The Twelve Mile Square Reservation, also called the Twelve Mile Square Reserve, [1] was a tract of land in Ohio ceded by Indians to the United States of America in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. This particular area of land immediately surrounding Fort Miami was considered to be of strategic importance by the United States government representatives. It was subsequently surveyed in a manner different from surrounding land, and lots sold, or granted, to settlers.
In 1680, Frontenac, the French Governor of Canada, established Fort Miami on the west bank of the Maumee River. It was the first fortification in Ohio built by non-indigenous people. The fort was used as a trading post for a short time, then abandoned. During the Northwest Indian War the British rebuilt Fort Miami to assist the Indians fighting the Americans. [2] [3] The Americans won the Battle of Fallen Timbers nearby in 1794. As a result of the battle, the Treaty of Greenville was signed, which ceded much of southern and eastern Ohio to the United States. In addition, Article 3 ceded a number of other tracts, including #8: "One piece twelve miles square, at the British fort on the Miami of the Lake, at the foot of the rapids." [4] At that time, the Maumee river was called the Miami of the lake, and the foot of the rapids are today between the towns Maumee and Perrysburg. In 1795, Jay's Treaty led to the fort being abandoned in 1796.
While the French and British occupied the region, many white people settled near the fort. The United States wished to give legal title to these people, and sell the rest of the tract. [2] To accomplish this, on March 3, 1805, [5] Congress arranged for a special indiscriminate location survey for the reserve. Deputy surveyor Elias Glover subdivided the tract into four townships of six miles (10 km) square each in 1805, with the southwest township being number one, the northwest number two, the northeast number three, and the southeast number four. The tract has no ranges, and is an original survey, unrelated to later 1821 Congress Lands surveys that surround the reserve, known as North and East of First Principal Meridian. [2] [3]
In 1807, Congress directed that every person in the actual possession of any tract of land, in his own right, and settled, occupied and improved by him prior to the first day of July, 1796, or by some other person under whom he claimed the right to its occupancy or possession, should be confirmed in his title as an estate of inheritance in fee simple, and be entitled to a land patent for it. [6]
Each township was subdivided into 36 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) sections numbered boustrophedonically, as established by the Act of May 18, 1796. [7] Under the Act of 1816, Joseph Wampler surveyed the riverfront into long lots of about 160 acres (0.65 km2) each, numbered 1 to 93, and officially called "River Tracts". [2] [3] [8] The private claims of the British and French era settlers were surveyed in 1817 by deputy surveyor S. Carpenter. [2] The partial sections left after the River Tracts were called "Fractional Sections". The Act of 1816 set aside section 16 of each township as School Lands for benefit of schools in each township. These sections were eventually sold. Town lots in Perrysburg were also laid out in 1816, providing less than two sections of land in lots less than 1⁄4 acre (0.10 ha) each. [3] [8] Land sales were through the Wooster Land Office in the Canton Land District. [8]
The tract encompasses portions of Wood and Lucas counties, including Perrysburg, Maumee, and south suburban Toledo, Ohio. The corners of the Reservation [9] are at 41°39′13″N83°45′44″W / 41.65361°N 83.76222°W (NW of the intersection of Dorr and Crissey roads, forming part of the boundary with Spencer and Springfield townships), 41°39′10″N83°31′33″W / 41.65278°N 83.52583°W (NE of the MLK Bridge within the Maumee River), 41°28′41″N83°31′45″W / 41.47806°N 83.52917°W (the intersection of Tracy and Dowling roads, forming the SE corner of Perrysburg Township), 41°28′39″N83°45′43″W / 41.47750°N 83.76194°W (NE of the intersection of Neowash and Noward roads in Waterville Township).
Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Toledo. It served as the county seat from 1822 to 1868, and it is still the second-largest city in Wood County. After Bowling Green was designated as county seat, it surpassed Perrysburg in size.
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation through the Northwest Ordinance, it was the nation's first post-colonial organized incorporated territory.
The Maumee River is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, where Fort Wayne, Indiana has developed, and meanders northeastwardly for 137 miles (220 km) through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the Maumee Bay of Lake Erie. The city of Toledo is located at the mouth of the Maumee. The Maumee was designated an Ohio State Scenic River on July 18, 1974. The Maumee watershed is Ohio’s breadbasket; it is two-thirds farmland, mostly corn and soybeans. It is the largest watershed of any of the rivers feeding the Great Lakes, and supplies five percent of Lake Erie’s water.
