City Directory 1868 - Akron-Summit County Public Library

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small work entitled 'cRcminiscences of Sumniit County," by
Gan. Lucrtis V. I~IERCE, present 3Iayor of Aliron, \vllicli was
published in 1854 :
"TVhcn me cast our eyes North, and see Old Portage, a
dcbrated boundary in thg Treaty of Fort McIutosh in 1785
-South, and see New Portage, from which boats were fornirly
fitted out to New Orlcans-when we look West, :md see
fitli~h our Township, and almost within our corporntion, the
celebrated 'Indian 'l'rail,' once the boundary bctween the Sis
Nations and the TVestern Indians-and by the Trcaty of
Grecnville, in 1795, made tlie bonndary between the Unitect
fitatcs and In(1ians-we find onrselves on classic pom~d, surronnilecl
by historic melilelltoes that connect Alrroii ~vitll thc
past, as a child of promise. In speaking of her we are necessarily
led to n coneideratioll of the Indian Trail, or Portngc
l'nt,h--then to tho history of the Indians connected \\-it11 that.
'l'cdh ;' nncl this lends us to a consicicration of the llistor~ of
that esrly day when thnt Path was the gwat 1iighny:xy of Rat,ions-nations
thnt existed before America wan hiown to
Eurol~enns.
'.I will not claim for Alrron a history as remote as Einiclcerbocker
claims for New York, but it is so connectect with tlie
Indian mars, trcaties, and boundaries, that we cannot wcll
speak of Ahon without beginning nt tlic closc of the Ilcvo-
1ntionai.y war.
" At the close of that mar, this vast North-Western Tcrritory
became a subject of great intercst to the National Govcrnment,
as well as to certain States. Virginia claimed ahnt
one-half, ancl Connccticat the other half of what is now Ohio.
Virginia subsequelltly relinquished 2\11 except the tract botween
thc Scioto and Miallli rivers, lino~n as tho Virginia
Aiilitary Tract, and Connecticut rclinqnished a11 but 4,000,000 .
ncree, know11 ns the ' Connecticnt Western ltesorve,' or ' Nor\-
Coilnecticnt.' In 1786 thc 'Ohio Company' was for~ncd, consisting
chiefly of officers ancl soldiers of the Revolution, wllo
had espendod evcrything but life in that strngglo, and received
as pay the promises of a Governnlont that 1~~as totally
insolvent. These unfortunate men purchased the tract known
at 'The Ohio Colnpany Purchase,' and paid in the currency
linonn as 'Continental Money.' Of this company was Gen.
Parsons, of Newburyport, iVInssachusctts. J3c was a Major
General in'tho \lvnr, :~ii(i served to the olose of it nit11 credit.