Before the beginning

Entries and Surveys

Ironton Register, Thursday, July 15, 1875
INTERESTING PIONEER NOTES
No. 47a
(Author Unknown)

Lawrence County, Ohio, early history starts with the Bounty Lands granted to Virginia’s hardy officers and soldiers, who had been engaged in the Revolutionary war on Continental establishment. To satisfy these, when action was taken in the Virginia Legislature, a large tract of country lying between the Green and Cumberland rivers in the Kentucky territory was reserved for those holding warrants.

On December 17, 1783, the officers thus entitled to lands met and deputed superintendents of locations on behalf of their respective lines and also nominated two principal surveyors.

Maj. Gen. Charles Scott, Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan, Col. A. M. Heth, Lieut. Col. Benjamin Temple and Capt. Mayo Carrington, on the part of the Continental troops of Virginia, made a contract with Richard Clough Anderson of Virginia, father of our father, Larz Anderson, and ex-Gov. Charles Anderson, of Ohio, who had been elected principal surveyor to locate their warrants, at ten shillings per acre, all other expenses to be paid by the officers.

1784, on 20th July, Col. Anderson opened his office at “Soldiers’ Retreat,” in the limits of the present city of Louisville. Here was his office of Entries and Surveys, and the first entry made in it was for land at the mouth of Cumberland by William Brown and the site of the present Smithland.

The State of Virginia did not relinquish claim to lands on the northwest bank of the Ohio river until March 1784, when in apprehension that the wide domain south of the river would not be sufficient to supply her soldiers, Virginia reserved for their use if needed, all the country lying between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, to satisfy such Continental warrants, and this is known as the Virginia Military District of Ohio.

Major John O’Bannon and Arthur Fox, Surveyors in Kentucky, came over early in 1787, exploring the riverfront and the Miami and Scioto rivers. This brings us to the first settlement of this domain, now the rich and cultivated State of Ohio.

On the 1st of August, 1787, Col. R. C. Anderson opened the office for entries in Ohio, and the first entry recorded was for 1,000 acres to Warrant No. 386, in behalf of Wace & Clements, at the mouth of Eagle Creek, and bottoms on these rivers were taken up at once.

In July, 1788, Congress passed an act, having now organized the Northwest Territory, making these entries invalid, and parties, however impatient, had to hold back until August, 1790, when Congress allowed entries to be made.

In 1790, Cincinnati, having become the seat of justice of Hamilton county, and Fort Washington being an important military protection to the neighborhood, Massie rallied a band of Kentuckians and repaired to an island twelve miles above Maysville, and built blockhouses and cleared corn fields at Manchester, in Adams county.

In 1793, he attempted a surveying tour on the Scioto, depending mainly on a brave young soldier of Harmar’s expedition, the well-known Governor Duncan McArthur. Several efforts were made but rendered unsuccessful by the Indians until the Indians were brought to terms of peace in 1795 by the bold and successful Anthony Wayne.

Col. Massie, having a thorough knowledge of the fertile lands on Penn Creek, and having made entries of his warrants, sought to secure settlers from Kentucky.

Many of the congregation of Presbyterians of Caneridge and Concord in Bourbon county, under Rev. Robert W. Finley, determined to buy land in a free State, and they joined Massie’s party. Finley, in the first place, liberated his slaves and then wrote to Massie for an interview about the selection and purchase of a new home.

In December 1794, Finley wrote to his friends in Western Pennsylvania, and a day was agreed on for all interested in meeting at the Manchester settlement. In March 1795, sixty men met, according to appointment.

It was even yet not secure for this expedition, and the party met again in 1796 and consisted of the following named persons:

• Joseph McCoy
• Benjamin and Wm. Rodgers
• David Shelby
• Jas. Harrod
• Henry Bazil
• Reuben Abrams
• Wm. Jamison
• Jas. Crawford
• Samuel Anthony
• Robt. Smith
• Thos. Dick
• Wm. and Jas. Kerr
• Geo. and Jas. Kilgour
• John Brown
• Samuel and Robert Templeton
• Ferguson Moore
• Wm. Nicholson
• and the worthy, afterward, the well-known Methodist missionary and itinerant, Jas. B. Finley.

In 1797, Thos. Worthington, of Jefferson county, Va., had emancipated his slaves and visited this infant settlement. He returned, appointed by Gen. Rufus Putnam, Assistant Surveyor, and built the first frame house in Chillicothe. This was in February 1798.—Edward Tiffin, of Berkely county, his brother-in-law, with his emancipated slaves; Joseph Tiffin, Joseph Yates, a millwright; George Haynes, a blacksmith.

The Pioneer Presbyterian was the Rev. Wm. Speer of Pennsylvania, who wore a cocked hat and had a small congregation to worship in a log house. Dr. Tiffin was a local Methodist preacher. Joseph, his brother, had a store, was Postmaster, and his tavern had a sign a full length of General Anthony Wayne.