The Check that helped build America? (by President Lincoln's 6th Cousin 5x removed)

Ohio, which achieved statehood during 1803, remained a sparsely populated region of 50,000 persons who were scattered throughout the state and who had no means of transporting goods economically out of the state. Without easy access to distant markets, agriculture served only local needs and large-scale manufacturing was nearly non-existent.

As early as 1787, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had discussed the desirability of a canal linking Lake Erie to the Ohio River as part of a national system of canals.[5] It wasn't until 1807 that Ohio's first Senator, Thomas Worthington offered a resolution in Congress asking Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin to report to the Senate. During 1810, DeWitt Clinton was appointed to manage the Erie Canal Commission. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to get national aid for the construction of a canal connecting Lake Erie to the Hudson River, so he enlisted the aid of state legislators and Ohio's congressional delegation. On January 15, 1812 the Ohio General Assembly passed a resolution expressing its opinion that the connection of the Great Lakes with the Hudson River was a project of "national concern". President Madison was against the proposal, however, and the War of 1812 ended official discussion.

On December 11, 1816, Clinton, by then the Governor of New York, sent a letter to the Ohio Legislature indicating his state's willingness to construct the Erie Canal without national help, and asking the State of Ohio to join the endeavor. On January 9, 1817, the Ohio Legislature directed Ohio's Governor (and former Senator) Thomas Worthington to negotiate a deal with Clinton. Due to the cost, however, the Ohio Legislature dallied, and nothing happened for the next 3 years. Finally, during January 1822, the Ohio Legislature passed acts to fund the canal system (and the state's public education obligations).

Official Signature of Commissioner Micajah Terrell Williams documented on Wikipedia

The Lancaster Ohio Bank (est. 1816 in Ohio) was, considered by many, the greatest financial institution known to Lancaster Ohio. One of the original board members was Charles R. Sherman who was the Father of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Charles was a successful lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court and died unexpectedly in 1829. He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children and no inheritance. After his father's death, the nine-year-old Sherman was raised by a Lancaster neighbor and family friend, Senator Thomas Ewing, Sr., who was also a director at the Lancaster Ohio Bank before it closed in 1842. This was a year after the final liquidation of the Second Bank of the United States which was eliminated by the famous Bank War during the administration of President Andrew Jackson.

The proposal was sent to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio on January 13, 1831 which authorized Commissioner Micajah Terrell Williams to write the historic check (pictured above) on April 13, 1831 to build the Ohio and Erie Canal- Courtesy of the America's Historic Currency Exhibit?. In addition to the Lancaster Ohio Bank, this same proposal, by the State of Ohio, also included partnerships with the Western Reserve Bank (est. 1812 in Ohio) and the Manhattan Company (est. 1799 in New York). Subsequently, the Western Reserve Bank and the Manhattan Company merged with, what is known today as, the JP Morgan Chase & Company.

The Ohio and Erie Canal initially provided a connection between Akron and Lake Erie at Cleveland, then extending all the way to the Ohio River within a few years. Later, connecting canal systems were built connecting it with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal and other parts of Eastern Ohio.[14]

The Honorable Micajah Terrell Williams began his career as Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Cincinnati. Soon after he became connected with the "Western Spy". During the War of 1812 the editor of that paper, who was a Captain in the Army, lost his life, and Mr. Williams succeeded to the editorship. On March 12, 1818 he married Hannah Jones. He served as a Member of the Ohio Legislature, and in the session of 1819 when Governor Ethan Allen Brown called the attention of the Legislature to the necessity of providing some means by which the farmers of the interior could send their produce to Lake Erie. The matter was submitted to a Committee of which Mr. Williams, then a Member from Hamilton County, was Chairman. A Bill was passed authorizing two canals which traveled from Cleveland to the Ohio River and from Cincinnati north to Maumee Bay. Micajah T. Williams was Speaker of the Assembly when this Bill was passed. At the end of his term as Speaker, he was appointed by Governor Ethan Allen Brown as a member of the Board of Canal Commissioners. In 1832, he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory to fill the vacancy caused by the death of General Lytte. He served as a Director of the Ohio Life Insurance & Trust Company and later became its President. In 1832, he went to England to negotiate the sale of the Ohio State bonds. He was candidate for United States Senator in opposition to Senator Thomas Ewing, who served in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the Secretary of the Treasury and the first Secretary of the Interior. Senator Ewing was also known as the foster father (and subsequently father-in-law) of famous American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman-as noted earlier. During his services as Surveyor General, Byron Kilbourn was made Surveyor of the Government lands in Wisconsin. Mr. Williams said to him in the course of conversation : "Somewhere on the western shore of Lake Michigan between Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) and Green Bay there must some day be a great city. As you work along that shore, examine it thoroughly, determine where that city will be, and I will join you in the purchase of the land and lay out the city." The mouth of the Milwaukee was chosen. After the first sale of Government land, the land on the west side of the Milwaukee River was purchased and soon after the city of Milwaukee was laid out. The lots were subsequently divided in equal numbers between Mr. Kilbourn and Mr. Williams. Micajah T. Williams died in 1844 at the age of 52 years. 

1826: Letter from Governor Ethan A. Brown to Micajah T. Williams

This letter was written by Governor Ethan Allen Brown to answer certain questions regarding the status of funding and the level of supplies available for the Ohio and Erie Canal.

1833: Letter from Francis Cleveland to Micajah Terrell Williams

This letter was written by Francis Cleveland (1796-1877). Francis was President Grover Cleveland’s uncle and was a civil engineer who worked on the construction of the Ohio-Erie Canal.

According to documentation from the I&M Canal National Heritage Area, " President Abraham Lincoln , my sixth cousin, also advocated for improvements to the nation's transportation network, including a canal system that would be tied to the harbors, rivers, and roadways of America. He believed the waterways held the key to success, advancing the economic development of his home state and the entire nation."

Conclusion:

In the words of Dr. John H. Lienhard, author and voice of The Engines of Our Ingenuity, "The Erie canal is deeply grooved in our national awareness. It was a marvel -- a real marvel. Four of the Great Lakes lie above Niagara Falls -- Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie -- and they form a huge inland waterway with access to thousands of miles of shoreline: a waterway that touches Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, as well as New York. For our new country to be whole, East Coast commerce had to gain access to this waterway." During a Congressional hearing in 1922, it was confirmed that President George Washington first conceived the idea of the Lake Erie & Ohio River Canal. As a result, it was denominated the Washington Waterway. 

Related content:

8 Ways the Erie Canal Changed America

Ohio's Grand Canal by Terry Woods

Cleveland's Harbor

Miami and Erie Canal

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