CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY

    In consequence of the discovery of the peculiar property of the magnetic to point to the north, the people of Europe in the fifteenth century were seized with a spirit of adventure to discover new and unknown land, to find a passage to the Indies by water. All approach was had before that time to that country across the vast desert of Asia, or by the way of the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea. The Portuguese took the lead in these enterprises. While they were engaged in attempting to discover a route by sailing to the east, Columbus, an Italian, proposed to the King of Portugal to make the attempt to reach India by sailing west.

    On the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand six hundred and nine, King James, of England, granted a charter to Virginia, an extract from which is as follows: "And we do also, of our special grace, etc., give, etc., unto the said Treasurer and Company (the treasurer and Company of adventurers and planters, of the city of London, for the first colony in Virginia) all those lands, countries, and territories situate, lying, and being in that part of America called Virginia, from the point of land called Cape or Point Comfort all along to the sea west, to the northward two hundred miles, and from the said point of Cape all along the seacoast to the southward two hundred miles, and all that space and circuit of land lying, from the sea- coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and north-west, and also all the inlands lying within one hundred miles along the coast of both seas of the precinct aforesaid."   This colony was contracted afterward by various grants which conflicted with it.

    It will be seen that by the extension of this grant to the northwest that it spread over almost all Pennsylvania, the whole of the State of Ohio, and, in fact, almost the one-half of the North American continent. The kings of England, at different times, granted to various persons some part of the present territory of Connecticut; but, for our present purpose, it is not necessary to mention them, for, either by right or by wrong, they were submerged and swallowed up by a charter granted by King Charles the II, on the twenty-third day of April, A. D., one thousand six hundred and sixty-two.

    "And know ye further that we, of our abundant grace, certain knowledge and mere mention have given, granted, and confirmed, and by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, do grant and confirm unto the said Governor and Company and their successors all that part of our dominion in New England, in America, bounded on the east by Narraganset River, commonly called Narragansett Bay, where the said river falleth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachusetts plantation, and on the south by the sea, and in longitude as the line of the Massachusetts colony, running from east to west; that is to say, from the said Narraganset Bay, on the east, to the South Sea, on the west part, with the islands thereto adjoining, etc."

    This charter is indefinite, but it is by virtue of it that the State of Connecticut has claimed and held that part of the present State of Ohio called the Connecticut Western Reserve. This charter evidently conflicted with the Virginia charter; it also covers a considerable part of the present State of New York, New Jersey, and nearly one-half of Pennsylvania.

    Charles the II granted a tract of country to James, Duke of York, which is in the Connecticut patent, and which is now a part of the States of New York and New Jersey. James, Duke of York, when he became King of England, did as King James the II--granted to William Penn a tract of country, which is now the State of Pennsylvania. This grant conflicted with both the charters of Connecticut and Virginia. New York and Connecticut settled their dispute about boundaries by an agreement in sixteen hundred and eighty-three, but not finally ratified until seventeen hundred and thirty-three. With New Jersey there was never any altercation, as the interference was small and the country was a wilderness, until after the settlement with New York, which virtually disposed of the difficulty with New Jersey. But with the colony and State of Pennsylvania there was a serious dispute, in which blood was spilled and lives lost.

    The colony, and afterward the State, of Connecticut, claimed almost the one-half of that State - all that part of it that lies within the same parallel of latitude as Connecticut.

    The colony of Connecticut sold to certain individuals seventeen townships, situated on and near the Susquehanna River, organized a civil township, called it Westmoreland, attached it to the probate district and County of Litchfield, in Connecticut. Representatives from that town sat in the Legislature of Connecticut at different times before the Revolution. Pennsylvania protested against this settlement as an intrusion upon her before the Revolutionary contest came on. Both parties sent their agents to England; but the war came on, which cut off all further appeals to England, and the two States had, no time to contend with each other until after the peace with England. Soon after the war Pennsylvania sent an armed force to drive the Connecticut settlers from their lands. The two parties met and fought, and some were killed. A number of the Connecticut settlers were put in confinement, but ultimately were discharged upon terms of compromise.

    By the original articles of confederation, entered into during the Revolutionary War by the States, it was provided that if any dispute  "should arise between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever,"  that a court should be organized by Congress in a manner pointed out in the articles of confederation, to hear and finally determine the controversy between the States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A court was organized by Congress, and ordered to be held at Trenton, New Jersey.

    This court sat at Trenton in the year seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, when the cause was tried, and decided against the State of Connecticut. But, although a decision was had against the validity of her claim to the territory covered by the patent of the King of England to William Penn, she still insisted on her right to all the territory west of the west line of Pennsylvania, as claimed by Pennsylvania, and not previously by her released to the United States collectively.

