John Cleves Symmes (1742 - 1814)

Born 21 Jul 1742 in Southold, Suffolk County, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Anna (Tuthill) Symmes — married 30 Oct 1760 in Mattituck, New York

Husband of Mary (Henry) Symmes — married 1781 in Morristown, Morris, New Jersey

Descendants

Died 26 Feb 1814 at age 71 in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, United States

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Biography

John Cleves Symmes was born in Riverhead, Long Island, New York July 21, 1742. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Jersey, and later a pioneer in the Northwest Territory. He was also the father-in-law of President William Henry Harrison (and therefore the great-grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison.

He was the son of the Rev. Timothy Symmes (1715-1756) and Mary Cleves (died c. 1746) of Suffolk County, New York on Long Island.

Col. Symmes was educated as a lawyer and married Anna Tuthill (October 1741-July 25, 1776) at Mattituck, New York on October 30, 1760. They had three children; Maria (born April 23, 1765) and Mary (b. August 30, 1767) at Mattituck before moving to Morristown, New Jersey sometime around 1770. Maria married Kentucky state senator Peyton Short. Another daughter Anna Tuthill Symmes was born at her father's estate Solitude, just outside Morristown, New Jersey (present day Wheatsheaf Farms subdivision off Sussex Avenue in Morris Township, New Jersey) before his wife died in 1776.

John Symmes served with 3rd Regiment, Sussex Militia, New Jersey Militia during the American Revolution.

John Symmes is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A104042.

In 1776, he was elected to the New Jersey Legislative Council (now the New Jersey Senate); he was also a member in 1780. Col. Symmes served on the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1777 AND 1778. He was a frequent visitor to Governor William Livingston both in Elizabethtown and in Parsippany. In 1779, John married Livingston's daughter, Susannah. Besides being the governor's daughter, she was John Jay's sister-in-law.

About 1781 or 1782, Col. Symmes married Mary Henry, daughter of Dr. Robert Rosbrough Henry, M.D.

Col. Symmes represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress (1785-1786), then in 1788 moved to the west, settling in what later became North Bend, Ohio. He served as a judge of the Territorial Court from 1788 until Ohio became a state in 1803. He also pursued an active career as a land developer and seller. He died on February 26, 1814 at Cincinnati, Ohio, and is buried at Congress Green Cemetery in North Bend, Ohio.

Col. Symmes bought 311,682 acres from the Congress in 1788. President George Washington signed the patent on October 30, 1794 conveying to Symmes 248,250 acres plus a surveying township of 23,040 acres, in trust, for an academy. This land was known as the Symmes Purchase, and was the cause of considerable controversy in his lifetime and after. The purchase price was $225,000, and was paid in notes issued by the Congress to raise money during the Revolutionary War. There is no doubt that a considerable part of this amount came from Symmes in the first place as he lent most of his own money to the Revolution.

There were other investors who served as partners in the transaction. There is also no doubt that some of these notes were purchased from other holders, probably at a discount. This was before the rampant speculation in these notes that happened a few year later, but is still questionable.

There were also disputes about the actual boundaries of the purchase and the quality of surveying and validity of titles. In the last years of his life, he spent a great deal of time in court, defending himself from claims.

Judge Symmes was granted 36,000 acres in the United States Military Survey that was "appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services" by President John Adams at Philadelphia on 3 April 1800. The said warrants delivered to William Henry Harrison on 5 April 1800 were located in the current counties of Licking, Delaware, Franklin and Knox.

Col. Symmes' nephew and namesake John Cleves Symmes, Jr. fought in the War of 1812 and is best known for his Hollow Earth Theory.

Miami University's Symmes Hall was named in his honor in 1949. Symmes Hall is located on the East Quad near Erickson Dining Hall on the university's Oxford, Ohio campus and is currently being used as a resident hall for first year undergraduate students.

Sources

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 23 Nov 2021), "Record of Simms, John Cleves", Ancestor # A104042.Meehan-411

• General Land Office Records, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior: Listing

• Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1900; Douglas M. Henry; www.cincinnatimemory.org; www.heritagepursuit.com; and the "Henry Genealogy" by William Henry Eldridge, Press of T. R. Marvin and Son, Boston, Massachusetts, 1915. A copy of the latter can be found in the library of the Southwest Texas State Teacher's College, San Marcos, Texas.

• Wikipedia

• Author: Gary Boyd Roberts Title: Notable Kin, Volume One Publication: Name: Name: Carl Boyer, 3rd; Location: Santa Clarita, California; Date: 1998. NOTE: Published in cooperation with the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Tom Beck for creating WikiTree profile Symmes-113 through the import of Beck_asof_06-05-2013.GED on Jun 5, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Tom and others.