seems almost Adamic. The principal remains left consist of earthworks, mounds and parapets, filled with the rude implements of the people who built them, and with the bones of these lost portions of humanity. From their proclivities to build these earthworks, these people are known as " Mound Builders," the only name that now fits their peculiar style of life. The mounds erected by them are of all sizes and shapes, and range in height from three or four feet to sixty or seventy feet. In outline, they are of equal magnitude, though none of great height were ever known to exist within the confines of Fulton county. What have been discovered are generally small in size and irregular in outline. They have in nearly all intances been much reduced in height, as the hand of modern man demands them for practical purposes.

The more pretentious earthworks are very generally distributed from western New York, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, through Michigan, to Nebraska. thence north from this line to the southern shore of Lake Superior. From this line they extend south to the Gulf of Mexico. Mounds occur in great numbers in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They are found in less numbers in western New York, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Iowa and portions of Mexico. In choos-

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ing this vast region, extending from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, and from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mound Builders took possession of the great system of plains, controlling the long inland water courses of the continent. Along the broad levels drained by this vast river system, the remains of prehistoric man are found. It is authoritatively stated that there are not less than thirteen thousand mounds and inclosures in the State of Ohio. Archaeologists have no difficulty in locating the places which were most densely populated, by reason of the irregular distribution of the works. It is interesting to note that in the selection of sites for these earthworks the Mound Builders were influenced by the same motives apparently, which governed their European successors. It is a well established fact that nearly every town of importance in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries is located on the ruins left by this ancient people: The sites selected by the Mound Builders for their most pretentious works were on the river terraces, or bottoms, no doubt because of the natural highways thus rendered available, besides the opportunities for fishing and the cultivation of the warm, quick soil, easily tilled.

The earth mounds are classified as sepulchral, sacrificial, temple or truncated, mounds of observation, symbolical or animal—also known as emblematic—and mounds of defense. The first named, sepulchral, are the most common of any. Emblematical or symbolical mounds are not known to have existed in this county. If they ever did exist here, all traces of them have been obliterated by that leveler of savage country, the plow. Sepulchral mounds were devoted to the purpose of burial and were generally pyramidal in form and usually contained layers of clay, ashes, charcoal. various soils and one or more skeletons, often very many. Sacrificial mounds are usually stratified, the strata being convex layers of clay and loam, the layers alternating above a layer of fine sand. They also contain ashes, igneous stones, charcoal, calcined animal bones, beads, implements of stone, pottery and rude sculpture. They also have altars of burned clay or stone, resting in the center of the mound upon the original earth, on which the people offered sacrifice, employing fire for the purpose. Mounds of observation—sometimes termed defensive— are found upon prominent elevations. They were, doubtless, alarm posts, watch-towers, signal stations, or outlooks. They commonly occur in chains or regular systems and still bear traces of the beacon fires that once burned upon them. In addition to the division of mounds already made, some add monumental or memorial mounds, not numerous, supposed to have been erected as memorials to the distinguished dead among the Mound Builders.

Scarcely any of the few small mounds in Fulton county have been properly opened. The examinations have rarely been systematic, and hence much has been lost. Commonly the plow has been run over the mounds, regardless of the history a careful search would reveal, until almost all traces of their existence have been obliterated. This ruthless leveling of the mounds has not been perpetrated, however,

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merely to gratify the iconoclatic propensities of the plowmen, but their cupidity moved them. They wanted the corn the mounds would produce. Running the plow-share through the mounds was not a very successful method of obtaining a knowledge of their contents.

Of the works examined in this county, those most worthy of mention are situated on the farm of the late Hon. D. W. H. Howard, in section nine, Pike township. These mounds were explored during the summer of 1892, through the efforts and under the direction of Hon. W. H. Handy, to whose excellent article upon the same we are indebted for the information here given concerning them. And much credit is also due to Mr. Howard, upon whose farm and in whose orchard most of them are situated. During all of his life he jealously guarded these mounds against vandalism, permitting no one to in any manner interfere with them, further than to cultivate the ground. The mounds are located on the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section nine, in Pike township, and are built on a high ridge, containing five or six acres of land, and follow the highest outer elevation of the bluff with three exceptions.

These mounds are in a group, twelve in number, of which eleven are located and clearly identified and the site of the twelfth is plainly indicated. One of them is built on the northern edge of the bluff, and a distinct, well-defined terrace appears on the north side of the mound. Another one is located in the public road, near by, and has been almost entirely obliterated. The others, while their outlines are somewhat indistinct, can be easily seen. The soil is a top-dressing of light sand, mixed, however, at a depth of six or seven inches with gravel. Long years after these mounds were built they were exposed to the winds and rain, and consequently they have lost much more by erosion than they have gained by decaying vegetation or otherwise. Beside, they were cultivated more or less for many years. The first excavation was made of a mound about thirty-five feet in diameter, and about ten feet from the center small pieces of charcoal were found. The soil was composed of six inches of mould, eighteen inches of white sand, with yellow sand mixed with some gravel at the surface. At about the center, two altars were uncovered, one a circle and the other a parallelogram, the circle lying directly south of the other, and being four feet in diameter, while the parallelogram was about four by six feet. On the circular altar were found some remnants of human bones that had been partially burned, among them being a jaw bone containing four teeth. On the other were found the bones of many different animals, these also being partially burned. Very near the original surface. but with the baked earth covering him, immediately under the circular altar was found the skull and a portion of the skeleton of a man, lying on his face with head to the west. The part of the skull above the nasal bones was well preserved, and, compared with the skull of an Indian, found intrusively buried in a neighboring

mound, was a distinctly different type of man.

It was noticeable that the burned sand of the altars was as dry

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as the dust that blows in the street, while the original soil under the altars, sod which had not been burned, was found to be moist. The ground of which the altars were composed had never been disturbed since the fires went out. This was demonstrated to a certainty, as no digging could ever have been, done without disturbing the strata, and it had never been disturbed. The baked sand, the red burned ground, and the charcoal, were in as perfect layers as if placed time by the hands of a mason. The mound mentioned as being located in the public road is, as stated above, entirely obliterated, but in an early day Col. Howard found in its center a circle of stones about four feet in diameter, containing within the circle about a bushel of charcoal and ashes, The stones were what are known as "nigger-heads."

Nearly all of these mounds were opened and examined by Judge Handy, and the report of two of them we will give in the Judge's own language. Of the one he calls Mound No. 7 he writes: "Sandy soil, light yellow sand : about eighteen inches from surface found longest thigh bones yet discovered. No traces of fire—no disturbance of soil heretofore—bones crumbled on exposure—highest of the mounds—found near center skeleton with his head to the north, lying on his back and limbs extended—near him found skeleton No. 2, with his head to the east and lying on his face, Both being large men —bones crumbled and could not be preserved—teeth perfect. We entered Mound No. 6 from the south. Soon after we commenced work here we discovered that the soil of this part of the mound had been disturbed. After digging about ten feet to the north and about fourteen inches below the surface, we found an iron tomahawk. gnash made, Close by we found the skull and part of the skeleton of an Indian lying on his side with his feet to the south. His atlIV map extended to the tomahawk. Going west of this we soon ow toground that had never been disturbed. Here we found an altar, eight feet and seven inches in diameter, and round. We cut the dirt away from this and cleared the, mould from the top, and save a portion that had been cut off by the digger early in the morning. ive had the altar as it stood when the last fires went out many centuries ago. This altar had upon it partially burned, animal and human bones. We found many pieces of human skulls, both of grown people and children; parts of the bones of the arm and the lower limbs; the hip bone, ball and socket of a child: most of them charred; some of them having a bluish tint : the charred bones of many animals all in the red burned sand on the altar. The altar was nearly level on the top. It was built up, commencing at the bottom, as follows: Yellow sand about eighteen inches, but fire had burned the life out of this; soil burned red, three inches charcoal, two and one-half or three inches; red burned soil, four inches; sand and mould, six inches.

"When we uncovered the altar in Mound No 6 and exposed it t3 view Onost in its entirety, we had before us the sacrificial altar of a great, lost, powerful people. We saw it as they saw it ten or more centuries ago, when they covered up its fires forever. It told us much —it told us nothing. They burned human beings; they burned animals.

FULTON COUNTY ANTIQUITIES - 21

Was it cremation? Hardly, for it was not complete. Was it sacrificial? Probably. But to what deity or deities ? Alas! We will never know. Who did these people succeed ? What caused the destruction of the Mound Builders? Who followed them? A thousand years from now who will have succeeded us?"

In every instance it was definitely ascertained that many persons were buried in the same mound. Mr. Howard was authority for the tatement that the Indians had no knowledge, traditionary or otherwise, concerning these earthworks, and if the Mound Builders were the ancestors of the Red Men of recent date, such fact was unknown and unsuspected by the latter. Mr. Howard associated from boyhood with them and accompanied them to their reservation be3rond the Mississippi was always their friend ; able to converse with them in their own language, to get into their inner lives, as it were; to appreciate and credit them with their virtues and condemn their faults, he easily became their confidant and possessed of their traditions. He stated at the time of the excavations that he heard old Chief Winnameg say "that the oldest man did not know who made the mounds. and that nobody knew, but he thought that a great battle had been fought there and the dead buried in the mounds." It is a well-known fact that the Indians never prepared burial places for their dead like the mounds referred to; neither did they erect altars, where animals .and human beings were immolated to secure the favor of the Great Spirit and afterward cover such altars with a mound of earth. These, and many other important considerations lead the majority of students of antiquity to the opinion that the Mound Builders were a distinct race of people, and that they inhabited a large portion of America long before the Red Men took possession..

The principal mounds in this county have now been mentioned, and it will be well to notice the implements made by the extinct race. Very few utensils, made of copper. have been found in this part of Ohio, owing partly to the fact of the unexplored condition of many of the mounds, and to the additional fact that little, if any, copper exists in this part of the United States. What does exist is in loose fragments that have been washed down from the upper lake region. When mounds are explored, great care is necessary lest these small utensils be lost, as they are commonly scattered through the mass, and are not always in close proximity to the skeletons. The copper deposits about Lake Superior furnished the prehistoric man with this metal, and, judging from the number of relics, now found, which were made of this metal, it must have been quite abundant. The population then must also have been quite numerous, as occasionally copper implements, tempered to an exceeding hardness, are found about the country. These implements are small, generally less than half a pound in weight; and seldom exceeding three pounds. There were millions of these in use during the period of the ancient dwellers, which must have been thousands of years in duration. The copper implements left on the surface soon disappeared by decomposition, to which copper is nearly as subject as iron. Only a part of the

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dead Mound Builders were placed in burial mounds, and of these only a part were buried with their copper ornaments on and about them. Of those that were, only a small part have been discovered, and in many instances, the slight layer of earth over them has not prevented the decay and disappearance of the copper relics. Articles of bronze or brass are not found with the remains of the builders of the mounds, and it is evident they knew nothing of these metals in the Ohio Valley ; nor did they possess any of the copper that had been melted and cast im Moulds.

