Israel Donalson Member of the First Constitutional Convention of Ohio / Manchester Founders Cemetery 1791-1888

Side A: In May 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwest Territory, with the western division becoming Indiana Territory and the eastern called the Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River. Two years later, thirty-five delegates from the nine counties of the latter division convened in Chillicothe to draw up the constitution for the new state of Ohio, which became a state in 1803. Israel Donalson was the last survivor of the convention dying in 1860 at the age of 93. This frontiersman served Manchester as a surveyor, schoolteacher, postmaster, and judge in the first court. In 1791, one month after his arrival here at Massie’s Station, Donalson was captured by Native Americans. His memoir is a colorful account of his capture and escape. Donalson served as an Elder for the first Presbyterian church in Adams County, which stood on these grounds. Side B: Adams County, the third oldest in Ohio, was formed on July 10, 1791, and named for incumbent U.S. President John Adams. That same year Nathaniel Massie founded Manchester, built as a stockaded village and sometimes referred to as Massie’s Station. Nathaniel attracted early settlers by giving them property in town and a few acres nearby and so the town grew. At the time this wilderness area attracted only those who possessed a variety of skills, stamina, and frontier knowledge. There were no roads, and the only way in and out was by way of the Ohio River. The Manchester Founders Cemetery, founded in 1791, contains the gravesites of 300 people, including many of the original families such as the Ellisons, Wades, Andersons, Edgintons, Trenerys, Cooleys, and Donalsons.