542 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
small colleges, and that some of our
best citizenship
found its inspiration in these
institutions. All of these
colleges have had men and women of more
than usual
rank and standing in our commonwealth,
and I am proud
to recognize their contribution to Ohio
citizenship. They
have not been very exclusive in this,
because they have
always exported their best to other
colleges. We have
present Professor Beverly W. Bond, Jr.,
from the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. He is a
southerner but camou-
flages himself as an easterner. He will
speak to you on
the subject of 'The Old Northwest
Territory in Eastern
Eyes'."
"THE OLD NORTHWEST TO EASTERN
EYES"
Dr. Bond delivered the following
address:
The rush into the fertile spaces of the
Old Northwest came
as an inevitable aftermath of the
Revolution and the removal of
the barriers set up by British
proclamations. The Revolutionary
veteran, the Yankee farmer, weary of
tilling a scanty soil, the
young man seeking his fortune, all
flocked to the promised land.
The wide range of motives that led on
this pioneer multitude is
revealed in striking fashion in the
newspapers, the almanacs and
the books of travel that circulated in
the Atlantic states at this
time. Based upon these varied sources,
this paper will be limited
to the early period, before the Land Act
of 1800 smoothed the
way for the bulk of the westward
migration. During this period
migration to the Old Northwest was
chiefly carried on under the
stimulus of stock companies and land speculators. The
Ohio
Purchase and the Western Reserve
attracted mainly emigrants
from New England, the Miami Purchase
those from New Jersey
and the Middle States, and the Virginia
Military District naturally
interested the people of the Old
Dominion. There was little, if
any, organized migration to Indiana or
Illinois before 1800.
(NOTE: This paper is founded upon an
extensive research in early
newspapers, almanacs and other
publications of the Seaboard States, chiefly
during the period 1788-1800. Most of
them were used in the Rare Book
Department of the Library of Congress.)
|
(543) |
544 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The movement to the Old Northwest during
the last two
decades of the Eighteenth Century was
but a phase of a general
migration that centered in New England,
New Jersey and Vir-
ginia. There was keen competition for
settlers with lands in
western New York and Pennsylvania, in
the blue grass region
of Kentucky and even in the fertile
valleys of distant Tennessee.
But with the aid of the land bounties
offered Revolutionary vet-
erans, and the opportunity to realize
upon the government cer-
tificates, the Old Northwest was more
than able to hold its own.
The uncertain economic situation under
the Confederation and the
distressed plight of many a
Revolutionary veteran must also be
reckoned with. An excellent
representative of the latter class
was Manasseh Cutler, pastor of the
church at Ipswich, Massa-
chusetts, and a leader in the Ohio
Company. In simple language
he pictured his situation: "I had
suffered exceedingly in ye war,
and after it was over, by paper money
and ye high price of arti-
cles of living. My salary small and
family large, for several
years I thought ye people had not done
me justice, and I med-
itated leaving them. Purchasing lands in
a new community ap-
peared to be ye only thing I could do to
secure a living to myself
and family in that unsettled state of
public affairs." It was for-
tunate indeed for the Old Northwest that
veterans of the Revo-
lution of the type of Manasseh Cutler
took so large a part in the
early settlement. At Marietta, for
example, in a list of thirty-
three of the most prominent pioneers,
twenty-three had seen active
service during the Revolution, and of
the remainder, all but four,
and one of them a clergyman, had been
too young to enlist. These
veterans in the prime of life laid well the foundation
of enduring
commonwealths.
Even before the first emigrants started
for Marietta in 1788,
glowing reports from the Western country
had actually aroused
the enthusiasm of the cold-blooded Yankees.
A typical letter in
1786 described the Muskingum region as a
veritable paradise,
and a particularly healthy one. An
enthusiastic surveyor con-
sidered this country "superior to
anything one can conceive of,"
with "the deepest and richest garden mould"
in the bottoms. As
proof he cited a remarkable cornfield
near Fort Harmar, in which
the stalks grew fourteen feet high.
Equally astounding reports
came from the early settlers at Marietta, and indeed
imagination
ran riot throughout this earliest phase
of New England settlement
in Ohio. A single family in one year, so
it was said, had raised
1,000 bushels of corn, and wintered 60
to 70 horses and cattle, an
achievement, the writer pointedly noted,
in strong contrast to the
usual experience of emigrants to
Vermont. Another Marietta
Minutes
of the Annual Meeting 545
pioneer
prophesied with poetic effusion the destiny of the new
settlement, as
not only "the glory of America, but the envy of the
world."
