The Minor Family of Somerset

McCarty Bible Records. 1820 Census Fayette Co.,In
Switzerland County: A Taleof Boundaries
By Robert W. Scott
© May, 2003
The area that is now Switzerland County, which has been under si
x different county governments, began as anunorganized area o
f the Territory NorthWest of the Ohio River, whose government be
gan keeping records on July 9, 1788. There were earlier counties
, butnone covered this territory until on June 20, 1790, the go
vernor created KnoxCounty, which encompassed modern Indiana, al
ong with the area that became Michigan. The boundaries extende
d East to what was to become the Indian-Ohio boundary, but whic
h bordered then on Hamilton County, which was created on Jan1
, 1790.
At this point, any European visitors to Switzerland Count
y wouldhave been traders or trappers, or perhaps adventurous fa
rmers, planting cropson the North side of the river, but livin
g south of it. Because the land east of the treaty line still be
longed to the Indians until 1795, and since Jefferson County an
d that part of Switzerland County West of the Greenville Treat
y line were not acquired until 1805, any European settlers prio
r to that time were technically violating the law. No official g
overnment could exist until the federal government acquired th
e land. This occurred in Aug. 3, 1795, with the declaration of t
he Greenville Treaty line, to extend from Fort Recovery to the O
hio River opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River, the area no
wknown as Lamb. However, a survey was not created until Israe
l Ludlow began running the line at its Northern end in June 1797
.
There is a hint of settlement in Switzerland County at thi
s time. On Nov. 28, 1795, the Kentucky legislature authorized th
e creation of the town of Preston (modern Prestonville) on the s
outh side of the Kentucky River at its meeting with the Ohio i
n whatwas then Shelby County, Ky., and also authorized ferrie
s across the Ohio andKentucky Rivers. No one was licensed for e
ither ferry, but the act suggestssome settlement had occurred
, or perhaps hunters and farmers were crossing the river.
The treaty, however, did not change the county boundarie
s and withthe Knox County seat at Vincennes, the lack of law en
forcement gave the areaa bad reputation and created a call to a
ttach the eastern part of the area toHamilton County, whose sea
t was much closer Cincinnati.
According to an entry made by Winthrop Sargent, the territ
orial secretary on Jan. 8, 1798, "Immediately over the great mia
mi (In Knox County) report makes them nearly two hundred Familie
s, amongst whom are many that have fled from this County merel
y to defraud their Creditors--their very remote situation from m
any of the magistrates of the County of Knox effects such purpos
e--and I forbear to commission any amongst them to the administr
ation of Justice, or to annex them to Hamilton County lest it mi
ght be construed to imply an Encouragement of the Settlement." T
his came as the government was making strenuous efforts to disco
urage hunting, trapping, and actual settlement. However, the are
a immediately over the Great Miami would have been around Lawren
ceburg.
The cry would not be stilled and on June 22, 1798, the ter
ritorial government approved an alteration of the boundary tha
t pushed the Western boundary of Hamilton County to the Greenvil
le Treaty line. That put most of Switzerland County in Hamilto
n County, with about half of modern Pleasant Township and a thir
d of modernCraig Township still in Knox County. But because the
re were county governments does not mean there were sufficient s
ettlements to require governmental services. Almost all the appo
intments in Knox County in these first few years involved the se
ttlement around Vincennes or Clarksville. In fact, other than Cl
arksville, most early appointments came in the French settlement
s at Detroit, Kaskaskia, and Cahokia.
The first record that