    This act of New York induced Congress to again appeal to the patriotism of the remaining claimants. In October, seventeen hundred and eighty, Congress passed a resolution containing a pledge that the lands ceded, in pursuance of its recommendations, should be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States; be settled and formed into distinct States, with a suitable extent of territory, and become members of the Federal Union, with the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other States; that the expenses incurred by any States in subduing British posts, and in the organization and defense of the territory, should be reimbursed, and that the lands ceded should be granted and settled agreeably to regulation to be afterward agreed upon in Congress. This pledge, and the example of New York, induced Virginia to pass an act authorizing, upon certain conditions, the cession of the territory northwest of the Ohio. Congress, however, refused to accept of this deed of cession upon the terms offered by the State. For several years after the final ratification of the Federal compact, nothing was effectually done in reference to the Western lands. At length the Virginia cession was referred to a committee of Congress, who recommended terms of compromise between the State and Federal Government. Congress agreed to the report, and Virginia authorized her delegates to make a deed agreeable to the terms therein prescribed. This authority was soon after executed, and the cession of Virginia was accepted by Congress. Massachusetts followed, and, in April, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, ceded to the United States all her claim to territory west of a certain line, in her deed of cession mentioned. This line is now the west line of New York.

    It will be observed that the State of Connecticut made no disposition of the territory east of that line and west of Pennsylvania. It was, therefore, considered as reserved, and, from this circumstance, that tract of country has been termed the Connecticut Western Reserve. The States having any claim to the territory north-west of the Ohio having all relinquished both their right of jurisdiction and of soil to the whole of it (except the Connecticut Western Reserve), the United States proceeded to establish a form of government for it, and passed the famous ordinance of seventeen hundred and eighty-seven. The Governor of the Territory, appointed by the United States, proceeded to divide this country into counties. He organized the county of Washington, and proclaimed the boundaries of a county, which he called Wayne. The county of Washington embraced all that part of the Reserve bounded west by the Cuyahoga River, the Portage path leading from the Cuyahoga River to the Tuscarawas River and by that river. The county- seat of the county was Marietta. The remainder of the Reserve was included in the county of Wayne, the county-seat of which was intended, at that time, to be at Detroit, and was there afterward. But, at that time, Great Britain had full possession of Detroit, and so continued until long after that part of the Reserve, within the limits of this county of Wayne, had become a constituent part of Trumbull County. This extension of jurisdiction or claim over this territory was a violation of the right of the State of Connecticut to the jurisdiction over which she had never relinquished. The State of Connecticut provided, very soon after the cession made to the United States, to offer for sale the lands by her reserved.

    At a session of the Legislature of that State, held at New Haven, in October, seventeen hundred and eighty-six, it was resolved that the land belonging to that State, west of Pennsylvania, and east of the Cuyahoga and the Portage path, leading from that river to the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, should be put in market. That the land should be sold for the public securities of that day, and the sum of twenty-seven dollars, in specie, for each township sold, enough as was supposed to defray the expenses of the survey. It should be sold at not less than three shillings, lawful money, an acre, which was equal to fifty cents of our present money. That the territory should be divided into townships of six miles square, as near as could be; that six tiers of townships should be laid out; that the tiers 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, west, in numerical order. It was provided that the townships should be numbered from north to south, beginning at each range with number one, at Lake Erie.

    No attempt, so far as I have been able to discover, was made to make a survey in accordance to the resolves of the Legislature; a sale, however, was made soon after of certain lands, which have since obtained the name of the Salt Spring Tract, to General Samuel H. Parsons, then of Middletown, Connecticut. This patent was executed by the Governor and Secretary of the State of Connecticut, and is dated 10th of February, 1788. In the description of the boundaries of the land reference was had to numbers of the ranges and townships as if actually run. General Parsons had thoroughly explored this country and had found the relative location of a salt Spring near the Mahoning, which, in that day was esteemed as being very valuable, at which considerable quantities of salt were made by the Indians and traders, and at which considerable quantities were manufactured for a number of years after the settle- ment of the surrounding country. General Parsons being the first purchaser and the only purchaser from the State until the purchase of the Connecticut Land Company, had his choice of all the lands east of the Cuyahoga, and selected a tract so as to include the spring bounded as follows:

    Beginning at the north-east corner of the first township, in the third range of townships, thence running northerly on the west line of the second range of said lands to forty-one degrees and twelve minutes of north latitude; thence west three miles; thence southerly parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania two miles and one-half; thence west three miles to the west line of said third range; thence southerly parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania, to the north line of the first township in the third range; thence east to the first bound. The line of this tract was never actually run until they were run out by the Connecticut Land Company; although General Parsons proceeded forthwith to make sale and to deed various undivided parts of it to different individuals. This patent 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 north-western 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, those 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 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 afterward settled, and the territory became an undoubted part of the north-western territory.

    The British army having invaded, during the Revolutionary War, the State of Connecticut, and having partially or wholly burned several of her towns and villages, measures were taken to make an estimate of the loss sustained by each holder of property in the different places by the enemy. Most of the destruction was by the fire. Committees were appointed, who reported the names of the sufferers and the loss sustained by each to the Legislature.

    In the year 1791, a petition was sent to the Legislature, by a large number of the sufferers, inhabitants of the towns of Fairfield, and Norwalk, praying the Legislature to remunerate them for their losses. A committee was appointed to ascertain the amount of the losses of those who petitioned, and all others in similar circumstances, and to report to the Legislature thereafter.

