The Freemasons around Marietta and Fort Harmar had evidently held many informal meetings. Without question they knew one another as Brothers. This was proven when one of them died.

The story of the funeral is told by W. M. Cunningham a Past Grand Master and author of the first volume of the "History of Freemasonry in Ohio" published in 1909. Where he obtained the story isn't known. And, there are those who claim there were no Chippewas, Sacs, or Cherokee Indians in Ohio.

On January 10, 1789, the Masons of Marietta gathered together to conduct the Masonic funeral rites for George James Varnum, a "revolutionary hero." Captain David Ziegler, who would later become a member of a military Lodge at Fort Washington, Cincinnati, headed the soldier Masons. Paul Fearing, who would become the first territorial delegate to Congress, bore the Masonic insignia on a cushion. Even Indian Chiefs, representatives of the Six Nations and of the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomies, and Sacs, "two and two united in the solemn procession." They had just concluded a treaty of peace at Fort Harmar, opposite Marietta.

According to some Masonic authorities, this was another evidence of the knowledge many Indians had in the mysteries of Freemasonry. W. M. Cunningham said he knew a Cherokee Indian Mason, "thoroughly up in the work and although he was himself made a Mason in an American lodge, yet he claimed that there was a knowledge of Masonic mysteries in some of the Indian tribes." Cunningham added: "The eloquent Red Jacket, Chief of the Senecas and also Chief of the Six Nations, possessed a medal presented to him by General Washington, by whom he was greatly esteemed and with whom a warm personal friendship long existed."

Fifteen days after this funeral, Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Griffin Green, Robert Oliver, Ezra Lunt, William Stacy, William Burnham, Ansein Tupper, Thomas Stanley, and Ebenezer Sproat discussed the formation of a Masonic Lodge. It is safe to assume this wasn't the first time the subject was discussed. Undoubtedly the funeral of Judge Varnum caused them to realize a Lodge should formally be established.

Putnam had been made a Master Mason in American Union Lodge on September 9, 1779. He knew that Jonathan Heart, the last Worshipful Master of the Lodge when the war ended, had carried its Warrant to Fort Harmar.Consequently. the following letter was written:

To Worshipful Brother Jonathan Heart, at Harrnar, Worshipful,

Having considered the disadvantages that the Brethren of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons have labored under in this Western Hemisphere relative to their further knowledge of the East, we having no further resource of knowledge but only through you, have to request you, Worshipful, to take us under your immediate patronage and establish us on a permanent basis and for that purpose to give us and the other Brethren of the fraternity in this quarter to meet as soon as possibly consistent.

We have the honor to be, Worshipful, with fraternal affection,
Yours,
(Signed by Rufus Putnam, et al)

To which Heart replied,

Fort Harmar, June 26, 1790

Brethren,

The petition of the Masons residing in the city of Marietta, in behalf of themselves and others within the Federal Territories, requesting that they may be convened in regular Lodge, was delivered me by Brothers Greene, Sproat and Burnaham, and (I) have considered the same.

Previous to giving an answer on the subject it may be necessary to state some objections which may be raised (that) enter into a particular detail of the Masonic situation of this country, and explain the principles on which I wish to found my ultimate determination of your request.

