Adams County History & Genealogy



Adams County, Ohio History



Adams County's Boundaries



By the latter 1790s, Ohio was fast becoming the "great gateway westward" from locations along the eastern seaboard. From New England, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas, families migrated along the major water routes (primarily the Ohio, Muskingum, Scioto and Great Miami rivers) to trading locations along the southern frontier of the Northwest Territory: Marietta, Gallipolis, Portsmouth and Cincinnati; and in the opposite direction into the interior of the Northwest Territory.

The map above illustrates the major geopolitical divisions in existence in the 1790s into which these families moved. Now let's look at how Adams County began.

Adams County: 1797