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270 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY. The surface of Goshen township is rolling in most part, but not to the extent that the land is rendered unsuitable for tillage. Originally the township was heavily forested and within the memory of many still living half of the township was still covered with forests. While most of the deciduous trees of this latitude are found in the township—that is, such trees as the maple, ash, hickory, elm, oak, walnut, linden, cottonwood, sycamore, etc., yet it is said that the beech has never been found within the limits of the township. The soil is uniformly fertile, the lower stretches being covered with a heavy sandy loam, while the upper regions consist of a dark-colored soil, partaking of the qualities of loam and clay. There is very little pure clay outcropping in the township. The rolling character of the township facilitates its natural drainage and has enabled the farmers to raise good crops with a minimum amount of artificial drainage. However, many of the best farmers have put in tile ditching and have found that they get better crops even though the soil "was apparently sufficiently drained previously. Most of the township is drained into Darby creek on the east and slopes therefore to the east. Treacles creek runs nearly due east and west through the northern part of the township within a mile and a half from the northern boundary. The next stream towards the south drains a good-sized basin through the middle of the northern half of the township. The central portion is drained by Darby creek and its several small tributaries, one extending northward along the west side of the township and another to the southwestern corner of the township. The southeastern part of the township is drained by two small streams, which find thier way into Darby creek. The presence of these many small waterways in the early days of the county was a fortunate thing for the settlers because it provided ample water power for their little grist- and saw-mills. For it must be remembered that the first settlers in Goshen were here before the steam engine had been perfected. In the early days of the county there were a number of ponds and some of these were of such a size as to be dignified with the name of lake. Probably the best known is Bakers lake, which is located in the northern part of the city of Mechanicsburg. This lake is still to be seen and is not much smaller than it was when the county was organized. The other lake is variously known as Fudger lake and Little lake. It is about two miles northeast of Mechanicsburg. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 271 DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHWAYS. The present system of excellent roads had its inception in 1867, just half a century ago. However, it must not be understood that the township was without improved roads before that time. Very early in the history of the township there were a few of the main traveled roads which received more attention than the others. In the latter part of the forties private companies were organized to build what were known as toll roads ; that is; the company built the road and then charged a certain rate per mile for its use. This rate was based upon the number of horses or animals driven by the travelers : Usually two cents per mile for a one-horse vehicle ; two and a half cents for two-horse conveyances, etc. Four roads were built by private companies and these same roads are in use today, although they have long since been taken over by the township. The first of these roads ran from Jefferson in Union county through Mechanicsburg to Urbana and was begun in 1848. The first macadamized road in the county was constructed in 1914. The first mile of this road is west of Mechanicsburg, and is as fine a road as is in the county today. The second road began about a mile from Mechanicsburg on the Jefferson road and branched off toward London, the company building only to the Union county line. The third road was the Mechanicsburg-Springfield pike, while the fourth road was the one running east of Mechanicsburg to Liverpool. These roads eventually passed to the control of the township, the Mechanicsburg-Liverpool road being the last to become a free road. After the Legislature of 1867 changed the road laws the township began the construction of the Mechanicsburg-Catawba road and the Mechanicsburg-Lewisburg road. These six roads which have been enumerated are the main roads of the township in 1917. The Urbana-West Jefferson inter-county highway passes through Goshen township. SECOND TOWN FOUNDED IN COUNTY. Goshen township was one of the first in the county to be settled and contains the second oldest town in the county, Mechanicsburg, dating from 1814. The township was a part of Franklin county prior to the organization of Champaign in 1805 and a number of settlers or squatters had arrived in the township while it was still a part of Franklin county. When Champaign county was organized in 1805 the territory now within Goshen 272 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. township was included in Salem township. Owing to the. absence of the commissioners' records it is not certain when Goshen township was organized, but when Union township was organized in 1811. Goshen was made a part of it. The population of this new township of Union increased so rapidly during the next three years that by 1814 (or 1815) the commissioners divided Union into two equal parts, the western half retaining the old name of Union and the eastern half being given the Biblical appellation of Goshen. Who was responsible for the name is not known, but it was presumably suggested by the settlers who petitioned for the organization of the township. As near as can be determined the township was officially set off in spring of 1815, the year which saw the close of the War of 1812, and the election for the first township 0fficers was ,held the week after Napoleon "met his Waterloo." On June 24, 1815, three justices of the peace were elected and, while it is not definitely known whether this was the first election or not, yet the evidence points to it as being such. Thirty-one votes were cast. The judges were James Owen, Benjamin Brown and John Armstrong; the clerks were John Cory and John Kain, the latter being the founder of the village of Mechanicsburg; the successful candidates were John Owen, William Bay and John Brittin. The 'farmers were evidently busy on that day and did not turn out for the election, since on October 10, 1815, 'four months later, there were sixty votes cast. NO RECORD OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. The historian who attempts to assert definitely who the first settler in G0shen township was finds himself involved in a maze of. statements. Few of the earlier settlers entered land and. being only squatters they left no official record of their existence. Many of these first squatters refused to buy land when it was placed on the market and moved on to newer locations rather than make the effort to secure a home in the township. Undoubtedly there were settlers here before 1805, but who they were or where they settled are facts which will probably never be known. The first settler to leave any official record of his arrival in the county and township is Jacob Hazle, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to the township about 1805. The deed for the three hundred and twenty-four acres of land which he purchased was recorded on January 28, 1812. After buying the land Hazle returned to his home in Pennsylvania and did not return to the county until two or three years later. In the meantime his father,