Previous to the late revolution all authority exercised in America with respect to Masonry was derived from the Grand Lodge of Great Britain, delegated to Deputies, in and over certain districts, by virtue of which all regular Lodges were then held. (This isn't true. Scotland and Ireland also had Lodges in North America.) The Federal territories, not coming within the districts of any Grand Lodge holding under authority of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain and the United States not having as yet formed a Federal league in Masonry, it may be a doubt whether at this time there is any power in America having Masonic jurisdiction over the Federal Territories – from whence it follows the power is still in the hands of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain, unless there can be found some power which has been delegated otherwise than through the present Grand Lodges and extending its jurisdiction to this country. Whether the Warrant under which you wish to be convened afford this protection is the next subject of inquiry. This Warrant was granted in the year 1776, previous to the Declaration (but Independence, by Richard Gridley, Esquire, Deputy Grand Master, (but authorized by John Rowe, Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts), whose authority extended to all points of North America where no special Grand Master was appointed, as may appear from the Book of Constitutions and as expressed in said Warrant. It will therefore follow that there being no special Grand Master for this Territory a more ample authority for holding a Lodge in this country could not be obtained, provided there was a competent number of former members present. But there are only two, viz., Brother Putnam and myself who were actual enrolled members. To remove this objection it is observable that there are two others who are members and residents of this country but at present at too great a distance to attend - that there are also two of the petitioners who were constant visitors of this Lodge during the war, one of them a Past Master who by custom is a member of all Lodges. There are also others of the petitioners who have frequently visited the Lodge at different times.

Wherefore under every consideration with respect to your situation - the difficulty of obtaining authority - a doubt whether more ample authority can at this time be obtained - the right which is ever retained by the individuals of incorporating themselves where there is no existing power already lodged with particulars for that purpose.

Wherefore being the present Master of the Lodge held under authority of said Warrant, as may appear by having recourse to the records deposited in Frederick Lodge, held at Farmington, State of Connecticut, and being also the eldest ancient Mason within said Territory - I have thought proper with the advice of Brother Putnam, Member, and Brother Benjamin Tupper, Past Master, to grant the request contained in your petition and will meet you at Campus Martius on Monday the 28th inst. at 6 o'clock P.M. for the purpose of forming you into a Lodge agreeably to your request.

I am, with every sentiment of respect, Brethren, Your most obedient and humble servant.

Jonathan Heart, M. A. U. Lodge.

The first Masonic Lodge communication held in the Ohio Territory was opened on June 28, 1790. Jonathan Heart was the Worshipful Master; Benjamin Tupper, SeniorWarden; Rufus Putnam, Junior Warden. Upon motion ofPutnam, Thomas Stanley, William Burnham, Griffin Green, William Mills, Robert Oliver, William Stacy, and Benjamin Tupper, a Past Master of Hampshire Lodge, were elected to membership.

The first to be Raised was the Reverend Daniel Story, formerly of Boston, on December 8, 1790. The Festival of St. John the Baptist was celebrated on December 27 when the members and guests marched in procession to the courthouse where religious services were held.

Heart was still concerned about the legality of reconstituting American Union Lodge so he, as head of a committee, wrote to the Grand Lodges of New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The latter two set his mind at rest Pennsylvania noted: "This ray of light which has thus broke in upon the gloom and darkness of ages, they consider as a happy presage that the time is fast approaching the knowledge of Masonry will completely circle the globe."

Grand Lodge of Massachusetts said it "Applauds and commands your views and pursuits... Your warrant is, beyond doubt, a perfect and good one, and must have its force and operation where you are until a Grand Lodge is found and established in your territory, when it will become your duty to surrender it and obtain in its place a warrant from the Grand Lodge that may have the government of Masonry in your State."

The latter portion of the instruction would be ignored a short time later.

Shortly after Marietta was settled, the Congress sold one million acres between the two Miamis to Judge J. C. Symmes of New Jersey. A schoolmaster gave the name to one of them - L-os-anti-ville. Governor St. Clair transferred the capital to this town from Marietta. He didn't like the name and re-christened the place "Cincinnati." He was probably honoring the famous revolutionary society to which he belonged, and which is still in existence.

By 1789, the Indian situation had grown serious. President Washington determined to take the action necessary to make the country safe for the white man. Consequently, he asked Kentucky and Pennsylvania to furnish militia men to meet at Fort Washington near Cincinnati. The
rendevous took place. General Josiah Harmar was put in command of an expedition against the Miamis. The recruits were untrained and Harmar was without the experience required for such an enterprise. Even so they marched out with a great show of force.

