from Atlas of Madison Co. Ohio by J.A. Caldwell, Condit, Ohio (1875)
It is a fact, but yet one well authenticated, that the land which now produces most abundantly of the great cereal staple of Madison County, were regarded by the early settlers as utterly valueless for purposes of cultivation. The timber lands were the first and only sought by the pioneers. The prairies were too wet for cultivation, but were covered with sedge grass which produced an excellent pasture for the stock of the pioneers. The sedge grass, when cut in July or earlier, afforded very nutritious and palatable food for domestic stock during the winter months.
The first settlement within the Virginia military tract, and the only one between the Scioto and Little Miami, until after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, was made at Manchester by the then Colonel, late General Nathaniel Massie.
Massie, in the winter of the year 1790, determined to make a settlement in it that he might be in the midst of his surveying operations and secure his party from danger and exposure. In order to effect this he gave general notice in Kentucky of his intention, and offered each of the first twenty-five families, as a donation, one in lot, one out lot and one hundred acres of land, provided they would settle in a town which he intended to lay off at his settlement. His proffered terms were soon closed in wth and upwards of thirty families joined him. After various consultations with his friends, the bottom of the Ohio river, opposite the lower end of the Three Islands, was selected as the most eligible spot. This was made the first settlement in the Virginia Military district and the fourth settlement in the bounds of the State of Ohio effected.