Nothing daunted
by this failure, Massie revived the enterprise early in 1796. The
proposed settlers again assembled at Manchester and on April 1,
reached the selected site and began to build cabins and plow the
open prairie, "so as to plant corn, three hundred acres being soon
turned by thirty plows." It was the founding of historic
Chillicothe, so named by Massie, the proprietor, "on consultation
with his friends," for it was an Indian word meaning a town. Its
population increased rapidly and before the winter of 1796 had
"several stores, taverns, and shops for mechanics." It became the
attractive center for a rush of Virginians and Kentuckians, the
latter in nearly all cases being natives of the Old Dominion.
Thus closed the
year 1796, a most memorable year, marking the settlements of
Cleveland, Dayton, Chillicothe and other minor towns; the year of
the evacuation of the British posts, including the forts on the
Maumee and at the mouth of the Sandusky; this same year, the
President was authorized by Congress to contract with Ebenezer
Zane to build his "Trace" through Ohio, at first only a bridle
path, later a stately wagon road.
In this
Centennial year (1912) of the Ohio State Capital, the origin of
one little settlement must not go unmentioned. Colonel Richard C.
Anderson, official surveyor of the Virginia Military District,
appointed as one of his deputies, Lucas Sullivant. He was a
typical gentleman of those early days in Virginia of which he was
a native. He became an expert surveyor, brave backwoodsman, and
versed in Indian warfare. While the savages were assembling at
Greenville to treat with Wayne, in the spring of 1795, Sullivant,
then thirty years of age, with a party of twenty, comprising
chain-carriers, markers, scouts, and helpers, proceeded into the
valley of the Scioto. The adventures, encounters and escapes of
the members of this party, as recorded in their journals, read
like the tales of a yellow back novelette. At one time their
provisions ran so low that the cook surreptitiously served them
with soup made from "the bodies of two young skunks which he had
captured without damage to himself in a hollow log." The surveying
operations of Mr. Sullivant led him to the banks of the Scioto and
the Whetstone (now Olentangy). The juncture of these two rivers
was then known as "The Forks of the Scioto." It was on the main
water route, as we have seen, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
Mr. Sullivant, with the "prophetic eye," saw the advantage of the
location, the fertility of the soil and the luxuriance of the
forest. It had long been a favorite field for the villages of the
Mingoes, Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and other tribes. The river
afforded them transportation and the rich bottom lands easily
produced their maize. And here on the bend of the Scioto on the
west bank just north of the forks, "in a grove of stately walnut
trees," in August, 1797, Lucas Sullivant located the town he
called Franklinton, in honor of Benjamin Franklin. There he
settled and slowly the pioneers crept in and built their humble
log huts, Chillicothe being their mart and source of supplies. It
was on the east "High Bank" of the Scioto, opposite the town of
Franklinton that the legislature, on Valentine Day, 1812, chose
the site for the state capital and called it Columbus after the
discoverer of this country.
In 1798 the
Northwest Territory had acquired the five thousand free male
inhabitants that the Ordinance had made the condition of the
second stage of government, and accordingly the Territorial
Legislature was instituted. The General Assembly first met at
Cincinnati, September 24, 1799. The lower house consisted of
twenty-two members, representing nine counties. Seven of these
members came from four counties containing the old French
settlements in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, fifteen from the
five Ohio counties; the Western Reserve had no delegates. The five
members of the legislative council, or senate, nominated by the
representatives and appointed by the President, were Jacob Burnet
and James Findley of Hamilton, Robert Oliver of Washington, David
Vance of Jefferson, and Henry Vanderberg of Knox. The transfer of
the seat of government from Cincinnati to Chillicothe was made
without any formal legislation on the subject. But the political
beginning of the territory and State of Ohio it is not our task to
recount. Suffice it to say, William Henry Harrison, who had
succeeded Winthrop Sargent in the territorial secretaryship, was
chosen delegate from Ohio territory to Congress, which body, on
May 7, 180o, passed an act, constituting all that part of the
Northwest Territory, lying west of the treaty line of 1795, from
the Ohio to Fort Recovery, and a line drawn from the fort to the
international boundary, a separate territory, to be called Indiana
Territory, of which William Henry Harrison was to be the
Territorial Governor, with Vincennes as its capital. The easterly
section was to be the Ohio Territory, still known as the Northwest
Territory, Eastern Division, with its capital at Chillicothe,
until otherwise ordained by the legislature. This new (Ohio)
Northwest Territory, duly organized as above stated became a State
and a member of the Union on March I, 1803, the date of the birth
of Ohio, officially established as such by the act of Congress
(Laws of the United States, Volume 4, page 4) which determined
that the salaries of the retiring territorial officers ended on
the day before "the first Tuesday in March," which day before was
February 28th, that day being the last of their territorial
functions, the State machinery going into operation the next day,
when the legislature first met and two days thereafter Edward
Tiffin was inaugurated Governor.