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 273 Henry Hazle, and his brother-in-law, Thomas Lawson and wife, came to the township and located on the tract purchased by Jacob Hazle. This farm was located in the extreme northeastern portion of the .township. Joseph Cummings, a native of Massachusetts, arrived in the township in 1806 with his family, and located north of Little lake. Joseph Cummings and Sally Porter were born and married in Massachusetts, leaving their native state in 1790 for western Pennsylvania. In 1795 they went to Marietta. Ohio, and in 1806 drove over to Champaign county. When they came here they had one son and three daughters, and one son was born after they moved to this county. Joseph Cummings died in 1813 and his son of the same name took up the burden of providing for the family. Joseph Cummings, Jr., was with Hull at Detroit and was taken prisoner, but finally made his escape and returned home. He lived in Ohio until 1844 and then moved to Van Buren county, Iowa. His wife died in 1853 and in 1856 he located in Indiana, where he lived with his daughter until his death in 1867. SOME OTHER EARLY PIONEERS. Hugh Bay came to Goshen township in 1806 and located just north of Cummings (survey No. 5408), where he lived the remainder of his days. The same year brought John Brittin to the township and saw him located on a tract about a mile northeast of Mechanicsburg. The year 1808 introduced a number of new settlers into the township : Joseph Porter located north of Mechanicsburg near Joseph Cummings and was the first person buried in the Brittin cemetery, his death occurring in September, 1809. Richard Corbis came from what is now Union township to Goshen in 1808 and located a mile south of Mechanicsburg, this settler being remembered as the only one who had a wagon in the township for a number of years. Theodoric Spain settled next to Richard Corbis, he being one of the family of that name who were so largely identified with the early history of Wayne and Rush townships. Jonathan Brown, William Frankberger, John Cowan, John Pepper and William Burnside were others who arrived about 1808 or before. William Burnside is probably the most interesting of this group of old pioneers. He came to the township and first settled south of Mechanics, burg and is credited with establishing the first blacksmith shop in the county. In 1812 he went to Urbana and was employed by the government there as a blacksmith. He was under Captain Thorpe and later when the army (18) 274 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of Hull marched out he went along as a member of a militia company. About 1820 Burnside moved to Madison county, where he died in 1822, his wife surviving him until 1855. One of the sons of this old pioneer blacksmith was Joel Burnside, who was about six years of age when the family came to the county in 808; While the family was in Urbana the boy served as special cook for Captain Thorpe. This son located on a farm in Goshen township later and lived there until 1875 when he moved to Mechanicsburg to spend his declining years. LIVED AT PEACE WITH THE INDIANS. These early pioneers made friends with the Indians and lived in peace and amity until the opening of the War of 1812 caused practically all the aboriginals to leave the. county. It appears that there was no Indian village in Goshen township, but they oftentimes camped along the streams when they were hunting in the county. During the War of 1812 a number of the settlers of Goshen township, then a part of Union township, served at the front. Among `the number who belonged to a local company which was sent to a blockhouse in Logan county, on the farm of: a man by the name of Menary (hence the Ft. Menary, often referred to in local newspapers), were Jacob Hazle, William Burnside, Hugh Bay, John Frankberger, William Kelley, Nelson Lansdale and Joshua Shepherd. The captain of this local militia company was Abner Barret, often given as the first permanent settler of Wayne township. This local company was on duty at the blockhouse during July and: August, 1813, and it was while they were there that a man by the name of Thomas and son were killed by the Indians in that vicinity. The two victims of Indian savagery were brought to Urbana and buried. While the company were at the blockhouse an alarm was given and a number of the settlers gathered at the house of John Frankberger for mutual protection, :hut there was no cause for apprehension. THE PLATTING OF MECHANICSBURG. A large number of settlers cane to the township during the War of 1812 and immediately after the close of that struggle there was a decided increase in the influx of settlers. In fact so pronounced was the migration that in 1814 John Kain felt that there was a sufficient number of people to justify the platting of a village in about the center of the township- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 275 and thus Mechanicsburg began its official career on August 6, 1814. The chapter on Mechanicsburg presented elsewhere in this volume reviews at length the record of a large number of the early settlers of the central part of this township. It may be said that in 1814 (or 1815), the same year the township was organized, it had more actual settlers than Union township, from which it had been set off. Among those prominent in (this year were Jonathan Doty, Benjamin Griffin, John and Philip Winans, William Woods, Christopher, Henry and George Millice, Thomas and Richard Lansdale, Fermi Baker, William Cheney, John Sherry, Samuel Mars, Alexander McCorkle and Insine Mitchell. EARLY INDUSTRIES. The first grist-mill in the township was started on the present site of Mechanicsburg about 1812 and, according to tradition, the settlers went together to build the race to provide, the water for the mill. It ground only corn, since there was no way of bolting flour even if they had had the wheat to grind. The few settlers who had any. wheat had it ground in the corn buhr and then did their own bolting. In 1818 the first mill was succeeded by a much better one, operated by one Andrew Staley. This mill of 1818 gave way to the third mill in 1840, Staley still being the owner, and he continued as the village miller until 1875. This mill is still in operation in 1917 under different management, a full account of which is given in the history of the town. In 1823 Jonathan Cheney put up a second mill along Darby river, west of the present site of Mechanicsburg, and since that time the town has had two flouring-mills. The Cheney. mill later became known as the Hunter mill. Treacles creek, which runs practicably parallel with the northern boundary of the county and about a mile from it, was the site of two mills early in the history of the township. One was located in the northwestern corner of the township near where the road crosses Treacles creek. It is not known who was the first owner. of the mill but it. was later known as the Wood, ward mill. It was discontinued during the latter part of the seventies. Joseph Coffey bought it from John Woodward in 1883, and moved it to a new location and converted the building into a barn. The other mill (in Treacle creek is located about a quarter of a mile east of the Mechanicsburg-Woodstock pike. It made its appearance as early as 1823 and for years was known as the Darrow mill. It was in the hands of the Darrow 276 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. family when it closed its career as an industrial establishment in the latter part of the seventies. Another industry of bygone days was a distillery which stood about four miles south of Mechanicsburg near the Catawba pike. It was built by Eli Baldridge and. a man by the name of Merrill shortly after the close of the War of 1812. It is known to have been in operation in 1817 and to have continued in business until 1824. It is recorded that a Methodist exhorter, William Bay by name, was once a partner in the business. In those days the manufacture and use of whiskey were not regarded with that degree of disfavor bestowed by the present generation. The best people drank—saints and sinners, the good, the bad, men and women, and little was thought about it. People went to the distillery then with their corn with less hesitancy than they now take grain to mill to be ground. It has taken about a hundred years for people to get their eyes open—and some still have imperfect vision. The