PREFACE.
THE Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society here-
with presents to its members and patrons
Volume V of its
publications. We are justified in
saying, that it is the most
valuable contribution to the historical
literature of Ohio yet pub-
lished by the Society. It contains
material never before made
accessible to the public, and this
material has been gathered and
placed in logical and intelligible form
by gentlemen thoroughly
competent to do this work.
Mr. D. J. Ryan, Secretary of the State
of Ohio, for the years
1888-1892, has been a close student of
the events pertaining to
our state, has written "A History
of Ohio" - (1888) - and has
contributed to the press many articles
upon our state's history.
In the chapters entitled "From
Charter to Constitution", Mr.
Ryan has prepared what may be called an
abstract of the title to
the territory that now constitutes the
State of Ohio. He has
produced in their order, copies of the
documents establishing the
chain of possession and transfer from
the original colonial grant
(1606) of the English crown to the state
Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1802 and the act of Congress of
1803 recognizing the State
of Ohio. The disputes as to the
territorial boundaries of the state
were treated in the last volume (IV) of
the Society, published
January, 1896.
The article by Mr. J. F. Laning, member
of the State Senate
from Huron County, appropriately
supplements the one by Mr.
Ryan. Mr Laning is the author of
"Ohio Civics," "Law for Ohio
Schools," "The Growth and
History of Ohio," etc. His paper
on the evolution of the counties or
gradual division and re-division
of the state into counties, was
especially prepared for our Society.
Mr. Laning was unable to continue the
article to the present date
in time for the issuing of this volume.
The completion of the
article will appear in a subsequent
publication of the Society.