More to the point were the comments of a rather prac-
tical
individual who pointed out the possibilities of an extensive
trade,
as settlement increased in the Western country.
The
many travelers to the Ohio Purchase brought back re-
ports
that must have greatly stimulated emigration. Among them
was
Colonel John May of Boston, who returned from Marietta in
1788
with a diary stuffed full of information he had jotted down.
Upon a
seven-acre farm near Little Beaver, he recorded, the
owner
had raised 700 bushels of corn. Nor was Marietta wholly
lacking
in the comforts of life, and as evidence he cited a dinner
he
enjoyed with General Harmar, where there was "as elegant a
table
as any in Boston. Amongst the solids were bacon gammon,
venison,
tongues, roast and boiled lamb, barbecued and a la mode
beef,
perch and catfish, lobster and oysters. * * * For
veg-
etables:
green peas, radishes and salads. * * * For
drink:
spirits,
excellent wine, brandy and beer." Another traveler in the
West,
Thaddeus M. Harris of Dorchester, was likewise im-
pressed
with the possibilities of the Marietta colony. The full-
rigged
ships sailing down the Ohio aroused his admiration, along
with
the thrift, the neat fences, and the well-tilled farms of the
New
England settlers, which were in strong contrast to the gen-
eral
neglect on the Virginia side of the Ohio, where slave labor
was
customary.
In its
homely counsel to intending emigrants, an article en-
titled
"Advice to American Farmers" gave a vivid picture of the
privations
and the rewards that came to the settler who ventured
into
the Western country. The author advised emigrants to avoid
the
Niagara and Kentucky regions, and to choose lands that were
directly
under the control of the Federal government, avoiding
regions
especially where slavery was allowed. All luxuries they
must
eschew, but the Bible should go with them, and those of the
same
faith should settle together, "in order to secure the sooner a
minister
and a schoolmaster." This homely advice concluded with
an
alluring picture of a family, depressed by poverty, "which,
moving
into a new country, would there replace the woods with
fields,
the weeds with gardens, and the beasts of prey with domes-
tic
animals," creating new forces for independence and affluence.
The
correspondents of the New England newspapers were by
no
means unanimous in praise of the Western country, and occa-
sionally
they derisively countered the flowery statements of the
enthusiasts.
With true New England sarcasm, Robinson Crusoe
scornfully
called attention to the exaggerated accounts and the
Vol.
XXXVIII--35.
546 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
pretentious names of public improvements
at Marietta. In similar
ironic vein, a wag published "An
Ohio Story of a Vermont Pump-
kin Vine" that was of marvellous
length, with stupendous fruit.
The effect of such criticism was evident
in the more moderate tone
of the advertisements and other notices
at the beginning of the
movement to the Western Reserve, the
second notable migration
from New England. To be sure, the
speculators in these lands ex-
tolled the fertile soil and the healthy
climate of New Connecticut.
But they laid greater stress upon such
substantial facts as the in-
creasing settlements, the convenient
mills and the existence of
churches and schools. Probably too, this
change in emphasis was
largely due to the disillusionment that
must have come to so many
pioneers of the earlier migration.
In New Jersey also, there was marked
interest in the Western
country, especially in the Miami
Purchase, to which so many emi-
grants went from this state. Like the
proprietors of the Western
Reserve, Judge Symmes was quite moderate
in the circulars he
issued in 1787 and 1788, to induce the
public to come to his new
colony. Calling attention to the
excellent soil, he noted also the
abundance of navigable streams, and the
accessibility of the pro-
posed settlements to Kentucky and the
Atlantic states. He
stressed also the mildness of the
climate and the wide range of
products, including in the latter, with
considerable exaggeration,
indigo and cotton. In similarly moderate
tone, the New Jersey
newspapers called attention to the merits of farming
lands in the
Miami Purchase, one writer in particular
pointing out their great
superiority over the "broken"
country in the Muskingum Valley.