largest industrial., plant outside of Mechanicsburg in Goshen township was the old woolen factory which stood just east of the town. This was established before the Civil War and continued in operation under various owners for many years. It was known in later years as the Stewart & Mickle woolen factory. OTHER LOCAL SETTLEMENTS.. There have never been any towns platted in the township except Medianicsburg. For several years there has been a store in the extreme northwestern corner of the township and the site of the store and a house or two so impressed the men connecetd with the United States geological survey that they have labeled it "Crimville." The store is. now in charge of John Crim and he likewise is. the owner of the only other house 'in the village of Crimville. There is a hamlet half a mile east of Mechanicsburg on the Liverpool pike. It contains probably . two hundred inhabitants and has a store and blacksmith shop. It seems to owe its origin to a carpenter by the name of Bryan, an Englishman, who built a number of houses on either side of the road. He sold the houses at such a price as to attract a number of people to his embryonic village and in the course of time the cluster 'of houses became known as Nashville. It is not certain When the name was first applied, who applied it, or the reason for the application, but it has been known as Nashville for more than half a century. A blacksmith by the name of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 277 Robinson built a shop east of town and between his shop and Guy's tile factory were found the houses of carpenter Bryan. The owners of the new houses found employment in the tile factory or on the Wing farms. The place has never been platted. G. C. Clemons has a general store in the village in 1917. The Hunter mill has been dismantled for several years; the woolen fact0ry ceased operation about 1900; the tile factory closed its career in 1917; the cheese factory went out of business about 1880. All of these industries were flourishing a quarter of a century ago, but in 1917 their respective careers are remembered only by those of a generation ago. The times change, mills come and go, and these once thriving mills and factories of Goshen township have disappeared never to return. CHAPTER XIV. HARRISON TOWNSHIP. Harrison township, the smallest township in the county was a part of the Mad River township which was set off by the associate judges on April 20, 1805. As the county increased in population it was further subdivided into civil townships and with the creation of Logan, county to the north and Clark county to the south in 1817 Champaign county was reduced to its present limits. Harrison township came into existence as the result of a petition to the county commissioners, but it was not given the limits which it has today until 1828, when the southern, tier of sections was added. AS. the township is now constituted it contains twenty-four sections, the three southern tiers of range 13, township 4, and the northern tier of range 12, township 4. It is bounded on the north by Logan county, on the east by Salem township, on the south by Concord township and on the west by Adams', township. DRAINAGE OF THE TOWNSHIP. The central and eastern portion of the township drain into Mad river through Gladys creek. Muddy creek and Emery creek also furnish drainage for the southern part of the township, their waters emptying into Mad river, which river just cuts the southeastern corner of the township. The northwestern corner of the township is drained by Lee creek and Grave creek, both of which eventually find their way into the Great Miami. These streams, aided by extensive systems of artificial drainage, have brought the township to a place where it is one of the best drained in the county. The dredging of Mad river during the past few years has meant the reclamation of a considerable portion of the eastern and southeastern portions of the township which were formerly untillable during wet seasons. Following the dredging of Mad river, the mouths of Muddy creek and Gladys creek were dredged for a distance of five hundred feet and this made a very appreciable difference in the ability of these streams to carry off the water of their respective basins. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 279 EARLY SETTLERS. Harrison township was one of the last townships in the county to be settled, a fact clue to its dense forests and the general swampiness of the land. The first settler of the township was a man by the name of Fuson, a native of Virginia, who came on horseback from his native state to Champaign county about 1804. There is an interesting story connected with his trip from Virginia to this county, and it is given here as it has been repeated in former annals of the county. It it said that Fuson brought with him from Virginia his saddle bags full of white corn and dropped the grain at intervals all along the road; at least he had some of the corn left when he reached Champaign county. So closely is he identified with the introduction of white corn in the West that Fuson corn is now know\ throughout the Mississippi valley. Fuson located in Harrison township about 808, entering a part of section 24, and lived there the remainder of his days. He was one of the first trustees of the township upon its organization and served in that capacity for a number of years. His first wife died and he later married Jane Johnson. His children by his first marriage were William, James, John, Jeremiah, Hannah, Arthur and Celia; by his second marriage his children were Philander, Millie, Minerva, Milton; Dora and some who died in infancy. FIRST WEDDING IN THE TOWNSHIP. The second settler in the township was Ralph Robinson who located in section 25 in 1809. At the time he entered his first quarter of a section he was unmarried, but he later married Hannah Conklin and it is presumed that their marriage was the first solemnized in the township. They reared a large family in the township. Robinson died in 1854 on the farm where he started life after his marriage. Probably the third settler in the township was Jacob Sarver, a native of Virginia, born in 1779, and married in 1802 to Nancy Robinson, a native of Pennsylvania. They located in Harrison township probably as early as 1808, entering a quarter of section 25. He died in 1844 and his wife survived until 1872, she being ninety-six years of age at the time of her death. William Wilson was one of the first half dozen settlers of the township. He was horn in Ireland in 1780 and came to America in. 1793 with his father, James, and his uncle, Charles. They located in Virginia and 280 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. in that state. William grew to manhood and married Rebecca Humphreys about 1805 or 1806. In 1807 the young couple, in conjunction with several others, packed all of their household belongings and set out for the promised land—the state of Ohio. They first located in what is now Clark county, then Champaign county, but four years later located on section 12 in what is now Harrison township. For some reason they were not satisfied with their new location in Harrison township and a year or two later found them back at their old home near Springfield. The year 1816, however, saw them back in Harrison township and there they continued to reside until their deaths. He died in 832 and his wife; in 1848. They were the parents of a number of children, Mary, James, Andrew, William, Margaret and John H. The latter son was treasurer of the township for a number of years, a very eccentric sort of it man, but ays regarded as an honest and upright citizen. OTHER EARLY SETTLERS. Jeptha Terrell, one of the early settlers of the township, was born in Virginia in 1776 and after marrying Sarah Barnes in his native state, came to Champaign county in 1811. Terrell had entered a part of section 32, the patent being dated March 2, 1812, and on this he and :his young wife located in the spring of 1812 and lived the remainder of their days. They reared a family of