Nathaniel Massie, a pioneer of Ohio. A sketch of his life and selections from his correspondence

Preface

Any one who studies the early history of Ohio will soon discover that its birth as a state was due to a conflict between General Arthur St. Clair, the Territorial Governor, and certain citizens of Chillicothe who were called Democrats ; that St. Clair was overthrown, and that these Chillicotheans obtained Ohio's admission into the Union under a constitution framed by them, and that they formed a state government and for many years largely administered its affairs.

And the student of history who seeks to study these events and the motives of the chief actors therein, will also soon discover that the side of General St. Clair and his followers has been fully set forth by Burnet, Cutler, and the St. Clair papers, enlarged by many historians, and given due prominence in all works covering that period. But he will ask in vain for any autobiography, or history, stating the case of the Chillicothe party, for there is none ; nor is this in any way remarkable, for the Chillicotheans were of Virginia origin, a people little given to writing of their political achievements, being better satisfied with exerting influence and making history. "Esse quam videre" should be their epitaph.

This year being the centennial anniversary of the settlement of Chillicothe, seems to be a most fitting time for placing before the world a statement of the case of her founder and his followers ; to claim for them a fair share of the credit due them among the makers of Ohio, and to secure for them the historical recognition, which they so well deserve.

This little work, while primarily an account of the life of Nathaniel Massie, aims at presenting him as one of a certain class of men, as a representative of the rising Democracy of one hundred years ago, as a factor in a political movement, and as an historical quantity.

To rightly understand any man's life, one must consider vi Preface.

the time in which he lived and the circumstances which surrounded him, hence a brief review of the early political history . of our country is necessary before beginning the life of Nathaniel Massie.

After the close of the revolutionary war, the overwhelming necessity for the existence of a federal government caused men of many minds to unite in securing the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. As soon as it had been put into operation, two schools of political belief concerning its true interpretation sprung into being: One, the Federalist, led by Alexander Hamilton, favored a strong central government with ample powers ; another, the Republican, led by Thomas Jefferson, advocated as much individual liberty as possible, a strict limitation of the powers of the national government and the building up of the influence of the states. Fortunately, at the beginning, Hamilton, under Washington's two administrations, had his way and secured an effective federal power. When John Adams was elected President, he endeavored to continue in the course of Hamilton, and for a time events seemed to favor him, especially the folly of the French friends of the American Republicans ; but the moment of his greatest triumph, the publication of the X, Y, and Z dispatches, was t he beginning of his downfall. Feeling secure of their position, the Federalists enacted the Alien and Sedition laws. Then Jefferson saw his opportunity and drew a vivid picture of what was to follow, calling the attention of his friends to the situation in such words as these: "The Alien and Sedition laws are working hard. I fancy that some of the State Legislatures will take strong ground on this occasion. For my own part, I consider those laws as only an experiment on the American mind to see how far it will bear an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this goes down, we shall immediately see attempted another act of Congress declaring that the President shall continue in office during life, reserving to another occasion the transfer of the succession to his heirs and the establishment of the Senate for life. At least this may be the aim of the Oliveriaus, while Monk and the Cavaliers (who are perhaps the strongest) maybe playing their game for the restoration of his most gracious Majesty, George the Third.

Preface. vii

That these things are in contemplation, I have no doubt." The whole country was soon aroused, public meetings were held, and the Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky adopted their famous resolutions of 1798 ; a perfect tidal wave of Democratic feeling swept over the whole country, and soon gave Jefferson and his party control of the National Government for many years. Especially in Kentucky did Democracy flourish, for in no quarter was individualism, naturally, so popular.

In reading the life of Nathaniel Massie, it must be borne in mind that he and his followers were Virginians by birth and Kentuckians by training ; that the Democratic Republicans of these states were their personal friends, and that they fully shared their opinion as to the powers of government and the rights of the individual. From this standpoint, Nathaniel Massie appears as a man in sympathy with his times and race, as a man filled with the spirit of his age carrying forward its ideas in his own community, and this explains the hearty and steady response of the people to his political leadership.

The materials for this work were found in the correspondence and papers of Nathaniel Massie— a part of which are, for the first time, here published in the many general histories which cover that period and in the following books, which bear especially on the subject: McDonald's Sketches, The St. Clair Papers, Burnet's Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-western Territory, The Autobiography of the Rev. James B. Finley, Life Among the Indians by the Rev. James B. Finley, The Laws of Warrants, Entries, Surveys, and Patents in the Virginia Military District in Ohio, by Henry Folsom Page, The History of Ohio by Rufus King, Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1802, and in the Journals of the various General Assemblies.