Stone relics however, are very numerous and well preserved. Stone axes, stone mauls, stone hammers, stone chisels, etc., are very plentiful yet, and were the common implements of the prehistoric man in this part of the West. None were made with holes or eyes for the insertion of a helve or handle. They were made more perfect by rubbing and polishing, probably done from time to time, after they were brought into use. A handle or helve. made of a withe or split stick, was fastened in the groove by thongs of hide. The bit is narrower than the body of the ax, which is generally not well enough balanced to be of much value as a cutting instrument. It is very seldom the material is hard enough to cut green and sound timber. The poll is usually round, but sometimes flat, and, rarely, pointed. It is much better adapted to breaking than cutting, while the smaller ones are better fitted for war clubs than tools. As a maul to break dry limbs they were very efficient, which was probably the use made of them. In weight they range from half a pound to sixteen pounds, but are generally less than three pounds. The very heavy ones must have been kept at the regular camps and villages, as they could not have been carried far, even in canoes. Such axes are occasionally found in the Indian towns on the frontier, as they were found in Ohio, among the aborigines. The Mound Builders apparently did not give them as much prominence among their implements as their savage successors. Double-headed hammers have the grooves in the middle. They were made of the same material as the axes, so balanced as to give a blow with equal force at either end. Their mechanical symmetry is often-perfect. As a weapon in war, they were indeed formidable, for which purpose they are yet used in the wilds of the far West.

Implements known as "fleshers" and "skinners," chisel-formed. commonly called "celts," were probably used as aids in peeling the skins of animals from the meat and bones. For the purpose of cutting tools from wood they were not sufficiently hard, and do not show such use, excepting a few flint chisels. They may have been applied as coal scrapers where wood had been burned ; but this could not have been a general thing without destroying the perfect edge most of them now exhibit. The grooved axes were much better adapted to this purpose. Fleshers and scrapers of various sizes and shapes are numerous in this county.

Pestles to grind maize so as to fit it for cooking have been found in a variety of forms—some cylindrical, some bell-shaped and some cone-like. The materials are also various, consisting of green stone,

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syenite, quartz, etc., and sometimes sandstone. Most of the petles are short, with a wide base, tapering toward the top. They were probably used with one hand, and moved about in the mortar in a circle. The long, round instrument, usually called a pestle, does not appear to be fitted for crushing seeds and grain by pounding or turning in the mortar. It was probably used as a rolling pin, perhaps on a board or leveled log, but not upon stone. It is seldom found smooth or polished, and varies from seven to thirteen inches in length. In outline they taper toward each end, which is generally smooth and circular in form, as though it had been twirled in an upright position.

Perforated plates, thread sizers, shuttles, etc., generally made of striped slate, are met with in an almost endless variety of forms, most of which have tapering holes through them flat-wise, the use of which has been much discussed. They are generally symmetrical, the material `fine grained, and their proportions graceful, as though their principal use was that of ornamentation. Many of them may well have been worn suspended as beads or ornaments. Some partake of the character of badges or insignias of authority. Others, if strung together on thongs, or belts, would serve as a coat of mail, protecting the breast or back against the arrows of an enemy. A number of them would serve to size and twist twine or coarse thread made of bark, raw-hide, or sinew. The mot common theory regarding their 'ate is, however, lacking one important feature—none of them show signs of use by wearing, the edges of the holes through them being sharp and perfect. This objection applies equally well to their use as suspended ornaments. Some of them are shuttle-form, through Which coarse threads might have been passed for weaving rude cloth of bark or of fibrous plants, such as milk-weed or thitles. There are also double-ended and jointed ones, with a cross section, about the middle of which is a circle and through which is a perforation.

Badges and wands, in a variety of forms, are frequently found. A perfect specimen of a double, crescent was picked up by George Kimbell of Williams county, several years ago, and several single crescents 'have been found from time to time. Wands and badges are nearly all fabricated from striped and variegated slate, highly finished, very symmetrical and elegant in proportions, evidently designed to be ornamental. If they were stronger and heavier some of them would serve the purpose of hatchets or battle-axes. The material is com,pact and fine grained; but the eyes, or holes for handles or staves, are quite small, seldom half an inch in diameter. Their edges are not sharp, but rounded, and the body is thin, usually less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. The form of badges known as "double- crescents" are the most elegant and expensive of any yet brought to notice. They were probably used to indicate the highest rank or office. The single crescent perhaps signified a rank next below the double. In nearly or quite all the crescents the points turn outward. The finish around the bore of all winged badges and the crescents is the same, and the size of the bore about the same—from two-fifths to

HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 24

three-fifths of an inch. On one side of all, is a narrow ridge; oh the other, a flat band, lengthwise, like a ridge that has been ground down to a width of one to two-tenths of an inch. Badges and crescents are invariably made of banded slate, generally of a greenish shade of color. The other forms of wands or badges, such as those with symmetrical wings or blades, are also made of green striped slate, highly polished, with a bore of about one-half inch in diameter, apparently to insert a light wooden rod or staff. They were probably emblems of distinction, and were not ornaments. Nothing like them is known among the modern tribes, in form or use, hence they are attributed to the Mound Builders. In addition to stone ornaments, the prehistoric man seems to have had a penchant, like his savage̊ successors, to bedaub his body with various colors, derived from different minerals. These compounds were mixed in hollowed stones or diminutive mortars—"paint cups"-in which the mineral mass of colored clay was reduced to powder and prepared for application to the body. Such paint cups are not common in this county, in fact they are quite rare.

A few pipes of special note have been found. Three were found in the east part of Williams county, of which one represented a tortoise, one a frog and one a duck. The comparative rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the fact that they were not discarded, as were weapons, when those by whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The advance of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor did the whites substitute a better implement. The pipes were retained and used until worn out or broken, save the few that were buried with their dead owners. What *ill the ultimate fate of these can only be conjectured. In very few instances does an Indian grave contain a pipe. If the practice of bitting the pipe with its owner was common, it is probable that the graves were opened and robbed of this coveted article by members of he same of some other tribes.

It only remains to notice the "flints," in addition to which a few other archaeological relics of minor importance are found about the country, but none of sufficient import to merit mention, or to throw additional light on the lost tribes of America. Arrow and spear heads and other similar pieces of flaked flints are the most abundant Of any aboriginal relics in the United States. Stone implements, such as have been heretofore mentioned, have been found in all parts of Fulton tounty, but more frequently along the banks of Tiffin river and other streams. "Indian arrows," on the contrary, are found everywhere; and there is not a boy living amid pastoral surroundings, who does not treasure among hrs possessions a few of the flinty weapons. They are chiefly made of hard and brittle siliceous materials; are easily damaged in hitting any object at which they are aimed, hence many of them bear marks of violent use. Perfect specimens are, however, by nd means rare. The art of arrow-making survives to the present day among certain Indian tribes, from whom is learned the art practiced that produces them. A classification of

FULTON COUNTY ANTIQUITIES - 25

arrow-heads is not within the scope of this work ; indeed, it is rarely attempted by archaeologists. The styles are almost as numerous as their makers. In general, they are all the same in outline, mostly leaf-shaped, varying according to the taste of those who construct 'them. They may have been chipped—probably most of them were— Mud some may have been ground. Spear heads exhibit as large a Variety as arrow-heads. Like arrow-heads, spear-heads were inserted

wooden handles of various lengths, though in many tribes they here fastened by thongs of untanned leather or sinews. Their modes of manufacture were generally the same. Sometimes tribes contained "arrow-makers," whose business it was to make these implements,

them to or exchanging them with their neighbors for wampum or peltry. When the Indian desired an arrow-head, he could buy one of the "arrow-maker" or make one himself. The common 'Method was to take a chipping implement, generally made of the hinted rods of a deer horn, from eight to sixteen inches in length, of slender, short pieces of the same material, bound with sinews to wooden sticks, resembling arrow shafts. The "arrow-maker" held ft his left hand the flake of flint or obsidian on which he intended to operate, and pressing the point of the tool against its edge, detached scale after scale until the flake assumed the desired form.

The peculiar and distinctive features of these, various relics of past ages may be of little interest to some readers ; but the fact of their existence, and that they are the only remains of a race of human beings who passed away, possibly hundreds of years before the advent the white man on the American, continent, urges the effort to solve the mystery of the ancient people and their works. And from the great number and variety of stone implements found in Fulton county, one would suppose that this section was a favorite locality of that peculiar race; and that fact adds a local interest to what would otherwise be, perhaps. a dry subject. A nation doubtless arose and fell in the same region where now thrives an Anglo-Saxon civilization; and we, "who tread on the earth that lies over their brow," can obtain information concerning them only by a careful study of the implements and works they have left behind them. But the solution of the problem has baffled the skill, research and learning of the most noted scientists of two continents, since the existence of these "Works of human hands" was first determined. True, we have theories. ably supported by argument, and these, in the absence of absolutely established facts, we must accept, weigh, adopt, or discard, and still remain in darkness as to the origin, mission and final destiny of the Mound Builders.

Judging by the works which they have left—and that is in accord with scriptural suggestion—they were a powerful race of slightly civilized and industrious people. The earth monuments only remain, these enclosing relics of rude art, together with the last lingering remains of mortality—the crumbling skeletons—which the curious Investigators have disturbed in their resting places. But even these have yielded to scientific minds, strongly imaginative, some knowl-

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edge of the character and lives of the race. The Twentieth century dawned in almost as great ignorance of the prehistoric race as did the Nineteenth ; yet in the ever restless spirit of modern investigation, efforts have been made to link the Mound Builders with some ancient and far distant race of civilized mankind.

