The Donation Tract was a land tract in southern

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

that was established by the Congress in the late 18th century to buffer

Ohio Company The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country (approximately the present U.S. state of Ohio) and to trade with the Native Ameri ...

lands against local indigenous people. Congress gave lots to men who settled on the land. This marked the first time that federal land was given without charge to specified settlers, predating the more famous

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of Federal lands, government land or the American frontier, public domain, typically called a Homestead (buildings), homestead. In all, mo ...

of 1862 by seventy years.

Background

The

Ohio Company of Associates The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non-Native Americans in the United States, Native American group to permanently settle west of the Alle ...

, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company that was formed on March 3, 1786, by General Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Samuel Holden Parsons and Manasseh Cutler, who had met in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

to discuss the settlement of the territory around the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. They convinced Congress to sell the company a tract at the confluence of the

Muskingum River The Muskingum River ( ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio ...

and the

. Settlement began at the newly formed town of

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in Washington County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in Appalachian Ohio, southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum River, Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia ...

in April 1788. Indians objected to this incursion on their homeland, leading to the War of 1790. Most of the troops in

Fort Harmar Fort Harmar was an early United States frontier military fort, built in pentagonal shape during 1785 at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Muskingum River, Muskingum rivers, on the west side of the mouth of the Muskingum River. It was bui ...

, near Marietta, were transferred to Fort Washington to protect

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, so settlers ended up having to defend themselves at the expense of the Ohio Company. Wyandots killed settlers in the Big Bottom massacre of Jan. 2, 1791, in present day Morgan County.

Congressional donation

The Ohio Company petitioned Congress in March, 1792 to donate some land along the north boundary of their lands to form a buffer against the Indians. With the Act of April 21, 1792, Congress donated to the officers of the Company. The land was to be conveyed in lots of , free of expense, to each male of at least 18 years of age who settled on the land. The Donation Tract is in parts of modern day Adams, Fearing, Salem, Muskingum, Palmer,

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, and Watertown Township in Washington County, and Windsor Township in Morgan County. The land was divided into “allotments”, and each allotment was further divided into lots. These lots did not follow the usual surveying plan of

survey township A survey township, sometimes called a Congressional township or just township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System and by Canada's Dominion Land Survey is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally six survey miles (a ...

s and one square mile

sections Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

. That part of the tract that was not conveyed by the Company to settlers within five years was to be returned to the federal government. However, nothing was done about the unsold lots until an act in 1818 - Text of Act of March 18, 1818

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

when Congress required their return so they could be sold by the Marietta Land Office. After settlement of the Donation Tract, the Ohio Company did not suffer another raid as large as the Big Bottom Massacre.

References

External links

Ohio History Central- Donation Tract
Tracts Former regions and territories of the United States Geography of Ohio Pre-statehood history of Ohio History of the Midwestern United States Washington County, Ohio Morgan County, Ohio {{DEFAULTSORT:Donation Tract

Background

Congressional donation

See also

References

External links