Similar in tone were the few comments in
the Virginia newspapers
upon the lands in the Virginia Military
District. One correspon-
dent ranged the Scioto Valley alongside
Kentucky as the best
land "in the world." Other articles recounted
in great detail the
extensive resources and the varied
products of the Western coun-
try, and occasionally there were touches
that were reminiscent of
the earlier exaggerations of New
England. Such was a descrip-
tion of a wonderful sycamore tree in the
Scioto Valley that was
more than sixty feet in circumference,
with a cavity so large that
it sheltered thirteen persons on
horseback, with room for two
more.
The New York and Pennsylvania newspapers
gave only oc-
casional notices of the sort that were
likely to attract immigrants
to the Western country. But the numerous
books of travel show
the keen interest taken in this region.
Nor were these publications
altogether without influence upon the
emigrant. Notable among
them was Thomas Hutchins' Map and
Topographical Description
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 547
of the "interior parts" of
North America. An advertisement in
1788 praised this work, as showing
especially the possibilities of
the Illinois country, a land where hemp
"grew spontaneously,"
and one that abounded in agricultural
products, in game, iron,
copper, lead and salt springs, "in
short, everything a reasonable
mind can desire is to be found, or may,
with little pains, be
produced there."
The beginning of the actual colonization
in the Old Northwest
naturally aroused interest in the
Eastern states. In New Eng-
land the plans of the Ohio Company had
already been received
with much enthusiasm, and the newspapers
had printed detailed
reports of its proceedings. The New
England press gave an im-
portant place to the details of the
first actual migration to the
Old Northwest, recording the departure
from Providence, early
in 1788, of a wagon loaded with artificers, tools,
etc., and attended
by a number of persons who proposed to
settle in the Ohio coun-
try. A few months later a New York paper
announced that an-
other wagon had left Providence, this
one carrying six gentlemen
destined for "that second land of
promise where Nature smiles in
all her glory, and where a most
luxuriant soil and happy climate
will abundantly reward the husbandman's
labour." About the
same time the New England papers noted
that six additional
wagons, holding about thirty women and
children, had left Wor-
cester for the Western country. An
interesting side-light upon
these evidences of migration to the
Western country was an ad-
vertisement by Stephen Bayard of
Elizabethtown on the Monon-
gahela, who built "Kentuckee Boats."
The extent of the early migration to the
Old Northwest from
Massachusetts may be gauged partially by
the sales of land in
Worcester and its vicinity at this time,
for it was from this
neighborhood that so many of the
shareholders of the Ohio Com-
pany came. In 1788 many persons in this
region offered their
farms for sale, among them Rufus Putnam,
who offered to re-
ceive in exchange the military land
warrants and the Federal cer-
tificates which could be used to
purchase Western lands. The
list of farms for sale in and around
Worcester showed a steady
increase. In 1790 eight farms and
two dwellings were adver-
tised in a single issue of the Massachusetts
Spy, fourteen in 1794
and fifteen in 1795. Often the owners of
these farms invested
the proceeds of their sales in shares of
the Ohio Company, in
order to take up land in the West. A
typical case was that of
Captain Jonathan Stone, a Revolutionary
veteran, who sold his
farm at Brookfield, Massachusetts, and
with the proceeds bought
548 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
two shares of stock in the Ohio Company
which he used to take
up land near Belpre.
Interest in the second important
Westward movement from
New England to the Western Reserve was
naturally greatest in
Connecticut. The newspapers of the state contained
frequent no-
tices of these Ohio lands, especially
after Moses Cleaveland re-
turned from his surveying expedition in
1796 with an exceed-
ingly favorable report of the fertile,
rolling land in New Connecti-
cut, and of the possibilities for trade
on Lake Erie and by the
Cuyahoga to the interior of Ohio. The
people of Connecticut
were greatly interested, too, in the
proceedings of the Connecticut
Company. The chief problem of this
organization apparently was
to divide the land among the stockholders, and
especially to collect
the large assessments that were needed
to pay the taxes and meet
other obligations. There were occasional notices, also,
of meet-
ings of the proprietors of the
Sufferers' or Firelands, west of the
Cuyahoga.
The lands of the Connecticut Company
were divided in 1795
among the shareholders, and they in turn
sold them directly, or
else through speculators, to the actual
settlers. The usual pro-
cedure of either shareholders or
speculators was to pay a part of
the purchase money owed the state, and
then to offer the lands in
exchange for salable farms in
Connecticut, or for other considera-
tions of value. Numerous advertisements
of these lands for sale
appear in the newspaper columns. Thus,
Ephraim Root of Hart-
ford, a shareholder in the Connecticut
Company, and his partner,
Uriel Holmes, advertised widely in 1801
their desirable lands in
New Connecticut, calling the attention
of all "industrious and en-
terprising" persons to the
"pleasing prospects for the future."
