Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison/Proclamation Erecting Dearborn county and appointing officers for same
Proclamation Erecting Dearborn County and Appointing Officers for Same
Whereas, I have received a petition from a number of citizens, inhabiting the south-east corner of the territory, stating the inconveniences they labor under for the want of a county establishment in that quarter, and praying that a new county may be laid off.
And whereas, I have received satisfactory evidence that there are a sufficient number of inhabitants within the proposed limits to justify a compliance with their request. I have thought proper to erect into a separate county all the lands lying and being within the following lands and lines and bounds, viz. Beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami thence north along the line separating the Indiana territory from the state of Ohio, to the intersection thereof with the Indiana boundary line running from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River, thence, along the last mentioned line to the Ohio river and up the said river to the place of beginning; and the said county shall be known as designated by the name and styled under county of Dearborn and all the lands lying within the above described lines, and boundaries are hereby erected into the county of Dearborn; and the inhabitants of the said county of Dearborn shall have and enjoy all the rights privileges, and immunities whatsoever which to a county and the inhabitants thereof in any wise appertain.
And whereas it is of the utmost importance that a proper place should be selected in the name of justice for the said county, and as the information I have received, does not enable me at present to determine on the subject, I have thought proper to declare and ordain that until a permanent seat of justice shall be fixed in the session of the court of common pleas of the general quarter sessions of the peace and of the orphans court of the said county, shall be held at the town of Lawrenceburgh.
And I do hereby appoint Benjamin Chambers,[1] Esquire, and his associates the justices of the courts of the quarter sessions of the peace for said county or any three of them commissioners to enquire into and report to me on a proper place for the permanent seat of justice as aforesaid.
In testimony whereof I, William Henry Harrison, Governor, hath hereunder set my hand and caused the seal of the territory to be hereunder affixed, at Vincennes, this 7th day of March, Anno Domino, one thousand eight hundred and three and of the independence of the United States of America the twenty seventh.
By the Governor. John Gibson, Secretary
- ↑ Benjamin Chambers was the founder of Lawrenceburg, a government surveyor by profession. His associates were Jabez Percival, Barnet Hulick, John Brownson, Jeremiah Hunt, Richard Stevens. William Major and James McCarty. Dearborn County, 113