As early as 1772, Rev. David Jones publicly noted the existence of the mounds and advanced his views concerning them. In 1784, Arthur .Lee wrote a treatise on the lost race and advanced some rather visionary ideas regarding it. But the first general survey of the works was made by Caleb Atwater of Circleville. 0., in 1819, under the auspices and at the expense of the Archaeological Society of Worcester, Mass. About 1836, Dr. Edwin Hamilton Davis of Chillicothe, was employed with Col. Charles Whittlesey in explorations and surveys of the Newark antiquities. In this work Dr. Davis became greaty interested and continued his investigations and collections ever afterward. Ephraim George Squier of New York, also became greatly interested in archaeological matters, and in 1846, he and. Dr. Davis joined in the preparation of a work which formerly stood at the head of the archaeological literature of North America. Recognizing the merit of this work, the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., assumed a protectorate over it, and in 1848 published the work of Squier and Davis, together with some plans and notes furnished by others, under title of "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." This publication constituted the first systematic work with descriptions and figures of the numerous remains of the Mound Builders. From that day to the present, the Smithsonian Institution has continued to publish books and original papers relating m this subject. Stimulated by this national recognition, and in view of the absorbing interest of the subject, many original investigators have published manuscripts and books at private expense, some of which are very elaborate and complete.

It is a noticeable feature of all the early publications in this department of archaeology that they attach great antiquity to the Mound Builders. The variations in this regard are also very great. Some assume that thousands of years have elapsed since the building of these ancient relics, and all agree that they are very old. Eminent authorities are as widely at variance regarding their antiquity as they are concerning their origin and purpose. In closing this chapter we present the views of a number of recognized authorities as tending to show that the Mound Builders were, or may have been, the immediate predecessors of the Indians found here on the advent.of the white man,

The Marquise de Nadaillac, in his admirable work on "Prehistoric America," published in 1895, and edited and verified by W. H. Dalle, sums up a voluminous discussion as follows: "What, it may be asked, are we to believe was the character of the race to which, for the purpose of clearness, we have for the time being applied the term, `Mound Builders?' The answer must be, they were no more nor less than the immediate predecessors, in blood and culture, of the Indians

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described by DeSoto's chroniclers and other early explorers, the Indians who inhabited the region of the mounds at the time of their discovery by civilized men. As, in the far north, the Aleuts, up to the time of their discovery, were by the testimony of the shelf heaps as well as their language, the .direct successors of the early eskimo- so in the fertile basin of the Mississippi, the Indians were the builders, or the successors of the builders, of the singular and varied structures attributed to the Mound Builders. It is here that a very different opinion has been widely entertained, chiefly by those who were not aware of the historical evidence. Even Mr. Squier, who, in his famous work on the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, makes no distinction in these remains, but speaks of the Mound Builders as an extinct race and contrasts their progress in the arts with the supposed low condition of the modern Indians, in a subsequent publication felt compelled to modify his views and distinguish between the earthworks of western New York, which he admits to be of purely Indian origin, and those found in southern Ohio. Further researches have shown that no line can be drawn between the two; the differences are merely of degree. For the most part the objects found in them, from the rude knife to the carved and polished ‘gorget,' might have been .taken from the inmost recesses of a mound or picked up on the surface among the debris of a recent Indian village, and the most experienced archaeologist could not decide which was their origin. Lucian Carr has recently reviewed the whole subject in a manner which cannot but carry conviction to the impatient archaeologit, but the conclusions he arrives at have the weight of other, and, as all will admit, most distinguished authority. It is not asserted that the mounds were built by any particular tribe, or at any particular period, nor that each and every tribe of the Mississippi valley erected such structures, nor that there were not differences of culture and proficiency in the arts between different tribes of Mound Builders, as between the tribes of modern Indians now known. All that can be claimed is that there is nothing in the mounds beyond the power of such people as inhabited the region when discovered; that those people are known to have constructed many of the mounds now, or recently existing, and that there is no evidence that any other, or different people, had any hand in the construction of those mounds in regard to which direct historical evidence is wanting. Summing up the results that have been attained, it may be safely said that, so far from there being any a priori reason why the red Indians could not have erected these works, the evidence shows, conclusively, that in New York and the Gulf states they did build mounds and embankments that are essentially of the same character as those found in Ohio."

Lucian Carr says: "In view of the fact that these same Indians are the only people, except the whites, who, so far as we know, have ever held the region over which these works are scattered, it is believed that we are fully justified in claiming that the mounds, and enclosures of Ohio, like those in New York and the Gulf states, were the work of

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the red Indians of historic times, or of their immediate ancestors. To deny this conclusion, and to accept its alternative, ascribing these remains to a mythical people of a different civilization, is to reject a simple and satisfactory explanation of a fact in favor of one that is far-fetched and incomplete, and this is neither science nor logic."

We quote a few brief extracts from sayings of other eminent students and scholars, and leave the determination of the question to the patient reader:

"The earthworks differ less in kind than in degree from other remains respecting which history has not been entirely silent"— Haven.

"There is nothing, indeed, in the magnitude and structure of our western mounds which a semi-hunter and semi-agricultural population, like that which may be ascribed to the ancestors or Indian predecessors of the existing race, could not have executed."—Schoolcraft.

"All these earth-works—and I am inclined to assert the same of the whole of those in the Atlantic states, and the majority in the Mississippi valley—were the production, not of some mythical tribe of high civilization in remote antiquity, but of the identical nations found by the whites residing in these regions."—Brinton.

"No doubt that they were erected by the forefathers of the present Indians."—Gen. Lewis Cass.

"Nothing in them which may not have been performed by a savage peopk: '. Gallatin.

`The old idea that the Mound Builders were peoples distinct from, and other than, the Indians of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries, and their progenitors, appears unfounded in fact and fanciful."—C. C. Jones.

"Mound Builders were tribes of American Indians of the same race with the tribes now living."—judge M. F. Force.

"The progress of discovery seems constantly to diminish the distinction between the ancient and modern races ; and it may not be very wide of the 'track to assert that they were the same people."— Lapham.

The preceding pages give the views of well-known scientists and explorers, both early and recent. It is not the purpose of this work to decide controverted questions, but to give both sides and allow the reader to form his own. opinions, based upon, authorities cited.

In concluding this chapter, we will state, however, that, although Fulton county may not be a rich field for arclueological research, yet the evidences in existence that this section was once the abode of these unknown earth workers, are sufficient to create a local interest in any information concerning them. Judging from the mass of published information on the subject, the Mound Builders were a race or races of people, somewhat nomadic in their habits, yet more centralized in habitation than the Indians of historic time. They were semi-agricultural in pursuits, given to hunting and fishing, and schooled in the primitive arts of warfare. They had some knowledge

FULTON COUNTY ANTIQUITIES - 29

of trade, or a system of rude barter, which brought them into possession of articles from far distant localities, since in Williams county, and particularly in the vicinity of Nettle Lake, mounds have been opened which contained copper that must have come from Lake Superior, and mica that probably had its origin in the old mines of North Carolina. But, after all, our opinions can be but deductions drawn from the mementoes they have left us, and which have withstood the forces of nature that causes less enduring materials to crumble and decay. However carefully we may study and examipe these rude and imperfect records, much will doubtless always remain shrouded in dense obscurity.

30 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY, OHIO

CHAPTER II

EARLY JURISDICTION

IT WAS not until many years after the close of the American Revolution that the Anglo-Saxon race undertook the project of colonization in the region known as the Maumee Valley, of which Fulton county is a component, and as regards population and resources, a very important division. It should not be inferred, however, that the territory contained within the present limits of the county remained unvisited by white men and unknown to them until after the epoch mentioned above. While this portion of North America was under the dominion of the French government an extensive trade with the Indians was carried on, and in pursuit of the returns that came from the traffic with the red men the wiley and skillful French traders traveled extensively over this portion of their mother country's possessions. They continued their relations with., the natives, notwithstanding that the result of the French and Indian war transferred the right of dominion to the English government, and even for years following the American Revolution they followed their vocation, undisturbed and without competition, save the rivalry exiting among themselves. So it is fair to presume that during their many excursions, in quet of trade, the present limits of Fulton county were frequently invaded ; and as their much traveled route, connecting Detroit with the Wabash river, was through this region, it can easily be inferred that the natives who then inhabited this section were the beneficiaries or victims, as the case might be, of commercial intercourse with the early French traders.

Good traditional authority exists for the belief that at least one Indian and French trail passed through Fulton county. Major. Suttenfield and wife passed over it on horseback, after Hull's surrender of the Northwestern army in the latter part of the summer of 1812, on their journey from Detroit to Fort Wayne. But railroad tracks and plow-shares have long since destroyed all vestige of this highway, so often trodden by the once powerful tribes and their eager customers. These commercial adventurers were not pioneers in the true sense of that word, and it is doubtful if they could properly be called advance agents of civilization. Their mission in these parts was neither to civilize the denizens of the forest nor to carve out homes in the western wilderness. "The white man's burden" rested not heavily upon their shoulders and gave them little or no concern, the only motive that fetched them hither being a desire to possess, at as little cost as

EARLY JURISDICTION - 31

possible, the wares which the Indians had for sale. This object being attained, they wended their way homeward and the localities which had known them knew them no more. So it remained for the forerunners of Anglo-Saxon civilization, as they led the "march of empire" in a weterly direction, to open this section of country for actual settlement and win from hostile nature—and at times a more hostile foe in human form—homes for themselves and posterity.

The Indians who inhabited the northern region east of the Mississippi at the beginning of historic times were, in language, of two great families, which are given the French names Algonquin and Iroquois. These are not the Indian names. In fact, from the word Indian itself, which is a misnomer—arising from the slowness of the early voyagers to admit that they had found unknown continents—'town to the names of the tribes, there is a confusion of nomenclature And often a deplorable misfit in the titles now fixed in hitory by long usage. The Algonquin family may more properly be termed the Lenape, and the Iroquois the Mengwe, which the English frontiersmen

closely approached in the word, Mingo. The Lenape themselves, while using that name, also employed the more generic title of Wapanackki. The Iroquois, on their part, had the ancient name of Onque Honwe, and this in their tongue, as Lenape in that of the other signified men with a sense of importance—"the people," to use convenient English expression. The Lenape became a very widespread people, and different divisions of them were known in later years by various names, among which was Maumee. The Indian name of this tribe was something like Omaumeeg, and is said to have meant people of the peninsula. The French name which came into general use was Miami, pronounced Me-ah-me, though the English sometimes used Omee. From this derivation came the names of rivers in Ohio, and as late as 1835, the river flowing eastward into Lake Erie was known as "the Miami of the Lake ;" but since then, for the purpose of shortening the name and also to avoid confusion, the other form of the word has been used and the river has been called the Maumee, while Miami is used to designate rivers in Southern Ohio.