Much use has been made of these, especially McDonald's Sketches, and full credit has in each instance been given.

It is to be regretted that many of Nathaniel Massie's letters and papers have been lost since his death, but enough remain to throw much light on his times. The letters written by Governor Worthington and Judge Byrd, which are here published for the first time, are of great value; as they, at last, disclose the motives and hopes of the early anti-Federalists of Ohio, and viii Prefact .

in themselves give an admirable history of the contest for statehood from their standpoint. It is to be hoped that adequate lives of Massie's friends and fellow-workers, Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, and Charles Willing Byrd, will soon be written, for until this is done, no complete history of Ohio can be published.

Brief explanations concerning the writers of the various letters will be found in Appendix A.

A few old miscellaneous papers are given in Appendix B as throwing some light on the early days of Chillicothe and her citizens.

DAVID MEADE MASSIE.

Chillicothe, Ohio, June 3, 1896.

CHAPTER I. Virginia — Family and Early Years — Kentucky

England during the seventeenth century founded the American Colonies which have grown to be the United States. Of all these, Virginia was most like the Mother Country, chartered by King James, the first, its government framed by him and settled by men of every rank and kind for no other purpose than to better their fortunes and to extend the British Empire ; it was in all respects modeled on the England of that day, and as nearly as possible developed along its lines — the laws, customs, manners and ideas of the cavaliers being heartily adopted by the Virginians.

The King of Great Britain and Ireland was the King of Virginia also, and to him her colonists were sincerely loyal. The Established Church was the Virginia Church supported by its tithes and an integral part of its social and political system. The landed aristocracy of England found its counterpart in the planters of Virginia, most of whom were connected by ties of blood with their English prototypes. These classes

12 The Lif( of Nathaniel Massie.

were the real rulers of their countries ; both based their entire political systems on the ownership of land, and from it they derived their livings, their luxuries, their social and political importance — they lived on it, by it, and for it. Their very amusements were such as became a race of land owners, hunting- and horses being the most conspicuous features. The Virginians lived well and enjoyed life; they owned large estates which easily furnished an abundance of food and clothing for their dependents and many luxuries for themselves and their families. The superabundance of slaves freed them from all manual labor and gave them plenty of time for whatever pursuits seemed most pleasant. Their business and tastes took them much out of doors and gave them the health and physical strength to enjoy their own existence and its material blessings. They were sure of their social standing and the importance of their class. They delighted in associating together and vied with each other in lavish hospitality. They had enough education to enable them to appreciate the literature which the world then possessed and so much of the intellectual life of the day as found its way to the colonies. They believed in the secular and ecclesiastical government under which they lived and did not trouble their minds and consciences with those questions so dear to their Puritan neighbors in New England. Above all, they were perfectly sure of themselves, their place in the world, and their relations to God and man. In short, they were very well content with existence as tiny found it. and were sure it was meant — with a few recognized and proper restrictions — for their present enjoyment, and that the Being who had dealt so kindly with them in this world could he trusted to do even better by them in the next. While their mental and material content rendered them self-satisfied, it did not make them dull, nor did their loyalty to the crown cause them to be blind worshipers of all things English. The}- knew that they had interests of their own which could and did conflict with those of the Mother Country, and these they stoutly upheld against royal governors and all others who might menace them.

In the earlier days, Bacon's rebellion is the most striking example of the Virginia spirit of independence. Later on, this same spirit produced the Virginia Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, overthrew the Established Church, and in its fullest strength drove out the Federalists and culminated in the triumphant Democracy of Jefferson.

There is apparently an anomaly in a people being at the same time country gentlemen of the English type and Democrats.

Yet this is easily explained when their character and circumstances are considered. Above all, the Virginians believed in themselves and their inalienable rights. Self-preservation and self-respect compelled them to assert themselves, which they did, justifying their conduct by the declaration, " that all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." Among equals the only possible form of government is some kind of a republic. In a new country it is sure to be based on manhood suffrage. There was probably little fear of popular rule among the Virginia planters; for they knew that with their superior intelligence, wealth and position, they could easily control matters as they pleased, and this they did for generations, their leaders being almost without exception of that class, although elected and kept in power as Democrats. This they doubtless regarded as an example of the law of natural selection and the survival of the fittest.

