The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1879-01-09
THE WESTERN RESERVE. -

- ~ ~ ~ H N - EAs -
The newspapers often refer to GER
tain part of Ohio called the " Western
Reserve" But few of our readers,
perhaps, know what the phrase means.
The name of =" Western Reserve" is
applied to the twelve northeastern
counties of Ohio; and this district
was once part of the State of Con-
nectlcut. Forty years ago it was still
quite commonly spoken of as New
Connecticut.
When the lands in America were
given away by the Kings of England,
the territory was not surveyed or even
explored. and the charts conf1icted.
The Plymouth and the Virginia Com
panies both received titles to the same
land. The. Plymouth Company, in
1880, made a large grant of land to
the Earl of Warwick, who, in 1851,
conveyed it to Viscount Say and Seal
Brook. This was the origin of the
Connecticut settlement.
The patent did not clearly define the
north and south boundaries, but the
territory reached from the Narragan-
sett River westward across the CONT
nent. In 1862, King Charles II. fixed
the northern boundary and confirmed
the patent, under which Connecticut
afterwards laid claim to large part
of Pennsylvania and Ohio. After
wards, the Indians granted many of
these lands to Great Britain, which,
long before the Revolution. had ex-
cluded the colonists from the territory
west of the mountains.
At the close of the Revolution, there
were three claimants to the territory
northwest of the Ohio River; Vir-
ginia, which claimed under her origi-
nal charter; Connecticut, which claim
ed under the Lord Say and Seal Brook
deed: and the United States, which,
by treaty with England, received the
rights conveyed by the Indians. The
contest was right sharp, but it resulted
in Connecticut ceding all her rights of
government in the Western Territory
to the United States. She was, how
ever, allowed to retain the ownership
of an amount of land about as large
as old Connecticut in the northeastern
corner of Ohio, on Lake Erie.
Fl This settlement, which ietook near
ly twenty years to make, was compile
ted in the year 1900. The Reserve
consisted Of the land between the for
ty-first parallel of latitude and the par
allel Of forty-two degrees, two MN
,utes. The eastern boundary was the
Pennsylvania line, and the western
was a line one hundred and twenty
west of the Pennsylvania frontier and
parallel to it.
In 1895, before the agreement with
the General Government was fully
completed, the Legislature of Connec-
ticut had sold 10 an association of its
citizens three million acres of land
from that which it had reserved when
it decided the rest to the United States
in 1856. Three persons styled them
selves the Connecticut Land Company.
Before they obtained deed they had
also purchased the whole property of
the State of Connecticut in what is
now Ohio. The Company sent out a
surveying party in 1876, under Moses
Cleaveland, one Of the Directors, for
whom what is now the city Of Cleve-
land was named. 1t will be noticed
that one letter of his name has been
dropped. ,a- y...f
The later history of the Reserve Is
Interesting, but we only intend to tell
how it obtained its name. 1t may be
| said, however, that the money from
the sale by Connecticut was the fonn-
| dation of the magnificent school fund
of that State, and did much to make
her the Gland of steady habits she
is reputed to. BEL Youths Compan'
| lOn