twelve children and their son, Timothy, born June 28, 1797, was the last one of the family to Hire in the township. He served as justice of the peace for a number of years and passed away in the latter part of the eighties. At the time of his death he was the- oldest person in point of residence in the township. Elijah T. Davis, a native of Kentucky, came to this township in 1815 and settled in section 33. He had married Elizabeth Vance in Kentucky and their first son, Benjamin, was born in Kentucky in 1804 and came with his parents to Champaign county. He married Peggy Wilson in 1827, and she dying in 1831, he was married two years later to Sarah Risor, who died in 864. Elijah T. Davis and wife had two daughters in addition to the one son. E. T. Davis died in 1840. His son, Benjamin, died in 1873. Joseph Wilson was the first of the family of that name to locate in Harrison township and his arrival in 1817 marks the beginning of a new era in the Wilson family history. Wilson was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1792, and the year after his marriage in 1816 to Eleanor Fullerton he and his young wife came to Champaign county and CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 281 located on section 27. His wife died on July 30, 1832, and in March of the following year he married Amanda Spencer. She died in 1862 and he survived his second wife four years. Sixteen children were the fruits of these two unions among whom were the following: Miles, Joseph, Henry, Ebenezer, Dr. J. F., Sallie, David, Clark, H. B., Nancy, Ella and Thomas. Ella was the wife of James B. Armstrong, county surveyor, county treasurer, and president of the first national bank established in Urbana. Peter Speece, another of the many Virginians to locate in the county, entered land in section 25 of Harrison township in 1814. Jacob Sarver, who has been previously mentioned, moved Speece from his Virginia Bore to his new home in Harrison township and the two farmers lived side by side for years. William Speece, one of the sons of Peter, was worth fifty cents on his wedding day in addition to whatever value he may have placed upon his wife, but in the course of time he became the wealthiest man in the township and one of the wealthiest in the county. This family is still well represented in the county. William Jones came from Virginia to Clark county in 1816 and to Harrison township, Champaign county, in 1827, locating on section 24. \\Then the Jones family left Virginia all they had besides a large family of children was the wagon which brought them here, valued at eight dollars, and one horse which was purchased for ten dollars. Jones himself walked the whole way while part of the children trudged along most of the time. The family were so poor that the children went without shoes from one end of the year to the other. And yet when Jones died he was worth twenty thousand dollars. Most of his children settled in the West. FAMILY FURNISHED TWO BANK PRESIDENTS. Among the other early settlers of Harrison township may be mentioned John Taylor, who came here about 1817, and subsequently married Jane Vance, a sister of Governor Vance. Two of their sons became bank presidents; Oliver, president of the First National Bank of Urbana, and Samuel, president of the National Bank of West Liberty. John McIntire, a native of Virginia, settled here about 1813. Thomas Daniels came from Virginia and located in section 19 before the War of 1812. Prominent among the later group of settlers were Adam Hanger, Ebenezer McDonald, William Kirkwood and George Leonard. The first of the Hangers came in 1840, in which year Adam Hanger bought a large tract of land in sections 8 and 9. Ebenezer McDonald, a combination of 282 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Virginian and Abolitionist, came to the county in 1810 and to Harrison township about the middle of the twenties, locating on section 9. McDonald married Anna Kelley near Mt. Tabor church in 1818 and to this union were born ten children.. William Kirkwood was married' when he came here in 1817. He was an Irishman whose father was a participant in the Revolutionary War shortly after coming to this country and was the recipient of land for his services. The senior Kirkwood came with his on and the latter's wife to Champaign county and settled with them on section 3. William had a son, David, named after his grandfather, who succeeded to the paternal estate after the death of his father in 1849. The wife of William died in 1870. George Leonard came to Salem township from Virginia in 1805 and in 1839 located near Spring Hills. The family lived there for many years and its representatives are still to be found in the county. One of his sons became a noted physician and eventually president of the Ohio State Medical Society. While definite data has been preserved concerning the old settlers above enumerated, there are many others who were no doubt as prominently identified with the early history of the township. A perusal of the` records shows the following land owners registered in the township ''before 1820: Section 1, Mathew Kayanaugh ; section 7, Joseph Carle and :Joseph Hewlings ; section 13, Joseph Hewlings and Miles Wilson ; section 26, James McAlexander ; section 30, John Humphreys and William Wilson. Of this number the Hewlings family were probably the most widely represented in the township in later years.. Joseph Hewlings entered land as early as 1811 and kept entering additional tracts from year to year until' he was one of the largest landowners in the township. INDIANS AND EARLY SETTLERS. The first settlers who ventured into what is now Harrison township found a number of the original owners of the land still occupying it. The latter had no legal right to remain on the land, but they kept coming there year after year in the summer until the whites had taken formal possession of their once "happy hunting ground." These Indians were uniformly peaceful and never troubled the settlers except to annoy them with begging. They would not steal and, while they would not always tell the truth about everything, yet they were not much different from some of the New England Yankees on that score. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 283 At the opening of the War of 1812 there was such apprehension concerning the Indians that the settlers got together and built a fort on the farm of Ralph Robinson, about two miles south of Spring Hills, which is known in the military annals of the township as Ft. Robinson. This fort or stockade was built during the summer of 1812 and included a sufficient tract to accommodate all of the families of the neighborhood: It was built of logs cut about the length of a rail—eight feet—which were sunk in a trench about three feet deep, or to a sufficient depth to make a firm stockade of the perpendicular logs. William Wilson was detailed to take charge of the fort and was in charge when the news of Hull's surrender of Detroit reached the neighborhood. The settlers were thrown into a panic and most of them hurried to the stockade with their families. Jacob Sarver rode at once to Ft. Piqua to get definite information concerning the Indians and what might be expected from them. He soon returned with the news that there was no danger of any Indian uprising or of any invasion by the British soldiers. As far as is known no settlers were killed by the Indians in this township, no actual encounters ever having taken place, although some troublesome Indians were to be seen in the township for several years after the War of 1812. Some Indians were occasional visitors until in the twenties, but by the latter part of that decade all vestiges of former Indian occupation had disappeared forever. SOME INCIDENTS OF PIONEER DAYS. Among a large number of incidents concerning the early pioneers in Harrison township it is possible to present only a few. Although this is the smallest township in the county, it would be possible to write a Volume telling of conditions as they existed during the years which have passed since the township