OH-FOOTSTEPS-L Archives

From: "Maggie Stewart, OH Archives" <>
Subject: Fw: Tid-Bits - part 74.
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:07:08 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 9:06 AM


Contributed for use in
USGenWeb Archives
by Darlene E. Kelley
March 2, 2006.

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Historical Collections of Ohio
And Then They Went West
Know Your Ohio
Tid-Bits - part 74.
by Darlene E. Kelley
notes by
S. Kelly [ ]

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Tid-Bits - part 74.

Freeman's Oath.

[ Ever wonder what it was like for our forefather's in the beginning of
the colonies. After all -- they were original beginnings of our wonderul
state of Ohio.
Their trials and adjustments were not easy. They had rules which were
placed on them that were firmly adhered to, and this was subject to the
colony courts. ]


The term " Freeman " in Colonial days had nothing to do with servitude
or bondsman. Simply it meant you were a full citizen of the Colony.
Under the first Massachusetts charter. only Freeman had the right to
hold public office or vote in town meetings. Indentured servants and
bonded servant were not eligible.

To be admitted a freeman you must fulfill the requirements. They were;


Must of Sworn Allegiance to the Crown.

Must be a Male over 21 years of age.

Membership in a duly recognized Church.

Own personal property generally valued at 40 pounds or 40 shillings per
year.

Must be of a quiet and peaceful manner.

Other Freeman in the area to endorse him.
+++++++++++++++++++

If all requirements are met then they were allowed to take the Freeman's
oath at a meeting of the town's selectmen.

Being a Freeman brought certain duties and rights among others, they
were;


The right to vote in town meetings.

The right to hold public office.

The right to elect deputies to the General Assembly.

Required to pay taxes.

The right to elect new freeman.

Help to support the church.

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The Oath


I, ..........................., being by gods providence, an inhabitant,
and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely
acknowledge myself to be subject to the Government thereof; And
therefore do hear swear by the great and dreadful Name of the
Ever-living God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will
accordingly yield assistance and support there unto, with my person and
estate, as I am equally bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain
and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof, submitting myself
to the wholesome Laws and Orders made and established by the same. And
further, that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or
consent any that shall so do; but will timely discover and reveal the
same to lawful Authority now here established, for the speedy preventing
thereof.

Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, that when I
shall be called to give my voice touching such a matter of this State,
in which Freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffage as I shall
judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public
weal of the body, so help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Freeman's Oath was the first paper printed in New England. It was
printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stephen Day, in 1639. It was
changed slightly from providence to providence.

To become a Freeman after the Oath was taken, then it was a subject of
the courts and approved only on the next meeting of the court, after
sworn affidavates were taken by the witnesses. Unless the oath was taken
in front of the Court and was on the Court agenda. These court
preceedings were not held but every few months and sometimes only every
six months. It depended on whether there was a jury appointed and
approved or whether they could meet at the chosen time. In Connecticut,
the court was very dependable. As it was appointed at a earlier Court
hearing and juriors were appointed. Appointments were from various
townsites, and usually were townsmen who had become Freemen.

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Cleveland and Its Newspapers


The first newspaper in Cleveland was the Gazette and Commercial
Register, started July 13, 1818. It soon simplified its name to the
Cleaveland Register. It passed out quietly in March 1820. In the
previous year a rival paper had started, the Cleaveland Herald, and this
had quickly won the field. The Register had called itself Republican (
in the Jefferson sense) and the Herald, like its rival, a weekly
publication, claimed to be independent in politics. But of local news
there was little in either publication. Remote occurences, wars in South
America, a reprint of a news item from an eastern paper ( and this is
all probably three or four weeks
old ) a report of a mission to some place like the Sandwich Islands,
stories of sea serpents or other monsters or of a distant volcanic
eruption, these and others like them took the greater part of the space.
Perhaps the gem of an editor's efforts to entertain his readers was the
reprint of an inspirational article fom the London Hermit on Maternity,
or the companion one on the Batchelor's Lamentation. The advertisements
are more revealing of local life. Undoubtedly the guiding principle in
composing a newspaper in those times was to tell the local readers what
was happening to the old home folks in the east, and something of the
events of the great unknown world beyond the American horizon. It was
unnecessary to write much about local affairs. In a village everyone
knew those things anyway. As the editors gained in acquaintances and
experience local news commanded more space. In the weekly news items
from 1818 to 1825 there were many" firsts" of historical interest. The
second issue of the Register announced that a mail coach had commenced
to run between Painsville and Cleveland, leaving Painsville every
Thursday at 4 P.M., arriving in Cleveland at 10 A.M. the following day.
The return stage would leave Cleveland Friday at 2 P.M. and arrive in
Painesville at 8 A.m. The line offered to take passengers, telling the
public that the coaches were more confortable than riding by horse and
the expense not so great. All true enough, they would ride a canvas
topped coach, sit solidly on a springless wagon, with three plain boards
for seats. The Herald added that it was expected that stage coaches
would soon be running between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and so they
were, and to Columbus and Sandusky, too, once a week, and later twice,
weather permitting. Freight bearing wagons, also, were coming with a
fair degree of regularity from Pittsburgh.