    This committee had recourse to the list of sufferers and the estimate of their losses, which had been returned to the Assembly, as the basis of their report which they made. 

    The Legislature 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 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 State of Connecticut having sold to Samuel H. Parsons, a tract of twenty-four thousand acres, and having given to the Revolutionary sufferers one-half million acres of land, in the year 1795, came to a determination to sell the balance of her western lands. At a session of the General Assembly, of that State, held at Hartford, in May, 1795 a resolution, directing the sale of these lands, was passed 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 hands and seals, to the purchaser or purchasers, a deed or deeds duly authenticated, quitting, in behalf of this State, all right, title, and interest, juridical 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 opinion 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 contracts 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, and 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."

    At the same session a resolution was passed in the following words:

    "This Assembly do appoint John Treadwell, James Wadsworth, Marvin Wait, William Edmonds, Thomas Grosvenor, Aaron Austin, Elijah Hubbard, and Sylvester Gilbert, Esquires, a Committee to negotiate a sale of the Western lands belonging to this State lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania, as claimed by said State, according to a resolve for that purpose, passed at the present session of the General Assembly."

    These eight men were selected, one from each of the eight counties of the State. John Treadwell resided in Hartford County;  James Wadsworth, in New Haven;  Marvin Wait, in New London;  William Edmonds, in Fairfield.  Thomas Grosvenor was a resident of Windham;  Aaron Austin, of Litchfield; Elijah Hubbard, of Middlesex;  and Sylvester Gilbert, of Tolland County. These men entered into separate contracts with sundry individuals, in the aggregate amounting to twelve hundred thousand dollars. The several purchasers made their bargain in general, each for himself, disconnected with any other. There were exceptions, however, in a few instances, some two or three associated together and took their deeds jointly. The contracts were made as follows:  With

    The deeds were made to the several purchasers in the foregoing proportions.  These deeds were recorded in the office of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut. They were afterward all transcribed into a book, commonly designated as the "Book of Drafts," but which 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. The book is now in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, in Trumbull County. A certificate is appended to the copy of each deed, certifying that it is a true copy, and signed by Samuel Wylle, Secretary. Some of those deeds have again been recorded in Trumbull County, records book, E.

Articles of Association and Agreement, constituting the Connecticut Land Company

Article I.  It is agreed that the individuals concerned in the purchase made this day, of the Connecticut Western Reserve, shall be called the Connecticut Land Company.

Article II.  It is agreed that the committee, appointed by the applicants for purchasing said Reserve, shall receive from the Committee, of whom said purchase has been made, each deed which shall be executed to a purchaser; and in their hands shall retain said deed until the proprietors thereof shall execute a deed in trust to John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace, and John Morgan, and the survivors of them, and the last survivor of said three persons and his heirs forever, to hold in trust for such proprietor his share in said purchase, and to be disposed of as directed and agreed in the following articles.

Article III.  It is agreed that seven persons shall be appointed by the Company at a meeting to be holden this day at the house of John Lee, in Hartford, who shall be a Board of Directors for said Company, and that said Directors, or the majority thereof, shall have power, at the expense of said Company, to procure an extinguishment of the Indian title to said Reserve, if said title is not already extinguished, to survey the whole of said Reserve, and to lay the same out into townships containing sixteen thousand acres each, to fix on a township in which the first settlement shall be made, to survey that township into small lots, in such manner as they shall think proper, and to sell and dispose of said lots to actual settlers only. To erect in said township a saw-mill and grist-mill at the expense of said Company, to lay out and sell five other townships, of sixteen thousand acres each, to actual settlers only. And the said trustees shall execute deeds of such part or parts of said six townships as shall be sold by said Directors to said purchasers, but in case there shall be any salt spring or springs, in said six townships, or in any or either of them, said Directors shall not sell spring or springs; but shall reserve the same, together with two thousand acres of land, inclosing said spring or springs. Said Directors shall also have power to extinguish, if possible, the Indian title, if any, to said Reserve, and to make all said surveys within two years from this date, and sooner if possible. And when said Indian title, if any, shall have been extinguished, and said surveys made, said Trustees, or a majority thereof, shall convey to each proprietor of said Reserve, or any member who shall agree, his or their proportion or right therein, in severalty, the mode of dividing said Reserve, however, to be in conformity to the orders and directions of the major part of the proprietors assembled at any meeting of the proprietors convened, and holden according to the mode hereinafter marked out.

Article IV.  It is also agreed that said Directors shall cause the persons employed by them in surveying said Reserve to keep a regular field book, describing minutely and accurately the situation, soil, waters, kinds of timber, and natural productions of each township surveyed by them, which book said Directors shall cause to be kept in the office of the Clerk of said Directors, and the said book shall be open to the inspection of each proprietor at all times.

Article V.  It is agreed that said Directors shall appoint a clerk, who shall keep a regular journal of all the votes and proceedings of said Directors, and of the money disbursed by them for the use of the Company; and said Directors shall determine the wages of such clerks; and the said Directors shall, once in a year, settle their accounts with the proprietors; and that all moneys, received by the Directors for taxes and the sale of lands, shall be subject to the disposal and direction of the Company.