first came into existence. Hunting stories would easily fill a chapter; stories of panther; bear, deer, wolf and turkey hunts are common to this township, as to all others of the county. The story has been handed through three generations of how James Kavanaugh shot a panther out of a tree one night while a party was out hunting. The panther dropped to the ground in the agony of death and crushed the skull of one of the dogs before finally being dispatched. The McIntire family have handed down a story which shows the honesty of the old settlers. Few instances are on record of robberies or swindles in the early history of the county. Thomas McIntire, one of the wealthy citizens of the township, was known to keep large amounts of silver specie 284 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.. in his house, but although this was common information he was never robbed. At one time the family were all away and eight hundred dollars was left in the house with no thought on the part of the family of hiding it. The Terrells were probably more numerous for several years than any other family in the township. There was hardly a public gathering where there would not be from a dozen to a score of the members of this family present. Timothy Terrell is said to have planted' the first apple tree in the township. The first graveyard was on the farm of ,Ralph Robinson about two miles south of Spring Hills, its first occupant being a child which lost its life by being burned to death. Two children of Samuel Robinson died with the whooping cough and they became the next.-dwellers in this first city of the dead. The first suicide in the township is said to have occurred on July 4, 1846. The unfortunate person was a boy named Jacob Franklin, a poor lad who had been apprenticed to Nathan Crutcher. On this. particular day there was a big celebration at Spring Hills and the boy asked to be allowed to attend, but he was not allowed to go. After the family had gone away to spend the day, the poor boy took his master's .gun and shot himself. The .family found him weltering in his own blood when they returned that evening. As may be imagined the affair caused great excitement in the countryside. EARLY INDUSTRIES. There have never been many mills in Harrison township. One reason was because there were many mills in adjoining townships which were easily accessible to the early settlers, and also the fact that there was a good mill early erected on Graves creek, just south of Spring Hills. The settlers themselves co-operated in constructing the race to provide an ample supply of water for this mill, just who was its first owner not being known. Later Jeptha Terrell owned it and in connection with the grist-mill installed a distillery and still later added a saw-mill. The first blacksmith shop was in charge of one Charles Fielder in the village of Spring Hills and he was in charge of the anvil and forge in that place for many years. One of the few pioneers grist-mills of the county is still in operation and is owned by Gottlieb. Seigenthaler of Spring Hills. The mill is located just south of the village and was built about 1858 by Dan Melhorn. The mill race which is more than one-half mile long, was built shortly before the mill. A saw-mill stood just below the race before the grist-mill was erected and the water power to run it was secured from this race. Since Mr. Seigenthaler CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 285 became the owner of the mill several improvements have been made in the mill, including the installation of a turbine in 1892. The remains of the large mill-dam which was built by a man named Ironschmidt are still to be seen. The dam as it appears today is nearly twenty feet high, through the center of which is a large opening caused by the flood of 1881, when the whole valley was flooded. The dam broke previous to this time and was repaired, but nothing was done to it after the flood above mentioned. The darn was built originally to furnish power for the saw- and grist-mill which was located just below the dam. Another one of the early mills was a corn cracker, located two and one-half miles from Spring Hills on Landes creek. SPRING HILLS. The present village of Spring Hills was laid out as Middleburg on March 17, 1832, by Joseph Woods, -proprietor. The original plat contained forty-seven lots and one lot labeled "meeting-house lot." TO this original plat two additions have been made : March 13; 1840, thirty lots by Benjamin Sweet ; March 13, 1848, twenty-two lots by Joseph Woods. The inland location of the village and its remoteness from the railroad has made it impossible to make any substantial growth. It has not numbered more than two hundred souls since the seventies and its industries have naturally been small, confined as they have been to a few stores and blacksmith shops. However, at one time it was one of the most promising villages of the county. In the eighties there was a railroad projected which would have passed through the village—the Bellefontaine, Troy & Evansville railroad—but it never materialized and there is no prospect at the present time that a railroad will ever reach the village. When Joseph Woods laid out his town in 832 he placed the lots on sale and a number of them were sold at prices ranging from seven to forty dollars. In that same year John Vance erected the first building and it was used as a combined dwelling house and store. An addition to this building was later added by Doctor Pringle, who was the first physician, and in it he established what he chose to call an apothecary shop. George Shaw built the second house in the village in 1833, a log structure which Stood until in the latter part of the eighties. It seems that Joseph Irwin was the first blacksmith to start a regular blacksmith shop in the village, although Charles Fielder had done blacksmith work on the site of the village several years before it was laid out. George Bell opened the first tavern in the building which was erected in 1832 by Vance and later used by Doctor Pringle as a 286 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. dwelling house and office. A large two-story brick building was built a few years after the war by Isaac Eads, Mathew Cretcher and other citizens on the main street of the village. This became the principal building of the town, contained the largest store and was looked upon as a model of city architecture. It is not possible to follow the coming and going of the several merchants, blacksmiths and physicians who have lived at one time or another in Spring Hills. During the Civil War John C. Eby, later mayor for a number of years, opened a tavern known as the Eureka Hotel. Eby had been a blacksmith in the village for a number of years and Was also in the mercantile business for a while. He was one of the most prominent figures in the life of the village for many years. Doctors Pringle aired Wilson were succeeded in later years by Dr. T. T. Hale and Dr. C. A. Offenbacher, both of whom came to the village about 1870. There have been Physicians in the village since Doctor Pringle first hung out his shingle. In the years following the Civil War Joseph E. Piatt located in the village and opened a harness shop. One industry which should be mentioned in connection with Spring Hills is a flouring-mill which was in operation as early as the forties. William M. Bean, a practical miller, a soldier in the Confederate army, came to Champaign county in the fall of 1865 and took charge of the Arrowsmith mill on Mad river and operated it until i869. He later was in Missouri, farming and milling for about five years, after which .he returned to Champaign county and took charge of the flouring-mill just south of Spring Hills. SPRING HILLS IN 1861. The high tide of the village seems to have been reached about the time of the opening of the Civil War. The following extract taken from one of the Urbana newspapers draws a vivid picture of the village as it looked to its correspondent at the time : "It was a manufacturing place, and during the height