The Refugee Tract is an area of land in Ohio, United States granted to people from British Canada who left home prior to July 4, 1776, stayed in the US until November 25, 1783 continuously, and aided the revolutionary cause. [1]
The Refugee Tract of 103,527 acres (418.96 km2) is located in parts of Franklin, Fairfield, Licking and Perry County, Ohio. It extends for 42 miles (68 km) eastward from the Scioto River along the south line of the United States Military District. For the first 30 miles (48 km) it is four and one half miles wide, and for the easternmost twelve miles (19 km) it is 3 miles (4.8 km) wide. [2] [3]
During the American Revolutionary War, there were certain men of Canada and Nova Scotia, who sympathized with, and rendered aid to the United States, some of them joining the American Army. For this lack of loyalty to the Crown of Great Britain, that government confiscated their possessions. For their co-operation with the colonists, in their struggle for independence, the government of the United States caused this strip of land to be granted them.
In 1783 and 1785, the Congress promised to compensate the Canadians with land as soon as it was possible to do so. The Land Ordinance of 1785 [4] reserved “three townships adjacent to Lake Erie” for their use. This land belonged to Connecticut, and so was not theirs to promise. In 1798, Congress published advertisements in newspapers inviting those with claims to file an account within two years. The Secretaries of Treasury and War examined the testimonies to determine the quantity of land each should receive. [3] Acts of February 18, 1801 [5] and April 23, 1812 [6] named a total of 67 claimants to receive 58,080 acres (235.0 km2), in the amounts of 2240, 1280, 960, 640, 320, and 160 acres (0.65 km2). [2] [3] The claimants land was selected by drawing lots. An act of April 29, 1816 [7] authorized the United States General Land Office in Chillicothe to sell the unclaimed 45,477 acres (184.04 km2) as Congress Lands. Several men who missed the deadline for claiming land were compensated with land in other parts of the country in the 1820s and 1830s. [3]
In Columbus the Refugee Grant lies approximately between Fifth Avenue on the north and Refugee Road on the south. The Ohio Statehouse and most downtown office buildings are located within the tract. [2]
Refugee Road in Columbus is named after the Tract. This road continues into Fairfield County and runs along the southern border of the tract. In Licking County, a different parallel road also named Refugee Road runs along the northern border of the tract.
A plaque affixed to the LeVeque Tower memorializes the Tract.
Truro Township, settled by the Canadian Taylor family, was named after Truro, Nova Scotia.
| Grant (acres) | Claimants |
|---|---|
| 2240 | Martha Walker, Widow of Thomas Walker, John Edgar, P. Francis Cazeau, John Allen, Seth Harding, Samuel Rogers, Heirs of James Boyd |
| 1280 | Jonathan Eddy, Col. James Livingston, Parker Clark, Heirs of John Dodge |
| 960 | Thomas Faulkner, Edward Faulkner, David Gay, Martin Brooks, Lt. Col. Bradford, Noah Miller, Joshua Lamb, Atwood Fales, Charlotte Hazen, Widow of Moses Hazen, Chloe Shannon, Heir to Obadiah Ayer, Heirs of Elijah Ayer, Heirs of Israel Ruland, Heirs of Nataniel Reynolds, Heirs of Edward Antill, Joshua Sprague, John Starr, William How, Ebenezer Gardner, Lewis F. Delesdernier, John McGown, Jonas C. Minot, Heirs of Simeon Chester |
| 640 | Jacob Vander Heyden, John Livingston, James Crawford, Isaac Danks, Maj. B. von Heer, Benjamin Thompson, Joseph Bindon, Joseph Levittre, Lt. William Maxwell, John D. Mercier, James Price, Seth Noble, Martha Bogart Heir of Abraham Bogart, John Halsted, Robert Sharp, John Fulton, John Morrison |
| 320 | James Sprague, David Dickey, John Taylor, Heirs of Gilbert Seamans, Heirs of Anthony Burk, Elijah Ayer Jr., David Jenks, Ambrose Cole, James Cole, Adam Johnson, Heirs of Col. Jeremiah Duggan, Daniel Earl Jr., John Paskell, Edward Chinn, Joseph Cone, John Torreyre |
| 160 | Samuel Fales |
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over three-quarters of the area of the continental United States.
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non-Native American group to permanently settle west of the Allegheny mountains. In 1788 they established Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent settlement of the new United States in the newly organized Northwest Territory.
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.
The Congress Lands was a group of land tracts in Ohio that made land available for sale to members of the general public through land offices in various cities, and through the United States General Land Office. It consisted of three groups of surveys:
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.
The Ephraim Kimberly Grant was a land tract in eastern Ohio that was granted to an American Revolutionary War veteran by Congress late in the 18th century. It was located in the Seven Ranges along the Ohio River.
The Donation Tract was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress in the late 18th century to buffer Ohio Company lands against local indigenous people. Congress gave 100-acre (0.40 km2) lots to men who settled on the land. This marked the first time that federal land was given without charge to specified settlers, predating the more famous Homestead Act of 1862 by seventy years.
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.
The Congress Lands West of Miami River was a land tract in southwest Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the Greenville Treaty Line, east of Indiana, and north of the Great Miami River. The original survey in 1798 contained a triangular shaped slice of land, now located in Indiana, that extended to the Greenville line as it ran from Fort Recovery to opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.
The Congress Lands East of Scioto River was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the United States Military District and Refugee Tract, west of the Old Seven Ranges, east of the Virginia Military District and north of the Ohio River, French Grant, and the Ohio Company of Associates.
Maumee Road Lands were a group of land tracts granted by the United States Congress to the state of Ohio in 1823 along the path of a proposed road in the northwest corner of the state.
Turnpike Lands were a group of land tracts granted by the United States Congress to the state of Ohio in 1827 along the path of a proposed road in the northwest corner of the state.
The Salt Reservations were a collection of land tracts surrounding salt springs in Ohio and some other states that were donated to the states by the federal government early in the 19th century.
The Twelve Mile Square Reservation, also called the Twelve Mile Square Reserve, was a tract of land in Ohio ceded by Indians to the United States of America in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. This particular area of land immediately surrounding Fort Miami was considered to be of strategic importance by the United States government representatives. It was subsequently surveyed in a manner different from surrounding land, and lots sold, or granted, to settlers.
The Two Mile Square Reservation or Two Mile Square Reserve was a tract of land in Ohio ceded by Native Americans to the United States of America in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. It was subsequently surveyed in a manner different from surrounding land, and lots sold to settlers.
North and East of the First Principal Meridian is a survey and land description in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Ohio.
Zane's Tracts were three parcels of land in the Northwest Territory of the United States, later Ohio, that the federal government granted to Ebenezer Zane late in the 18th century, as compensation for establishing a road with ferry service over several rivers.
The Ministerial Lands were tracts of land in the Northwest Territory, later Ohio, that the Congress donated for the support of clergy.
Canal Lands were tracts of land donated by the federal government to several Great Lakes states in the 19th century to encourage internal improvements and aid in funding the construction of Canals. These states sold the land tracts to private parties to raise funds for canal construction.
Moravian Indian Grants were three tracts of land in Tuscarawas County, Ohio granted by the federal government in the eighteenth century to a group of Christian Indians. In the nineteenth century, these natives moved west, and the government sold the land to white people.
| Six-Mile Rectangular System Surveys |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Five-Mile Rectangular System Surveys | ||
| Indiscriminate Surveys | ||
| metes and bounds Survey | ||
| Land Grants | ||
| Other | ||
Images from Commons | ||