The Ohio Lands were the several grants, tracts, districts and cessions which make up what is now the U.S. state of Ohio. The Ohio Country was one of the first settled parts of the Midwest, and indeed one of the first settled parts of the United States beyond the original 13 colonies. The land that became first the anchor of the Northwest Territory and later Ohio was cobbled together from a variety of sources and owners.
The Seven Ranges was a land tract in eastern Ohio that was the first tract to be surveyed in what became the Public Land Survey System. The tract is 42 miles (68 km) across the northern edge, 91 miles (146 km) on the western edge, with the south and east sides along the Ohio River. It consists of all of Monroe, Harrison, Belmont and Jefferson, and portions of Carroll, Columbiana, Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Noble, and Washington County.
Dohrman Tract or Dohrman’s Grant was a land tract in eastern Ohio granted by Congress to Arnold Henry Dohrman (1749–1813), who helped the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
The Congress Lands was a group of land tracts in Ohio that made land available for sale to members of the general public through land offices in various cities, and through the General Land Office. It consisted of three groups of surveys:
The United States Military District was a land tract in central Ohio that was established by the Congress to compensate veterans of the American Revolutionary War for their service. The tract contains 2,539,110 acres (10,275.4 km2) in Noble, Guernsey, Tuscarawas, Muskingum, Coshocton, Holmes, Licking, Knox, Franklin, Delaware, Morrow, and Marion counties.
The Congress Lands North of the Old Seven Ranges was a land tract in northeast Ohio that was established by the Congress early in the 19th century. It is located south of the Connecticut Western Reserve and Firelands, east of the Congress Lands South and East of the First Principal Meridian, north of the United States Military District and Seven Ranges, and west of Pennsylvania.
The Congress Lands West of Miami River was a land tract in southwest Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the Greenville Treaty Line, east of Indiana, and north of the Great Miami River. The original survey in 1798 contained a triangular shaped slice of land, now located in Indiana, that extended to the Greenville line as it ran from Fort Recovery to opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.
The Congress Lands East of Scioto River was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century. It is located south of the United States Military District and Refugee Tract, west of the Old Seven Ranges, east of the Virginia Military District and north of the Ohio River, French Grant, and the Ohio Company of Associates.
The Treaty of Brownstown was between the United States and the Council of Three Fires, Wyandott, and Shawanoese Indian Nations. It was concluded November 25, 1808, at Brownstown in Michigan Territory, and provided cession of a strip of Indian land for a road to connect two disconnected areas of land previously ceded by Indians in Michigan and Ohio.
Maumee Road Lands were a group of land tracts granted by the United States Congress to the state of Ohio in 1823 along the path of a proposed road in the northwest corner of the state.
Turnpike Lands were a group of land tracts granted by the United States Congress to the state of Ohio in 1827 along the path of a proposed road in the northwest corner of the state.
The Salt Reservations were a collection of land tracts surrounding salt springs in Ohio and some other states that were donated to the states by the federal government early in the 19th century.
The Two Mile Square Reservation or Two Mile Square Reserve was a tract of land in Ohio ceded by Native Americans to the United States of America in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. It was subsequently surveyed in a manner different from surrounding land, and lots sold to settlers.
North and East of the First Principal Meridian is a survey and land description in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Ohio.
Zane's Tracts were three parcels of land in the Northwest Territory of the United States, later Ohio, that the federal government granted to Ebenezer Zane late in the 18th century, as compensation for establishing a road with ferry service over several rivers.
Indian Land Grants were land tracts granted to various Indians by Treaty or by United States Congressional action in the Nineteenth century in northwestern Ohio.
Indian removals in Ohio started in the late eighteenth century after the American victory in the Revolutionary War and the consequent opening of the Northwestern United States to European-American settlement. Native American tribes residing in the region banded together to resist settlement, resulting in the disastrous Northwest Indian War where the Native tribes ceded large swathes of territory to the American government. After the American victory in the war, several Indian reservations were established to forcibly relocate landless tribes to. The process of obtaining full American sovereignty over Indian territories in Ohio was complete around 1818, but continued in Indiana until 1840.
| Six-Mile Rectangular System Surveys |
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| Five-Mile Rectangular System Surveys | ||
| Indiscriminate Surveys | ||
| metes and bounds Survey | ||
| Land Grants | ||
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