Middleport? Mr. Benjamin Smith and his wife Alma had
agreed to donate as a gift the land for a town and to secure it
by a good title deed. Smith had given a bond for $5000, with
his brother, John Smith, and Samuel Everett as sureties, but
it has been stated that upon reconsidering the matter, Mrs.
Smith refused to acknowledge the deed, which she had a
right to do, according to the law of Ohio. The commissioner
did not bring suit against the sureties, as John Smith lived on
his father's farm, and Samuel Everett was a young man not
owning any real estate. The judges claimed that nothing
could be realized more than cost of suit, and they should not
be blamed for not ordering or permitting the commissioner,
Eli Sigler, from commencing suit. S.C.L.
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS
OF THE FIRST COMMISIONERS OF MEIGS
COUNTY, STATE OF OHIO, APRIL 30TH 1819
The commissioners of said county met this day, to-wit,
Levi Stedman and William Alexander, who, after being duly
sworn by Archibald Murray, a justice of the peace for the
county aforesaid, and lodging a certificate thereof in the
office of the Court of Common Pleas for the said county, pro-
ceeded to business.
Benjamin Stout, duly elected sheriff of said county, pre-
sented a bond, of which the following is a copy, which was
approved and delivered to the county treasurer:
Know all men by these presents: That I, Benjamin Stout,
as principal, and Levi Stedman and Philip Jones, as sureties,
all of the county of Meigs and State of Ohio, are held and
firmly bound to Levi Stedman, William Alexander and Elijah
Runner, commissioners of the county aforesaid, and to their
successors in office in the full and just sum of four thousand
dollars, current money of Ohio, for which sum well and truly
to be paid, we bind ourselves our heirs, executors and admin-
