By the cession of September, 1786, Connecticut yielded all her claims south of the 41st degree of north latitude, and west of a line 120 miles from the west line of Pennsylvania.  She had left the Western Reserve, which had thus been shorn of its original extension to the Mississippi River. Even to this her title was questionable and was not admitted anywhere outside of Connecticut.  To strengthen it she resolved upon immediate occupancy, and soon after the cession, offered for sale all that portion of her reserved territories lying west of Pennsylvania, and east of the Cuyahoga and the portage path leading from that river to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum.
     It was provided that the territory should be divided as nearly as possible into townships of six miles square; that six tiers of townships should be laid out parallel with the west line of Pennsylvania; that the range of townships next to that State should be designated as the first tier, and so on to the west in numerical order.  It was provided also that the townships should be numbered from north to south, No. 1 of each tier beginning at Lake Erie.  A committee of three persons was appointed to make sale.  The land was to be sold at not less than three shillings an acre, which was about equal to fifty cents of our present money.  The price of a township was put at twenty-seven dollars in specie.  It was provided that in each township 500 acres of good land were to be reserved for the support of the Gospel minister and 500 acres more for the support of schools in each town forever; and 240 acres were to be granted in fee simple to the first Gospel minister who should settle in such town. The general assembly agreed to guarantee the preservation of peace and good order among the settlers.
     At the next term of the Assembly, held at Hartford in May, 1787, some changes were made in the Resolutions, whereby it was provided that the townships should be numbered from south to north, instead of in the reverse order, as at first proposed; also that the Governor of the State should execute a patent of any town bought to the purchaser, on presentation of the necessary certificates from the committee, the same to be countersigned by the secretary and registered in his office.  The committee were further authorized to lay out one or more tiers east of the Cuyahoga, in addition to the six tiers authorized by the former resolution.

THE PARSONS PURCHASE

     General Samuel H. Parsons of Middletown, Connecticut, was the only purchaser of lands

Page 72 -
in the Reserve until the sale to the Connecticut Land Company in 1795. His patent was executed Feb. 10, 1788, the lands he purchased being known later as the Salt Springs Tract. General Parsons, who had previously explored the country, selected this tract on account of the existence thereon of saline springs, where the manufacture of salt had long been carried on in a crude way by the Indians and white traders. The salt was obtained by boiling the water in kettles ; but so small was the proportion of salt in the water and so slow the process of manufacture by the crude methods employed, that the price of the commercial article for a long time was over six dollars per bushel. Although the lines of the tract were not yet run out. General Parsons proceeded to make sale and to deed various undivided parts of it to different individuals.
     "This patent," says Joseph Perkins, in an historical sketch of the Connecticut Land Company (Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley, Vol. I, 1876), "was recorded in conformity to a provision in the original resolution authorizing a sale in the Secretary's office in Connecticut.  It will be seen also from the same resolves, that the State of Connecticut claimed an exclusive jurisdiction over this territory, as it is also a matter of  history that immediately after, in the year 1788, the Governor of the Northwestern territory originated the county of Washington, and embraced all this territory within the limits of that county.
     "The United States having thus set up a claim to the territory.  General Parsons caused his patent to be recorded in the Recorder's office, that county, as did likewise many of the subsequent purchasers from him of several parcels of that tract.  Still, as it was a doubtful question whether this territory was in fact in Washington County legally at any time, most, but not all of these deeds, were again recorded in Trumbull County, after its organization, and the United States had acquired unquestionable jurisdiction. In the year 1798.  Jefferson County was carved out, a part of Washington County, and this territory embraced within its limits, and it so continued until the organization of Trumbull County. During this period two deeds of land in this tract were there recorded which have never been recorded in Trumbull County.  No taxes were ever effectually imposed on any lands within the Connecticut Reserve until after the organization of Trumbull County, although there were some inhabitants in the territory before that period, yet they were left in a state of nature so far as civil government was concerned by the State of Connecticut, and but once were they disturbed by the United States, when the authorities of Jefferson County sent Zenas Kimberly into this county to inquire into the situation of things with a view of taxation.  As the people did not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the United States they beset him with laughter and ridicule until he left them, and no further effort was made to interfere with them until the question of jurisdiction was afterwards settled, and the county became an undoubted part of the northwest territory."
     General Parsons was made one of the first three judges of the Northwest territory and subsequently became chief justice.  He was drowned at Beaver Falls in November, 1789, while on his way from Marietta, where he made his home, to conclude a treaty of peace with the Indians on the Reserve.  "His heirs, either on account of inability or lack of confidence in the speculation, failed to make the back payments, so that the patent, with all the deeds based upon it, was returned to the State.

THE "FIRE LANDS."