From the long list of Connecticut farms
they offered for sale, it
is evident that Root and Holmes were
quite successful. The firm
soon dissolved, but Ephraim Root offered
100,000 acres in New
Connecticut on his own account, in
exchange for land in the
mother state. At the same time he
advertised nine farms for sale
which he had doubtless received in
exchange for his Western
lands. His former partner, Uriel Holmes,
also appears to have
found speculation in Western lands a
profitable business. Another
large speculator in Western Reserve
lands was Lemuel Storrs of
Middletown, who in 1805 offered 110,000
acres "to the Industri-
ous Public." In payment he was
willing to accept cash, to extend
liberal credit, or else to take in
exchange "good farms" in Con-
necticut. In common with other
speculators he would take in par-
tial payment security for a large part
of the purchase money that
was still due to the State of
Connecticut. Also like other specu-
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 549
lators, Storrs had his agents in Ohio to
take care of settlers on
the spot.
Like the various New England schemes for
colonization, the
Miami Purchase attracted the greatest
attention in its home state,
New Jersey. Following a number of
similar local projects for
Western colonies, Judge Symmes' new
settlement received con-
siderable attention from the New Jersey
papers, although he him-
self depended chiefly upon hand-bills
and circulars to advertise
his lands. Another effective aid in
attracting settlers was an ex-
tensive correspondence between the early
pioneers in the Miami
Purchase and their friends at home.
Occasional advertisements
give hints of the very considerable
speculations that were carried
on in New Jersey in these lands. For
example, Benjamin Stelle
in 1789 offered 20,000 acres for sale,
and many similar advertise-
ments appeared from time to time. There
is much other evidence
in the New Jersey papers of the extent
of the local migration to
Judge Symmes' colony. Many advertisers
offered to buy the pub-
lic certificates which could be used to
pay for these lands, and
equally significant was the large number
of farms for sale. In
1789 fourteen small farms were
advertised at one time, in and
around Elizabethtown, and in 1799 a
single issue of a New Jersey
paper offered thirteen tracts of
agricultural land around Trenton,
with fourteen separate parcels in or
near New Brunswick, and
five lots in nearby Princeton. These
advertisements of lands for
sale continued, and in 1807, for example,
one paper offered a grist
and saw mill, twelve farms and several
wood-lots near Trenton.
It is reasonable to suppose that a large
percentage of the owners
of these tracts migrated to the Miami
Purchase.
Strange to say, there are few, if any,
notices of Judge Sym-
mes' lands in either the New York or the
Philadelphia papers,
although there were emigrants from both these towns to the
Miami Purchase. In the New England
papers, however, a num-
ber of notices called attention to these
lands. Even before any
settlement had been made, Thomas Stanley
published a rather
flamboyant advertisement in the Connecticut
Courant, which as-
serted that any description of this
Miami country must "fall short
of its goodness." A similarly
glowing description in a Virginia
paper showed how widespread was the
interest in Judge Symmes'
settlement.
Little attention was shown the remaining
important land
scheme of the early period, the Virginia
Military District, until
after peace with the Indians had made
settlement there possible.
Occasionally the leading Virginia papers
had noticed the lands be-
tween the Scioto and the Little Miami that had been
allotted to
550 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the state's Revolutionary veterans. But
with the interest aroused
by Wayne's campaign, and especially as
the resources of the
Scioto Valley became known, there was a
decided change, and the
Revolutionary veterans of Virginia
became anxious to realize
some returns from their land warrants.
Usually they sold these
claims to speculators, who in turn
disposed of them to actual set-
tlers who came chiefly from Kentucky.
Thus, in frequent notices
Hicks and Campbell and other Virginia
real estate dealers offered
to pay the highest price for Virginia military land
warrants, or
else to buy "military lands"
outright.
The vicissitudes of a speculator in
Virginia military lands
may be followed in the correspondence of
General Duncan Mc-
Arthur. As agent on the spot at
Chillicothe, he located many land
warrants for residents of Virginia, sold
tracts to incoming settlers,
and paid taxes for absentee landlords.