Article VI.  It is agreed that the Trustees shall give certificates, agreeable to the form hereinafter prescribed, to all the proprietors in the original purchase made from this State, and that the grantees from said State shall lodge with the Trustees the names of the proprietors, for whom they respectively receive deeds, and the proportion of land to which said proprietors are entitled, a copy of which shall be lodged, by the Trustees, with the clerk of the Directors. It is further agreed that all transfers made by any proprietors shall be recorded in the book of the clerk of the Directors, and no person claiming as an assignee shall be acknowledged as such until his deed shall have been thus recorded.

Article VII.  It is agreed, in order to enable said Board of Directors to perform and accomplish the business assigned them, that they shall be paid a tax, in the proportion of ten dollars on each of the shares of the Company, to the clerk of the Directors, to be at the disposal of said Directors for the purpose aforesaid, which said tax shall be paid to said clerk on or before the sixth day of October next.

Article VIII.  It is agreed that the whole of said Reserve shall be divided into four hundred shares, and that the following shall be the mode of voting by the proprietors in their meetings: Every proprietor of one share shall have one vote, and every proprietor of more than one share have one vote for the first share, and then one vote for every two shares, till the number of forty shares, and then one vote for every five shares, provided that the question of the time of making a partition of the territory, every share shall be entitled to one vote.

Article IX.  It is agreed that the aforesaid Trustees shall, on receiving a deed from any purchaser, according to the tenor of these articles, give to such proprietors a certificate in the following words:

CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY

                                                     Hartford, September 5, 1795

This certifies that __ is entitled to the trust and benefit of __ twelve hundredth thousandths of the Connecticut Western Reserve, so called, as held by John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace, and John Morgan, Trustees, in a deed of trust, dated the fifth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, to hold said proportion or share to __, the said __, heirs, and assigns, according to the terms, conditions, covenants, and exceptions contained in the said deed of trust and in certain articles of agreement, entered into by the persons composing the Connecticut Land Company, which said share is transferable by assignment, under hand and seal, witnessed by two witnesses, and acknowledged before any justice of the peace in the State of Connecticut, or before a notary public or judge of the common pleas in any of the United States, and to be recorded by the clerk of the Board of Directors, which said certificate shall be complete evidence of such person of his right in said reserve, and shall be recorded by the clerk of the Directors in the book, which said clerk shall keep for the purpose of registering deeds.

Article X.  It is agreed that the first meeting of said Company be at the State-house, in Hartford, on Tuesday, the sixth of October next, at two of the clock, in the afternoon, at which meeting the mode of making partition shall be determined by the major vote of the proprietors there present, taking such votes by the principle hereinbefore marked out.

Article XI.  And, whereas, some of the proprietors may choose that their proportions of said Reserve should be divided to them in one lot or location, it is agreed that in case one-third in value of the owners shall, after a survey of said Reserve in townships, signify to said Directors or meeting a request that such third part be set off in manner aforesaid, that said Directors may appoint three commissioners, who shall have power to divide the whole of said purchase into three parts, equal in value, according to quantity, quality, and situation; and when said commissioners shall have so divided said Reserve, and made a report in writing of their doings to said Directors, describing precisely the boundaries of each part, the said Directors shall call a meeting of said proprietors, giving the notice required by these articles; and at such meeting the said three parts shall be numbered, and the number of each part shall be written on a separate piece of paper, and shall, in the presence of such meeting, be by the chairman of said meeting put into a box, and a person, appointed by said meeting for that purpose, shall draw out of said box one of said numbers, and the part designated by such number shall be aparted to such person or persons requesting such a severance, and the said Trustees shall, upon receiving a written direction from said Directors for that purpose, execute a deed to such person or persons accordingly; after which, such person or persons shall have no power to act in said Company.

Article XII.  It is agreed that the Company shall have power, by a major vote, to raise money by a tax on the proprietors, to be apportioned equally to each proprietor, according to his interest; and, in case any proprietors shall neglect to pay his proportion of said taxes within fifty days, when the proprietor lives in the State; if out of the State, within one hundred and twenty days after the same shall have become payable; and, after the publication thereof in the newspapers of this State, in the manner provided for warning meetings, that the Directors shall have power to dispose of so much of the interest of such delinquent proprietor in said Reserve as may be necessary to pay the tax so as aforesaid due and unsatisfied; and, in case any proprietor shall neglect to pay the tax of ten dollars upon a share, agreed to by these articles, within fifty days after the time of payment, so much of his share, as will raise his part of said tax, may be sold as aforesaid.

Article XIII.  In case of the death of any one or more of the Trustees, the company may appoint a successor to such deceased person or persons in said trust; and, upon such appointment being made, the surviving Trustee or Trustees shall pass a deed or deeds to such successor or successors, to hold the premises as co-trustees with the surviving Trustees, in the same manner as the original Trustees held the same.

Article XIV.  It is agreed that the Directors, in transacting the business of said Company according to the articles aforesaid, shall be subject to the control of said Company by a vote at least three-fourths of the interest of said Company.