Before proceeding with an account of the organization and settlement of Fulton county, a brief review of the quetion of title to "ands will be necessary, the word title as here used having special L.:reference to racial dominion or civil jurisdiction. As is well known, the French were the first civilized people who laid claim to the territory now embraced within the state of Ohio, and France exercised nominal lordship over the region until the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, which ended the French and Indian war. Prior to this date the French nctually occupied isolated places in the vat extent of territory claimed by them (the south shore of Lake Erie, for instance) but it is an open

historical quetion when such occupancy began. It is certain, how" ever, that there was not the semblance of courts or magistrates for v the trial of civil or criminal issues, and hence the chief function of civil government was lacking. And even for some years after the Ohio country passed under the control of the officials of the British

32 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

government, affairs there were managed by army officers, commandants of posts on the frontier.

Immediately after the peace of 1763 with the French, the Province of Canada was extended by act of Parliament, southerly to the. Allegheny and Ohio rivers. This of course included all of the present state of Ohio, notwithstanding the claims of the colony of Virginia that she had the title to all the land northwet of the Ohio river. This conflict of authority was at its height during the Revolutionary war, and in 1778, soon after the conquest of the British forts on the Mississippi and the Wabash, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, Virginia erected the county of Illinois. with the county seat at Kaskaskia. It practically embraced all the territory in the present states of Ohio, Michigan. Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. But the British held possession of the Ohio country and all the lake region, and in the same year (1778), Lord Dorchester. Governor-General of Canada, divided Upper Canada into four districts for civil purposes, one of which included Detroit and the lake territory.

Great Britain had promised. the Indian tribes that the whites should not settle north of the Ohio river, and the government of this almost unlimited region was, during English control, exclusively military, with Detroit as the central post Thiss was the condition during the Revolutionary war, aml even after the treaty of peace, in 1783, the same state of affairs continued until after the second, or Jay treaty, 1795. Early in 1792 the Upper Canadian parliament authorized Governor Simeoe to lay off nineteen counties to embrace that province, and it is presumed that the county of Essex, on the east bank of Detroit river, included Mk higan and northern Ohio. While this supposition. is not eouclusive, certain it is that some form of British civil authority existed at their forts and settlements until Detroit was given up and all its dependencies in August. 1796.

The treaty of 1783, which terminated the war of the Revolution, included Ohio within the boundaries of the United States, and the Seventh article of that treaty stated that the King of Great Britain would, "with all convenient speed, withdraw all his forces, garrisons and fleets from the United States. and from every post, place and harbor, within the same." Military posts were garrisoned, however, by British troops, and continued under the dominion of Great Britain for many years after that date. But preparatory to taking possession of it, and in order to avoid collision with the Indian tribes, who owned the soil, treaties were made with them from time, to tixne (of which more is said on a subsequent page), in which they ceded tothe United States their title to their lands. But the territory thus secured by treaties with Great Britain, and with the Indian tribes—and concerning which we had thus established an amicable understanding—was many years sequestered from our possession. The British government urged as an excuse the failure of Americans to fulfill that part of the treaty protecting the claims of British subjects against citizens of the United States; but, from the "aid and comfort" rendered the Indians in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, the ap-

EARLY JURISDICTION - 33

parent prime cause was to defeat the efforts of the United States to extend their power over the country and tribes north of the Ohio, and continue to the British the advantage of the fur trade, which, from their relations with these tribes they possessed. The ultimate result of this international difficulty was the campaigns of 1790-91-94, ostensibly against the Indians, but substantially against them and their British allies, which bear so intimate a relation to the formal surrender of the country to American control, that they perform an essential part of history and are given in detail in the first volume of this work.

Virginia, however, till adhering to her claim of sovereignty over the Northwestern country, on March 1, 1784, ceded the territory to the United States, and immediately congress entered seriously upon the consideration of the problem of providing a government for the vast domain. Its deliberations resulted in the famous Compact of 1787,” which is also fully discussed and explained in the history of Ohio, which accompanies this volume. It might not be out of place here, however, to call attention to the fact that this compact, in two provisions which were inspired by Thomas Jefferson, guaranteed to all the right of religious freedom and prohibited slavery in the territory. Hence the citizens of Fulton county, in common with the citizens of Ohio and those of the sister states that were carved from Virginia's grant, can feel a pardonable pride that never under any American jurisdiction of this domain. has a witch been burned at the atake or a slave been sold on the auction block.

All these pretensions of sovereignty and conflictions of authority were aside from the claims of the real inhabitants of the country. The Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, laid claim to the entire extent of territory, bordering on the Ohio river and northward, basing their contention upon the assumption that they had conquered it and held it by right of conquest. In 1722, a treaty had been made at Albany, New York, between the Iroquois and English, by which the lands west of the Alleghany mountains were acknowledged to belong to the Iroquois by reason of their conquests from the Eries, Conoys, Tongarias, etc.. but this claim was extinguished by the terms of the treaty

of Fort Stanwix, concluded October 22, 1784. The treaty of Fort McIntosh. in 1785, was intended to quiet the claims of the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas and Chippewas, in the Ohio valley. The

Shawanees relinquished their claims under the provisions of the treaties of Fort Finney, January 31, 1786, treaty of Fort Harmar (held by General St. Clair), January 9, 1789, by the treaty of Greenville, and various other treaties from that date until 1818. It is a notable fact that every foot of Ohio soil was acquired from the Indians through treaty or purchase, and, when compared with methods followed in other sections of America, the means employed were decidedly honorable. True, some of these treaties, as for instance the one concluded at Greenville, were entered into at the close of a long and bloody conflict, when the Indians had been conquered and reduced to a condition of helplessness, thus making them obliged to submit to any terms

34 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

offered by the victors. But when we consider the fact, demonstrated on every page of the world's history, that the tree of civilization does not grow until the soil has been fertilized by human blood, we can excuse the warfare waged against the Indians, and by comparison at least point to those treaties as Just and merciful ones.

The Greenville treaty was made by General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, on August 3, 1795, at the close of the Indian war that waged in the Maumee Valley and throughout the state during the years 1790-95. Full particulars of these hostilities, as before stated, are given in the accompanying volume—devoted to the history of Ohio— but the provisions of the treaty comes properly within the scope of the history of Fulton county, and will bear repetition. Between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas and the Maumee and Miami, south to the line from Fort Laurens to Laramiesis store, the Indians were to retain possession, and besides that they were to hold the title to all the rest of the country, west of a line from Fort Recovery to the mouth of the Kentucky river, and west and northwest of the Maumee, except Clark's grant on the Ohio river and certain reservations about Detroit and the forts in Ohio and other parts of the northwest, with the understanding that when they should sell lands, it should be to the United States alone, whose protection the Indians acknowledged, and that of no other power whatever. There was to be free passage along the Maumee, Auglaize, Sandusky and Wabash rivers and the lake. Twenty thousand dollars worth of goods were at once delivered to the 'Indians, and a promise was made of $9,500 worth every year forever.

The United States senate ratified the Wayne or Greenville treaty in due time, and northwestern Ohio, north of the treaty line and west of the Connecticut Reserve line, remained unorganized practically until 1820. About the same time (1795) John Jay, as minister to England, concluded his treaty with that country, by the terms of which the British posts were to be abandoned in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes on or before June 1, 1796. The terms not being strictly complied with, in July, 1796, the United States demanded a fulfillment of the treaty and the transfer of authority was accordingly made, General Wayne moving his headquarters thither and displacing the English commander. In the absence of General Arthur St. Clair, who was the Governor of the Northwest Territory, Secretary Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and proclaimed the county of Wayne, which included, besides what is now parts of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, the Indian country in Ohio, the boundary of which on the south was the Greenville treaty line.

The proclamation creating the county of Wayne was issued August 15, 1796, and the boundaries named therein were as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the Portage, between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down the said branch to the forks, at the carrying place above Fort Laurens; thence by a west line to

EARLY JURISDICTION - 35

the western boundary of Hamilton county (which is a due north line from the lower Shawanees town upon the Scioto river) ; thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miamis of the Ohio and the St. Mary's river; thence by a line also west-northerly to the most southern part of Lake Michigan; thence on the western shores of the same to the northwet part thereof. including the lands upon the streams emptying into the said lake) ; thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair and Erie, to the mouth of Cuyahoga river, the place of beginning."

From the organization of the territory, in 1788, it had had no representative government, owing to the restrictions of the "Ordinance of 1787.” A reference to this "Compact" will discover to the reader that the legislative function of the territorial government in its first stage of development, and until there should be five thousand free male inhabitants of full age in the ditrict, was lodged in the Governor of the Territory and the judges of the general (or Territorial) court, or any two of the judges and the Governor. But in 1798, a census was taken, which disclosed more than the necessary "five thousand free male inhabitants" in the Territory, and on October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair accordingly proclaimed an election, to be held on the third Monday of December, for the choice of a house of representatives in the general assembly. to which the territory was entitled at that stage of development. The gentlemen chosen at this -`election met at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799, and organized the first elective legislative body that ever, convened within the limits of the Northwest Territory. Twenty-two representatives were chosen lr jty the nine counties then organized, and they contituted the law-making power of the territory, when taken in conjunction with a legislative council of five members, who were appointed by the United States congress.

Wayne county (of which the territory now embraced in Fulton was then a part) was represented in this assembly by Solomon Sibley, Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire and Jacob Visger all residents of Detroit. The first named, Mr. Sibley, was an exceedingly active and influential member of this assembly and was appointed a committee of one to superintend the printing of the laws of the session. The book as printed is now in possession of the supreme court library in Columbus, and in it Mr. Sibley certifies that he has carefully compared the printed laws with the original enrolled bills, and finds them to agree. During the interim between the adjournment of the first and the meeting of the second session of this legislature, congress passed the act dividing the Northwest Territory and creating the new territory of Indiana. This act legislated Henry Vanderburg, of Vincennes, out of the legislative council, and Mr. Sibley was later promoted to that position. At the election for members of the second legislative assembly, Wayne county chose as her representatives Charles F. Chaubert de Joncaire, George McDougal and Jonathan

36 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

Schiefflin. The election of the latter two was contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats.