His clients were scattered
through Virginia, in Richmond, Fauquier
Courthouse (Warren-
ton), and other important towns. The
chief speculator whom he
represented was Robert Means of
Richmond. Influenced by glow-
ing reports of these Western lands,
Means plunged to the utmost
of his ability, buying up military
warrants which he sent Mc-
Arthur to be located. As taxes
accumulated on vacant holdings,
Means found it was almost impossible to
meet his obligations.
Time and again he appealed to McArthur
to send him cash for at
least a part of his holdings. But in
vain, for specie was scarce
in the Western country, and it was easy
to secure the public cer-
tificates and land warrants that could
be exchanged for public
lands. Under these circumstances cash
sales to. intending settlers
were few and far between. Means,
undaunted, even exchanged
valuable property at Richmond for land
warrants, and for a
time he seems to have enjoyed a virtual
monopoly of this business.
Soon competition appeared, prices rose,
and still it was almost im-
possible to secure cash for his lands.
The prices he paid were
still low, averaging only twenty-three
cents per acre on one lot of
warrants in 1808 for 5,349 acres, but,
like most land speculators,
Means found that his immediate returns
were far from satis-
factory.
Despite the discouraging experience of
Robert Means, the
Revolutionary veterans of Virginia
continued to find speculators
who vied with one another in offers for
land warrants to be filled
in the Virginia Military District. Among
the numerous evidences
of this widespread speculation, was an
advertisement in 1810 by
Carter Drew, who proposed to visit the
Western country, including
Ohio. There he expected to act as
general agent, exploring lands,
investigating titles and the like.
Another important figure in these
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 551
land transactions was James Taylor, who
was quite active at Rich-
mond in buying up land warrants. His
dealings were extensive,
and he even offered 20,000 acres of "valuable military land" in
Ohio to the people of New Jersey.
While such schemes for colonization
as-the Ohio Company
and Judge Symmes' project attracted the
greatest attention, the
newspapers of the East did not wholly
ignore the public lands in
the Old Northwest, which were gradually
opening up to settle-
ment. Of special significance in this
connection were the numer-
ous offers to pay cash for the United
States military warrants and
the Federal certificates that could be
used in exchange for these
public lands. Part of these military
warrants were probably used
to purchase lands in the Ohio and Miami
Purchases, but other
warrants were undoubtedly bought in
response to the frequent
notices that called attention, as early
as 1789, to the provisions to
satisfy these obligations, first in the
Military Reserve west of the
Seven Ranges, and next from lands
between the Wabash and the
Mississippi. In 1799 the Eastern
newspapers printed an official
list of all the tracts in the Old
Northwest that were then available
for settlement. After the passage of the
Land Act of 1796 they
also published notices of public sales of these lands.
The exten-
sive holdings of many residents of the
Atlantic states in these
Western lands is well illustrated by an
advertisement of two sur-
veyors, John Matthews and Zachariah
Briggs, who offered to
locate military warrants and other
claims, for a fee of one-tenth
of the land. They proposed to accumulate
warrants for smaller
tracts until they had altogether 4,000
acres, a sufficient amount to
locate an entire quarter-township. But
in all these varied notices
of the possibilities of these Western
lands there is no evidence of
any appreciable interest in or migration
to either Indiana or Iili-
nois, during this early period. The
dangers from Indians were too
great and the lands too remote; only
comparatively small areas
were open to emigrants, and settlers
evidently preferred the nearer
and safer lands of the Ohio country.
A striking testimony to the great
interest taken in the Western
country is found in the many news items
from these settlements
that were given a prominent place in the
Eastern newspapers.
Although relations with the Indians and
the different frontier
struggles took up much space, the
newspapers did not neglect the
less picturesque record of daily
happenings of importance among
the New England pioneers. Especially was
this true of New
England, where the stay-at-homes were
alert for news of their
relatives and friends who had ventured
into the Western wilder-
ness. These news items were all the more
welcome in view of the
552 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
expense and uncertainties of the postal
service from these distant
parts, although there seems to have been
constant communication
between the settlers and their former
homes in New England.
The newspapers printed frequent letters
from their correspondents
at Marietta, at Cincinnati, at
Chillicothe, and later in the Western
Reserve. Much of this news recorded the
progress of the terri-
torial government, the official actions
of St. Clair and the Judges,
and later the important measures adopted
by the state govern-
ment of Ohio. Marked attention was paid
also to the adventures
of Aaron Burr in the West.