    In pursuance of those articles of association on the same day, the Company held a meeting at Hartford, and after appointing Wm. Hart moderator of their meeting, and Enoch Perkins clerk, they proceeded to appoint Oliver Phelps,  Henry Champion 2d,  Moses Cleveland,  Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby,  Samuel Mather, Jr.,  and Roger Newbury, Directors.

    At a meeting of the Company on the first Tuesday of April, A. D., 1796, Ephraim Root was appointed clerk. He continued to be clerk until the Company was dissolved in A. D., 1809. A moderator was chosen at each meeting to preside at that meeting, and the Directors were changed from time to time.

    At the meeting held in April, A. D., 1796, a mode of partition was agreed upon and a resolution was passed as follows:

    "Resolved, That after so much of the Western Reserve as is free from Indian claims shall have been surveyed into townships, according to the third article of our Constitution, the proprietors shall, at a meeting of said proprietors, legally warned for that purpose, elect and appoint three or more judicious persons, who, or a majority of them, shall be a committee to divide said parts of said Reserve, according to its relative value. And for that purpose, said committee, as soon as may be, shall go upon said lands and shall view and explore the same, and shall then select from the lands which shall not have been previously disposed of by our Directors, four townships in said part of said reserve, which they judge to be of the greatest value on account of their situation, natural advantages, etc., which four said townships shall by said committee be divided into lots of such size as they shall judge proper, not less than one hundred lots in each of said towns, and each and every person or persons entitled to one or more shares of said reserve (each share being one four-hundredth part of said reserve), shall be allowed to draw in the order hereafter mentioned by lot for each share by him or them held, one or more lot or lots in said towns, as said committee shall determine. The committee shall then proceed to make an estimate of the remaining townships as they shall judge necessary to appropriate for equalizing said townships, which townships thus selected shall be the next in quality and goodness to the four townships first mentioned. After which they shall ascertain the first remaining township or townships; if there should be two or more townships of an equal value, they shall then set apart and annex to each township, of a value inferior to the township or townships last mentioned, so many acres from some one of the towns selected, for the purpose of equalizing as aforesaid, as they shall judge necessary, to make said township equal in value to the township or townships next in value to the lands selected as aforesaid. And the township, which shall be selected for the purpose of equalizing as aforesaid, shall, by said committee, be designated and made known by being numbered, and also by being described by their metes and bounds; and each and every fractional part of said towns, and each of them shall be designated and made known by being numbered, and also by being described by particular metes and bounds; and said committee shall also accurately state and describe to what particular township, of inferior value, each particular fractional part of said selected township is annexed, and also the number of acres contained in said fractional part; and said committee shall cause said fractional parts of equalizing townships to be surveyed, and shall also cause said first-mentioned four townships to be surveyed, and shall describe, by number and by metes and bounds, each lot in said four townships, and shall ascertain and determine the number of lots in said four townships, which shall be drawn for by each share or four-hundredth part; and, in case it shall happen that said land can not all be surveyed into townships of sixteen thousand acres, said committee shall annex to the part or parts of said land, which can not be surveyed into townships of the aforesaid size, so much of the aforesaid size, so much of the aforesaid townships, which shall be set apart to equalize said townships of inferior value as will render said part or parts, as can not be surveyed as aforesaid, equal in value to the best town or towns after said selected towns, and said part or parts, with the lands annexed to them, shall be considered as towns, and as such shall be drawn for upon the division of said property. And, immediately after completing said valuation and allotment, said committee shall deposit with the clerk of the Company a complete and full report of their doings, which report shall, by said clerk, be recorded in the Company books at full length. And said clerk, upon reception of said report, shall notify the Directors thereof, who shall immediately call a meeting of the proprietors for the purpose of a division. And the business of said meeting shall be specified in the notification thereof, at which meeting said entire townships, together with the lands annexed to them, if any, and said part or parts, which could not be surveyed into townships, with the lands annexed to them, shall be drawn for by lot; which drawing shall be by putting the number of each township and also the number of each part, which can not be surveyed into a township, into a box, and, in the presence of said meeting, said number shall, by said clerk, be drawn against the name of each proprietor, arranged in alphabetical order. And, when there shall be several persons who shall be entitled to one township only, the number shall be drawn against the partner's name who stands first in alphabetical order, and the lot in said four townships shall be drawn in the same manner.

    "If there shall be any proprietor who shall be entitled to a part of a township, or a part of a lot only, whether from the smallness of their interest or otherwise, then, and in that case, if so many proprietors as shall be entitled to a township or lot shall agree to take a township or lot in common, they shall have a right to draw for a township or lot upon the same principles and in the same manner as is above provided; but, if such proprietors shall not agree to draw together for a township or lot, the proprietors at said meeting shall appoint three persons, who shall determine what proprietors shall join in drawing a township or lot, and said proprietors shall draw accordingly, so that all the property shall be drawn by an interest that has a right to a township or lot, and in such mode that each proprietor shall have his just proportion of said lands. And in case the proprietors, who shall jointly, as aforesaid, draw any township or lot, can not agree upon an actual partition, then the first-mentioned committee, or others to be appointed for that purpose, shall, upon application of a major part of said proprietors, at the expense of the Company, by going upon the land, or otherwise, as they shall judge proper, apart and set off, in severalty to each proprietor of each town or lot, his share and proportion in such township, lot, or tract aparted as aforesaid, having reference to quantity and quality; and, when said committee shall have so aparted and set off to each proprietor his share and proportion as aforesaid, said committee shall lodge with said clerk a description of each proprietor's share or proportion therein ascertained, which shall be recorded by said clerk. And, in case the committee, that may be elected for the purpose aforesaid, or any one or more of them, shall neglect or become incapable to perform the business of said appointment, then, and in such case, the proprietors may, at a meeting warned for that purpose, elect any one or more new committee men, to serve in the place of such person or persons as may neglect to act, or become incapable of acting.