By the above-mentioned act of Congress, which was approved May 7, 1800, the old Northwest Territory was cut in two by setting off Indiana Territory west of the line of Wayne's treaty, running from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, and thence due north to the Canada line. Hence the above date marks the division of the territory embraced in the states of Ohio and Indiana, the line north of Fort Recovery being located about one and one-half miles east of the present state line. The region east of this line remained under the title of "The Territory Northwest of the Ohio river," and while by The provisions of this act the old county of Wayne was considerably reduced in extent, vet its numerical strength as regards population was probably lessened very little. By the United States census of 1800, Wayne county—which it must be remembered included Detroit—contained a population of 3,206. The first, and what proved to be the last. session of the second territorial legislature, convened at Chillicothe, November 23, 1801, and adjourned January 23, 1802; and this was the lat time that Detroit was represented in an Ohio legislative assembly.

In the Congressional enactment providing for a convention to consider the question of statehood, Wayne county was not permitted to elect delegates, owing to the fact that its population was Confined chiefly to Detroit and vicinity, which region it was not intended to include in the proposed new state. This separation, and the ensuing admission of Ohio into the Union of States, left the region of which Fulton county is now a part—though technically co lsidered a part of Hamilton—practically under no county jurisdiction; but as all the vast territory, north of the Greenville treaty line and west of the boundary of the Connecticut Reserve, was as yet the hunting ground of the aborigines, such a condition of affairs entailed no hardship upon anyone.

Among the first acts of the first state legislature, however, was the erection of eight new counties, three of which—Montgomery, Green and Franklin—were extended in jurisdiction to the northern boundary of the State, including all the Indian country, formerly a part of Wayne county, except a strip south of the Connecticut Reserve. The boundary line thus established between Montgomery and Green counties, extending north to the State line, divided the Fulton county territory, and thus it became unorganized parts of Montgomery and Green. The aforesaid act was passed March 24. 1803. and described the boundaries of these two counties as follows:

Montgomery—"Beginning at the State line at the northwest corner of the county of Butler; thence east with the lines of Butler and Warren to the eat line of section number sixteen in the third township and fifth range; thence north eighteen miles; thence east two miles; thence north to the State line; thence with the same to the west boundary of the State; thence south with the said boundary to the beginning,

EARLY JURISDICTION - 37

shall compose a third new county, called and known by the name of Montgomery."

Green—"Beginning at the southeast corner of the county of Montgomery, running thence east to Ross county line, and the same course continued eight miles into the said county of Ross; thence north to the State line; thence westwardly with the same to the eat line of Montingomery county; thence bounded by the said line of Montgomery to the beginning, shall compose a fourth new county, called and known by the name of Green."

On January 6, 1807, the county of Miami was formed out of territory taken from Montgomery county, and as its location was such as to place it immediately north of the organized part of the latter county, thus separating it from the Indian country to the north, the legislature amended the act on January 7, 1812, by the following: “Whereas by the act establishing Montgomery county, the limits of said county were extended to the northern boundary of this state, and whereas by the above-recited act, the limits of Miami county were its confined to the Indian boundary line [the Greenville treaty line], leaving a tract of country attached to Montgomery county, over which no jurisdiction can be conveniently exercised—therefore, all that part of the county of Montgomery lying north of the county of Miami, shall be, and the same is hereby attached to the said county of

Miami."

By the above act of the legislature, the territory now comprising the principal portion of Fulton county passed under the jurisdiction of Miami county. and it remained so connected for a period of exactly seven years to the day. Upon January 7, 1819. the legislature erected the county of Shelby by the following enactment: "Be it exacted etc., That so much of the county of Miami as lies north of the line beginning on the lme dividing Miami and Darke counties, ,between sections twenty-seven and thirty-four in township ten, range four, and running east with said line to the Great Miami river; thence across said river; thence down said river to the middle of the twelfth range, township one, east of the Miami river, to the section line between sections twenty-one and twenty-two; thence eat with said line to Champaign county line; thence north with said line dividing the counties of Miami, Champaign and Logan, to the Indian boundary line [Greenville Treaty line] ; thence north six miles; thence west to a point so that a line drawn from said point due north will strike the Indian boundary line at the point where the line between the counties of Miami and Darke strikes said line; thence south with said line between the counties of Darke and Miami to the place of beginning, and also including the United States reservations at Fort St. Mary's, Amanda and Defiance, which shall be known by the name of Shelby; provided, that the jurisdiction of said county of Shelby shall extend rover all that territory lying north of said county and which at this lime is included within the jurisdiction of the county of Miami; and all crimes that shall be committed within the territory aforesaid shall be considered as having been committed within the said county of Shelby."

38 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

During all this time, following the Greenville treaty—and during which northwestern Ohio had been placed successively under various jurisdictions—the lands remained in the hands of the Indians with the exception of a very small amount of territory. There were a few United States reservations for military purposes, such as that of twelve miles square at the foot of the -Araumee rapids, and of six miles square at the mouth of the river, where Fort Industry, built about 1800, marked the site of the present city of Toledo. But in the main, all of northwestern Ohio was barren of white inhabitants, and so far as the present site of Fulton county is concerned, it was, in the language of the young Fourth of July orator, "a howling wilderness." The Indians and what few whites there were in the vicinity of the reservations had continued to live in comparative peace from and after the ending of hostilities by the. Greenville treaty. Even during the troublous times, incident to the war of 1812, when Tecumseh was marshalling the men of his race to assist the British forces, there was but Erie antagonism between the settlers and natives of the region known as Northwestern Ohio. Feelings of security were necessarily abnt, however, owing to the scenes of war being enacted at nearby points; and with the news of the great disaster on Raisin river—where an American force numbering 800 was almost annihilated—came a realization of the danger that menaced the settlers. The region of which we write was then included in Miami county and the communication which follows will afford a view of the tate of public opinion therein, following the catastrophe mentioned above:

Miami County, State of Ohio, Feb. 3, 1813.

"To His Excellency, R. J. Meigs, Governor of said State:

"The petition of the undersigned humbly showeth : That whereas there are a considerable number of Indians of the Delaware tribe, called in by order of General. Harrison, and are now in our county; that it is but thinly settled on the frontier, distant from a market where provisions can be furnished them, and the people of the neighborhood feel themselves in a dangerous situation in consequence of their being exposed to invasion and depredations from them, they being contiguous to the enemy; hence every opportunity of conveying information to them of our situation, moving off and joining them, and doing much mischief from their knowledge of our county, etc. This brief petition we would humbly beg your excellency to take into consideration and relieve us from a state of uneasiness and alarm, by h.lving them removed into the interior of the State, where, from its population, they will be awed into submission to the authorities having charge over them, and supported at a much less expense to the government. And we shall as in duty bound, etc.

"G. Smith Houston," and 52 others.

Occasionally, of course, there were outrages that threatened serious trouble, due to lawless elements in both races and the race hatred entertained by many of the whites; yet as a rule the Red Men of the

EARLY JURISDICTION - 39

Forest pursued their wild and favorite avocations, undisturbed by naught, save what must have been apparent to them—the irresistible and ceaseless march of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The end of his donation m the State of Ohio was rapidly approaching, and in his thoughtful moments the Indian mut have heard, reverberating through the air, in tones that a modern policeman would envy, the laconic and authoritative command—"Move on !"

On November 17, 1807, a treatyo was made at Detroit between William Hull, Governor of the Territory of Michigan and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, on the part of the United States, and the Sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Ottowa, Chippeway, Wyandotte and Pottawatamie nations of Indians on the other part. Under this treaty the following described lands were ceded to the United States : “Beginning at the mouth of the Miami river of the Lakes [Maumee] and running thence up the middle thereof to the mouth of the Great Au Glaize river; thence running due north until it intersects a parallel of latitude, to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron, which forms the river Sinclair ; thence running northeast, the course that may be found will lead in a direct line to White Rock, in Lake Huron ; thence due eat until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Upper Canada, in said lake; thence southerly, following the said boundary line down said lake, through River Sinclair, Lake St. Clair and the River Detroit into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the aforesaid Miami river; thence west to the place of beginning."

The western line of this vast extent of territory, which was by the above treaty granted to the United States, passed through the western part of Fulton county and almost exactly located the present boundary line between Ridgeville township, in Henry, and Springfield in Williams county. Extended north from the Maumee, this cession of land comprised a considerable portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan in addition to the Ohio territory, included. The price paid for these lands was $10,000. The reader, in contemplating this vast domain—covered then with valuable timber and a fertile soil as yet untouched—will doubtless come to the conclusion that Uncle Sam

was a shrewd "bargain-driver," and that "Poor Lo" was correspondingly "easy." But when we recall that the Greenville treaty bound the Indians to sell the land to no one but the United States, thereby rendering any possible competitor ineligible, the moralist may consider the transaction not quite up to his ethical standard.

As will readily be seen by the Hull treaty given above, all lands in: Ohio north of the Maumee river were by said treaty ceded to the United States government—excepting the territory west of a line running due north from the mouth of the Auglaize river. This exception comprised all of the present county of Williams, the greater part of Defiance and a small portion off the west side of Fulton county. In short, it can be said, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, that the Ohio lands north of the Maumee, which remained in lawful possession of the Indians after the Detroit treaty of 1807, comprised the territory included in the original county of Williams. The only change

40 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

made in creating the latter division was to straighten the southern boundary line and cause it to run due east and west, instead of following the course of the river.

For ten years longer this status of affairs continued, but on September 29, 1817, a treaty was "made and concluded at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie," between Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, commissioners of the United States, on the one part, and the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawanees, Pottawatomies, Ottawas, and Chippeway tribes of Indians. By the stipulations of this treaty, contained in the first article, the Wyandots ceded to the United States their lands south of the Maumee river. In Art. 2. "The Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippeway tribes of Indians," ceded the land described within the following boundaries: "Beginning where the western line of the State of Ohio crosses the River Miami of Lake Erie, which is about twenty-one miles above the mouth of the Great Auglaize river ; thence down the middle of the said Miami [Maumee] river, to a point north of the mouth of the Great Auglaize river : thence, with the western line of the land ceded to the United States by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807, north forty-five miles; thence west so far that aline south will strike the place of beginning; thence south to the place of beginning." The consideration paid for the above was an annuity of $1,300 for fifteen years to the Pottawatomies, $1.000 for fifteen years to the Ottawas, and $1,000 for fifteen years to the Chippewas. These three tribes were then the inhabitants of the Fulton county territory and they were to receive their annual stipend at Detroit. It will be noticed that this cession included nearly, if not all, of the present county of Hillsdale, in Michigan, but the northern boundary of Ohio was then in dispute and destined to be a subject of contention for a score of years to follow.

