40 Columbian and Great West. Cincinnati, W. B. Pen and Pencil. Cincinnati, W. Wallace Warden. The Parlor Magazine. Cincinnati. Conducted by Jethro Jackson, assisted by Alice Cary. Begun July, 1853. Two volumes. Cincinnati. Edited by "Ella West American Review. Cincinnati, G. W. L. Bickley, 1854. The Forest Garland. Cincinnati, Smith and Lapham, 1854. 1788: OUR FIRST COURT HELD A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. I STATED in my paper published in the September number of the MAGAZINE OF Governor St. WESTERN HISTORY that Clair, on the twenty-sixth of July, 1788, at Marietta, proclaimed the establishment of the county of Washington, being the first one erected in the territory northwest of the River Ohio, defining its boundaries by metes and bounds; and that the governor and Judges Varnum and Parsons then proceeded to address themselves to the further performance of their official duties, by adopting or enacting a law providing for the organization of the militia, and other laws which were ultimately to form a complete code for the government of the territory. Among the laws perfected and promulgated by them during the month of August, 1788, were those providing for courts and establishing common pleas courts of general quarter sessions; also courts of probate, or orphans' courts, and justices' courts. The act which provided for the organization of the foregoing courts bore date August 30, 1788. The court of common pleas was composed of three judges, any two of whom constituted a quorum to transact the business of the court. The court of general quarter sessions was composed of two judges of the common pleas court and of three county justices of the peace or magistrates, and was required to hold sessions four times The probate court held. in each year. four sessions a year also. It consisted of but one judge except in certain contingencies, when he was authorized to call to his assistance two judges of the court of common pleas. General Rufus Putnam, General Ben jamin Tupper and Colonel Archibald Crary were the first judges of the common pleas court of Washington county, in the Northwest territory, appointed by Governor St. Clair in August, 1788. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was appointed sheriff and Colonel Return J. Meigs, sr., was clerk of said court, also of the general court of quarter sessions; and Colonel Sproat also served as sheriff of both courts. It is asserted by Mitchner, the historian, in 'Ohio Annals,' that the first court of common pleas in the Northwest territory was held at Marietta during the first week in September, 1788. The same author, in remarking upon the scenes, pageantry, style, exercises and display connected therewith, observes that a procession was formed at the "Point" (the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio river) of the inhabitants and the officers from Fort Harmar, who escorted the judges of the court of common pleas, the governor of the territory and the territorial judges to the hall appropriated for that purpose, in the northwest block-house in Campus Martius. The procession was headed by the sheriff with drawn sword and baton of office. After prayer by Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the court was organized by reading the commissions of the judges, also of the clerk and sheriff, after which the latter proclaimed the court open for the transaction of business. The first court of general quarter sessions held in the "Territory Northwest of the River Ohio," was opened at Marietta, in "Campus Martius," September 9, 1788. The commissions appointing the judges were read. Judges Putnam and Tupper of the common pleas court were on the bench, and, with Esquires Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord and Return Jonathan Meigs, jr. (three county justices of the peace or territorial magistrates), constituted the quorum of our first court of quarter sessions, held a hundred years ago in the Northwest territory. As already stated, Messrs. Sproat and Meigs served respectively in the offices of sheriff and clerk. The first act of the court was to proceed to impanel a grand jury, which was accordingly done, the following named gentlemen constituting that body, namely: William Stacey (foreman), Nathaniel Cushing, Nathan Goodale, Charles Knowles, Anselm Tupper, Jonathan Stone, Oliver Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersoll, Jonathan Devol, Jethro Putnam, Samuel Stebbins and Jabez True. And this was the first grand jury to exercise its important functions in the "Territory Northwest of the River Ohio;" and it was just one hundred years ago when our local or county courts were first organized. The men that constituted the early-time local courts in the Northwest territory a century ago, were principally New Englanders and organizers, or at least members, of the Ohio Land company. All were brave-hearted pioneers and "men of mark"-patriots and heroes were they all, who had recently been conspicuous on the battle fields of the Revolution, and were all leaders and well known and prominent for intelligence and integrity and the practice of the higher virtues. But if indulged, I will speak of them a little more in detail, promising though to deal very sparingly in words, 42 Judge Putnam of the common pleas court had made a highly honorable record as a commander during our Indian and French wars, before our Revolutionary struggle, as well as during his eight years service in that war. He was the chief founder, as well as the chosen leader, of the Ohio Land company, in 1787-88, and succeeded Judge Parsons, in 1790, as one of the territorial judges; was a brigadier general in General Wayne's army for a time; served as surveyor-general some years, and also as a member of the territorial legislature and as a member of the constitutional convention of 1802. Judge Tupper, who was associated with Judge Putnam in holding the first court of common pleas at Marietta in 1788, served with honor in the French and Indian wars, as well as during the Revolutionary war; was a member of the Ohio Land company; served with distinction in various military and civil positions, and was a man of excellent reputation, of decided talents and of great influence. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, an officer (sheriff) of our early-time courts, was a colonel commanding a regiment during the Revolution, serving with distinction on many a well-fought battle-field. He was one of the Ohio Land company who came to the Northwest territory with General Putnam in 1788. Being a man of influence, character and great popularity, he was retained in the sheriff's office, in Washington county, fourteen years, or until the year 1802. Colonel Return J. Meigs, the clerk of our first courts, had also served as a colonel in the Revolutionary war, and performed such acts of bravery and heroic exploits as to receive a vote of thanks-also a sword-from congress. He commanded a regiment at the storming of Stony Point, and served with great gallantry to the end of the war, performing some brilliant acts of heroism. After serving for a time as clerk of the courts in Washington county, Colonel Meigs joined the army of General Wayne in a high official capacity and acquitted himself creditably. In 1801 President Jefferson appointed him agent for Indian affairs a position which required his removal from the territory-and he died at the Cherokee agency, while yet in the public service, in 1823. Colonel Meigs was a member of the company of emigrants that, under the leadership of General Putnam, arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum river in 1788. He was a man of a high sense of honor, of the strictest integrity and of great influence. Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL. D. (the court chaplain at Marietta in 1788), was a graduate of Yale college in 1765; served as an army chaplain during the Revolutionary war; became noted for his scientific attainments; was elected a member of the American Academy of Sciences, and also of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and of other learned societies. He was a "man of affairs"—an active agent was he of the Ohio Land company, in negotiating with congress for the extensive tract of land of said company's purchase of a million and a half of acres. Chaplain Cutler was tendered a territorial judgeship by President Washington, which he declined, although he had He brought a company of studied law. emigrants to the Northwest territory, arriving in July, 1788, which company probably included the three county magistrates (Squires Pearce, Lord and Meigs, jr.) who had in part constituted the court of quarter sessions. The chaplain (Cutler) returned to Massachusetts in 1790; served in several sessions of the legis lature of said state; was twice elected a member of the congress of the United States, serving in that body in 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 and 1804. And of similar reputation, though not so widely known, were the associate magistrates (Pearce, Lord and Meigs, jr.) that, with Judges Putnam and Tupper, held the first court of quarter sessions in the Northwest territory, just a century ago. They were men of solid character and, presumably, members of the Ohio Land company. They early arrived at the "Point," and soon attained to a good degree of consideration and standing. The last named of the three magistrates under consideration (Return Jonathan Meigs, jr.) was a graduate of Yale college in 1785; came to the Northwest territory in 1788, having previously studied law. subsequently served as a territorial judge; also as a judge of the supreme court of Ohio, governor of the state, an efficient major-general during the War of 1812-15; also postmaster-general of the United States, and finally a United States senator. I stated that Archibald Crary was the third judge that composed the first court of common pleas in 1788; he, however, did not occupy the bench with his associates (Judges Putnam and Tupper), it being unnecessary, as two judges constituted a quorum of said court. Judge Crary was a man of character and influence, but not much inclined to occupy public positions; hence our territorial annals make mention of him but seldom. Nevertheless, he was one of the honored pioneers of the "Territory Northwest of the River Ohio." ISAAC SMUCKER. THE AMERICAN RAILROAD: ITS INCEPTION, EVOLUTION AND RESULTS. AN ERA OF RAILROAD VENTURES-1836 TO 1840. THE year 1836 was not the witness of so many propositions, promises and plans as were advanced in the twelve months preceding, the country seeming to have reached a stage of reflection, with an idea that some of the schemes already on hand could be profitably disposed of before others were formulated. Yet the end of high hopes and rosy expectations had been by no means reached, nor had it been demonstrated by practical experience that the pace of railroad building had been set at a mark beyond the demands of the country. Public orators and newspaper writers still waxed eloquent of the wonders to be achieved by steam, and painted in picturesque language the glories that were to gleam along the lines of bright-worn iron stretching away to north and south and west. And there was by no means silence nor cessation from labor on the part of those who were interested in steam. In February we learn that in New York, the bill authorizing a state loan of three million dollars to the New York & Erie company has passed the legislature by a vote of sixty-three to forty-five. In addition to various enterprises of a minor nature in the east, the great west is awakening and following in the steps. of the older states. Michigan and Indiana seem fully aroused. Of the former, the Detroit Journal says: "Companies have been chartered for the construction of railroads from Detroit to the mouth of St. Joseph's; from Toledo to the mouth of the Kalamazoo; from Monroe to some point on the Detroit & St. Joseph's railroad-Marshal, we believe; from Detroit to Pontiac, which will probably be continued to Saginaw or the Grand river; from Mount Clemens to Saginaw. Perhaps the whole length of these cannot be less than seven hundred miles. The money paid on account of ardent spirits by a population of two hundred thousand would be sufficient, in six years, to complete all these works"-if they could only be persuaded to pay it. The passage of the "Great Internal Improvement Bill," by the senate of Indiana, had for its |