Ohio Land Grants/Greenville Treaty

Clark’s expedition would prove important to Ohio’s growth, because in addition to punishing Indians for their raids on settlements, it also attracted the interest of the people in the U.S. They began to believe that the ‘west’ could be made a "fitting place to live".

After Great Britain formally relinquished its rights, settlers from other states began to move in. In 1785, Congress passed the Land Ordinance Act providing conditions for sale of land in the new territory. The first permanent settlements in Ohio were established; Marietta, 1788; Cincinnati, 1789; and Cleveland, 1796. The Indians were not happy with this influx of new Ohio immigrants/settlers and frontier wars broke out that continued until the signing of the Greene Ville Treaty with the Indians on August 3, 1795.

The most important aspect of this treaty was that the northwest part of the Ohio territory would belong to the Indians and the southern part would belong to the whites. It ceded 16,930,417 acres and involved eleven northwestern Indian tribes. The Greenville Treaty Line went through Shelby County, starting a little south of Ft. Loramie. Crossing from east to west, it entered at what is now Salem township and exited at McLean township. This treaty signaled the beginning of real settlement activity for Ohio and Shelby County. Settlement north of the line (shown in red on the ca. 1880 Shelby County map above) would be determined by a later agreement with the Indians; immigrants did not settle that area until the 1830s.

'Immigration' segment written in November, 1997 by David Lodge

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