Near the present city of Fort Wayne, the troops destroyed a number of Indian huts and burned their supplies. But, through a series of scattered encounters the white men were defeated. With a loss of nearly 200 killed, Harmar retreated. He had gained nothing except to make the Indians
even more hostile.

Washington knew these defeats had to be rectified. He called St. Clair to Philadelphia and ordered him to take personal command of a new expedition. The President spoke at length with the Governor. Among other things, he warned him against surprise attacks and possible ambushes.

The untrained troops marched out slowly. St. Clair was ill and failed to take the precautions Washington had advised him to take. Everything went wrong. The old and broken Governor didn't have the military ability to cope with the problem.

On the night of November 3, 1791, American troops were carelessly scattered on the eastern fork of the Wabash River, about 100 miles north of Cincinnati near the Indiana border. The next morning, before the army could attack the Indian villages, the troops were swarmed over by hundreds of Indians. The army was surrounded. It made a brave stand with no chance of victory. (Some claim the troops ran away in the face of fire.) St. Clair, in desperation, ordered his men to break through the cordon and save themselves as best they could. Almost half of the men were killed and less than 500 of the 1400 got off with no injury. The survivors gradually straggled into Forts Jefferson and Hamilton and river settlements, starving and disheartened.

The Congress ordered a hearing and investigation into the actions of St. Clair. He was exonerated on May 8, 1792, but wisely resigned his military command, although he remained the Governor of the Northwest Territory.

It was in this battle, November 4, 1791, that Major Jonathan Heart was killed. He may have foreseen what was to happen to him. To his Lodge on August 22, he "pleaded that necessary avocations made it impracticable for him to serve." He asked for another Master to be elected. Rufus Putnam was elected and installed. He, too, "observed that it was incompatible for him in his present situation to served as Master." Robert Oliver was then elected and installed.

Washington was unhappy, to say the least, with the two defeats in as many years in the Ohio Territory. In desperation, he called upon General Anthony Wayne, hero of Stony Point and close personal friend, to undo the harm that had been done. Again, raw recruits were turned over
to him to do the job trained soldiers would have trouble with.

Wayne wisely established a plan of training. It called for strict discipline, with drilling for eight to ten hours every day. He refused to set out on a campaign until his troops were thoroughly prepared. And it was October, 1793, before he felt they were ready. In the meantime, he had sent an advance attachment to build Fort Green Ville 80 miles north of Cincinnati. There they spent the winter.

Another detachment built a post which they hopefully christened "Fort Recovery."

General Benjamin Tupper, the man who among other things, surveyed the northeastern part of Ohio before the Ohio Company was formed, died. An extensive account of his funeral was carried in "The Pennsylvania Magazine" in 1888. It printed "The Narrative of John Heckewelder's Journey to the Wabash in 1792." Of Tupper's death and Funeral he stated:

In consideration of the four different offices which he held, firstly as General in the service of the United States in the late war; secondly as a member of the Cincinnati order; thirdly as Director of the Ohio Company; and fourthly as Master among the Freemasons, therefore, because of these positions, great honors were shown his remains at the funeral. I will mention what was most remarkable to me. After a company of soldiers had arrived with drum and fife from Campus Martius, and all the Freemasons had gathered, the latter entered the house of the deceased where the remains lay. They stayed for about half an hour during which time a guard had been placed at the doors of the house. When they came out they were furnished with tools according to their different degrees. They wore leather aprons, skillfully embroidered with red, blue or green ribbons around the edge, and bearing the design of a Square and Compass in the center. A few wore only a clean white leather apron. Two men with drawn swords placed themselves on both sides of the door through which the body was to be taken, and when at last it was brought forward and placed in the Square, the Masons gathered around it, and with swords stood between it and the people so that no one could draw too near. There was a lid with hinges
at the head of the coffin which could be opened. On the coffin were laid: first an open Bible, with Square and Compass; second, a costly sword in a black sheath, lined with red velvet; third, four black boxes, about ten inches square; fifth, green bushes or asparagus greens. On the
four boxes, two at the head and two at the feet, his four written commissions were laid. On each side of the coffin stood a Mason holding a well turned column of walnut wood in his hand, and at the foot another with a measure lathe about ten feet long. Others stood in different places holding wooden hammers. Some of the Masons wore red others blue ribbons fastened at the breast. Two of them stood with long, round, beautifully carved wands in their hands, to which a blue ribbon was fastened at the top. Two others held finely carved candle sticks, two and a
half feet long, containing white wax candles, at least two inches in diameter.