Amons the English families which furnished Virginia with colonists were the Massies of Chestershire, which is their original home, and where many of that name may still be found. Charles- Massie, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, together with two brothers, came from the Mersey to the James about 1690, and located in New Kent county, Virginia, where they had grants of land. Here they married and reared large "families which seem to have prospered, for they owned rich plantations and many slaves and occupied important positions, such as vestrymen, members of the J louse of Burgess, and various other local offices. About 1700, Nathaniel Massie, Sr., married Elizabeth,. eldest daughter of Thomas Watkins, of Chickahonomv. and moved to Goochland county on the James river, above Richmond, where his father, Charles Massie, had several grants of land — here he made his home and lived the remainder of his life. lie was a man in comfortable circumstances and stood well in the community. being at various times a justice of the peace, member of the vestry of St. -lames' parish, Northam, and during the revolution a captain of the Goochland militia, and as such saw active service.

The first child of Nathaniel Massie, Sr., and Elizabeth, his wife, is the subject of this sketch ; he was born December 28, 1763, and named in honor of his father, Nathaniel. We know but little of his earlier years. He had three brothers and a sister. When he was eleven, his mother died. Two years later, his father married again, and a large number of half brothers and sisters were soon added to the family. Nathaniel must have been given a substantial education, for he always writes good, grammatical English and possessed sufficient knowledge of mathematics to be a first class surveyor; his letters show him to have been thoroughly informed concerning the commercial and political questions of his day, and those who knew him always write of him as an educated man. The times in which his youth was cast were in themselves equal to an education ; the agitation leading to the revolution, the war itself, and the ardent discussions involved in the settlement of the problems which followed it, must have interested and instructed the dullest minds.

In 1780 and 1781, when only seventeen years old, young Nathaniel Massie served with the militia of his county in their campaigns against the British under Tarleton, and was probably present at the surrender of Oornwallis at Yorktown.

The close of the revolution brought more to the Americans than independence ; it brought many problems of statesmanship and finance, social and material development. They were free; they possessed an empire, much of it as yet barely known to them ; they were ignorant alike of their strength and weakness: they were vaguely aware of their great opportunities. It was only natural that a spirit of unrest should possess them. Where should they begin ? What should they do? How could they make the most of their splendid chances? To the older men with experience and reputation, the political field was most inviting; to men with capital, the established cities and states offered a rich field for commercial enterprise; to a young man with education and spirit, no part of the country held out such attractions as the west. Already Boone, and the backwoodsmen who followed him, had filled the land with accounts of the great beauty and richness of the country beyond the Alleghanies. Toward it the stream of emigration had begun to move, willing to bear hardships and face dangers for the sake of entering into and possessing it.

Among those who decided to seek their fortunes in I be west, was young Nathaniel Massie, who in 1783, when only twenty, set out for Kentucky. He did not go as a penniless soldier of fortune; Daniel Boone had already located lands in Kentucky for Nathaniel Massie, Sr. — these be gave to his son, as also an outfit and some capital. Other Virginians commissioned him to locate land for them; and lie was provided with letters of introduction from men of standing at home to the leaders of the Kentucky settlements, most of whom were also natives of Virginia.

In ITS:;. Kentucky had been settled about ten years, but bad grown very slowly (.wing to the revolution in

The Life of Nathaniel 3Iassie. 17

the east and the constant Indian warfare around her. The population at that time is estimated to have been twelve thousand, but this was scattered over much space and civilization was most primitive. There were only two stores in the state and the people still lived inside stockades with block-houses to protect them from the ever menacing savages. In fact, no man's life was safe from these skulking enemies after he left the frontier settlements east of the Alleghanies ; and wherever he went and whatever he did it was always necessary to have his rifle at hand ready for instant use. It is said that in Kentucky between 1783 and 1790 more than fifteen hundred persons were either killed or, worse yet, captured by the Indians. The man who came to Kentucky at that time entered upon a struggle for existence, which was constant and severe, and in which he was obliged to rely wholly on himself. The innumerable hardships and ceaseless dangers must have tried the souls of the very bravest, but these people were of the strongest stock which the Anglo-Saxon race ever sent forth, and have never failed to hold their own in any contest with man or nature.

These were the people with whom Xathaniel Massie cast his lot and began his career. He entered at once into the active life of the settlements, dividing his time between locating lands and commercial enterprises.

The surveyors played an important part in the winning of the west ; it was their business to explore the countiy, select good lands for their employers, and so mark and describe them that their owners and others could identify them. The business was attended with much danger and many hardships as well as with considerable profit; the surveyor, when entrusted with the choosing of land, often receiving as much as one-half of it for his services. A great many young men of education and position adopted this calling — Washington himself, in his earlier days, having been of the number.

