Arnold Henry Dohrman.

Arnold Henry Dohrman, resided in Portugal, and had strong feelings for the United States, and to all service men of the navy, and the way they were treated by the enemy when thrown on the shores of Portugal, so much so that he wrote to the President of the United States. After reading many letters from him and hearing from others who know him, Congress offered him a position as agent for the United States in the courts in Lisbon, he excepted and was appointed on June 21, 1870. He would not except any pay, he only asked for repayment for any and all advances he made.

While the United States struggle for it’s independence Mr. Dohrman house at Portugal, became a asylum for whole crews of captive American seamen, who were fed, clothed, given aid in sickness. He was their only friend in a Kingdom, who was in alliances and under the influences of the enemy. Mr. Dohrman being a merchant in Lisbon, he had some influence, but even so it was dangerous for him and his property. Mr. Dohrman was a subject of the Netherlands by birth, but was imbibed in early life with a strong attachment to the principles of liberty.

All through the war he helped the seamen in the courts of Lisbon, which was look on unfavorably, by his countrymen. Through the war he used his own personal wealth and what influences he had left, so much was put in this endeavor, that by the end of the war his merchant business and credit was all but gone. He was know in the position that he had promised Congress he would not do, and asked for bounty. Mr. Dohrman had a want to see this land of the free, so with the favor of Congress left his brother Jacob Dohrman, as his substitute in the courts of Lisbon. And headed for a America.

After coming to America Mr. Dohrman received a bounty of $5, 000, and another $16, 000, dollars and was give his chose of land at 50 cents a acre. He would soon start up in the merchant business again in New York, But he was not ready for the stubbornness of the American merchants and that his home would be destroyed twice and a lot of his money was invested in his land. The time would come when he found his credit all but gone. He packed up his family and headed west to his land in the hope of making a life for his family, but unfortunately he had relied on some one who he thought know the land, only to find out when he got there the land was worthless. With embarrassment he went before Congress to ask for help, Congress understood his misgivings but stated their was no funds left of reimburse to his advances. He took the land and with a broken heart moved to Stevbenville Ohio, to be near his land. Mr. Dohrman and his wife Rachael and his eleven children mostly girls, had to rely a lot on the kindness of the community. He was told to take his cry to Congress himself, but he would died in Stevbenville in 1813, before he could face Congress.

Note. This information was taken from a petition Rachael put before Congress and the many letters written in his behalf. The following two Bills, is the result of her petition.

CHAP. LXXVIII. — .An .Act for the relief of the widow and children of Arnold Henry Dolerman, deceased.

Be it enacted, &c., That there be, and hereby is, granted to Rachel Dohrman, widow of Arnold Henry Dohrman, late of Steubenville, in the State of Ohio, deceased, the sum of three hundred dollars, annually, during her life, payable quarterly, from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted That there be, and hereby is, granted to each of the minor children of the said Dohrman, until they shall respectively arrive at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of one hundred dollars, payable quarterly, from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen: the said grants to the said minor children shall be received and applied for their support and education, and shall be accounted for in conformity to the laws that now are, or hereafter may be, in force in the State of Ohio, providing for the management of the estates of orphans.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the grants herein made shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
APPROVED, March 3, 1817.

CHAP. CXV.—An .Act for the relief of the heirs of Arnold Henry Dohrrnan.

Whereas doubts exist as to the proper construction of the resolution of the Congress of the United States of America, of the first of October seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, passed for the benefit of Arnold Henry Dohrman; and whether, by virtue thereof, the said Dohrman was entitled to sections eight, eleven, twenty-six, and twenty-nine, of the township of land to be selected by him under said resolution, for the purpose of removing such doubts, and quieting the claims of the heirs at law of said Dohrman, and to effectuate the intentions of the Congress passing said resolution:
Be it enacted, &c., That the heirs at law of Arnold Henry Dohrman be, and they are hereby, confirmed in their claim to sections eight, eleven, twenty-six, and twenty-nine, in township number thirteen, range seven, in the Steubenville District, in the state of Ohio: Provided, That this act shall only be construed to be a relinquishment of any claim by the United States in and to said sections, as reserved to them by the resolution of the first of October, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, and under the ordinance of seventeen hundred and eighty-five, to the heirs at law of said Arnold Henry Dohrman, and not to any other person whatever.
APPROVED, June 28, 1834.