All these arrangements having been completed, the clergyman, who was also a Mason, offered up a prayer, of which however I could understand but little as he spoke in a very low tone. A very mournful dirge was then sung, and the order of the procession called out. Here-upon the coffin was closed and every Mason broke off a little branch of the greens which lay upon it, and
stuck it in his coat. The Bible with the Square and Compass, the pocket book, the four black boxes with the papers resting on them, and the sword, were now carefully lifted up, and carried by as many men as were necessary, and also the coffin, which had been covered by a large white cloth. The soldiers who stood in double rank from the gates during the whole of the ceremony with stacked bayonets, where the procession passed. After the other part had performed various evolutions before their officer, the drums were muffled and covered with a black cloth, and at a given signal they marched off, while a funeral march was being played. The Masons who had not been occupied with the care of the remains marched behind them, hand in hand, two and two. These were followed by those carrying hammers, measuring lathes, the two round wands, columns, etc., and finally came the clergyman, and behind him a man carrying the open Bible with both hands, and four men, each carrying a black box. The coffin now followed, the Master walking beside it, and the mourners behind him. As they neared the grave, the soldiers who stood in double file approached it, went through a military drill, and then retired. Hereupon the Masons drew near to the grave, and after a given signal knelt down around it. The clergyman then said, "Lord, Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, etc." He pronounced several passages from the Scriptures applicable to the servants of God, and closed with the words, "After labor sweet is rest." The Masons then arose, and threw their green twigs on the coffin and the grave was immediately filled up. The guards of the different stations were now relieved, and all returned in the former order, the Masons reassembling in the house for the closing exercises.

How differently were the remains of Jonathan Heart, and the many others who fell to make the Ohio Territory safe, treated. Many of them ended up in a common, unmarked grave. This would be the fate of many of General Wayne's troops in 1794.

Fourteen hundred mounted militia arrived from Kentucky in June, 1794. Wayne found himself at the head of the largest and best-trained force that had ever been turned loose against the Indians west of the Alleghenies. But Wayne, unlike St. Clair, heeded Washington's warning. He proceeded cautiously down the left bank of the Maumee toward the British stronghold at Fort Miami.

The Indians attacked the American advance post at Fort Recovery but were forced to retreat. On August 8, Wayne reached the junction of the Maumee and the Auglaize, established Fort Defiance as a strong post, and made another plea for peace. The Indians asked for ten days to consider Wayne's terms. But, Wayne marched forward.

At a place called "Fallen Timbers" (a hurricane two years earlier had devastated the area) the Indians chose to make their stand. The shelter of the fallen tree trunks and branches didn't help them. They faced disciplined troops, not raw militia. The American first line easily overwhelmed the two-mile line of Indians. The Indians were completely demoralized. The Americans lost 33 dead and wounded.

An Indian war that had lasted for forty years was over many minutes.

Surprisingly, British troops were in a fort less than five miles away. No attempt was made to aid their Indian allies. Nor would the British assist them while Wayne's troops destroyed cabins and cornfields belonging to the Indian and close to the fort.

October 27, the victorious Americans returned to Fort Defiance. Their military might had been forcibly demonstrated to the Indians.

