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In 1784, the state of Virginia ceded all of its Northwest Territory to the federal government except for this tract to satisfy the land bounties owed to its Revolutionary War soldiers. The Virginia Military District extended from the Scioto River in the east to the Little Miami River in the west, and from the Ohio River on the south to the town of Kenton in the north. The District contained over 4 million acres of land. Nathaniel Massie founded Manchester, which is the fourth oldest settlement in Ohio, as a base for his surveying operations. Manchester, sometimes called Massie’s Station, was founded in 1791, populated largely by settlers coming from Kentucky and Virginia.
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Following the American Revolution, the new Federal government, in need of operating funds, sold millions of acres of western lands to land companies. One such company, the Ohio Company of Associates, brought settlement to Marietta in 1788. Two years later, despite warnings of Native American hostility, an association of 36 Company members moved north from Marietta to settle “Big Bottom,” a large area of level land on the east side of the Muskingum River. The settlers were acquainted with Native American warfare, but even so, built an unprotected outpost. They did not complete the blockhouse, put pickets around it, or post a sentry. On January 2, 1791, a war party of 25 Delaware and Wyandot Indians from the north attacked the unsuspecting settlers, killing nine men, one woman, and two children. War raged throughout the Ohio Country until August 1794 when the tribes were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
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The surrounding 132 acres of land served as the Knox County Poor Farm (aka Knox County Infirmary and County Home) from 1842 to 1955. The farm was nearly self-sustaining. Able residents grew their own food, raised livestock, and did various chores as partial compensation for their care. In 1874, a fire in the original wood farmhouse resulted in one death. Public outrage and concerns for residents’ safety compelled the county commissioners to build a new “fireproof” poorhouse. The four-story brick building was constructed from 1875-1877. It is believed to be the last building designed by architect William Tinsley, utilizing a version of the Kirkbride Plan. This plan, conceived by Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, improved the layout of institutions and infirmaries for the well-being of their charges. (Continued on other side)
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In the early 1800s, Jabez Wright, an early Huron County judge, purchased a large tract of lakeside land on the north side of what is now Cleveland Road. There Wright built an eight-room farmhouse that later served as a “station” on the fabled Underground Railroad, playing a vital role in aiding fugitive African-American slaves to freedom. Beneath Wright’s farmhouse was a sixteen foot-wide and ninety foot-long tunnel. Escaped slaves entered the passage through a trap door in the home’s basement and exited into a corn crib located a mere one hundred feet from Lake Erie. There the slaves awaited the arrival of rowboats transporting them to vessels heading north to Canada. (Continued on side two)
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Following the establishment of the public land system in 1785, the Continental Congress appointed a committee, chaired by James Monroe, to establish government in the new territory north and west of the Ohio River. Drafted prior to the Constitution of the United States, the Ordinance of 1787 provided the mechanism by which prospective states would enter the Union on an equal basis with existing states. It also prohibited slavery in the new territory and pledged good faith in dealing with Native American tribes. According to this plan, the Northwest Territory became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota in due course.
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Edmund Munger was born in 1763 in Norfolk, Connecticut, and later moved to Vermont. In 1799, his wife Eunice Kellogg and five children traveled by wagon and flat-bottomed boat to claim land in Washington Township. A blacksmith by trade and a farmer, Munger was deeply interested in community affairs. In 1804, he was elected a Montgomery County Commissioner and four years later to Ohio’s Seventh General Assembly. From 1809 to 1826, he served as Clerk of Washington Township. His militia men elected him a Brigadier General in 1809 to take command of the Second Brigade, First Division of the Ohio Militia. During the War of 1812, Governor Return J. Meigs instructed Munger to defend the frontier within his command. His quick action protected settlers and kept vital supply routes open. General Munger died at his farm here in 1850 and is buried next to his wife in the Old Centerville Cemetery.
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In August 1818, a group of six interrelated Welsh families, led by John Jones (Tirbach) landed in Gallipolis. They journeyed from Cardiganshire, South Wales destined for the Welsh settlement at Paddy’s Run, near Cincinnati. Following their decision to remain here instead, they built cabins in the Symmes Creek Valley on the old Welsh road between Centerville and Oak Hill. The group became the nucleus for later Welsh settlement, as the area became known as “Little Cardiganshire.” Evans Cemetery is on land set aside by John Jones, later owned by grandson Timothy Evans. Approximately 50 souls lie here, several in unmarked graves.
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In the early 20th century Ohio’s deer, wild turkey, beaver, bobcat, and other wildlife populations were facing extinction due to the widespread loss of forests combined with uncontrolled hunting. Ohio’s first wildlife area, The Theodore Roosevelt Game Preserve, was established in 1922 under the leadership of Ohio Governor Harry L. Davis. Its aim was to reestablish wildlife by creating a game and reforestation preserve on 15,000 acres of land, purchased using funds collected from hunting license fees. An additional 5,000 acres were purchased by the state agricultural extension division. Roosevelt Preserve quickly lived up to the dreams of its famous conservationist namesake, President Theodore Roosevelt, with programming that reestablished Ohio’s extirpated wildlife. A century later, the partnership between hunters and wildlife management continues to thrive in Scioto County.
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