The subsequent treaties that were made with the Indians provided for the purchase of their lands in the reservations by the United States and their removal west of the Mississippi; and the fact remains, which is of some historical importance. that Williams was among the last of the present county divisions of the tate to pass legally from the control of the Red Man to the dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race. The last Indian title extinguished was that of the Wyandots, whose lands in the reservation at Upper Sandusky, and in the county which bears their name, was offered for sale by the United States in the autumn of 1845. The several Indian tribes were paid various sums of money in annual payments, and were required to vacate the country and migrate west. The last of them to make the journey were the Wyandots, but after the treaty of 1819, the northwestern part of Ohio was open to settlement and the Indians who remained did so as tenants by sufference of their white brothers.

Henry Howe, in his admirable work, entitled "Historical. Collections of Ohio." says: "The Delawares ceded their reservations to the United States in 1829. The Wyandots ceded theirs by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, they being the only Int

EARLY JURISDICTION - 41

dians then remaining in the State. The commissioner on the part of the United States was Colonel John Johnston, who had the honor of making the last Indian treaty in Ohio—a State, every foot of whose Ifni' has been fairly purchased by treaties from its original possessors. –The Wyandots left for Kansas in July, 1843, and numbered at that ?time about seven hundred souls."

On the admission of Ohio to the Federal Union, the public domain, lunder the conditions named in the charter, was variously classified. The principal divisions were as follows: 1. Congress Lands; 2. United States Military Lands ; 3. Virginia Military District; 4. Con-tecticut Western Reserve; 5. Connecticut Fire Lands; 6. Ohio Company's Purchase; 7. Donation Tract; 8. Semmes Purchase ; 9. "Refugee Tract; 10. French Grant; i i. Dohrman's Grant; 12. Zane's "Grant; 13. Canal Lands; 14. Turnpike Lands; 15. Maumee Road `Sands; 16. School Lands; 17. College Lands; 18. Ministerial Lands; 19. Moravian Lands; 20. Salt Sections.

It is not necessary to enter into details regarding these various divisions, except so far as the territory embraced within the scope of work is affected. Congress Lands are so-called because they are told to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are or may be, from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the expense of the Jsiational Government. The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. In addition to these divisions, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast qUarter section, southeast quarter section, etc. And again, by a law of Congress which went into effect in July, 1820, these quarter sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter section and west half quarter 'section, containing eighty acres each. It was not until after the war of 1812-5, and the conquet of the Indian territory north of Wayne's treaty line, that surveys were ordered in the northwest section of Ohio. For this tract a base line was run on or near the forty-first parallel of latitude, corresponding to the south line of the Connecticut Reserve. The ranges were numbered east from the first meridian, being the wet line of Ohio, and the towns numbered north and south from the base. Fulton county, it will be seen, was included in the reservation known as "Congress Lands," and it might be added that the land within its limits was sold by the Federal government at the statutory price of $1.25 per acre.

Early provisions were made for the support of free schools, and Congress reserved one thirty-sixth part of all lands lying northwest of the Ohio river for their maintenance. These lands, together with other Congressional reservations for the public welfare, became, in later years, the subject of much political speculation, and in many instances were perverted by designing persons from the real purposes intended. Much fruitless legislation resulted, because of the private

42 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

or personal interests of individuals, without materially enhancing the interests of education. Passing through the varied experiences of speculation, as the early years of statehood passed, the question of school lands was finally systematized by the appointment of honest and conscientious commissioners, and the lands thus became the nucleus of the present magnificent school fund of the state.

We will now return and take up events incidental to the formation, organization and development of Fulton county. On February 12, 1820, the General Assembly of the state formed and gave names to fourteen counties, which they carved out of the territory lying north of the Greenville Treaty line and west of the boundary line of the Connecticut Reserve. In selecting names for these counties the legislature evidently referred to the galaxy of Revolutionary patriots, for among them we find such cognomens as Allen, Hancock, Henry, Marion, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert, Williams and others. The last three were of course chosen in honor of the captors of Major Andre, who by their heroic act prevented the surrender of West .Point and defeated a treasonable plot at a critical time during our country's struggle for independence. The statute providing for the formation of these counties was entitled, "An Act for the erection of certain counties therein named." and it read thusly :

"Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of the lands lately ceded by the Indians to the United States, which lies within this State, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into fourteen separate and distinct counties to be bounded and named us follows:" (It then proceeds to give the boundarieS of each of the counties.) "Twelfth, to include all of ranges five, Six, seven and eight north of the second township north, in said ranges ; and to run north with the same to the State line as aforesaid, and to be known by the name of Henry; * * * fourteenth, to include all of the first, second, third and fourth ranges north of the third townships north in said ranges, and to run north with the same to the State line, and to be known by the name of 'Williams."

Williams. as will be seen by the description, was erected in the extreme northwestern corner of Ohio, having its northern boundary on Michigan and its western on Indiana. Henry was located directly east of Williams and included all of the present county of Fulton, save about thirty-five sections of land in the western part, which was afterwards detached from Williams. The northern boundary of these counties then, as well as the northern boundary of the state, was seriously in dispute, owing to the conflicting claims of Ohio and the territory of Michigan, the former claiming the Harris line and the latter the Fulton line as the true boundary which separated them. The strip of land between these lines comprised all of the present townships of Gorham, Chesterfield, Royalton and Amboy, and the northern half of Franklin, Dover, Pike and Fulton townships, in Fulton county.

Although these counties were created by the above mentioned act of the legislature, most of them remained unorganized, so

EARLY JURISDICTION - 43

far as governmental functions were concerned, until several years later. The act creating the fourteen counties provided for the organization Of only two of them—Wood and Sandusky—and it provided that "the 'counties of Hancock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding and Williams shall be attached to the county of Wood" for civil purposes. It provided further, ,"that the temporary seat of justice for said county of Wood shall be fixed at the town of Maumee, until commissioners shall be `appointed by the General Assembly to fix the permanent seat of jutice." This legislation by further provision of the same act went into effect on April 1, 1820, and from that date the seat of justice of the counties of northwestern Ohio was in the ancient and historical town of Maumee, where it remained for about three years and then crossed the river to Perrysburg. At a session of the Board of Com- • missioners of Wood county, held March 19, 1823, it was ordered "that so much of the township of Waynesfield as is included in the organized county of Wood, and lying and being on the south of the south channel of Maumee river, from the west line of the county to the line between the original surveyed township, in Nos. 1 and 4, in the United States reserve; thence, the north channel to the state line, be set off and organized into a township, by the name of Perrysburg." The seat of justice was then established at Perrysburg; but this was of concern to the future Fulton county for only a short time, as in a few months Williams was destined to blossom forth as a fully organized county, and Henry was attached to it for judicial purposes.

By virtue of an act passed June 20, 1835, and which was one of the "war measures" enacted by the Ohio legislature during the pendency of the boundary dispute, Henry county was called upon to surrender a portion of her territory to the formation of the new county of Lucas. The "act to establish the county of Lucas" was amended on March 14, 1836, and its domain was definitely defined as follows : "Beginning at a point on Lake Erie, where the line commonly called Tulton's line' intersects the same; thence due west with said Fulton's line, to the Maumee river; thence in a southwesterly direction, with the said river, to the east line of the county of Henry ; thence north, on said line, to the northeast corner of township six, in range eight ; thence west, on said township line, to the east line of the county of Williams ; thence north, to the northern boundary of the state, called the 'Harris line;' thence in an easterly direction, with said line, to Lake Erie ; thence due east, until a line drawn due north, from the place of beginning shall intersect the same." All of the present county of Fulton thus became a part of Lucas with the exception of two tiers of sections on the south, and the territory on the west which was afterwards detached from Williams. In the year 1834, Henry county became fully organized for all purposes, and the territory now embraced in Fulton remained under three separate jurisdictions—Lucas. Williams and Henry—until February 28, 1850, when it was erected, organized, and took its place among the separate and distinct political divisions of the State of Ohio.

Of the Indian tribes inhabiting the Maumee valley when the first

HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY - 44

definite knowledge of the country was acquired, the Miamis were the most prominent, while the Wyandots and Ottawas were represented in fewer numbers. Later, other tribes made their appearance, particularly in that part which is now Fulton county, and it was with the Pottawatamies, Ottawas and Chippewas that the pioneers of this immediate section had to deal. These three tribes had possession at the time of the final treaties, and it was with them that negotiations were made providing for the Indian exodus. They were slow to join with the tide of westward emigration, however, and for many years afterwards, wandering bands would annually visit their old hunting grounds in Fulton county, and their intercourse with the settlers came to be regarded more as an occasion of pleasant remembrances than of dread or danger. Some pleasant friendships were formed between the pioneer families and the former owners of the land which the pale-face was tilling.

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CHAPTER III

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE

THE history of the trouble which arose over the matter of establishing a permanent boundary line between the present tates of Ohio and Michigan should be of special interest to the people of Fulton county, because of the fact that upon the decision and adjutment of the difficulty depended the question, whether the territory now embraced in the townships of Gorham, Chesterfield, Royalton and Amboy, and the northern parts of Franklin, Dover, Pike, and Fulton should be a part and parcel of the Buckeye State, or the inhabitants thereof should be numbered among the Wolverines. At one time the trouble threatened to assume the magnitude of civil war between the sovereign State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan, supported, as the latter would unquestionably have been, by the military arm of the United States. The interest manifested was not confined to this locality, by any means, for leading members of Congress—notably John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts - took a hand in the fray, and it formed a subject for heated debate between giants of the political arena. Years have passed since the amicable settlement of this dispute, but time should not efface the record of historical events. Reasoning thus, and believing (with no desire to be invidious) that many people are not familiar with the history of the difficulty, the writer has consulted various authorities and decided to devote a a chapter in this work to what is sometimes called "The Ohio Michigan War."