    "Whenever a partition of said lands shall be made, as is herein provided, and shall be returned to the clerk of the Directors, the same shall be, by said clerk, recorded in the Company's books, and a list of each proprietor's share, which shall be set to him as aforesaid, shall, with a true copy of the doings of said committee, be by said clerk transmitted to the Trustees appointed by this Company, and, thereupon, said Trustees shall be authorized to, and shall convey, in fee simple to each proprietor his share, in severalty, according to the Constitution of the Company.

    "And each proprietor of a township or lot, after the first general division shall have been recorded by said clerk, and previous to the division between the proprietors of a town or lot shall have a good right to a conveyance of his part of said land, for which purpose said clerk shall transmit to said Trustees a copy of said general division.

    "It is further agreed that whenever the Indian claim to the residue of said land shall be extinguished and said land surveyed, a division of that part of said land shall be made upon the principles and in the manner aforesaid. And the proprietor or the proprietors of the excess of three millions of acres of land if any (whenever partition of said Reserve is made as aforesaid) shall be entitled to draw for his or their share of the land by them respectively owned, in the same manner and under the same regulations in every respect as the proprietors of the Land Company shall draw for their land. Provided, nevertheless, that nothing contained in the foregoing resolutions shall divest any proprietor or proprietors of the rights vested in him or them by the eleventh article of the Constitution of the Company."

    At the time this mode of partition was adopted all the land belonging to the Company west of the Greenville treaty line, or west of the Cuyahoga River, the Portage path and the Turcarawas River, was subject to the Indian claim.

     The last of these resolutions refers to a supposed surplus over three millions of acres. At the time the purchase was made, the territory was estimated at three millions of acres, and the surplus, if any, whenever ascertained, was, by an arrangement, made the exclusive property of certain individuals of the Company and other persons. This is a fact that ultimately was of no consequence, and need not have been mentioned were it not necessary to explain the last resolution; for those persons relinquished, to the Company, all their right to the supposed surplus.

    At a meeting in January, 1797, the Company resolved that they would apply to the Legislature of Connecticut to erect the Western Reserve into a county, with proper and suitable laws to regulate the internal policy of the territory for a limited term of time and to be administered at the sole expense of the proprietors.

    At the same meeting the Company appointed Daniel Holbrook,  William Shepperd, Jr.,  Moses Warren, Jr.,  Seth Pease,  and Amos Spafford, a Committee, to divide such part of the lands as were free from Indian claims, agreeable to the mode of partition which had been agreed upon by the Company.

    At the annual meeting in October, 1797, a resolution was passed that the Directors and Trustees should have full power and authority to pursue such measures as they should deem best calculated to procure a legal and practical government over the territory belonging to the Company.

    Nothing effectual was done in consequence of those resolutions. The State of Connecticut did not attempt to exercise any jurisdiction over the territory.

    The Committee appointed at the meeting in January, 1797, to explore the country and make partition, examined all that part of the country east of the Cuyahoga River in the Summer of that year, and met at Canandaigua, in the State of New York, in December, 1797, and made up their report, which was made to the Company at a meeting begun on the 23d day of January, 1798, and continued by adjournment from day to day, until the 31st day of the same month.

    The Directors of the Company selected six townships in pursuance of the articles of association for sale, which have since been commonly called  "the six townships."  They were No. eleven in the sixth range, ten in the ninth range, nine in the tenth range, eight in the eleventh range, seven in the twelfth range, and three in the third range. To all these townships, except the last, names were given, which are frequently to be found among the early records.

   Three of these townships still have their original names; namely, Cleveland, Euclid, and Mentor Township.  No. eleven in the sixth range was formerly called Chapin, now Madison; and township nine in the tenth range was named Chargrin, now Willoughby;  three in the third range has sometimes been called the Salt Spring Township.

    Those townships were offered for sale, and part of them put under contract very early. The Directors also sold one other township; by what authority does not clearly appear from any records in the books of the Company now remaining in Ohio. This township was No. two, in the second range, and was sold to John Young.*

    The remainder of the lands then surveyed were divided by the Committee as follows. They selected of the lands, not reserved for sale, four townships, namely, number five, six, and seven, in the eleventh range, and eleven in the seventh range, as being the best of all the lands not on sale by the Directors. These townships were divided into four hundred shares. These were divided into lots, as near as could be, of one hundred and sixty acres each. There were some small or fractional lots, whereby the whole number of lots was four hundred and twelve.

