suit their own liking, and into sections of various size and form. The United States thus lost control over the manner of running township lines, and what is now regarded as our primary civil division was not laid out with a view of its becoming a factor in a higher county area, or a unit in a county organism.

St. Clair was authorized, by the Ordinance of 1787, to lay out the territory into counties and townships, but there is no record of his ever having interfered with the freedom of land owners to form townships. Counties, however, were never allowed to emerge in the irregular manner that townships did. Their larger functions, and their nearer relation to the central government of the State, made it necessary for the ruling power to assume control of their erection, and alteration, when required, and from the earliest period of our civil existence, counties have been brought into existence by the will of the government, executed through its executive or legislative department. In the progress of our State, from an ungoverned wilderness to a fully organized and practically self-governed commonwealth, the edict of the ruling power has always directed the course and length of county boundaries.

With these remarks concerning the nature and historical relation of townships and counties, we now proceed to give something of the details of the evolution of the early Ohio counties.

The Ordinance of 1787 prescribing the manner that the Northwest Territory should be governed, provided that "for the execution of process, civil and criminal, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from time to time, as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles have been extinguished, into counties and townships, subject however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the legislature."

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

St. Clair was appointed governor of the Territory, October 5, 1787, and arrived at Marietta, July 9, 1788. His first act toward carrying out the provisions of the Ordinance, as to the establishment of local government, was to erect the county of Wash

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ington. He issued an order defining its boundaries, July 27, 1788. They were as follows:

"Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake,

MAUMEE

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FIRST COUNTIES ESTABLISHED IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

to the mouth of Cuyahoga river; thence up said river to the portage, between, it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the forks, at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence (Laurens); 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 (Loramie's Store), until it meets the road from the lower Shawnee

town to Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto river; thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning."

It will be seen that this county comprised a large part of the eastern and northern portions of what is now the State of Ohio. It received its name in honor of President Washington. St. Clair not only exercised the right to lay off the counties, but to designate the place that the county business should be transacted. He named Marietta as the chief town of Washington county.

HAMILTON COUNTY.

The next county formed by St. Clair was Hamilton. His edict brought it into existence January 2, 1790. Its boundaries were as follows:

"Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, at the confluence of the Little Miami, and down the said Ohio river to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn due east, to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami to the place of beginning."

It will be seen that this county at first contained only a small strip between the two Miami rivers. It was subsequently enlarged, as will be shown farther on. It received its name from Gen. Alexander Hamilton. Its place of holding court was fixed by St. Clair, at Cincinnati.

ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

The next county to be set off, was that of St. Clair, in that part of the territory now included in Illinois. It was proclaimed April 27, 1797, and was bounded as follows:

"Beginning at the mouth of the little Michilmacinack river, running thence southerly in a direct line to the mouth of the little river above Fort Massac, on the Ohio river; thence with the Ohio to its junction with the Mississippi; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois river, and so up the Illinois river to the place of beginning."

St. Clair divided the county bearing his name into three judicial districts, viz: Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, and Kaskaskia, in which terms of court were to be held the same as if they were separate counties.

KNOX COUNTY.

On the 20th of June, 1790, St. Clair set off the county of Knox, most of which is now in the state of Indiana, with boundaries as follows:

"Beginning at the standing stone forks of the Great Miami river and down the said river to the confluence with the Ohio river, thence with the Ohio to the small stream or rivulet above Fort Massac; thence with the eastern boundary line of St. Clair county to the mouth of Little Michilmacinack; thence up the Illincis river to the forks or confluence of the Theokiki and Chicago; thence by a line to be drawn due north to the boundary line of the territory of the United States, and so far easterly upon said boundary line as that a due south line may be drawn to the place of beginning."

HAMILTON COUNTY ENLARGED.

February 11, 1792, St. Clair issued a proclamation, setting forth the new county provision of the Ordinance of 1787, by which it was provided that new counties should be laid out as fast as the Indian titles were extinguished. There was a portion of the Territory lying between the Scioto and the Little Miami, which had not yet been included in a county. This, he said, on account of the scattered nature of the settlements, did not justify the erection of a new county, and he added it to the county of Hamilton. The boundaries of this county were then as follows:

"Beginning at the confluence of the Scioto with the Ohio river, and up the Scioto with the courses thereof to the upper part of the old lower Shawnee town upon said river; thence by and with a line to be drawn due north to the territorial boundary line, and westerly along said boundary line to the eastern boundary of the county of Knox, and down along the said eastern