mcleaveland2

Westward Ho !--

Has Moses Cleaveland's journey to the Western Reserve in 1796 ever
been satisfactorily described ? Recently I reproduced three letters
written by him to Oliver Phelphs, one of seven directors of the
Connecticut Land Co.
Cleaveland tells of overcoming financial difficulties at Albany,
and of obtaining credit for the company; and of his arrival at Fort
Independence (Conneaut Creek),on July 4 and of his meeting with a mild
tribe of Marengo ( Massaasagoe) Indians and his assurance that they
may remain and cultivate the land. Part of the correspondence covers
a trip up the Cuyahoga. He does not say that he landed on the site of
Cleveland but mentions the high clay banks on the east and describes
the timber as seen from the river. He speaks of the lake 10 miles
west as if hearsay or viewed not far from the Cuyahoga, and recalls
the coast as he approached from the east. He is soon back at Conneaut.
Yet it was on this excursion that he made his memorable entry
into the Cuyahoga on July 22,1796, a water and land pageant.

History--

To understand this expedition to what was then called the far
west, one must recall the formation of the Connecticut Land Company.
In 1662,King Charles ll granted the colony of Connecticut a charter
which superceded all others and confirmed rights to all territory
between the 41" and 42" 2' of latitudes from the colony's eastern
border to the Pacific Ocean. This charter continued until the
Revoluntionary War. In 1786 in settling conflicting claims of
States, Connecticut released her rights to this long strip across
continent, except a tract starting with the Pennsyvania State line,
extending west 120 miles between the parallels mentioned.
Known as the Western Reserve, this was said to embrace more than
3,500,000 acres of land. In 1795, the State of Connecticut sold to 25
parties 3,000,000 acres at its eastern end for $1,200,000. For her
citizens who had suffered depredations of war, the State reserved
500,000 acres at its western end. The Connecticut Land Company, was
immediately formed and Moses Cleaveand, one of the directors, was made
general agent to conduct the surveys.
In this surveying expedition of 1796, Gen. Cleaveland was
superintendent; August Porter, principal surveyor; Seth Pease,
astronomer; Amos Spafford, John M. Holley and Moses Warren, surveyors;
Joshua Stow, commissary, and Theodore Sheppard, physician, Elisha Gun
and his wife,Anna; Job Stiles and Talitha, his wife, joined the party
on the way. Nathan Chapman and Nathan Perry accompanied the surveyors
and furnished fresh beef.

Employees--

In addition there were 37 employees of the company. They were;
Joseph Tinker, boatman, George Proudfoot, Samuel Forbes, Stephen
Benton, Samuel Hungerford, Samuel Davenport, Amzi Atwater, Elisha
Ayres, Norman Wilcox, George Gooding, Samuel Agnew, David Beard,
Daniel Shulay, Titus V.Munson, Charles Parker, Nathaniel Doan, James
Halket, Onley F. Rice, Samuel Barnes, Joseph M'Intyre, Francis Gray,
Amos Sawtel, Amos Barber, William B. Hall, Stephen Burbank, Asa
Mason, Michael Coffin, Thomas Harris, Timothy Dunham, Shadrach
Benham, Wareham Shepard, John Bryant, Joseph Landon, Ezekiel Morley,
Luke Hanchet, Jame Hamilton, and John Lock.
This made 50 in all. Since many of the employees settled in
Cleveland and streets were named after them, they are listed. Early
in 1796, the party assembled at Schenectady and set out for the
Reserve. Horses and cattle were driven overland through the wilds of
western New York to Buffalo. The main expedition took to the water
route in open " Schenectady" boats down the Mohawk, across the
portage, through Oneida Lake, down Oswego River into Lake Ontario,
thence around Niagara and reached Buffalo after much hardship through
an unexplored wilderness.