MR. TAYLOR'S REPORT ON THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, HON. JAMES W. TAYLOR, State Librarian: SIR:-Enclosed I place in your hands a copy of a preamble and resolution, adopted by the General Assembly on the 12th day of March, 1853, in relation to a resurvey of the boundary line between this State and Pennsylvania. From this pre-amble and resolution, you will perceive that the line referred to was run and established without the erection of permanent monuments, by reason of which and the lapse of time, the same has become obliterated and difficult to ascertain; and that the Governor has been requested to communicate with the Executive of Pennsylvania in relation to the propriety of appointing a joint commission to make such re-survey. You will also perceive that the Governor is authorised, should the same be deemed necessary, to employ some suitable person to examine the said line and to collect such information as may lead to a proper understanding of the subject. } As you have already been examining this question in connection with the settlement and history of the State, and as I am anxious to lay before the General Assembly at the approaching session, such information as will enable that body to act defininitely on the subject. I desire you to proceed, at your earliest convenience, and view the line in question, so far as the same can be traced or correctly ascertained, confer with the Governor of Pennsylvania, and, if necessary, examine the archives of the respective States for any notes or plats that may tend to throw light on the subject, and report the result of your inquiries to this office. You will be allowed your necessary expenses, together with such compensation as may be reasonable and proper. To relieve you from the necessity of advancing these expenses, I herewith enclose you an order on the contingent fund of this office for one hundred dollars. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. MEDILL. 41-PUB. DOC. PART I. REPORT. COLUMBUS, May 22, 1856. Hon. 8. P. CHASE, Governor of Ohio: SIR:-At the fiftieth session of the General Assembly of Ohio, the following joint resolution was adopted: "JOINT RESOLUTION “Relative to the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Ohio: "WHEREAS, The boundary line between the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania was run and established without the erection of permanent monuments, and owing to the great lapse of time since the same was run and established, the same has become obliterated and difficult to ascertain, and that difficulties and litigation often occur in consequence thereof. Therefore, "Be it resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio. That the Governor is requested to correspond with the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, on the subject of a joint commission to re-survey said boundary line, and establish per manent monuments, and communicate the result of such correspondence to the next session of the General Assembly: and if he should deem the same necessary, be is hereby authorized to employ some suitable person to personally examine said boundary line, in order to ascertain the necessary information respecting the same." On the 26th of October, 1855, Hon. William Medill, Governor of Ohio, addressed a communication to the undersigned, as follows: "SIR:-Enclosed, I place in your hands a copy of a preamble and resolution, adopted by the General Assembly, on the 12th day of March, 1853, in relation to a re-survey of the boundary line between this State and Pennsylvania. From this preamble and resolution you will perceive that the line referred to was run and established, without the erection of permanent monuments, by reason of which and the lapse of time, the same has become obliterated and difficult to ascertain; and that the Governor has been requested to communicate with the Executive of Pennsylvania in relation to the propriety of appointing a joint commission to make such re-survey. You will also perceive that the Governor is authorized, should the same be deemed necessary, to employ some suitable person to examine the said line, and to collect such information as may lead to a perfect understanding of the subject. “As you have already been examining this question, in connection with the settlement and history of the State, and as I am anxious to lay before the General Assembly, at the approaching session, such information as will enable that body to act definitely on the subject, I desire you to proceed, at your earliest convent ence, and view the line in question, so far as the same can be traced or correctly ascertained, confer with the Governor of Pennsylvania, and, if necessary, examine the archives of the respective States for any notes or plats that may tend to throw light on the subject, and report the result of your inquiries to this office." In the course of the inquiry above referred to, it became very desirable to consult the first series of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. IV., and published in Philadelphia, in 1799, wherein were published the astronomical observations of the commissioners appointed to ascertain and designate the Western boundary of Pennsylvania. In the hope that the work might be procured for the State Library, a report in response to the foregoing communication has been deferred to the present time. I regret that an order for the purchase of the publication in question has been so far ineffectual, although deposited with a Washington bookseller. Before proceeding to a narrative of the present situation of the boundary between Ohio and Pennsylvania, I do not deem it inappropriate to present a sketch. of the territorial disputes between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the first instance, and Virginia and Pennsylvania, at a later date, since, as will be seen in the sequel, the final adjustments of the provincial controversies constitute the basis for determining the Eastern boundary of Ohio. The history of the Southern boundary of Pennsylvania-familiarly known as Mason and Dixon's Line-is inseparable, from an intelligent view of the subjectthe boundary between Ohio and Pennsylvania being a due meridian from its Southwestern extremity in Western Virginia to the shores of Lake Erie. In 1609, the London company was re-organized under the name of "The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers of the city of London, for the first Colony of Virginia," and to them were granted the rights