of its industrial career at least twenty-five industries were in operation. Among the important industries was a boot and shoe manufacturing establishment, which was conducted by a firm known as Fry & Burkhardt, and another of the same which was conducted by a man named Hopkins. There was a cigar shop which employed four or five men and which was owned by Frank Bull; there was also a harness shop which employed four or five men and was conducted by Alexander Piatt. Three cooper shops were running at full blast and employed several men, but with the advance- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 287 ment of time this industry long ceased to exist. A firm by the name of Skeen & Horr were manufacturers of brooms; there was one tailor shop that employed two or three men ; one cabinet-making shop; one tannery employing several men; also a large brick kiln that employed not only men of the village but of the surrounding community. There were two first class general stores and one grocery; one chair manufacturer; two good blacksmith shops; two first class hotels, and, very close to the village, an excellent flour-mill, a saw-mill and wagon-manufacturing establishment. In connection with these business industries may also be mentioned the fact that the village had two saloons. The religious life of the community was well taken care of as is evidenced by the fact that at that early date there were three churches in the village." POSTOFFICE AND BUSINESS INTERESTS. The village was called West Middleburg until an supplication was made to have a postoffice established, when it was learned that a village of that same name existed in Logan county. A postoffice was established under the name of Spring Hills, John Vance being the first postmaster. Newton Barnett was the last postmaster. During the early days the people of the village received their mail by means of a "star route" from DeGraff to Urbana. J. L. Wren and :a man by the name of Porter carried the mail between these points for several years. Among the early business men of the village was the firm of Main & Trout, who kept a general store. David Pitman was an active merchant during the war, and James Smith kept a store where Barnett's store is now. In later years John Espy built a store where Perry Garver's grocery is at the present time. Newton Barnett, the leading merchant of the village at the present time, was a clerk in Espy's store. The village still maintains its corporate identity, the officers for 1917 being the following : Walter R. Dorsey, mayor ; Edward Moore, clerk ; James Barnett, treasurer ; Frank Smith, health officer ; O. P. Garver, Herman Garver, councilmen. About the year 1900 the township and the village erected a public hall for all public gatherings. The one secret society, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, became dormant in the fall of 1916. The business interests of today are as follow : Newton Barnett, general store ; Perry Garver, grocery ; John Peck, grocery ; Thomas Kemp, barber ; Samuel Siegenthaler, grist-mill ; Harvey Kemp, shoe cobbler ; David Hostetler, blacksmith, C. Corwin, blacksmith. CHAPTER XV. JACKSON TOWNSHIP. Jackson township is the southwestern township of the .county, being bounded on the north by Johnson township, on the east by Mad ;River township, on the south by Clark county and on the west by Miami county. It was a part of the original Mad River township which was organized` on April 20, 1805, and continued a part of that township until it was set off in 1817 at the time. Clark county was organized. It contains thirty-six full sections, thirty of. township 3, range 11, and six of township 3, range 10. The township was named in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson whose battle of New Orleans was fresh in the minds of every settler in the township in 1817. DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY. Jackson township is one of the best farming townships in the county. Much of its surface is composed of what is locally- known as "second bottom'' or "valley" land, and this designation sufficiently describes it. The surface is gently undulating, but not so rolling as to render it unfit for cultivation. It falls, as does the remainder of the county in the glacial region, but it happens in this township that the gravel in most places is deeply. covered with the drift. This has left beds of clay here and there, and some of the clay makes as fine brick and tile as any clay in the state. There have been both tile and brick kilns in the county for more than half a century. The natural resources not only include a very fertile soil, plenty of excellent gravel and a high quality of clay, but also a good outcrop of stone. The limestone which outcrops in section 15 is of the same quality of limestone which outcrops in Logan county. As early as 1840 a quarry was opened, in the southwest quarter of section 15, but it was closed down shortly after the Civil War. The quarry in section 2 of Salem township produced the same quality of stone. However, the most valuable stone crop in the township is the boulder crop. These granite boulders of all sizes and shapes are found over the western part of the township and within the past few years have begun to command a good -price. All of these boulders were swept down at the same time the gravel was deposited in the county. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 289 The natural drainage of the township is easily effected through the numerous streams and creeks which wend their ways through all the little valleys of the township. Most of the township lies in the Mad river basin. Chapman creek and Blacksnake creek drain the eastern and southern parts of the township, while the remainder of the township falls within the Miami river basin and is drained through Honey creek and Lost creek. FIRST SETTLERS. The first settler of Jackson township was a soldier of the Revolutionary War and he is recorded as having built a cabin on section 2 as early as 1802. Charles Dorsey, this courageous pioneer, came to the county alone and entered a quarter of a section and after building his cabin and clearing a small tract returned to Virginia for his family. He returned to his new home with his wife and children, but died in a few years. His tombstone which was fairly legible in 1880 gives July 14, 1811, as the date of his death and but little more is known of him. He was buried on the old Grafton farm in section 3. If Dorsey left any descendants they left the county early in its history, the local records making no mention of anyone of this name. Between the time that Dorsey returned to his home in Virginia and his second coming to Champaign county, the next permanent settlers found their way to Jackson township. This places the arrival of John Kain (Cane or Kane) and William Lemon in the township sometime prior to 1805. They settled on section 2 and both men seemed to have sold their entries in 1814. The recorder's record shows that John Kain sold one quarter of section 2 to Nathan Hill and another quarter to William Darnell, both quarters in 1814; also the records show that one Joseph S. Reynolds sold part of his land to William Lemon in 1814. This Kain was evidently the same man who laid out Mechanicsburg in 1814. Lemon built a cabin and after clearing a small patch of ground returned to Virginia to get his wife and four children. Like the Dorsey family the Lemons early disappeared from Jackson township history. Following the Dorsey, Rain and Lemon families, the settlers began to come in groups and most of them from Virginia. LIST OF ORIGINAL LAND OWNERS. In this township as in most of the other townships in the county west of the Ludlow Line the records of deeds seldom indicate the original entry (19) 290 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. from the United: States government. In Jackson township there are not over twenty-five patents recorded, and not more than fifty deeds of any kind recorded prior to 1820. Therefore a study of the records themselves fails to show who were the