Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison/Proclamation Erecting the lower peninsula of Michigan into Wayne county, and attaching the Whitewater valley to Clark county
Proclamation: Erecting the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Wayne County, and Attaching the Whitewater Valley to Clark County
Whereas, By an act of Congress passed the 30 of April 1802 entitled "An act to enable the people of the Eastern Division of the Territory North West of the River Ohio, to form the constitution and State Government and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states and for other purposes". It is declared that from and after the formation of the said states, all that part of that part Northwestern territory which is not included within the boundaries prescribed for the said state shall be attached to, and made part of the Indiana Territory;
and whereas the inhabitants of the said Eastern division have formed themselves into an independent state by the name of the State of Ohio it has become necessary for the convenience of the citizens in the newly acquired territory and the due administration of justice that a new county should be laid off and alterations made in the boundaries of those formerly established.
Wherefore I William Henry Harrison Governor of the Indiana Territory by the authority vested in me by the ordinance for the Government of the Territory, do ordain and declare that a county shall be formed in the North-eastern part of the Territory to be known and designated by the name and style of the County of Wayne. And the boundaries of the said county shall be as follows to wit: Beginning at a point where the East and West line passing through the Southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect a North and South line passing through the most Westerly extreme of the said Lake, and thence north along the last mentioned line to the Territorial boundery of the United States, thence along the said boundry line to a point where an East and West line passing through the Southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect the same, thence West along the last mentioned line to the place of beginning.—And all the aforesaid lands lying within the above described lines and boundaries are hereby erected into the county of Wayne. And the inhabitants of the said county of Wayne shall have and enjoy (from the date hereof) all the rights, privileges and immunities whatsoever which to a county and the inhabitants thereof in anywise appertain.—And each and every person within the bounds of said county of Wayne who held commissions civil or military under the government of the Northwestern territory at the time of the formation of the State of Ohio, shall still continue to exercise and enjoy their respective offices. And the justices of the Court of common pleas; of the general quarter sessions of the peace, and of the orphans court shall (until otherwise directed) continue to hold their respective courts at the place and times at which they were accustomed to be held under the Government of the Northwestern Territory.
And whereas I have not received sufficient information respecting the settlements, below the great Miami, to enable me to form in that quarter a county establishment, for the present, that tract of country included between a North line drawn from the mouth of the big Miami River; the Ohio, and the Indian boundery line running from a point opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River shall be attached to and form part of the county of Clark. And such persons within the said bounds as may have held civil or military commissions under the Government of the Northwestern Territory, at the time when the said described tract was attached to this territory, are hereby appointed to the same offices respectively in the County of Clark which they held under the Government of the Northwestern Territory.
Done at St. Vincennes the 14 day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and three and of the Independence of the United States the 27.
John Gibson, Secretary
Peter Audrain, proth.
| By the Governor |