The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-02-24
From the New York Observer, Isth inst.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS H
OHIO.
Marietta and Cincinnati.
By REV. L. h. GILLETT, D. D.

On the lotn Oh July, 1901, the
memorable ordinance for the gov
eminent OF the Northwestern Ter
ritory was passed by Congress. 1;
was Drawn up by Nstham Dane, to
whom Webster, in his celebrated
reply to Hayne III the Senate of the
United States, in 1880, referred IN
the most complimentary TERMS
That ordinance opened to %settle-
ment and to freedom a magnificent
region, out of which State after
State has been carved.
Mr.. Webster seems to have con-
coded the merit of the ordinance
almost without qualification, to Mr..
Dane. But there Is another claim
ant to at least c share in the honor
of shaping it.. Eight days before
is passage by Congress, then IN
session in New York, a New Eng
land clergyman reached the city
"by the road which enters through
the Bowery." He camo as the ag>
ent of the OHIO Company, formed
in Boston more than u year prev
Ieus, at the instance oftwo Revolu-
tionary officers, = Rufus Putnam
and BENJAMIN Hupper,-to negoti-
ate with Congress for the purchase
of lands on the northern bank OF
the OHIO. On the 9th of July, be
attended the committee at Congre, s
chamber. and subsequently a copy
of the bill was sent him, with leave
to make remarks AID propose am.
cndments. THIS he did, and on high
authority 1t Is asserted that the pro-
visions for Tree schools and the ex-
clusion of slavery, were introduced
at hls suggestion. 1t is but Justice
to Jefferson 10 say that three years
previously he had urged the policy
OF slavery exclusion, and 1t is very
doubtful whether Mr.. Dane needed
the coanse ell of the Clergyman
Rev. Manasseh Cutler,-to direct
his thoughts TO a matter that must
have been already familiar, as il
was important.
Gen. Rufus Putnam, one of the
leading men of the Company, had
been an assistant to Hutchins, APP
pointed by Congress in 1855, to
survey the Territory. The loca,
tion selected by the Company for
purposes of settlement, Was, as
might be expected, carefully and in.
telllgently chosen. DR. Cutler con.
suited Hulchins himself, and it waI
determined to secure a territory
extensive enough TO embrace the
eastern valley Of the Scioto. The
region was possessed Of peculiar at.
fractions. The exhaustless fertili-
~ of the soil, the mineral wealth
which it was ascertaised lay hid
beneath its surface, the attractive
scenery that charmed the eye o.
the traveller as he ascended or float.
ted down the winding rivers, al
combined to ensure it's claims to b.
truly accounted the Paradise of The
West.
DR.. Cutler secured fer the Comp,
any what we're regarded as favora,
BILE terms of purchase. By a vote
of the Company, n hundred set
tiers were at once to set forth fol
the land of PromIre. They were tC
be furnished with provisions fol-
their journey, and from the time o
arrival at Pittsburgh till the ensu.
iGg May, they e to be paid a
the rate of 81 per month. Eacl
was to have bus musket, bayonet
and cartridge box. for the regior
was not altogether safe from the In
dian foe /; and abundant gam,
might, it was hoped, be gathered
from the forests. The settler tina
came provided with ak and hoe, O.
ifs mechanic, with the needfu
tools, was to be transported free o
cost. In December, within less thar
six months after the passage OF III,
ordinance, the first company haC
gathered at Danvers, New York
In less than 3 month, another wa
assembled at Hartford, and it start
ed on its journey On New Year.
Day, 1888.
As far as Philadelphia they had
familiar and Travelled route. Blu.
westward they took she old read BY
which Rraddock's army marched Il
"Fort Pitt" Their progress. how
ever, was slow, and 1t was Apr
before the united parties left tn,
Youghiogheny, and began to drift
with the river $ current toward tn,
spot selected for their future home
1t was on April Sd, that the May
iower,-a name so significant In the
annals OF proseer life IN New Eng