On 2003 January 2 (Thursday) 9:17 PM MST, Jan Cortez <cristian(a)netonecom.net>
wrote:
Okay all you history buffs, I have a question. Someone has just
written me
and asked:
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Short History of Jefferson County on your website. Ohio became a state in
1803. Was Jefferson County formed 1797 when Ohio was known as the ??
Northwest Territory or part of Virginia ?
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I see from the main OH page that Ohio became a state in 1803 and the
Jefferson County history does say 1797. How would Governor St. Clair have
been a Governor, if Ohio was not even a state? Good question this guy has,
I'd like to know the answer as well. <grin>
The Northwest Territory was created in 1787 by Congress, though portions were claimed by
various states including Virginia. They didn't all relinquish their claims until 1800:
New York, 1781; Virginia, 1784; Massachusetts, 1785; and Connecticut, 1786 and 1800.
Virginia's claims were in the western part of the state, Connecticut's in the
northeast, and Jefferson in the east was created in 1797. So the county's existence
appears to be due to the territorial government, before Ohio was separated out. St. Clair
appears to have been quite involved in naming the early counties.
See the Ohio Lands Book at
<
http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/along_the_ohio_trail/technical_version.htm... for more
information. Page 11 has a map of all counties when Ohio was created.
S R C A
cott obert ranston nderson
srca(a)mindspring.com
Admin, {C{offield,ollosky,ranston,ummins},OHGuerns,USAGen}-L(a)RootsWeb.com
USGenWeb Coordinator,
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