René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, the French explorer, 
traveled through Ohio land in 1667 and is thought to have 
been the first white person to see the Ohio River. Eighty 
years later, in 1747, the Ohio Company of Virginia was organized 
to colonize the Ohio River Valley, leading to the creation of 
the Ohio Land Company two years later. Great Britain gained 
control of the region following the French and Indian War in 
1763 but lost it again in 1779. 


 The establishment of Northwest Territory in 1787 marked the 
beginning of a steady stream of migration. Scots-Irish from 
Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio settled mainly in Marietta in 
Washington County. New Englanders and Revolutionary War soldiers, 
most of them from Massachusetts and Connecticut, arrived in that 
same area followed by Essex County, New Jersey, people, who 
settled in Cincinnati in an area called the Symmes Purchase. 
French immigrants settled in Gallipolis, Gallia County, from 1790 
through 1791. Additional Connecticut migrations occurred in 1796-97, 
settling in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Others from Connecticut 
and Vermont settled in what became Geauga County three years later. 
Clermont County was the new home of those from Maine in 1796, the 
same year that emigrants from Scotland arrived in Montgomery County. 
In 1796 the Refugee Tract was established in Columbus for Canadians 
who sympathized with the American Revolution. Three years later Ohio 
Territory was created, followed in 1800 by the first Ohio territorial 
census and the opening of the first land offices at Marietta, 
Steubenville, Chillicothe, and Cincinnati. The territory became 
a state in 1803.


 The influx of new settlers continued, with Germans and Welsh 
from Ohio, plus additional migrations from Kentucky and 
Virginia. Statehood was rapidly achieved in 1803. Three years 
later the United Society of Believers of Christ's Second 
Appearing (Shakers) migrated to Warren County. Germans settled 
in Brown and Tuscarawas counties from 1814 through 1824. The 
opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 was an opportunity for those 
in the northeastern United States to migrate to Ohio. The 
Mormons (see Church Records) arrived in Ohio in 1831. English 
and Irish emigrated to Ohio for railroad construction employment 
in the 1840s. By 1860, Ohio's extensive railroad construction 
provided more miles of track than any other state.


 Ohio was intensely involved with the abolitionist movement prior 
to the Civil War having considerable activity in the Underground 
Railroad along Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Following the Civil 
War, the state gained national political power, producing seven 
United States presidents. As an agricultural and industrial state, 
some early industries were barrel-making and meat packing. The 
American Federation of Labor formed there in the 1880s. The 
industrialization and urbanization of Ohio brought new residents 
from eastern and southern Europe and blacks from southern states. 
Mining became increasingly important with products of coal, 
limestone, and salt.


 Twelve to fifteen thousand native inhabitants were said to 
have been living in Ohio country when the first European 
settlers arrived. The Miami lived in the western part of Ohio, 
and the Wyandotte were in the northwest. The Huron, the Ottawa, 
and the Seneca were also in the northwest. The Shawnee tribe 
was located in the lower Scioto Valley, the Delaware in the 
Muskingum Valley, the Tuscarora in the northeastern section 
of that valley, and the Mingo occupied the east.


 In the mid-1700s, the French and the English began their long 
struggle for possession of the region. The English victory was 
followed by the battles of the American Revolution; the native 
inhabitants of Ohio were tragically involved in both of these 
wars. When the bloodshed was over between the two European 
factions, the contest for the land began in earnest between white 
and native. By the end of the Revolutionary War, still unwilling 
to give up their domain, the natives struggled to maintain their 
lands for twelve long years. In the summer of 1794, at the battle 
at Fallen Timbers, Anthony Wayne and his well-trained troops totally 
defeated the Native Americans of Ohio. The following year, in August 
of 1795, a treaty was negotiated-the final step in taking away native 
home lands. The last group of Native Americans left northwestern Ohio 
in 1833.