of soil and government in all the lands north and south of Cape Comfort to the extent of two hundred miles in both directions. Virginia remained under this charter until 1623, when it was annuled, and the colony became a Royal Government, and as such the crown claimed and exercised the right to change the boundaries and erect new provinces at pleasure. This was frequently exercised-the grant from Charles I. to Lord Baltimore, of June 20, 1632, being within the area above designated. The Province of Maryland, as granted by Charles I., to Cecilius, Baron of Baltimore, included under the descriptive terms of the grant, "All that part of the Peninsula, or Chersonese, lying in the parts of America between the ocean on the East, and the Bay of Chesapeake on the West, divided from the residue thereof by a right line, drawn from the promontory, or head land, called Watkin's Point, situate upon the bay aforesaid, and near the River Wighco, on the West, unto the main ocean on the East, and between that boundary on the South, unto that part of the Bay of Delaware on the North, which lieth under the fortieth degree of latitude, where New England is terminated; and all the tract of land within the following limits, to wit: Passing from said Delaware Bay, in a right line with the degree aforesaid, unto the meridian of the first fountain of the River Potomac, thence running towards the South, unto the further bank of said river, and following the same on the Westward, South, unto a place called 'Ciuquack,' situate near the mouth of said river, where it empties into the aforesaid Bay of Chesapeake, and thence by the shortest line unto the aforesaid place, or promontory, called Watkin's Point."* " The preamble referred to Lord Baltimore's purpose" to transport, by his own industry and expense, a numerous colony of the English nation, to a certain region in a country hitherto uncultivated, in the parts of America." This expression *The River Wighco, above mentioned, is the River Pacomoke" of the present day; and the place called "Ciuquack" corresponds to what is now called "Smith's Point." This place has, indeed, been differently located, but it is expressly acknowledged to be Smith's Point, by the compact of 1785, between the States of Virginia and Maryland, relative to the navigation of, and jurisdiction over, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Rivers Potomae and Pacomoke. Me Mahon's History of Maryland, 586 -"a country hitherto uncultivated"-was afterwards employed by Willam Penn, to defeat the express terms of the territorial description, and exclude the present State of Delaware from the area of Maryland, on the ground that the Western shore of Delaware was then colonized by the Dutch and Swedes. These early settlements on the West shore of the Delaware Bay, having so sensibly influenced the future boundaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania, deserve consideration in the present connection. Explored by the Dutch as early as 1613, one May, whose name has been giv en to the most prominent cape of Delaware Bay, revisited that estuary in 1823, and built a fort on Delaware River, called Nassau, the first European establishment in that region. In 1630, the Dutch traders purchased from the Indians, & tract extending from Cape Henlopen thirty-two miles up the West shore of Delaware Bay, and also a tract, sixteen miles square, on the opposite shore, including Cape May. To these purchases were given the name of Zwanandal, or Swansdale; and here, in December of the same year, De Vries led a colony of thirty persons, which he established at Hoarkill, just within Cape Henlopen, the present site of Lewistown. Two years afterward, this Dutch colony was entirely cut off by the Indians. Fort Nassau, temporarily abandoned, was re-occupied in 1633, and the proprietors of Zwanand al sold their purchases to the Dutch West India Company, in 1634, for 15,600 guilders, or $6.240. The possession of the Dutch continued, for in 1643 the settlers resisted an attempt, by the English, to settle on the Delaware. They were less successful in resisting a colonization by the Swedes. The illus trious Gustavus Adolphus, as early as 1624, granted to William Usselinx, an enterprising merchant and navigator, who had spent some years in the Azores, and made himself well acquainted with America, and especially with the country on the Delaware Bay and River, authority to organize a Swedish company, for the purpose of trade and colonization in America. Gustavus proposed to organize his enterprize upon the most liberal and tolerant principles. Colonists were invited from all parts of Europe - particularly those who were suffering from civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. Slavery was at once, and forever, to be excluded from it "Slaves," said the Swedish statesman, "cost a great deal, labor with reluctance, and soon perish with hard usage; the Swedish nation is laborious and intelligent, and surely we shall gain more by a free people, with wives and children." It was solemnly declared to be intended as an instrument for planting the christian religion among the heathens, for the common benefit of all oppressed christendom; & security to the wives and daughters of those whom wars and bigotry had made fugitives; a blessing to the common man, and to the whole protestant world. Under the influence of such motives, he kept this project in view from year to year. In 1626 he issued a proclamation, encouraging men of all ranks to take part in it. The following year, he brought it before the diet of his kingdom, and thus gave it the highest legal sanction. An ample subscription of stock, and s considerable departure of colonists, soon followed; but the latter were captured by the Spaniards, and the Swedish monarch, soon after involved in war with Germany, met his heroic fate at the victorious battle of Lützen. Five years afterwards, the plan of Usselinx, or a portion of it, was revived by Peter Minnets, who was patronized by the celebrated Oxenstiern, minister of Queen Christina, the daughter of Gustavus. An expedition was fitted out, reached the Delaware, and on the West shore, near the head of the bay, the Swedish adventurers built a fort, called Christina, and founded New Sweden. The Dutch remonstratedKeift, the director of New Netherlands, warned Minnets that the South of Delsware River and Bay, belonged to the Dutch; having been in their possession many years, "above and below, beset with their forts, and sealed with their |