Together with the reports of public
affairs, frequent accounts
of everyday happenings appeared in the
New England papers.
The opening of a ferry across the
Muskingum, or the launching of
an ocean-going vessel at Marietta were
typical items that were
recorded with evident enthusiasm. The
establishment of a packet
line between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh
was warmly commended
as an evidence of progress in this
"enchanting country." Another
item of a different type announced the
first ball that was held in
Marietta, in December, 1788. It was
attended, according to the
writer, by fifteen ladies, "as well
accomplished in the manners of
polite circles as any in the old
States." There was much favorable
comment also upon the superior
advantages of the Ohio coun-
try, where incidentally so many New
Englanders had settled, over
other sections in the West.
As a case in point, the Providence Journal,
cited the example
of Colonel Arthur Shreve of New Jersey.
Proposing at first to
lead a party of emigrants to New Madrid,
in Louisiana, he was
discouraged by the floods. Then as he found
the greater part of
the desirable land in Kentucky already
taken up, he finally decided
upon Marietta. The wide range of this
interest of New England
in the Western country is strikingly
illustrated by a letter that
called special attention to the amazing
growth of the Virginia
Military District and pointed out the
advantages this section of-
fered to the "middling class,"
and especially to "mechanics of
the common trades." Another proof
of the close relations between
New England and the Western country is
to be found in the
columns of the popular Massachusetts
Magazine. Many death
and marriage notices were printed from
the Ohio settlements,
along with much news of the campaigns against the
Indians. The
Domestic Chronicle, a monthly feature of
the Magazine, also
contains many articles upon interesting
features of the West, such
as descriptions of Marietta and the
outlying districts, and of the
customs and manners of the Indians. In
this connection it is in-
teresting to note that none of the New
England almanacs that
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 553
have been examined pay the slightest
attention to the Western
country, the migration there, or even
the Indian troubles. This
omission is all the more noticeable
since the annual almanac was
virtually a second Bible in the eyes of the New England
farmer.
Even though Westward migration from the
Middle States
and Maryland was so limited, there is
abundant evidence of the
lively interest in the movement in this
section of the seaboard.
In contrast to the New England almanacs,
those published in the
Middle States and Maryland contain
frequent notices of the
Western country, including detailed
descriptions of the most
usual routes there from the principal
cities. For example, Hutch-
ins' Almanack, published in New York, printed annually a table
of the roads with the distances between
intermediate points, from
Louisburg through Quebec to Presque
Isle, the Falls of the Ohio,
and the mouth of the Mississippi. In
like fashion, Father Abra-
ham's Almanack, popular in Philadelphia, gave at first only the
usual Westward route from Philadelphia,
via York, Winchester,
Staunton, and through the Wilderness to
Crab Orchard, Bard's
Town and the Falls of the Ohio. Later,
as travel down the river
became safer, this almanac gave full
details of the route to Pitts-
burgh, and then down the Ohio and the
Mississippi. The American
Museum, which occupied in Pennsylvania a position very similar
to that of the Massachusetts Magazine
in New England, also
contained many notices of political
events in the West, as well as
numerous articles on the manners and
customs of the Indians,
with especial attention to the numerous
mounds in the Muskingum
Valley.
In the newspaper files also of the
Middle States and Mary-
land, there is much news from the
Western settlements. But these
items were quite irregular and
illustrated very clearly the delays
and uncertainties of communication with
the Old Northwest. Even
in New Jersey, the state from which so
many emigrants came, the
papers seldom had regular correspondents
in the West. Aside
from occasional letters from Marietta,
the Miami Purchase, and
the Virginia Military District, the
Western news came to the Mid-
dle States and Maryland by indirect and
often irregular chan-
nels, by traders, by returning
travelers, or by expresses direct to
the government in Philadelphia or
Washington. Other news came
second-hand through Kentucky, or perhaps
from Winchester,
Pittsburgh, or even Albany. Coming
through such channels, this
information was frequently much garbled,
but the very fact it was
printed was a proof of the widespread
interest in the Western
country. Official news, and especially
the movements of the Gov-
ernor and the Judges, occupied much
space, but occasionally there
554 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
were notices of local political
controversies, as the quarrel between
Sargent and the Judges in Hamilton
County.