    They then proceeded to select certain whole and fractional townships, to be cut up into parcels for the purpose of equalizing as prescribed in the forms of partition already adopted. Townships numbers six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, in the eighth range; six, seven, eight, and nine in the ninth range; one, five, six, seven, and eight, in the tenth range; and also the following fractional townships on Lake Erie: the Cuyahoga River, the Portage path, between the Cuyahoga River, and the Tuscarawas, and on the Tuscarawas River (which were designated as No. fourteen in the first range, thirteen in the third range, thirteen in the fourth range, twelve in the fifth range, twelve in the sixth range eleven in the eighth range, ten in the tenth range, six in the twelfth range), and one and two in the eleventh range.

Afterward they proceeded to compare the value of the remaining townships and tracts of land with those selected for equalizing, exclusive of those selected for sale, and the four best townships allotted as above described, and decided that they would amount to ninety-three shares or drafts, including eight townships to which equalizing lands were not attached. These eight townships were esteemed to be each worth one ninety-third part of the whole then to be partitioned, and were therefore called average townships. They were numbers one, five, eleven, twelve, and thirteen, in the first range, twelve in the fourth range, eleven in the fifth range, and six in the sixth range.

    After the Company had, at their meeting in January, A. D. 1798, received the report of their Committee of Equalization, they appointed a committee of three persons to determine which proprietors should join in drawing a township or lot agreeable to the mode of partition agreed upon in April, 1796.

    On the 29th day of January, the Company, having received and approved of the report of their classing committee, commenced and completed the business of drawing for townships; and on the 30th of the same month, drew for the allotted townships; namely, towns, five, six, and seven, in range eleven; and township No. eleven, in the seventh range.

    The two foregoing and three subsequent drafts embraced all of the lands of the Connecticut Land Company purchase, except the township of Youngstown, and the sales made by the agents out of the five other townships, provided for sale in Article No. III.  Mr. Webb is mistaken in naming Weathersfield, instead of Youngstown, as one of the six townships.

    The drafts for the division of the land among the several proprietors, were based on the $1,200,000 original purchase money, giving each proprietor, at the time of each draft, land in proportion to his interest in the purchase. The draft for the allotted townships was first intended to be made prior to all others, but was delayed until the day after the draft of the townships east of the Cuyahoga, and was never known in the numbering which designated the other drafts.

    This draft was divided into four hundred shares, each share representing $3,000, or one four hundredth part of the purchase money, and intended to be good for an average lot in a township. In this and the other drafts, many of the proprietors in a draft or drafts united their interest in common and drew together.

    For instance, the first drawing in this draft had twenty-eight parts or shares, united representing $84,000 of the purchase money, and drew twenty-nine lots in common; others drew sixty-one lots.

    The first draft, so called, drawn in 1798, was for all of the remaining lands east of the Cuyahoga, and was divided into ninety-three parts, each part representing $12,903.23 of the purchase money, and was arranged to draw a township and its annexations, if it had any, or an average township.

    The second draft was made in 1802, for the balance of the six townships then unsold, and the land in Weathersfield omitted in draft of 1798, on account of uncertainty of boundary to the Parsons claim. This draft was divided into ninety shares representing $13,333.33 of the purchase money.

    The third draft was drawn in 1807, and was for the townships and their annexations west of the Cuyahoga. This draft was divided into forty-six parts, each part representing $26,087 of the purchase money, and drew the same as in draft No. one.

    Draft No. four, was drawn in 1809, and was for the surplus land so called, including sundry notes and claims growing out of the sales by the Company from the six townships, with notes of John Young and others, for sales by the agents of the Company from those lots. This draft was divided into shares and numbers the same as draft No. three.

    As these drafts were made at different periods of time, and as the interests of the proprietors were constantly changing hands, the names and combinations of purchase money are found different in nearly every draft, the combinations, however, in all the drafts in the aggregate represent, in each draft, the $1,200,000 of purchase money.

Connecticut Land Company, land east of the Cuyahoga River, etc..................................... 2,002,970

Land west of the Cuyahoga River, exclusive of surplus and Islands....................................... 827,291

Surplus land (so called)....................................................................................................... 5,286

Islands Cunningham or Kelley's.................................................. 2,749

    "         Bass or Bay No. 1...................................................... 1,322

    "            "     "   "     "    2......................................................... 709

    "            "     "   "     "    3......................................................... 709

    "            "     "   "     "    4......................................................... 403

    "            "     "   "     "    5........................................................... 32                                  5,924

                                                                                                    ___                                 _____

Amount of Connecticut Land Company land in acres......................................................... 2,841,471

Parsons's, or "Salt Spring Tract" in acres..............................................................................25,450

Sufferers' or Fire Lands...................................................................................................... 500,000

                                                                                                                                       _______

Total number of acres in the Connecticut Western Reserve................................................. 3,366,921

The First Mill

    In the year 1797 John Young was surveying this township. He was not active in the field, except in directing the surveyors. He remained at their cabin, and passed the days in cutting the undergrowth timber with a "bush hook" around the cabin.  Where the city of Youngstown now stands had been cleared at one time; but, having been abandoned by the Indians for about twenty years, the undergrowth or brush had sprung up very thick, and was about the height of a man's head when on horseback. During the Fall he cleared, with his own hands, two or three acres of ground, and, in all probability, he was the pioneer in leading the way for civilization on the Connecticut Western Reserve. Alfred Wolcott was the surveyor. They were surveying and running the lands north of the river into great or grand lots.