" Massie," says McDonald, " as he was young and extremely active, and one of the best footmen in the west, soon became an expert woodsman, to be which was an indispensable qualification of a land locator, as the country was then an entire and unbroken wilderness. No roads, or even paths, led from one part to the other ; and besides these difficulties, the restless Indians were continually on the alert to surprise and cut off surveying parties. The surveyors, too, had to explore the country, in order to find the most fertile lands, and in doing this they were obliged to traverse the woods in every direction, guess at courses, and judge of distances. Young Massie soon became an expert surveyor, and it was a matter of astonishment (as he was raised in the dense population east of the mountains) how soon he acquired the science and habits of the backwoodsmen. Although he never practiced the art of hunting he was admitted by all, who knew his qualifications as a woodsman, to be of the first order. He could steer his course truly in clear or cloudy weather, and compute distances more correctly than most of the old hunters. He could endure fatigue and hunger with more composure than the most of those persons who were inured to want on the frontier. He could live upon meat without bread, and bread without meat, and was perfectly cheerful and contented with his fare. In all the perilous situations in which he was placed he was always conspicuous for his good feeling and the happy temperament of his mind. His courage was of a cool and dispassionate character, which added to great circumspection in times of danger, gave him a complete ascendency over his companions, who were always willing to follow when Massie led the way."

Massie, at times, turned aside from his land business to take part in commercial ventures — thus we find him in 1786 trading in salt and furs in partnership with General James Wilkinson, who at that time was one of the most prominent men in Kentucky. Salt was the most expensive article which the western people were obliged to buy and furs were the most valuable which they had to sell, so this trading should have yielded handsome profits. Massie must have been successful in both his land and commercial affairs, for he rapidly accumulated property, and at the time he began his life's work in the North-West Territory in 1791, he was considered a man of means.

What he did and what he acquired in his Kentucky days are of little moment in comparison with the value of the experience and the associations of which he had the benefit. The constant contact with men and nature, and the ever present necessity of holding his own, must have developed his courage, tact, and self-reliance, and prepared him to become a leader of pioneers. In a frontier life men are valued in accordance with their strength, skill and bravery ; so that any tendency to judge men by the Virginia standards was modified to a truly Democratic tone ; and Kentucky had become a very hot-bed of Democracy. Kentucky politics during these years were full of interest, the question of separation from Virginia and independent statehood being first; then came the new federal constitution and government; after these, and involved with them, were the Indian wars, British possession of the military posts on the Great Lakes, and the navigation of the Mississippi.

There was almost unanimity of sentiment on these questions: people differed only as to the way of securing their desires; all wanted Kentucky to be an independent commonwealth, and cared little for the new national government, which seemed more likely to hinder than to help them in dealing with the Indians and their British backers along the lakes, or with the Spaniards who held the Mississippi and closed it against them. They knew that they were free Americans and fretted at any restraint placed on them whether by state or nation, they felt abundantly able to deal with the difficulties and dangers which beset them, and to settle these problems to their own entire satisfaction. These people were not by any means mere ignorant backwoodsmen, but many of them were educated men who took an intelligent interest in all the questions of the day.

A striking example of this is found in the political club formed in Danville in 1786, and which debated mo>i subjects of current importance. Jefferson was the chosen philosopher and prophet of these people, his political ideas pleased them, and this one thing is certain — whatever maybe said or thought of him — of all American statesmen, Jefferson most fully appreciated the possibilities of the west and alwa}'s advocated and advanced her interests ; he was in deed and in truth her best friend. Living among such men and in such times, it is not strange that a young man like Massie became a Democrat in his political convictions, believing that the state was made for man and that the best government was that which gave the greatest liberty to the individual, and that no free American needed any paternal supervision of his affairs, and that the. more fully each was allowed to act for himself the better — in this, we shall find an explanation of the whole political life of Nathaniel Massie.

Before the scene of this narrative is transferred to the territory north-west of the river Ohio, where Xathaniel Massie's life work was done, it will be well to consider him as he was about to begin his career.

Born and reared in Virginia, he had the manners and social feelings of his state and people ; educated by the revolution and the political discussions in Kentucky, he was a thorough Democrat; nearl} 7 ten years' successful contact with men and danger had developed him mentally and morally, so that he was a natural leader of men ; his reputation as a locator of lands and a surveyor had brought him much business, and enabled him to establish financial relations in the east which were of great value. Of his personal appearance it is said : He was tall and "an uncommonly fine-looking young man ; his form was slender, well made, and muscular, and was calculated, from his good constitution and uncommon activity, to endure fatigue, exposure, and privations in an eminent degree. That his countenance was open and expressive of great energy and good sense, and well suited to gain favor from men of enterprise."

The Life of Nathaniel Ma&su . 23

Chapter II

The North-West Territory— The Virginia Military District— The Land System — Surveying Adventures.