In the Virginia papers there were only
occasional direct com-
munications from the West. This was to be expected,
since emi-
grants from Virginia stopped on the way
in Western Virginia or
else in Kentucky, and then made their
way into the Old North-
west. Nevertheless, considerable news
from this region filtered
into the Old Dominion through Kentucky, or else from
Winches-
ter where the road to the Wilderness
crossed the one up the Po-
tomac Valley to Fort Cumberland. Much
information came to
Virginia also through Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh. In Virginia
as elsewhere, the problem of swifter
transportation to the West
was a pressing one, and news was often
weeks old before it drifted
through across the mountains. The tedium
of the usual route
from Virginia to the Ohio country, or
vice versa, was forcibly
illustrated by the plans proposed in
1792 to carry the mails between
Alexandria, Virginia, and Danville,
Kentucky. Leaving Alexan-
dria Thursday at noon, the carrier rode
through Winchester, and
arrived at Staunton the following
Wednesday. Leaving Staunton
the next morning, he would reach
Danville in Kentucky two weeks
later; that is, the regular mail
schedule between Alexandria and
Danville in either direction was three
weeks. Such a situation
amply explains the keen interest that
the people of Virginia dis-
played in the different projects to
improve the Wilderness Road,
although they seem to have had little
faith that much would
actually be accomplished. An impressive
commentary on the con-
dition of the roads to the westward ,was
the omission from the
Virginia Almanac, up to 1810, of any roads west of Sweet Springs.
When this popular almanac did give
details of a route across the
mountain, it selected one from Richmond
to Kentucky, by Staun-
ton and the Wilderness Trail.
While there was no general alarm apparent
in the Eastern
states during this early period over the
rapid growth of the
Western country, already there were
scattered evidences of the
hostile attitude that was later to
become so marked. Just upon
the eve of the migration to the Ohio
Purchase, a correspondent
of a Philadelphia paper called attention
to the superior merits of
vacant lands in Pennsylvania, where the
roads were better, the
land was more accessible to market, and
the farmer was not
obliged to sell his wheat for two
shillings per bushel, and then pay
$2.00
for a pair of shoes. Three years later,
another cor-
respondent, this one in a New York
paper, called attention to the
"rage for removing into the back
parts," and accented the ad-
vantages of a small farm, well
cultivated and convenient to mar-
Minutes of the Annual Meeting 555
kets, over large tracts of uncultivated
lands in the "back parts."
These latter, he asserted, could only be
regarded as a "provision
for posterity," awaiting "easy
transportation and nearby markets
to assure their value." Very
similar in tone was a rather long-
winded article about the same time in a
Massachusetts paper, in
which the author rejoiced over the
"subsidence" of the "mad-
ness" of emigration to the Western
country. "Old-fashioned
industry and economy," he
considered, were of more real benefit
than building castles in the air in the
region of the Genesee and
other remote uncultivated sections. But
these evidences of an-
tagonism toward the Western settlements
were rare before 1815,
and played little if any part in holding
back intending emigrants.
This brief survey of the vast mass of
early newspapers and
publications gives at least a hint of
the varying motives that
brought the stream of emigrants into the
Old Northwest from
New England, from New Jersey, and a few
from Virginia and
the Middle States. Many were induced to
go by the advantages
offered by such systematic schemes of
colonization as the Ohio
Purchase controlled by the Ohio Company,
or the Miami Purchase
under John Cleves Symmes. Others were
attracted by the in-
ducements offered by speculators of the
type of Lemuel Storrs, the
hard-headed Connecticut Yankee, who
willingly exchanged un-
cleared lands in the wilderness for the
solid values of cultivated
farms in Connecticut. Or perhaps the
settler bought his lands
from the agents of such speculators as
the visionary Robert
Means, the Virginian who staked his
entire fortune upon the
future value of Western lands. Intensely
human were the mo-
tives of these emigrants who thronged to
the Old Northwest;
the veterans of the Revolution, the
adventurers, the young men
seeking their fortunes, all of them
willing to brave the hardships
of the long journey westward, and the
subsequent life of a
pioneer community in order to follow an
intensely American urge,
and to seek a larger and better life in
a new environment. The
less adventurous stay-at-homes followed
with intense interest the
fortunes of those wandering sons, and
often the letters and other
reports from the new settlements drew
others to follow. In the
columns of the newspapers and the other
publications of the
Atlantic states were mirrored the
aspirations, and the entire
gamut of human motives that inspired
this great American trek
across the Appalachians toward the land
of the setting sun.
