Washington County Proclamation, 1788


ADVERTISEMENT

Upon the 27th of July 1788 His Excellency was pleased to issuethe following Order.

By His Excellency Arthur St. Clair Esquire Governour & Commander in Chief of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio.

To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come: Greeting.

L.S.

Whereas, by the Ordinance of Congress of the 13th of July 1787 for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio, it is directed that, for the due Execution of Process civil & criminal, the Governour shall make proper Divisions of the said Territory, & proceed from Time to Time as Circumstances may require, to lay out the Parts of the same where the Indian Titles shall have been extinguished, into Counties & Townships subject to future Alteration as therein specified.—

Now Know Ye that it appearing to me to be necessary for the Purposes above mentioned that a County should immediately be laid out—I have ordained & Ordered & by these Presents do Ordain & Order that all & singular the Lands lying & being within the following Boundaries—Viz: beginning on the Bank of the Ohio River where the Western Boundary Line of Pennsylvania crosses it, & running with that Line to Lake Erie;thence along the southern Shore of said Lake to the Mouth of Cayahoga River;thence up said River to the Portage between it & the Tuscarawa Branch of Muskingum, thence down that Branch to the Forks at the Crossing Place above Fort Lawrance;thence with a Line to be drawn Westerly to the Portage on that Branch of the big Miami on which the Fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the Road from the lower Shawanese Town to Sandusky;1 thence South to the Scioto River;thence with that River to the Mouth;& thence up the Ohio River to the Place of Beginning Shall be a County, & the same is hereby erected into a County, named, & hereafter to be called the County of Washington, & the said County of Washington shall have & enjoy all & singular the Jurisdiction, Rights, Liberties, Privileges & Immunities whatsoever to a County belonging & appertaining, & which anyother County that may hereafter be erected & laid out;shall, or ought to enjoy conformably to the Ordinance of Congress before mentioned.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand & caused the Seal of the Territory to be affixed this 26th Day of July, in the thirteenth year of the Independence of the United States, & in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty eight.2

Signed / Ar. St. Clair.

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1Coincident with the lines of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh, Jan. 21, 1785 (Kappler, ed., Treaties, II, 4-5), and the Treaty of Greenville, Aug. 3, 1795, ante, II, 526.
2The discrepancy in dates in this proclamation (printed also in Ohio Stat., Chase, ed., III, 2096;Smith ed., St. Clair Papers, II, 78-79) has induced some controversy as to the actual date of the creation of Washington County (Andrews, Washington County, p.21;Downes, "Evolution of Ohio Co. Bounds." Ohio Arch. and Hist. Quar., XXXVI, 342). One of two interpretations is possible: either one day elapsed after the preparation and signing of the proclamation before its public announcement;or the Secretary made a clerical error in entering the proclamation in his records.


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