     The British Army having wholly or partially destroyed several towns and villages in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, a petition was sent to the legislature in 1791 by a large number of the inhabitants of Fairfield and Norfolk, praying for compensation for their losses thus sustained. "The legislature," says Whittlesey, "in their session in May, 1792, took up the report of their committee and released to the sufferers then alive whose names appeared on the list made, and where any were then dead, to their legal representatives and to their heirs and assigns forever, five hundred

Page 73 -
thousand acres of land, then belonging to the State, lying west of the State of Pennsylvania, bounding northerly on the shore of Lake Erie, beginning at the west line of said lands and extending eastward to a line running northerly and southerly parallel to the east line of the tract belonging to the State, and extending the whole width of the land, and easterly so far as to make the quantity of five hundred thousand acres, to be divided among them in proportion to their several losses, to which grant was appended the names of all the original sufferers and the sum of their several losses.  This grant, it may be observed, included none of the islands within the limits of the claim of Connecticut in Lake Erie and north of the western part of the reserve."  The land thus granted was known as the "Fire Lands," owing to the fact that most of the petitioners had suffered the destruction of their property by fire.  It embraced all of Huron and Erie counties and the township of Ruggles in Ashland County.

SALES TO THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY.

     The victory of Wayne at the battle of the Fallen Timber had given a new impulse to western emigration, which for some years previously had been held in check by the fear of Indian outbreaks.  The fever of land speculation was raging all over New England, and the State of Connecticut now resolved to put the balance of her reserved lands upon the market.  The resolution directing their sale was passed by the General Assembly at Hartford in May, 1795, and read as follows:
     "Resolved, by this Assembly that a committee be appointed to receive any proposals that may be made by any person or persons, whether inhabitants of the United States or others, for the purchase of the lands belonging to this State, lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania as claimed by said State, and the said committee are hereby fully authorized and empowered in the name and behalf of this State, to negotiate with any such person or persons on the subject of any such proposals.  And also to form and complete any contract or contracts for the sale of said lands, and to make and execute under their hand and seals, to the purchaser or purchasers, a deed or deeds duly authenticated, quitting on behalf of this State, all right, title, and interest, juridicial and territorial, in and to the said lands, to him or them and to his or their heirs, forever.  That before the executing of such deed or deeds, the purchaser or purchasers shall give their personal note or bond, payable to the treasurer of this State, for the purchase money, carrying an interest of six per centum payable annually, to commence from the date thereof, or from such future period not exceeding two years from the date, as circumstances in the agreement of the committee may require, and as may be agreed on between them and the said purchaser or purchasers with good and sufficient sureties, inhabitants of this State, or with a sufficient deposit of bank or other stock of the United States or of the particular States, which note or bond shall be taken payable at a period not more remote than five years from the date, or, if by annual installments, so that the last installment be payable within ten years from the date, either in specie or in six per cent, three per cent, or deferred stock of the United States, at the discretion of the committee.  That if the committee shall find that it will be most beneficial to the State or its citizens to form several contracts for the sale of said lands, they shall not consummate any of the said lands apart by themselves while the others lie in a train of negotiation only, but all the contracts which taken together shall comprise the whole quantity of the said lands shall be consummated together, and the purchasers shall hold their respective parts or proportions as tenants in common of the whole tract or territory, arid not in severalty. That said committee, in whatever manner they shall find it best to sell the said lands, whether by an entire contract or by several contracts, shall in no case be at liberty to sell the whole quantity for a principal sum less than one million of dollars in specie, or if day of payment be given, for a sum of less value than one million of dollars in specie with interest at six per cent per annum from the time of such sale."
     The committee appointed the Assembly

Page 74 -
to negotiate the sale consisted of John Treadwell, James Wadsworth, Marvin Wait, William Edmonds, Thomas Grosvenor, Aaron Austin, Elijah Hubbard and Sylvester Gilbert, one man from each of the eight counties of the State.  It will be observed that the State did not guarantee a clear title to any purchaser, but merely offered a quit claim deed.  This, however, did not deter Connecticut people, who believed in the validity of their State's claim, from purchasing the land, and the rage for land speculation was such that other purchasers were soon found.  Sales were made to the aggregate amount of twelve hundred thousand dollars, the members of the committee entering into separate contracts with the individual purchasers, though in a few instances two or three of the purchasers associated together and took their deeds jointly.  The names of the individuals with the amount of their contracts were as follows

     As no survey had yet been made it was impossible to determine the number of acres to which each purchaser was entitled.  Accordingly the committee of eight made out deeds to each purchaser was entitled.  Accordingly the committee of eight made out deeds to each of the purchasers or association of purchasers of as many twelve-hundred-thousandths in common of the entire tract as they had subscribed dollars.
     The deeds were recorded in the office of the Secretary of State of Connecticut.  They were afterwards transcribed into a book commonly designated as the "Book of Drafts," and transferred to the Recorder's office at Warren.  This book embraces all the proceedings of the Connecticut Land Company, so far as any history of them is to be found in the State of Ohio.  It does not appear that any part of the consideration was paid in hand.  "Thus the State made final disposition of all her western lands except the tract purchased by General Parsons, which reverted in consequence of non-payment of the stipulated price.  This tract was divided up and afterwards sold by order of the legislature, the deeds being issued by the Secretary of State."

< CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR HISTORY PUBLISHED 1907 >