In June of 1795, delegation after delegation from the Indians arrived in Fort Greene Ville. More than a thousand chiefs and braves were in attendance. In London, John Jay had negotiated another treaty. This one ceded all British posts on United States soil to America. On August 3, the "Treaty of Greene Ville." was signed. The natives ceded all at of what is now southern Ohio and southeastern Indiana to The United States. What had been a great migration became A flood.

Into Ohio came robust and industrious men with growing Families. Among them were some of the best brains of the North. This caused the Eastern states to pause and worry. They became quite liberal in passing out anti-immigration pamphlets. But, they didn't stop the migration.

The Western Reserve attracted people from Connecticut. Pennsylvanians were partial to the "Seven Ranges." This was directly south of the Western Reserve. The Scioto valley brought in Virginians who made Chillicothe their principal center. The Symmes tract in the west and north found Kentuckians pouring in by the thousands. In a decade, Ohio became a frontier melting pot.

Ideals clashed and different customs grated harshly. But, the product of a hundred years of intermingling with people from different parts of the country turned Ohioans into outstanding citizens. This would be proven in the decades to follow. Many Ohioans would become leaders of the United States, Ohio, the professions, and industry.

Until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the principal avenues into Ohio were the Cumberland Gap, the Mohawk, and Genose turnpikes which crossed central New York. This led then to Lake Erie and to the Western Reserve. Those traveling along the Catskill Turnpike from the Hudson to the headwaters of the Allegheny also descended into Ohio. Others went by boat from Boston to New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore, in order to approach the Ohio by a more southerly course. The natural outlet from Pennsylvania was the Ohio River. Actually the line of westward travel from the East spread fanshape from Maine to Georgia, and converged on the Ohio. That river became, and for half a century remained, the great pathway of the empire.

The styles of river-craft appearing on the Ohio were varied. There were canoes, pirogues, skiffs, rafts, dugouts, galleys, arks, keelboats, flatboats, and barges. Eventualy, ocean going brigs, schooners, and steamboats would appear but it was the canoe that served the early explorer and trader.

Travel overland in Ohio was for the most part difficult. While the trees grew thick, deer paths, buffalo roads and Indian trails ran in all directions.

The dress of many settlers long remained a cross between that of the Indians and that of the white people of the older sections. The hunting shirt made of linsey, coarse nettle-bark linen, buffalo-hair, or even deer skins, was almost without exception, worn by the men. Along with these they wore breeches, leggings, and moccasins. The women and children dressed in simple garments of linsey. In warm weather, they went barefooted; in cold, they wore in casins or coarse shoes.

A multitude of religions helped overcome much of the rowdiness that was prevalent in the early days. Then, too, whenever half a dozen families lived reasonably close together, a log schoolhouse was usually to be found.

In 1799, a Territorial legislature was set up in Cincinnati. Shortly afterwards it proceeded to elect William Henry Harrison as a delegate in Congress. In 1800, without a vote in Congress, he succeeded in having the Territory divided into two distinct "governments." The division to the east was named Ohio! that to the west, Indiana. Harrison was made Governor of the latter, and established his residence at Vincennes. The next order of business for the eastern half was statehood for Ohio.

Naturally enough there were Freemasons on both sides of the statehood question. St. Clair, for instance, opposed statehood, while Thomas Worthington fought for it. The proponents were to win the victory. On March 1, 1803, Ohio became the seventeenth state admitted to the Union. Yet, there was no way to form a Grand Lodge. There weren't enough Lodges.

Only two Lodges, American Union and Nova Cesarea of Cincinnati, were in existence in the Territory when Ohio became a state. The latter had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey on September 8, 1791. But, it did not organize until December 27, 1794. Whether or not it was working when statehood was achieved is uncertain. However, on December 10, 1803, the Worshipful Master of the Lodge returned the Warrant to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey.