President Johnson: Professor Bond was a
little
alarmed, fearing perhaps his paper
might be too long,
556 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
but I am sure we are all indebted to
him for coming and
reading to us this very, very
interesting historical docu-
ment. At this time I wish to extend to
Mr. George
Smith, of Dayton, an opportunity to
make a presenta-
tion to the Society from a group he
represents:
Mr. George Smith rose and spoke as
follows:
Mr. President, Doctor Thompson,
Members and Guests: I
think most of you are familiar with what
is known as the Miamis-
burg Mound, located a mile southeast of
Miamisburg, in Mont-
gomery county, and usually referred to
as the largest of all
mounds. A question is sometimes raised
about that. At any rate,
it now stands sixty-eight feet high, the
apex having been removed
a great many years ago. The mound is
almost perfect, conical in
shape, a little over eight hundred feet
around the base, and is
rather heavily wooded with old, and some
younger, trees. The
farm upon which the mound stands was
purchased, some ten
years ago, by Mr. Charles F. Kettering,
of Dayton. Mr. Ketter-
ing is vice-president of the General
Motors Corporation, and
president of the General Motor Research
Corporation. His duties
keep him, most of the time, in Detroit,
Michigan. When Mr.
Kettering purchased this farm it was his
purpose to have the
mound cleaned up, the top made
accessible, and in some manner to
provide for its future life, we will
say--at any rate to provide for
its care and preservation. Just a short
time ago the whole tract
around the mound was cleaned up, trees
trimmed, dead trees re-
moved, and all the brush and vines
cleaned out. The old building
that marred the landscape was removed by
fire, accidentally, and
other buildings torn down. I have the
pleasure, Mr. President
and Members, of presenting to you and
the Association, a deed
from Mr. Kettering for the land, four
and twenty-eight hun-
dredths acres, containing the mound, the
title passing from him, or
rather from the corporation of which he
happens to be president.
I am the treasurer of the C. F.
Kettering, Incorporated, and I
therefore have pleasure in presenting to
this Society a warranty
deed for four and twenty-eight
hundredths acres containing the
mound known as the Miamisburg Mound,
located near the little
city of Miamisburg, Montgomery county.
(Applause.)
President Johnson: It goes without
saying, Mr.
Smith, that the Society appreciates,
beyond its power
542 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
small colleges, and that some of our
best citizenship
found its inspiration in these
institutions. All of these
colleges have had men and women of more
than usual
rank and standing in our commonwealth,
and I am proud
to recognize their contribution to Ohio
citizenship. They
have not been very exclusive in this,
because they have
always exported their best to other
colleges. We have
present Professor Beverly W. Bond, Jr.,
from the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. He is a
southerner but camou-
flages himself as an easterner. He will
speak to you on
the subject of 'The Old Northwest
Territory in Eastern
Eyes'."
"THE OLD NORTHWEST TO EASTERN
EYES"
Dr. Bond delivered the following
address:
The rush into the fertile spaces of the
Old Northwest came
as an inevitable aftermath of the
Revolution and the removal of
the barriers set up by British
proclamations. The Revolutionary
veteran, the Yankee farmer, weary of
tilling a scanty soil, the
young man seeking his fortune, all
flocked to the promised land.
The wide range of motives that led on
this pioneer multitude is
revealed in striking fashion in the
newspapers, the almanacs and
the books of travel that circulated in
the Atlantic states at this
time. Based upon these varied sources,
this paper will be limited
to the early period, before the Land Act
of 1800 smoothed the
way for the bulk of the westward
migration. During this period
migration to the Old Northwest was
chiefly carried on under the
stimulus of stock companies and land speculators. The
Ohio
Purchase and the Western Reserve
attracted mainly emigrants
from New England, the Miami Purchase
those from New Jersey
and the Middle States, and the Virginia
Military District naturally
interested the people of the Old
Dominion. There was little, if
any, organized migration to Indiana or
Illinois before 1800.
(NOTE: This paper is founded upon an
extensive research in early
newspapers, almanacs and other
publications of the Seaboard States, chiefly
during the period 1788-1800. Most of
them were used in the Rare Book
Department of the Library of Congress.)