Scioto Company facts for kids
The Scioto Company was a group led by an American named William Duer. They were land speculators, meaning they bought and sold large areas of land, hoping to make a profit. However, this company tricked people who wanted to move to the United States by selling them land that the company didn't actually own. The papers they gave people, called "deeds," were worthless.
William Duer worked with a British friend and several French people to start and organize this company in Paris, France. They pretended to work with another group called the Ohio Company to buy land in a large area known as the Northwest Territory. But the Scioto Company's agents sold fake land deeds to French people who wanted to move to America. Many of these people were escaping the chaos of the French Revolution. They included minor nobles, merchants, and skilled workers. The Scioto Company simply did not own the land it was selling.
The Scioto Company's Tricky Start
The Scioto Land Company was started by American land speculator Colonel William Duer and others in 1787. This was after the Northwest Territory was set up. The company was officially created in 1789 in Paris, France. Key people involved were American Joel Barlow, a Scot named William Playfair (who worked for Duer), and six Frenchmen.
In 1787, this company had made a deal with the Ohio Company. They planned to use about 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km2) of land. This land was north of the Ohio River and east of the Scioto River. The Ohio Company had an option to buy this land.
However, the people selling the land in France were dishonest. Joel Barlow used shady methods. Also, Duer and his partners failed to keep their agreement with the Ohio Company. Because of this, the Scioto Company fell apart in early 1790. Two later attempts to restart it also failed.
Settlers Arrive, Find No Land
Even though the company was failing, about 150,000 acres (610 km2) of land had supposedly been "sold" to people and groups in France. On February 19, 1791, 218 of these buyers left Havre de Grace, France. They arrived on May 3 in Alexandria, Virginia.
These settlers were part of a larger group known as the "French 500." Many were fleeing the problems of the French Revolution. When they arrived, they were told that the Scioto Company owned no land at all! About fifty of them landed at Marietta, Ohio, along the Ohio River. In October 1791, the rest of the group went to Gallipolis. This town was being built around that time and is now in Gallia County, Ohio.
The company had built simple huts for the group. Most of these settlers were from cities and didn't have many skills for living in the wild frontier. The company's agent told them that this land was part of what they had bought. But this land was actually inside the area that the Ohio Company had bought outright. The Ohio Company had sold it to the Scioto Company, but took it back when the Scioto Company didn't pay.
Help for the French Settlers
In 1794, William Bradford, who was the U.S. Attorney General (a top lawyer for the government), decided something important. He ruled that all rights to the 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km2) of land that the Ohio Company had planned for the Scioto Company now legally belonged to the Ohio Company.
In 1795, the Ohio Company sold the land the French settlers were living on to them for $1.25 an acre. This meant the settlers had to pay for their land a second time.
When the United States government learned about their difficult situation, they decided to help. In 1795, the government gave the French settlers about 24,000 acres (97 km2) of land. This land was in the southern part of what is now Scioto County, Ohio, right along the Ohio River. This gift of land became known as the First French Grant.
Some of the settlers moved to this new area. However, most of them stayed in Gallipolis. They had already started building their lives there. Four thousand acres of the French Grant were set aside for one person, John Gabriel Gervais. The remaining 20,000 acres were to be divided among the other people living in Gallipolis.
Eight settlers in Gallipolis somehow missed out on getting land in the 1795 distribution. So, in 1798, Congress made another grant of land for them. This was called the Second Grant, and it was 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) right next to the first one.
Even with these grants, most of the French residents never actually moved to or lived on the granted land. They had already built their lives in Gallipolis. Instead, they either sold the land they were given or sent other farmers to live on and work their plots.