"The painful duty was devolved upon me of announcing to you the dissolution of Nova Cesarea Lodge No. 10," wrote the Master, "and enclosing to you the charter upon which, for upwards of fourteen years, that lodge has acted. In doing this, I not only express my own feelings but the feelings of most of my Brothers, when I say it is with sensations of deepest regret that you are addressed on the present occasion."

Evidently the dissentions and disagreements were resolved to some extent. Eight days later on December 18 ,1805, the Lodge resumed its labor under a new name. It became Cincinnati Lodge No.13, by virtue of a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. The Master of the "old" Lodge became the Secretary of the new one.

Unrecorded differences continued to arise and weren't reconciled completely until the Grand Lodge of Ohio came into existence.

Seven months after Ohio was admitted to the Union, two more Lodges received Warrants. Erie Lodge became No. 47 on the roster of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut on October 19, 1803. At the same Communication, Connecticut granted a Warrant to New England Lodge No.48.

On June 24, 1805, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania approved the formation of the Lodge of Amity No.105, and named Lewis Cass, who had been raised in American Union Lodge on May 7, 1803, as Worshipful Master. Five months later, November 22, 1805, Scioto Lodge No.2, was added to the roll of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

With six Masonic Lodges active in Ohio, the members of Erie Lodge believed the time had arrived for the formation of a Grand Lodge for the state. It acted on March 11, 1807, by appointing a committee to correspond on the subject with the other Lodges in the state.

By November 11, the Lodges "at Marietta, Cincinnati Zanesville and Chillicothe" had agreed to send delegate to Chillicothe "on the first Monday in January, A. L. 5808." Delegates were appointed by Erie Lodge granting then "full power in conjunction with the delegates from othe lodges to institute a Grand Lodge and form a Constitution and Bylaws agreeable to the ancient landmarks, constitution, charges, and usages."

The next step was entrusted to the leading Freemasons of Lodges in Ohio.

When George Washington bade farewell to his officers at the end of the American Revolution, he advised them "The extensive and fertile regions of the West will yield a most happy asylum to those who fond of domestic enjoyment are seeking for personal independence." The General was inviting the patriots who had fought laboriously For American independence to take advantage of the bountiful land along the Ohio that he had surveyed in 1770 and 1772. His advice was quickly taken and by 1800 the Ohio country was not only receiving settlers but was on the brink of joining the Union as the nation's seventeenth state.

Looking back from the twentieth century, it is easy enough to overlook or take lightly the sense of exhilaration and challenge that these early settlers must have felt. Ohio was a wilderness, largely unknown, and fraught with danger and mysteries. Just planning settlements on the new land was difficult. Added to this, the need to establish institutions, such as churches, schools and governments, in a new territory composed of people from all sections of the country who were widely scattered, some idea of the difficulty may be obtained.

Col. John May, a settler who journeyed down the Ohio River in the spring of 1788 caught some of the fearful grandeur of the new land when he stood watch on a flat boat one night. "We found it so dark that we could just discern the black mountains on either side . . . Jn the thick forest on either hand was to be heard the howling of savage beasts, the whooping of one kind of crane and the screeching of another, while every now and then would come a burst of thunder. I must confess it was the grandest night in all my experience." Such must have been the experience of many who journeyed to Ohio in the early days.

Upon arrival, the settlers were faced with the task of planting crops, building a home and defending it. Success in getting crops into the ground was a matter of life and death as the settlers at Belpre found. A late planting, coupled with an early frost, a flood that destroyed provisions, and hostile Indians, almost reduced the settlement to starvation before it had reached its first birthday.

The major problems of survival were complicated by nuisances. The diaries of early settlers are filled with snake bites, poison ivy, insect bites, and accounts of just bitter loneliness. In the end, all those who ventured west could not meet the challenge of the new land. "A number of poor devils - five in all - took their departure homeward this morning. They came from home moneyless and brainless and they returned as they came," wrote John May in June of 1788.
Amidst the problems of survival, the new settlers took time to fashion institutions that were to bring civilization to the wilderness. With a face swollen and hands covered with vinegar-soaked spice leaves to alleviate the itching pain of poison ivy, Col. John May met with Rufus Putnam and his fellow shareholders at Marietta to draw up the first code of laws in the Northwest Territory on June 15, 1788 The laws were to later give way to more formal ones but they did serve in the first few years to guide the development of the new settlement.

