Congress Lands North of Old Seven Ranges

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The Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges lies between the arrows in Ohio North of Old Seven Ranges.png
The Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges lies between the arrows in Ohio

The Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges was a land tract in northeast Ohio that was established by the Congress early in the 19th century. It is located south of the Connecticut Western Reserve and Firelands, east of the Congress Lands South and East of the First Principal Meridian, north of the United States Military District and Seven Ranges, and west of Pennsylvania.

Ohio State of the United States of America

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.

Connecticut Western Reserve Area claimed by Connecticut until 1800.

The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms of its charter by King Charles II.

Firelands

The Firelands, or Sufferers' Lands, tract was located at the western end of the Connecticut Western Reserve in what is now the U.S. state of Ohio. It was legislatively established in 1792, as the "Sufferers' Lands", and later became named "Fire Lands" because the resale of the land was intended as financial restitution for residents of the Connecticut towns of Danbury, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, and Ridgefield. Their homes had been burned in 1779 and 1781 by British forces during the American Revolutionary War. "Fire Lands" was later spelled as one word: "Firelands."

Contents

History

Acquired by Great Britain from France following the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the Ohio Country had been closed to white settlement by the Proclamation of 1763. The United States claimed the region after the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War. The Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 as a formal means of surveying, selling, and settling the land and raising revenue. Land was to be systematically surveyed into square "townships", six miles (9.656 km) on a side created by lines running north-south intersected by east-west lines. Townships were to be arranged in north-south rows called ranges. These townships were sub-divided into thirty-six "sections" of one square mile (2.59 km²) or 640 acres. These ranges, townships, and sections were to be systematically numbered. [1]

Great Britain island in the North Atlantic off the north-west coast of continental Europe

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain, and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form the British Isles archipelago.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Treaty of Paris (1763) 1763 treaty that ended the Seven Years War

The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War.

The first north-south line, Eastern Ohio Meridian , was to be the western boundary of Pennsylvania, sometimes called Ellicott‘s Line [2] after Andrew Ellicott, who had been in charge of surveying it, and the first east-west line (called the Geographer’s Line or Base Line) was to begin where the Pennsylvania boundary touched the north bank of the Ohio River, the Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey 40°38′33″N80°31′10″W / 40.64250°N 80.51944°W / 40.64250; -80.51944 (beginning point) . The Geographer’s Line was to extend westward through “the whole territory” which at that time was meant to include lands lying between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.

Meridian (geography) line between the poles with the same longitude

A (geographic) meridian is the half of an imaginary great circle on the Earth's surface, terminated by the North Pole and the South Pole, connecting points of equal longitude, as measured in angular degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian. The position of a point along the meridian is given by that longitude and its latitude, measured in angular degrees north or south of the Equator. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude. Each is also the same length, being half of a great circle on the Earth's surface and therefore measuring 20,003.93 km.

Andrew Ellicott American surveyor

Andrew Ellicott was a U.S. surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's work on the plan for Washington, D.C., and served as a teacher in survey methods for Meriwether Lewis.

Baseline (surveying) survey line

In surveying, a baseline is a line between two points on the earth's surface and the direction and distance between them. In a triangulation network, at least one baseline needs to be measured to calculate the size of the triangles by trigonometry.

A problem with this plan was that Connecticut had a claim on lands north of the 41st parallel north latitude. Thus, on May 9, 1786, [3] Congress instructed Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States, to continue his survey only south of the Geographers line. Hutchins group completed surveying seven ranges by 1787, and presented plats to Congress in 1788 for the tract that became known as the Seven Ranges.

41st parallel north circle of latitude

The 41st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 41 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Thomas Hutchins was an American military engineer, cartographer, geographer and surveyor. In 1781, Hutchins was named Geographer of the United States. He is the only person to hold that post.

Seven Ranges

The Seven Ranges was a land tract in eastern Ohio that was the first tract to be surveyed in what became the Public Land Survey System. The tract is 42 miles (68 km) across the northern edge, 91 miles (146 km) on the western edge, with the south and east sides along the Ohio River. It consists of all of Monroe, Harrison, Belmont and Jefferson, and portions of Carroll, Columbiana, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Noble, and Washington County.

On June 1, 1796, [4] Congress created the United States Military District, sometimes called the USMD Lands, or USMD Survey. [5] The district was west of the Old Seven Ranges and south of the Greenville Treaty Line.

United States Military District

The United States Military District was a land tract in central Ohio that was established by the Congress to compensate veterans of the American Revolutionary War for their service. The tract contains 2,539,110 acres (10,275.4 km2) in Noble, Guernsey, Tuscarawas, Muskingum, Coshocton, Holmes, Licking, Knox, Franklin, Delaware, Morrow, and Marion Counties.