One of the first issues of the Register recorded the arrival of the
steamboat,
Walk-in-the-Water from Buffalo on its way to Detroit. An event, indeed,
for it was the first view of a steamboat on Lake Erie. It was a service
irregular, and soon ended by the tragic wrecking of the ship. On the
Walk-in-the-Water's first visit in Cleveland came as a new settler
Rueben Wood, a young Vermont lawyer, to add to the forceful men who were
to have a large part in the next phase of Cleveland's history. Another
issue of the Herald in 1818 carried the advertisement of Leonard Case,
who wanted to sell 90 acres of land in Warrensville for cash, salt,
flour, whiskey, wheat or rye. Leonard Case was a Pennsylvanian by birth
who early in life had come with his family to the Western Reserve, and
made a place for himself in the Southeastern portion of the Reserve as
a land agent for the Proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company and
finally a lawyer. His first home was in Warren but in 1816, he moved to
Cleveland, continuing his law practice. The handicap of what may have
been infantile paralysis that befell him in early manhood and left him a
cripple, diverted a vigorous personality from farm work to a city
business career. Leonard Case became another of those who were soon to
be among the leaders of a new Cleveland.
>From 1821 to 1825 he was Presdent of the Village and adopted Cleveland
as his home.

One hopes that the cultural development of Cleveland was advanced in
1820 when Herschel Foote opened a book store, and listed in an
advertisement the books he had for sale. The subject matter was largely
theological, histories of remote countries, travel in strange lands, and
strange phenomena. Nothing that pertained directly to the life of the
time and place. Neither the newspapers nor the book stores in Cleveland
were peculiar in that respect. More significant was an item of news in
June, 1822: " A neat and convenient Academy, built of brick, with a
handsome spire and with a spacious room on the second story, designed
for public use, is now nearing completion." There it was. Two school
rooms on the ground floor; built by private subscription; location on
St. Clair Street; the school rooms to be let to teachers who would make
up their salaries from tuition charges. From an avertisement in the
Herald it appears the Academy was open to " Ladies as well as
Gentlemen," probably in order to eke out an adequate income for the
teacher. For reading, writing and spelling the tuition was $1.75
per term; geography and grammer might be added for another dollar. A
full course including higher mathematics, Latin and greek was $4.00 per
term. In 1824 Harvey Rice, who had graduated from Williams College,
became the principal. It was an event of more than ordinary
significance. Harvey Rice soon abandoned teaching for law, but he made
himself in the following years in Cleveland's history one of its
foremost writers and a leader in the cultural life of his times.

In the columns of the Herald, Cleve- landers saw the announcements of
other opportunities for education on the Western Reserve at the older
academies at Burton and Tallmadge and the Female Seminaries at
Painsville and Middlefield. At the time Cleveland missed an opportunity
that came its way. In 1824, a commission of the Presbyteries of the
Western Reserve, trying to found a college for the education of young
men for the ministry, put an announcement of their plans in the
newspapers of the Reserve. They would require ten acres for a campus and
fifty acres as nearby as possible for other purposes. It was in effect
and in fact an invitation to some town to become te cultural center of
the region. In Cleveland the records show, there was talk of inviting
the Erie Literary Society to move in, though at least one opponent said
he would rather have yellow fever in the town than the brand of theology
taught at Burton. The issue was soon settled, but Cleveland lost out.
David Hudson had the vision of a land speculator or a religious leader,
perhaps of both, for visions in the human mind often find strange
companionship.

Those in Cleveland interested in natural history should take note. , the
papers announced. The Register of July. 1818. informed its readers that
" not a summer has been passed for more than three years, but that one
of the most terrific of all sea monsters ever in existence has been seen
in different parts of the lake." One sailor was sure its head and tail
were out of the water as much as 30 feet. The passengers were terrified;
each one was sure he was the object on which the monster was determined
to feast. Later the Herald carried an advertisement of a Philosophical
Ammusement Exhibition of Chemical Experiments --- Use of Nitrous Oxide
--- An Exhilerating Gas to amuse those that Inhale --- 25 cents. And at
another time an Exhibition of a Large and Learned Elephant ---18 Years
of Age. Likewise an Asiatic Lion -- Majestic, and other Animals.

At one time there was a Museum of Wax Figures, a Painting resembling the
Great Sea Serpent, etc, As might be expected the papers gave their
ailing readers hope with the news of useful remedies that were possible
---- one for whooping cough by rubbing the backbone with garlic. From
time to time the lighter side of village life appeared. One announced
that he would open a dancing school, Five Dollars per quarter. The
Mountaineers --- with songs, duets etc.; doors opened at early candle
light. The Christmas sport in 1823 was " to expose to the aim of our
sharp shooters a few dozen geese, pigs, dunghill fowls, etc. Pigs at 350
feet, 9 cents a shot, dinner for all and spirits at a low rate." The
arrival of local forums about 1820 was a significant sign of changing
local life. The subject of debate at the school house one night,
" Was Washington or Bonaparte the Greater Military Commander," in 1822
already a dead issue; another night,
" Ought Females of Full Age to have equal share with Males in the
Government of the Nation." generations ahead of living issues; again "
Is Love a Stronger Passion than Hatred." The village seemed to be
growing up when the paper published for the Trustees a series of " Do
Nots." For example, allowing swine or geese to run at large, race
horses or throw dead cats in the streets, exhibit games, puppets or wild
animals or hold theatricals for money without a license. A constructive
step in village planning was the advertisement for bids on a public well
to be dug near Superior and Bank Streets, the center of Town. Cleveland
had grown into a new era. And Cleveland Newspapers had a part in it as
they expanded and grew.

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Continued in tid-bits - part 75.

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• Fw: Tid-Bits - part 74. by "Maggie Stewart, OH Archives" <>