Even before the first settlers ventured west, the Confederation Congress of the newly formed nation had drafted two basic ordinances to govern the settlement of western lands. These two Northwest Ordinances, as they later came to be called, established orderly rules for selling the land prohibited slavery in the new territory, laid the foundation for government, and provided for a system of education. When the first settlers arrived, they built upon these basic laws, supplementing them with more specific rules to govern their citizens.

Between 1788 and 1802, the new territory grew and prospered. Settlements increased both in size and number as settlers poured into the Ohio country. By 1800, the territory had 45,000 residents scattered throughout the eastern and southern parts of it. By this date, the population of the Ohio country had grown sufficiently large to prompt many of its leaders to consider that the time for statehood was at hand.

The movement to create the state of Ohio touched off the first sizable political debate in the new territory. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, territorial governor, and many of the settlers from the New England states resisted, while Thomas Worthington and Edward Tiffin, prominent settlers from Virginia, led the pro-statehood movement. In November 1802, a convention was called to draft a constitution for the new state. Leaders from around the state, many of them Freemasons (Thomas Worthington, Rufus Putnam, Samual Huntington, and Bezaleel Wells) gathered in Chillicothe and drafted, in twenty-five days, a constitution that would see the state through its first half century of development. In March, 1803, the new constitution went into effect and the state of Ohio was born.

The new state faced many challenges during its first the decades of existence. There was a continuing struggle to provide roads, a constant effort to sell the great store of public lands, and pressing problems of frontier environment to contend with. Laws that seem quaint today were spread upon the books of the early legislatures. These included requirements that all men and boys spend two days each year working on Ohio's public roads; that every male over sixteen years of age kill 100 squirrels each year; and one law that prohibited farmers from sharpening their axe upon mileposts along public highways.

Ohioans continued to be threatened by hostile Indians and the unfriendly British who were ensconced along the state's northern borders. In 1812, the nation, and the state, went to war with these opponents and after two years of hostility, including several battles in northwestern Ohio,
the American armies under the leadership of William Henry Harrison, finally broke the Indian resistance and ridded the state of their influence.

Hardly had the war subsided when a financial panic struck the state. The panic of 1819 by most accounts was the most severe depression in the state's history. Infant industries were destroyed, thousands of farmers lost their land, and dozens of banks collapsed as the economy ground to a halt. A Ross County farmer surveyed the hard times and complained "We can get little or nothing for our wheat, or our pork, or our cattle. . .as for our farms, we can hardly give them away." Philosophically, the same farmer then ceased complaining and looked at the brighter side. "The truth is, we farmers have been and still are in the way of buying too much coffee, too much tea, too much foreign cloth, too much foreign finery at the stores - and drinking too much corn . . ". With this the farmer, as did most Ohioans, returned to the task at hand and began to rebuild his fortunes.

By 1824, the worst effects of the panic were past and the state once again began to grow. In 1825, the new canal system that Thomas Worthington had worked for had begun. Although Worthington died before its completion, Col. John Johnston and others pushed the narrow water-way across the state providing, at last, easy and relatively cheap transportation for its farmers. In the same year, Ohioans began constructing the canals, they also began to work on the National Road, a grand highway for its day that ran east to west passing from St. Clairsville to Zanesville to Columbus to Springfield.

By 1830, the frontier had passed from Ohio. Except for the far northwestern region of the state, the area was completely settled, having a population of almost 1,0,000,000 persons. When George Washington looked west in 1789 he commented that "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which was first commenced at the Muskingum (Marietta). Information, propriety, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were better men . ."

- Amos J. Loveday -

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