General Land Office plan for numbering sections of a standard survey township, adopted May 18, 1796 Theoreticaltownshipmap.gif
General Land Office plan for numbering sections of a standard survey township, adopted May 18, 1796

The Survey

An un-surveyed tract of land in eastern Ohio remained north of the Seven Ranges and Military District, and south of the Connecticut Western Reserve. In that gap, extending westward from the Pennsylvania line to the Tuscarawas River, lands were surveyed circa 1801 under the Act of May 18, 1796. [6] The ranges and townships followed those of the original Seven Ranges, ranges being numbered westward from Pennsylvania, and townships within each range numbered from south to north starting at the Ohio River, known as the Ohio River Base, thus having townships in adjacent ranges with different numbers. Sections were numbered according to the 1796 pattern. [7]

Tuscarawas River river in the United States of America

The Tuscarawas River is a principal tributary of the Muskingum River, 129.9 miles (209 km) long, in northeastern Ohio in the United States. Via the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 2,590 square miles (6,700 km2) on glaciated and unglaciated portions of the Allegheny Plateau.

Ohio River river in the midwestern United States

The Ohio River is a 981-mile (1,579 km) long river in the midwestern United States that flows southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the second largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 15 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people.

The Treaty of Greenville [8] in 1795 had established land west of the Tuscarawas as reserved for Indians, and not open to American settlement. With the Treaty of Fort Industry in 1805, Indian land west of the Tuscarawas River, between Lake Eire and the Greeneville Treaty Line, and east of a line 120 miles west of Pennsylvania, or about 82° 51' W longitude, was ceded by six tribes. [9] Congress Lands in this ceded area were surveyed 1806-07. This survey had six mile square townships and continued the range, township, and section numbering system of the Ohio River Survey, section numbering being based on the 1796 land act. [7]

The two surveys of 1801 and 1806-07 became known as the Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges.

Muskingum River Survey

This area consists of only two townships, within the Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges and bounded on the north by the Connecticut Western Reserve. Townships are numbered 1 and 2 north, and the range is 10 west. The range continues the numbering of the Ohio River Survey. [10] This survey was conducted in 1800. [11] The civil townships of Lawrence Township, Stark County, Ohio and Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio correspond to this survey.

Land Sales

The land office was moved from Canton to Wooster Move of Land Office to Wooster.JPG
The land office was moved from Canton to Wooster

Section 4 of the Land Act of May 18, 1796 provided that the lands between the Seven Ranges and the Western Reserve be sold at “Pittsburg“. The Land Act of May 10, 1800 [12] established the Steubenville Federal Land Office for sale of these lands. The Act of March 3, 1807 [13] established a land office for the Congress Lands North of Old Seven Ranges that ended up in Canton, creating the Canton Land District. The Act of February 25, 1811 [14] moved the office to Wooster but kept the name Canton Land District. Sales were also conducted from the nation’s capital at the General Land Office. Local offices were eventually closed. The State of Ohio also eventually sold lands granted to them by the federal government, such as section 16 of each township.

Modern Times

The Tract today includes all or part of these counties in Ohio: Ashland, Carroll, Columbiana, Crawford, Holmes, Knox, Mahoning, Morrow, Richland, Stark, Summit, and Wayne.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Knepper, p. 9.
  2. ↑ Peters, p. 33.
  3. ↑ Text of Act of May 9, 1786 Library of Congress
  4. ↑ 1  Stat.   490 - Text of Act of June 1, 1796 Library of Congress
  5. ↑ Knepper, p. 39.
  6. ↑ 1  Stat.   464 - Text of Act of May 18, 1796 Library of Congress
  7. 1 2 Knepper, p. 43-44.
  8. ↑ 7  Stat.   49 - Text of Treaty of Greenville Library of Congress
  9. ↑ 7  Stat.   87 - Text of Treaty of Ft. Industry Library of Congress
  10. ↑ Background Information on the Public Land Survey System appendix 3.11-A
  11. ↑ National Mapping Program Technical Instructions: Standards for USGS and USDA Forest Service Single Edition Quadrangle Maps (Draft for Implementation ed.). March 2003. p. 5A-4. Retrieved 2010-07-17 Archived 2007-01-03 at the Wayback Machine .
  12. ↑ 2  Stat.   73 - Text of Act of May 10, 1800 Library of Congress
  13. ↑ 2  Stat.   448 - Text of Act of March 3, 1807 Library of Congress
  14. ↑ 2  Stat.   649 - Text of Act of February 25, 1811 Library of Congress

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References

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