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Licking County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

Source:
The History of Granville, Licking
Co., Ohio
Written by Rev. Henry Bushnell, A. M.
Published by a Company Formed for the Purpose
COLUMBUS, O.
Press of Hann & Adair
1889

CHAPTER II.
Ohio in 1805

pg.15

     The passing century dawned to find the westward march of civilization rapidly breaking at different points across the Ohio River, into the great undeveloped region between the river and the lakes, and gaining a foothold among the valleys never more to be dislodged.
     The little spot that concerns us now, according to Hon. Isaac Smucker, has been "under the control of a number of foreign powers" and " integral portion of at least two different States (Virginia and Ohio), and one Territory (North-West), and six counties (Botetourt, Illinois, Washington, Ross, Fairfield and Licking)."
     Spain early claimed all the land drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries.
     France also claimed the valley of the Ohio and exercised some jurisdiction over it until the peace of 1763.
     England then "became the owner by treaty and exercised authority over it until 1784."
     At the close of the Revolutionary War it passed to the jurisdiction of the United States.
     By the various patents given by England to her colonies with ill-defined boundaries and indistinct knowledge of the territories ceded, conflicting claims arose among the States for possession of this region.  As it had come into the possession of the United States at the price of treasure and blood expended by all the colonies, the rest also felt that they had equal claim to it and equal right of jurisdiction over it.  In 1784, or soon after, the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, severally relinquished these original claims in favor of the general government.
     Virginia, in 1769, while claiming title, erected the County of Botetourt, whose eastern boundary was somewhere east of the Ohio, and the western was the Mississippi River.
     Again, in 1778, all west of the Ohio River was set off and called the County of Illinois.
     After the establishing of the Territory of the Northwest by Congress in 1787, Washington County was erected, lying between the Ohio and Scioto Rivers, and running north to Lake Erie.
     In 1798, Ross County was proclaimed, taking in the Ross County of to-day and all north of it to the Lake.
     In 1800, Fairfield, in like manner, took the northern part of Ross.
     In 1808, Licking County was proclaimed with its present boundaries.
     When Granville Township was organized, in 1807, its bounds upon the north and west extended much further than at present.
     The recognition by Congress of Ohio as a State was on Feb. 19, 1803.  The seat of government until 1810 was Chillicothe.  Then for two years it was transferred to Zanesville, after which it reverted to Chillicothe until 1816, at which time Columbus became the capital.
     Previous to 1803 there were nine counties: Washington, erected in 1788; Hamilton, 1790; Adams and Jefferson, 1797; Ross, 1798; Trumbull (all Western Reserve), Clermont and Fairfield, 1800, and Belmont, 1801.  In 1803, eight more were erected:  Butler, Montgomery, Greene, Warren, Franklin, Scioto, Gallia and Columbiana.  Muskingum was erected in 1804, and Geauga, Athens, Highland and Champaign in 1805.  So that when the Granville colony took possession of their homes in 1805, there were twenty-two counties in the State.
     The most powerful of the tribes of Indians occupying, in early times, the lands of the present State of Ohio, was probably the Shawnees, or Shawanoese.  They roamed the valley of the Scioto, and as far west as the Miami and east to the Muskingum, having villages here and there; and moving northward as settlements were made along the Ohio.

The Wyandots, another powerful tribe occupied the Hocking Valley, also moving northward to the valley of the Sandusky.  The Delawares were found in the Muskingum Valley, and the Mingoes (a fragment of the Senecas, who were of the Six Nations) west of Wheeling.  These tribes moved north-westward; the Delawares to the headwaters of the Sandusky, and the Mingoes to the mouth of the same river, on the east side, where they were called Senecas.  The Miamis were in the lower valley of the Miami, and the Twigtwees near its headwaters.  Remnants of the Six Nations, other than the Senecas or Mingoes, lived east of the Cuyahoga River.  The "Miamis of the Lake," or Maumees, probably occupied the valley of that stream, and a small band of the Ottawas were near its mouth.  The Moravian Indians migrated from Pennsylvania in 1772, with their missionaries, settling in the valley of the Tuscarawas, building their villages - Gnadenhutten, Salem and Schoenbrun - and living quietly by the arts of peace until massacred in cold blood.  The Chippeways, Kickapoos, Potawatamies, Saginas, and others are mentioned here and there, but not with prominence, nor can they be located.
     Indian troubles operated as a check to immigration from the first, until the decided victory of General Wayne, in 1794, established the "Greenville Treaty Line," giving undisputed possession of all the lands south and east of that line to the United States.  The Indian reservation was bounded by the Cuyahoga River, from its mouth to the portage, near where Akron now stands; across by that portage to the Tuscarawas River; by that stream down to Fort Laurens (a point in the northern boundary of the present County of Tuscarawas); thence by a line of survey running a little south of west, and nearly across the State, to a trading station on the Miami, marking the portage between the Miami and St. Marys Rivers, called Loramie's Station; thence north of west of Fort Recovery, on the head waters of the Wabash, and near the present State boundary, and thence west of south to a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.
     In the spring of 1788, "The New England Company" made the first permanent settlement north of the Ohio, at Marietta.  From this point the settlements reached out among the hills and up the valleys, until, in 1805, they had reached the head-waters of the Muskingum, there to meet similar advancing currents setting in from the east, the south and the southwest.
     In 1788, the settlements at the mouth of the Little Miami were commenced, and from there, as rapidly, they spread northward in widening radii, until in 1805, all that part south of the middle of the State was dotted with settlements.
     In 1790, the Ohio was crossed at Wheeling, and thence the wave began to roll westward.
     In 1805, the prominent points, the choicest localities, were occupied over half the State, that portion lying south and east of the middle portion.  But the land was not by any means subdued.  It was simply marked here and there by the outposts of civilization, while much of it was still an unoccupied wilderness.  The Indians were restricted to their reservation already described, except as roving squads of them put in an occasional appearance, or where a few of them were tolerated in clinging to the homes of their fathers.
     Thus it was when the attention of the Granville emigrants was directed thither.

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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

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Licking County
OHIO
History & Genealogy

    

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