    One Sunday morning, in August, two men assisting the surveyor, Isaac Powers and Phineas Hill, left the cabin, which was situated where the old Woodbridge, now the Smith, property stands. They both had joined the surveying party with the same object in view, to-wit: A selection of land for themselves and friends. They proceeded across the Mahoning, following to the mouth of Mill Creek, then proceeded up that stream to the falls, now called Mahoning Falls. It is probable they were the first white men to discover the falls. In those days a water-power was esteemed the most valuable consideration, with a given amount of land, that could be had. And that point, with a fall of twenty-seven feet, and an apparently inexhaustible supply of water, presented to the explorers the most valuable site for a mill they had ever seen. It was arranged between them that Mr. Hill was to have the exclusive right to negotiate with Mr. Young for the purchase of it; Mr. Powers, although a mill-wright, having selected for the members of his family the land above and below the center of the township, where their families finally settled. On their return to camp, Mr. Hill, without telling Mr. Young what they had discovered, tried to make a contract with him for three hundred acres, embracing the falls. Mr. Young, led by the anxiety of Hill to purchase, arrived at the conclusion that there was something more valuable in that tract of land than he knew of, and refused to sell the land before seeing it. Mr. Hill then told him what they had seen. After an examination Hill purchased the land at a price previously talked of, with this provision in the contract, "That he, the said Hill, was to erect a saw-mill and something that would grind corn, within eighteen months from the date of the contract." In pursuance of this agreement preparations were at once made to commence the building of the mill. A rude cabin was built by Abraham Powers, then of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and, with his son Isaac, took the contract to build the mill. On being shown the contract between Mr. Young and Mr. Hill, he informed Mr. Hill that, for fifty dollars, he could put in something that would grind corn, which he did.

    The saw-mill was of the ordinary water-wheel mill pattern, with the exception that the shaft of the gig-wheel, instead of being movable at the top, as is usual, to throw into gear with the rag-wheel, was stationary, and the rag-wheel was movable in its stead. On the top of the shaft of the gig-wheel was the spindle that connected the runner stone. The millstones were procured and dressed by Abraham Powers, and made from a rock found in this city, in the vicinity of where Lincoln Avenue will cross Holmes Street. The rock was what is called "Nigger head," in common parlance, of about the size of the ordinary three- foot stones now used, the splitting of which made the top and bottom stones. The timber for the millwright work was procured on the west side of the creek, and was taken out by Isaac Powers and John Noggle. This fact of itself is of little importance; but, as they being young, single men, and were compelled to "tend baby" against their will, we mention it. It was in the Fall of the year, and the distance from the cabin was so great that they took their dinners with them. One morning, about ten o'clock, a number of Indian women, one of them carrying a papoose, apparently six months' old, in Indian fashion, being tied on a piece of bark, and then strapped to the woman's back, came from the west, and, when nearly opposite and within five or six rods, stopped. The woman undid the straps, took the child from her back, leaning the bark, in which the child was still tied, against a tree, with its face toward them. Leaving it in that position, the squaws continued their journey. About three or four o'clock, in the afternoon, they returned, bringing with them the carcass and skin of a deer. The woman took her child, strapped it to her back and proceeded, without a word being exchanged between any of the parties. During this time the papoose, true to its nature, neither cried or whimpered, and hardly gave signs of life, except the movements of its eyes, which were, apparently, attracted by the sounds of the ax.

    It is highly probable that the first blasting, by powder, in the Western Reserve, was at the building of this mill. It was necessary in putting in the foundations, and cutting the head race, to remove rock to some extent. The man that had charge of the blasting was not, perhaps, very skillful in the use of powder. One day he got a charge of powder in, and, upon applying the match, the priming burned, but failed to explode the charge. Determined not to lose the hole, he commenced drilling out the tamping, and, while so doing, dinner was called from the cabin. The other workmen went to their dinners, he saying that he  "would clear the hole before he went."  The cabin stood near where the residence of German Lanterman now stands. The men were seated at the table, and fairly at their dinner, when they heard an explosion. Knowing the position in which they had left the blaster, they at once surmised he had been blown to pieces; and, with exclamations of fear, they left the table and ran to where the man was working. There they found him at a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet from the hole, lying on his back, where he had been thrown by the explosion and stunned by the concussion. The party gathered around him, expressing themselves in terms of pity at his untimely end. Coming to his senses while this commiseration was going on, he vehemently protested and insisted that he was not dead. They asked him why he did not get up?  Being a ready witted Irishman, and, fully appreciating the awkwardness of his predicament, caused by his fool-hardiness, replied: "I am watching my drill to see where it will fall."

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