The territory north-west of the river Ohio from which were formed Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin was first explored and settled by the French ; wrested from them by the English in 1759, and in time, taken from Great Britain by the Virginians under General George Rogers Clark in 1778. The treaty of Paris in 1783 confirmed the title of the United States to this vast domain, but by no means decided its ownership, for not less than four of the original thirteen states laid exclusive claim to more or less of it by reason of their charters. For a while, it seemed as if the very life of the young nation would be imperiled by this quarrel, but at last patriotism prevailed, and the states all ceded their individual claims to the nation. In 1787, Congress constituted this territory a district for the purposes of government; at that time, it was an unbroken wilderness in every sense, its only inhabitants being either hostile Indians or ignorant French habitants ; little, if any, thought was given to these by the framers of the ordinance for the government of this land ; they rose to the dignity of prophetic vision and did their work with a view of what was to be — the result of their labor was the ordinance of 1787, one of the greatest monuments of American statesmanship.

24 77m Lif< of Nathaniel Massie.

The questions concerning" the ownership and government of the territory having been settled, Congress soon had applications from persons who desired to purchase lands. The first sale was to the Ohio Company, which secured about a million and half of acres along the Oliio and Muskingum rivers, and in 1788, took actual possession and founded their town of Marietta. The next purchase in importance was made by John Cleves Symmes and his associates, and embraced a million acres on the north bank of the Ohio between the two Miami rivers; on this, Cincinnati was founded in 1788.

The Ohio Company was made up of New England men. Symmes and his associates were from the Middle States; no southern company was formed to buy lands in this region, probably for the reason that Virginia, when ceding her claims, had reserved a portion of it for her own purposes.

Virginia voted her revolutionary soldiers large bounties in lands and set apart a tract on Green river in Kentucky for the purpose of satisfying them ; it becoming evident that these lands would probably not be sufficient to meet her obligations, Virginia, in 1783, when she ceded her claims to the North-West Territory to the United States, inserted the following stipulation in the act of cession: -That in case the quantity of good land on the south-east side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland river, and between the Green and Tennessee rivers, which have been reserved by law, for the Virginia troops upon continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina line bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for these legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the north-west side of the river Ohio, in such proportion- as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia."

The land embraced ill this reservation constitutes the Virginia Military District in Ohio, and comprehends the counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Clermont, Highland, Fayette, Madison and Union, and a portion of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Clark, Greene, Champaign, Warren and Hamilton.

This district containing 4,209,800 acres is the largest reservation or grant in Ohio, and embraces the very best and richest of her agricultural lands. "It was reported to the Executive of Virginia that a deficiency of good lands upon the waters of the Cumberland, now provided for in the act of cession, existed, and Congress passed an act, August 10, 1790, authorizing locations to be made between the waters of the Little Miami and the Scioto rivers." Until the passage of this act, the Virginia Military District was legally closed to the surveyors and locators, which partly accounts for the date of its settlement being later than that of the Ohio Company's and Symmes' purchases ; but another reason is found in the fact that it was more exposed to danger from the Indians than either of the others. Marietta was founded under the shadow of Fort Harmar ; Fort Washington and its garrison of regulars watched over Cincinnati's early da} 7 s. At no time were the pioneers of the Vir-

2G The Life of Nathaniel Massie.

ginia Military District protected by any federal troops, and their chosen field of action was most dangerous, for the region embraced between the Scioto and Little Miami was the home of the Shawnees, the most intelligent and warlike of all the Algonquin tribes. Here they had their towns and their corn-fields, and here they were resolved to die rather than give up their fertile valleys and beautiful hills. These Indians infested the Ohio river front of the Virginia Military District, making their head-quarters at the mouth of the Scioto and waging a ruthless and relentless warfare on all who came within their reach. Burnet says concerning this place : " The pioneers who descended the Ohio, on their way westward, will remember while they live the lofty rock standing a short distance above the mouth of the Scioto, on the Virginia shore, which was occupied for years by the savages as a favorite watch-tower, from which boats, ascending and descending, could be discovered at a great distance. From that memorable spot, hundreds of human beings, men, women and children, while unconscious of immediate danger, have been seen in the distance and marked for destruction. The murders and depredations committed in that vicinity at all periods of the war were so shocking as to attract universal notice ; letters were written to General Harniar, from various quarters, calling his attention to the subject, and praying that measures might be taken without delay to check the evil. They informed him that scarcely a boat passed the rock without being attacked, and in most instances captured ; and that unless something were done without delay, the navigation of the river would necessarily be abandoned."