The question of boundary between Ohio and Michigan antedated the admission of the former into the Union. and had its birth in the Congress that framed and adopted the "Ordinance of 1787,"—an instrument providing for the civil government of the Northwest Territory, then lately ceded to the United States. And it would be within the bounds of truth to say that this controversy, which for a time seriously threatened the peace of the country, was conceived through a blunder committed by a well-meaning though misguided Herodotus, prior to the action of the Confederate Congress. By the "Ordinance of 1787," Congress divided the Northwest Territory into three parts; the western to include all the present states of Illinois, Wisconsin and a portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan ; the middle to include the present State of Indiana, and north to the British line ; the eastern to include the territory bounded by Indiana. Canada, Pennsylvania, and the Ohio river ; "Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three

48 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

ing a common danger, united all the people of the frontier, including those of the disputed jurisdiction, in support of the general welfare, and national patriotism subdued for a time the promptings of local and selfish interests.

Yet congress, heeding the petitions of Ohio's legislative assembly, and recognizing the seriousness of the boundary dispute and the importance of its early settlement, on May 20, 1812, passed an act authorizing and instructing the Surveyor General of the United States, under the direction of the President, and as soon as the consent of the Indians could be obtained, "to cause to be surveyed, marked and designated. so much of the western and northern boundaries of the State of Ohio. which have not already been ascertained, as divides said State from the territories of Indiana and Michigan, agreeably to the boundaries as established by the [enabling] act" of 1802. As will be observed, the framers of this act had in mind the line as originally stipulated (due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan); but they evidently recognized the mistake made in such designation, for they instructed the Surveyor General "to cause to be made a plat or plan of so much of the boundary line as runs from the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, particularly noting the place where said line intersects the margin of said lake, and to return the same when made to Congress." But, as before stated, the war of 1812 came on, and this, with ensuing difficulties, served to defer the making of the survey as directed.

The matter remained in state quo for several years, until 1817, when, peaceful treaties having been made with the Indians, Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General of the United States, in pursuance of the instructions contained in the Act of Congress mentioned above, employed William Harris, a skillful surveyor, to run a portion of the western and all of the northern boundary line. Indiana had been erected into a state in 186. and its northern boundary, as defined by act of Congress, included "a strip of land, ten miles wide, off the southern portion of Michigan Territory." This was another recognition of the old line which had been established through a mistaken idea of the geography of the country ; but by extending Indiana ten miles further north, Congress showed its disregard for the instructions given in the Ordinance of 1787, and gave to the Ohio claimants a precedent decidedly in their favor. Harris found that a due east line from the head of Lake Michigan would intersect Lake Erie seven miles south of the most northerly cape of Maumee bay, his survey in this matter agreeing perfectly with that afterwards made by Fulton. He accordingly, in conformity to the constitution of Ohio, ran another line from the lower extremity of Lake Michigan to the northerly cape of Maumee bay. 'This line etablished the northwest corner of Ohio at a point on the Indiana line, five miles, 24 chains and 64 links north of where the due east and west line located the same. Or, in other words, the difference in the lines at this viace.was.. the distance between the northwe3t corner and southwest corner of Northwest township in Williams county.

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE - 49

General Lewis Cass was at that time (1817) governor of the Territory of Michigan, and, after investigating the boundary question, claimed the line to be the one established by the Ordinance of 1787 and accordingly claimed the disputed territory. A lengthy correspondence followed between Governor Cass and the Surveyor General, and the matter was taken up by the Ohio legislature in January, 1818, strong resolutions being passed, affirming the Harris line as the true one and holding that Congress so decided in approving the organization of the State. Governor Cass obtained an order through William H. Crawford, then Secretary of the Treasury, to run the due east and west line, and John A. Fulton was employed to male the survey. The result of course agreed exactly with the first line run by Mr. Harris; and it became known from that time as the "Fulton line"— and line being the present boundary between the northern and middle tiers of townships in Williams county, extending thence eat through affulton, Fulton, and leaving a good portion of the city of Toledo in the present sent state of Michigan. The United States surveys, for subdividing the lands purchased from the Indians into townships and sections were completed a few years thereafter, and as they were closed in Ohio and later in Michigan upon the Fulton line, it seemed that the government had decided favorably to that boundary.

Ohio, however, claimed to the Harris line and proceeded, wherever the population was sufficient, to organize townships, etc., accordingly. Wordy discussions followed and civil officers were appointed by each claimant. Nothing serious occurred for several years, but, "a disputed jurisdiction," as Lewis Cass wrote to Edward Tiffin, is one of the greatest evils that can happen to a country." Claims which involve vast sums of money fail to provoke strifes as acrimonious as those relating to contested land boundaries. The anxiety of the inhabitants of the infant settlements, occupying the disputed tract, can be easily imagined, and almost any decision would have been welcomed by them if it ended the strife and established an undisputed jurisdiction. Dr. Horatio Conant, in December, 1823, wrote a letter from Fort Meigs to Hon. Ethan A. Brown. then a United States Senator from Ohio, appealing for some solution of the difficulty, but breathing loyalty to Ohio and the Harris line.

Dr. Conant was one of the pioneer physicians in the Maumee Valley. He was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, November 25, 1785, and was educated at Middlebury college in that State. He studied medicine in the state of New York, and, in 1816, came to Ohio, locating at Fort Meigs. where he followed the mercantile business for one year. He then began the practice of his profession and made it his chief business during life, although he held several official positions, among which was judge of the court of Common Pleas. His professional visits extended up the Maumee river to Defiance and embraced all the country below. In one instance, in making a horse" back trip to Defiance, he swam no less than eight treams and was Compelled to purchase a canoe and float hack home. Dr. Conant was among the, most public-spirited citizens who aided in planting white

50 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

settlements and civilization in this then wilderness country and earnestly endeavored to remove all obstacles to such progress. In the boundary dispute he displayed the same earnestness and good citizenship that characterized his long and useful life.

During John Quincy Adams' administration arose the question of internal improvements all over the country, and the project of uniting the waters of Lake Erie and the Wabash river by a canal was considered. As is well known, General Andrew Jackson, who succeeded Adams as president, did not favor internal improvements by the aid of the general government ; but the state of Indiana obtained an appropriation by Congress of each alternate section of land, five miles wide, on each side of the proposed canal, and extending its entire length, including the portion through Ohio. Indiana conveyed to Ohio the portion within the latter state upon the conditions of the original grant. Thus Ohio became interested, and in March, 1834, the legislature authorized Governor Lucas to appoint three commissioners to locate the canal line through the State. During the same year a survey of the proposed canal was made and it was found necessary to locate the eastern terminus at a point on the Maumee river, north of the, Fulton line, in order to reach navigable water. This re-opened the mooted boundary question and brought the partisans of the rival claimants to a frenzied state of excitement. On February 12, 1835, the Territory of Michigan passed a law inflicting heavy penalties upon any person attempting jurisdiction ovet, any part of the territory without authority from the United States or the Territory of Michigan. In accordance with a further provision of this act, Stevens T. Mason, the youthful and impulsive acting governor of Michigan, sent a message to Governor Lucas of Ohio, who in turn submitted it to the legislature, then in session. The legislature replied by passing an act on February 23, 1835, affirming the jurisdiction of Wood, Henry and Williams county to the Harris line ; and it gave notice to congress that, "it ill becomes a million of freemen to humbly petition, year after year, for what justly belongs to them and is completely within their control."

The fight was now on in earnest. The commissioners of Williams county met on March 30, 1835, and in accordance with the legislative enactment extended the county jurisdiction to the Harris line, notifying all citizens of such extension. Wood and Henry counties likewise extended. A further provision of the act of the Legislature (passed February 23, 1835) provided for the appointment of three commissioners to run and re-mark the Harris line. Uri Seely of Geauga, Jonathan Taylor of Licking, and John Patterson of Adams, were appointed such commissioners, and the first of April was named as the time to commence the survey. Governor Mason of Michigan, keenly watching the Buckeye movements, ordered Gen. Joseph W. Brown, who commanded a division of the territorial militia, to be prepared to meet the impending crisis and to "use every exertion to obtain the earliest information of the military movements of our adversary." On March 31, Governor Lucas, accompanied by his

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE - 51

staff and the boundary commissioners, arrived at Perrysburg on their way to run and re-mark the Harris line in compliance with the act “in such case made and provided." General John Bell, in command of the Seventeenth division of the Ohio Militia, arrived about the same time with his staff and mustered into service a volunteer force of about six hundred men, fully armed and equipped. The force went into camp at old Fort Miami and awaited the orders of the chief executive. Governor Mason, with General Brown, arrived at Toledo with a force under the immediate command of the latter, variously estimated at from 800 to 1,200 men, and went into camp, ready to resist any advance of the Ohio authorities upon the disputed territory to run the boundary line or any other movement inconsistent with Michigan's claim of jurisdiction over it. As a distinguished lawyer has put it, "the two governors, having made up an issue by legislative enactments, found themselves confronted by a military force that had been called out to enforce their respective legislative pleadings. Governor Mason, representing the tenant in possession, was content to rest at his ease. Governor Lucas, representing the stiff, had to open the trial."

The whole country in the meantime became wild with excitement, and Governor Lucas had determined to order General Bell with his force to Toledo as soon as he could make the necessary preparations, and risk the consequences. No doubt such action on his part would have resulted in a serious military engagement and possibly menaced the peace of the entire country; but before he had got his preparations made, two eminent citizens—Hon. Richard Rush of Philadelphia and Col. Benjamin C. Howard of Baltimore. arrived from Washington as commissioners from the President of the United States, to use their personal influence to stop all war-like demonstrations.

Hon., Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio. accompanied the commissioners , as a voluntary peace-maker. The commissioners and Mr. Whittlesey had several conferences with both governors, and finally, on April 7, submitted the following propositions for their assent :

“1. That the Harris line should be run and re-marked pursuant to the act of the last session of the Legislature of Ohio, without interruption.

“2. The civil elections under the laws of Ohio having taken place throughout the disputed territory, that the people residing upon it should be left to their own government, obeying the one urisdiction or the other, as they may prefer, without molestation from the authorities of Ohio or Michigan until the close of the next session of Congress."

Governor Lucas, on the urgent request of the commissioners and Mr. Whittlesey, agreed, reluctantly, to accept the proposition as a peaceable settlement until after "the close of the next session of Congress.” Governor Mason refused to acquiesce in the propositions. otwithstanding this refusal on the part of the Michigan hotspur, Gthrernor Lucas assented to the agreement, regarding the governor ora territory as a subaltern, subject to the control of the President.

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He looked upon the agreement as one made with the President, through Messrs. Rush and Howard as his representatives, and hence disbanded the military force he had collected. Governor Mason partially did likewise, but still continued to make preparations for any emergency that might arise and stationed a military force at Adrian under the command of General Brown to keep a close watch upon events.

In 1832, new observations of latitude were made, under an act of Congress, by Captain Talbott, assisted by Lieut. Robert E. Lee, then a recent graduate from West Point but afterwards the famous military chieftain of the Confederate forces and the idol of all loyal Southerners. These observations showed that the originally proposed line, if extended due east from the southern point of Lake Michigan, would not touch the international boundary in the middle of Lake Erie, but would pass several miles south of it, and coming to land again would throw into the territory of Michigan a considerable part of Northeastern Ohip. This absurdity- was so apparent that it was confidently expected that the alternative line, which was provided for in the Ohio constitution, would be confirmed—especially so, when the fact was considered that Congress, by admitting Ohio to statehood, had constructively approved it. The matter was submitted to Benjamin F. Butler, at that time Attorney General of the United States, but he, with that tenacity which is a characteristic of lawyers in adhering to the letter of the law, decided that until Congress acted otherwise Michigan had the right of dominion over the disputed strip. He softened a little, however, by saying that no harm could come from the re-survey of the Harris line, as proposed by the Ohio authorities. Accordingly. Governor Lucas thought he could run and re-mark the line without serious molestation and directed the commissioners to proceed with the work. Engineer S. Dodge, who was engaged in the construction of the Ohio canal, was employed as surveyor and together with the commissioners and a considerable party, came up the Maumee river to Defiance and then started across the country to the Northwest corner of the state to commence the survey. They arrived at the Fulton line on April 19, but as the "border" was infested with Michigan scouts the party decided not to advance without further advice from Governor Lucas. The Governor instructed them to run the line at all hazards, and they proceeded to what is now the extreme corner of Northwest township, Williams county, where they found the corner of the state as described in the field notes of Surveyor Harris. Thence the commissioners and party proceeded eastwardly along the line, finding it with little or no difficulty and re-marking it as directed, until they reached a point near the present town of Lyons, in Fulton county, on April 25. There they left the line and retired about a mile to the . Siatifh, Where expeetea `t2) spenh loshomiing clay, Sunday. At about high noon of the next day, however, they were attacked by a mounted force under General Brown, and in the melee that followed nine of the Ohio party were captured and escorted to Tecumseh,

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE - 53

Michigan. The remainder of the force succeeded in reaching Perrysburg, and the project of re-surveying the line was indefinitely postponed.

In addition to this outrage upon the official surveying party there were numerous flagrant assaults upon individuals—some of the events being ludicrous, but all of them doubtless having a serious

aspect to the victims. Among the latter was Major Stickney, one of the most interesting and famous characters who were figuring on the Maumee in those early days. It will add a humorous interest to the dry details of this boundary dispute if we digress here and devote a little space to this eccentric individual, the facts being gleaned from reminiscences penned by Thomas W. Powell. Major Stickney had been appointed by President Jefferson as Indian Agent, and as

such had long resided in the Western country—first at Upper Sandusky and then at Fort Wayne. He was a man of some intelligence, and assumed to be a scholar and philosopher. His wife was a highly respectable lady—in every way amiable, and a daughter of General Stark of Revolutionary fame. But his wife's accomplishments did not prevent Major Stickney from resorting to all kinds of eccentricities. A part of this was to be as much as possible like nobody else. This he carried out in the naming of his children—not after any names found in either Christian or profane history; but the boys were to represent the numerals and the girls the states—as far as their numbers would go. The boys, therefore, were named One, and Two, etc.; and though he condescended to name his eldest daughter, from respect to Mrs. Stickney, Mary, the rest of his daughters were named after the states, Indiana, Michigan, etc. This eccentricity produced some of the most ridiculous anecdotes, among which is the following: Soon after the family moved to the Maumee Valley, and while living, in a house erected near the landing at the mouth of Swan Creek, Mrs. Stickney, one morning, came to the piazza in front of the house, where a vessel laid at anchor, and calling to her sons, said, "Two, call One to breakfast." A sailor aboard the vessel looked up and said: "Is this Maumee? It is a terrible hard country, if it takes two to call one to breakfast."

In the spring of 1821, Major Stickney was a ruling spirit in what was already a thriving settlement in the neighborhood of Swan Creek. Up to this time the little colony had been without a question within the jurisdiction of Ohio. Writs had been issued from Maumee in Wood county, to the settlers, as witnesses, jurors and suitors, and they, until then, had answered as such without a question as to jurisdiction. But other views had entered into Major Stickney's policy and philosophy. He called a public meeting of the citizens, and to them when thus assembled he represented that the citizens of the incipient city had very seriously mistaken their interest as to the question—where the true northern line of the State of Ohio was. He did not care as to what the constitution of the State of Ohio said on the subject—the true line was the one run due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, which run considerably south

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of the settlement and would leave them in the Territory of Michigan, instead of the State of Ohio, and therefore they were Wolverines instead of Buckeyes. He averred that it was greatly to their interest to be so; that while they were citizens of the Territory they would be cherished and protected under the auspices and guardianship of the United States, while in Ohio they could not expect anything except to be taxed. He said he was well acquainted with General Cass, the Governor of Michigan at that time, and would go to him and get a commission as justice of the peace for Michigan in the settlement, in case the citizens there would sustain him. The motion carried—the secession was complete. Major Stickney procured his commission and proceeded to exercise the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace of Michigan over the seceded territory. Soon after these things had matured, Gen. J. E. Hunt of Maumee, had some official business to transact in that vicinity as an officer of Wood county. The citizens threw every obstacle in his way to prevent the discharge of his duties and to convince him that they had really seceded. General Hunt returned with just complaint of the conduct of the citizens there. A meeting of the commissioners of the county was called and the question was, What shall be done with the seceding rebels— shall they be prosecuted and hung? Perhaps so, if justice were done them. But mild and discreet measures and counsels were adopted. It was considered that Congress and the State of Ohio would in due time settle the question, and in the meantime it was neither discreet nor prudent to get tip a war which could be avoided. This policy prevailed and Major Stickney and his followers were let "alone in their glory."

But about this time the canal question became an absorbing theme to the people of the Maumee Valley. When fully acquainted with the project, Major Stickney called another meeting of the citizens of Swan Creek, and to them he now represented that they had committed a great error in seceding from Ohio and going over to Michigan; that while they belonged to Michigan they could not expect that the State of Ohio would construct the canal to Swan Creek; they must go back to Ohio; they must secede from Michigan and go back to Ohio again; they must undo their former secession and rebellion or they could not expect to secure the canal. Thereupon all sorts of resolutions were adopted, to the effect that they were and of right ought to be a part and parcel of the Stafe of Ohio; that Ohio was a great and glorious State, and that they would maintain their position, if necessary, at the point of the bayonet. These measures succeeded in arousing Michigan to a demonstration of war. Militia soldiers were sent from Detroit by land and water to Swan Creek, to whip the rebels into subjection to their legitimate authority. They came in martial array and took possession of the territory where the proud city of Toledo now stands, making the citizens succumb to the power and jurisdiction of Michigan. They returned to Detroit in the most jubilant triumph, drinking all sorts of toasts to the glory of Michigan and to the anathematization of

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE - 55

Major Stickney in Ohio, one of which was, "Here is to Major Stickney's potatoes and onions—we draft their tops and their bottoms volunteer !" This, however, was all to the wishes of the sycophantical Major, and in accordance with his policy he went immediately to Columbus and represented to the Governor and people of Ohio the intolerable barbarity of the Wolverines—how they had desecrated the just authority of Ohio and trampled under foot the loyal citizens kid the State. Among the individuals arrested by the Michigan authorities during the troublous times of 1835, was Major Stickley, who was taken while on a visit to friends in Monroe, Michigan. He 'ins confined in jail at the latter place for some time, as he described it, "peeping through the grates of a loathsome prison for the mon:-strous crime of having acted as the judge of an election within the “State, of Ohio." He was finally released, however, but it is doubtful it ever, in either ancient or modern history, there has been an instance of secession and rebellion so successful, or a hero of one so `ilearly entitled to the distinction as Major Stickney. ,

Other citizens of the disputed strip, who claimed allegiance to Ohio, were arrested and harshly treated, among whom being Messrs. N. Goodsell and George McKay of Toledo, and feeling was aroused to a high pitch. The commissioners appointed to remark the Harris line reported the attack upon them to Governor Lucas, and he in turn reported the facts to President Jackson. The President sent a copy of the report to Governor Mason and directed him to send a tatement "by the officers engaged in the transaction complained of." William McNair, under-sheriff of Lenawee county and the officer who made the arrests, replied, denying that the commissioners' posse was fired upon. Great excitement prevailed throughout Ohio. The press spread the news with such comments as corresponded with their views. Most of the papers advocated the cause of the Governor, and severely condemned the conduct of Michigan ; hut some few of the Whig papers, or those anti-Democratic in politics, took an opposite view and severely berated the conduct of Governor Lucas and those who sided with him. They treated the proceedings on the part of the authorities of Ohio as ridiculous and calculated to bring the State into disgrace. But the number of these papers that spoke freely against the course pursued by the State were very few. Governor Lucas, finding it impracticable to run the line or enforce jurisdiction over the disputed territory, called an extra session of the legislature to meet on the 8th day of June. That ,body passed an act "to prevent the forcible abduction of the citizens of Ohio." The act was intended of course to prevent if possible a repetition of offenses heretofore mentioned— and also had reference to counteracting the previous acts of the legislative council of Michigan—and made such offenses punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than three nor more than seven years. An act was also passed at this special session creating the county of Lucas out of the north part of Wood and Henry counties. This new county extended from the east line of Williams to Lake Erie, the

56 - HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY

greater part of the new division lying between the rival boundary lines. An act was also passed levying appropriations to carry inta effect all laws in regard to the northern boundary. Three hundred thousand dollars were appropriated out of the treasury and the Governor was authorized to borrow three hundred thousand more on the credit of the state. The determination to run and re-mark the Harris line was still in evidence, and a resolution was adopted inviting the President to appoint a commissioner to go with the Ohioans when they, again attempted to make the survey.

The issue was now chantred; and to quote again from a legal chronicler of the events, "the United States now became de