earliest settlers. To catalogue the settlers, or at least those whose deeds to land are recorded prior to 1820, would be to name a few of the earliest settlers. The following list of landowners is taken directly from the deed book in the recorder's office and shows those who owned land in the township prior to 1820, but does not necessarily prove that they were bona fide residents of the land. Section 2—Joseph Reynolds and Isaac Reynolds, 1810; John Kain, Nathan Hill and William Darnell, 814; William Lemon, 1814; Jacob Conklin, 1816. Section 3—James Black, March 5, 1812. Section 5—George Faulkner and Zachariah Putnam. Section 15—Robert S., John and Martin Reynolds, January 1, 1816; each acquired seventy-one acres. Section 17—Jacob Malin, 1816. Section 21—Richard Southgate, 1817. Section 22—Henry Huddleston, 1817. Section 31—Robert Stapleton and William Stapleton, 1814; Robert Williams and Samuel Martin, 1817; Joseph Butcher and James Smith, 1820. Section 32—John Merritt, June 1, 1814. A deed recorded May 1, 1819, transferred one acre from Merritt to the trustees of the Baptist church. This became the Honey Creek Baptist church, which has had a long and eventful career. The church has made several additions to its holdings, most of which have been evidently additions to the cemetery. The successive purchases of land and amounts are taken from the records, to-wit : January 16, 1834, one acre; April 15, 874, one-half acre; September 20, 1879, one-half acre; December 5, 1900, one and three-fourths acres ; January 4, 1901, lot ten feet by thirteen and one-half rods ; October 18, 1913, one acre. Section 35—David Brower, 1815; John Sills, 188. The early local accounts pertaining to the first settlers make no mention of several of the landowners above listed. As before stated there is no certainty that a landowner ever saw the tract which he entered or later bought. It is true that most of the early settlers entered the land on which they lived, but there was a considerable number who were "squatters" or what were known as "tenants at will." Scores of early settlers were not landowners and for that reason failed to get in the early records. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 291 EARLY IDENTIFIED WITH TOWNSHIP. The names of Thomas Grafton, Thomas Cowie, George Wilson, Sampson- Kelley and Joshua Darnell are identified with the history of the township before 1810. Wilson was in the township in the spring of 1805 and built a cabin on half of section 36, which he had entered at Cincinnati on his way to the county. Part of this section he later sold to the Howells and it eventually became a part of the present village of Christiansburg. Sampson Kelley was an Irishman, born in 1773, came to this country in 1791, located in Virginia, married there and came to Jackson township in 1806 and located on the southwest corner of section 3. He was married and had three daughters when he arrived in the township and had three sons born after he came to this county. His son, Joseph, was the first white child born in the township. Kelley lived only a short time after his youngest son was born and after his death his farm was sold because the members of the family could not meet the payments. It brought between five and six dollars an acre. Thomas Grafton, a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, came to Jackson township in 1806 with his son and entered the southeast quarter of section 3, and impressed his individuality upon his generation so that his farm is known as the "old Grafton farm" to this day. He and his wife had a family of eight children: James, Ambrose, Susan, Elizabeth, John, Sarah, Thomas and Amelia. Some of the boys were large enough to be of considerable help to their father when the family located here, and consequently he was soon able to have a goodly tract ready to put under cultivation. James and Ambrose fought in the War of 1812 ; Thomas, another son, became the largest landowner in the family and in his time had more land in the township than any other man. The senior Grafton died August 12, 1851, in his ninety-second year. Thomas Cowhic came to the county from Virginia in the spring of 1806 and located in the township, where he made his home until his death. It has often been remarked that the early settlers used poor judgment in entering land, in that they were not able to distinguish good from bad land. With many of them the presence of a spring was the largest determining factor in their choice of a section of land; the fact that the land might be very poor-never occurring to them. The later settlers usually exercised better judgment in the selection of land. They were also frequently able to buy for a small amount in advance of the price of government land, a tract which had been previously entered and which had several acres cleared, or at least "deadened." 292 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANSBURG. One of the most influential of the early settlers in Jackson township was Joshua Howell, the founder of Christiansburg, who came from Virginia in 1808 with his wife, Mary, and eight children: Joshua, John, Thomas, James, Daniel, Jeremiah, Abigail and Nancy. He located on section 31, part of which is now within the corporate limits of Christiansburg. He and his sons at once built a rude log cabin and set about clearing a tract large enough to furnish food for a family of this size. The Howells are said to have put out the first apple orchard in the county and there were trees in this orchard bearing as late as the seventies. Most of the Howell children left the township after they reached maturity, and the old pioneer himself spent his last days in Indiana at the home of one of his children. Daniel Howell, one of the sons of Joshua, was married in Virginia before coming to the county in 1810 and entered a tract of land in the vicinity of his father's place. About the same time David Field came to the township from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and entered a quarter section south of Christiansburg, in section 36. He built the usual cabin, cleared a good-sized tract and lived on the farm until 1820 when he sold it to David Sills. After disposing of his farm near the village, Field bought a farm of seventy-four acres immediately north of the village and erected a second log cabin. In the section south of Christiansburg there were settlers by the name of Samuel Martin, Robert Williams and James Smith before 1820, but nothing is known of their personal history. It is presumed that all of them came directly from Virginia or from Kentucky. John Fitzpatrick, a Virginian, had come to Urbana in 1810 and located 0n the farm of John Reynolds. In 1816 he came to Jackson township and entered the southwest corner of section 10, where he at once located with his wife and six children. He left a large number of descendants in the county. John Johnson and William McCrea came to the township before the twenties and both became prominent figures in its early history. Johnson was born in Fremont county, Kentucky, in 1794 and had lived in Ohio for a time before coming to Champaign county. He bought a tract from Elijah Dawson and James Reynolds for five dollars an acre, a. piece of ground so wet that it is strange that he should have wanted to locate on it. He picked out a high and dry spot in the midst of his large tract, built a round-log hut, the kind with a stick-and-mud chimney, clapboard roof, puncheon floor and greased-paper windows. Johnson reared a large family and many of his descendants are still found in the county. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 293 FIRST MERCHANT IN CHRISTIANSBURG. William McCrea was only fourteen years of age when he came to Champaign county with his father and mother from Scotland. His father entered a half section adjoining Christiansburg, but later had to relinquish a part of it. This Scotch lad grew to manhood on his father's farm and later had the honor of being the first merchant in the village of Christiansburg. More of his mercantile career is set forth in the history of the town, but it may be stated here that his little log store where he dispensed all kinds of goods and wares—wet, dry and hard—a department store, it would be called today, was an important factor in the life of Jackson township. McCrea had the first frame house in the township. This also was the first house that boasted of plastered walls. It was as much of a curiosity to the people in its day as a flying machine would be -at the present time should it land in the midst of Christiansburg. This Scotchman can certainly be called the most prominent man in the history of Jackson township for several years. He was not only one of the wealthiest men, but was interested in all public movements. He held at one time or another practically every township office and closed his official career by a term in the state Legislature as a representative from Champaign county, serving three consecutive terms. A LIST OF THE TOWNSHIP'S "FIRSTS." Jackson township local records have been preserved a large number of "firsts" and as many of these as could be collected are here presented. It has been stated that the first settler was Charles Dorsey and that Josph Kelley was the first white child born in the township. George Wilson is credited with being the first shoemaker; William McCrea, the first storekeeper, and William Kelley, the first tanner. He was in charge of a tannery in Addison from 1832 to 1850. John Johnson started the first corn-cracker on his farm and his mill must have run on low speed if the story preserved of its method of operations may be believed. One of his neighbors was fond of relating an incident in connection with the mill. After the mill was ready to run there was a lapse of several days before a grist was brought to be ground. The. first grist turned into the hopper fell down through the funnel as it was supposed to do and presumably it was being ground in the ordinary fashion. Upon opening the box where the meal was supposed to drop after being ground, the miller was surprised to 294 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. find no meal. A closer investigation revealed the fact that a chipmunk was concealed in the mill and had eaten the meal as fast as it was being ground. The record fails to state how many bushels of corn this chipmunk got away with or what the miller did to it when he found the gourmand. John Merritt had the first saw-mill in the township on his farm in section 32 as early as 1816. It was a water-power mill located on the west fork of Honey creek. The deed records enumerates five separate mill and race sites along this creek, and it is fair to presume that there was 'a mill at each, although there is nothing to indicate what kind of a mill. The first steam saw-mill made its appearance in 1850 and was located in section 14 on the farm. of John Baker. A man by the name of Ludd brought the first fanning-mill to the township about 1835 and this was the first artificial aid which 'the farmers had in threshing wheat. Prior to, this time the grain was tramped or flailed out and then shaken in a large sheet on the top of a hill or some place where a good breeze could be had. After the fanning-mill came into use the grain and chaff were separated by machine. Jacob Baker had the first sorghum mill on the St. Paris-Dalton road. The first blacksmith was Jesse Julien who located in the township about 1817. He was joined in 1820 by a New Englander named Gridley. The only definite information preserved regarding the latter is the fact that he charged an outrageous price for all his work. He would have fit in better with conditions as they are in 1917 than as they existed in 1817. The Tonnahills were the first masons in the township, locating here in the latter part of the twenties: They built all of the first brick houses in the township. About 1831 the highway projected to run from Urbana to Greenville via Troy was built through the township and passed through Christiansburg. This road was several years in building and was not completed until the latter part of the thirties., being made a free road. The first tavern was opened in Addison between 1835 and 1840 by David Kyle, and was operated by him for several years. The first doctors were a couple of brothers who located in Addison about 1818-19. 'They were too bibulous, however, to win the confidence of the settlers and soon left for more congenial surroundings. Doctor Van Mewter is recorded as the first regular physician. Born in Scotland and educated in England he was a well-educated physician and built up an extensive practice in this section of the county. Later physicians were Doctors McFarland and Marshall (both in 1832), and Dr. J. J. Musson, who later located in St. Paris and became one of the most prominent politicians in the county. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 295 CLAIRVOYANT APPEARS ON THE SCENE. This township boasts of one "industry" which has not been recorded in the early annals of any other township in the county. About 1828 a clairvoyant appeared in the village of Addison and announced that he was ready, willing and even anxious to forecast the future for any and all of the citizens of the township—for a pecuniary consideration. How much forecasting he (lid or how much money he secured from the credulous settlers is not on record, but his industry was soon cut short. Another and more profitable industry was the manufacture of spinning. wheels by a man named Wood. This Wood was a justice of the peace for thirty-one consecutive years. Other industries of the early township settlers may be found in the section devoted to Christiansburg. One of the prominent citizens of early Jackson township history was Andrew Wilson, who was in his time the biggest trader in the county and one of the largest in the state. There are those who aver that he was one of the biggest in the United States, but this would seem to cover too much territory. Wilson bought and sold everything raised on a farm—all kinds of stock and all kinds of grain. There was nothing he would not buy if he thought he could make any profit on it. He drove his live stock to Cincinnati on the south or Toledo on the north, and, so it is said, his stock never lost any weight en router This farmer-trader of Jackson township finally landed in New York city at the opening of the Civil War, launched out as a real-estate agent, platted all addition to the largest city in the world, became involved in some sort of financial disaster due to Civil War conditions and cut his throat with a butcher knife. The first church in the township was Baptist in denomination and was located in section 32 on the banks of Honey creek—hence the name Honey Creek Baptist church, by which it has been known for more than one hundred years. Since that time there have been churches in various parts of the township, although most of the church-going public attend the. churches of St. Paris, Christiansburg and Thackery. The Lutheran church at Thackery is the last to be organized in the township. RAILROADS AND ELECTRIC LINES. The township was first crossed by a railroad in 1893 when the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton road was completed. The town of Thackery did not come 296 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. into existence until after the building of this road. The Pennsylvania road cuts across the northeastern corner of the township and is on the boundary between Jackson and Johnson townships for practically the whole distance. The Springfield, Troy & Piqua electric line was built through the southwestern corner of the township in 1903 and places Christiansburg in direct connection with Springfield on the south and Troy and Piqua on the west. The building of this electric line has been of incalculable benefit to the township and especially to the farmers who are thus insured a better market for their grain and stock. By the time the electric line was ready to operate Adam Bright had an eleven-thousand-dollar elevator ready for use in Christians-burg, the finest of its kind in the county. Since Christiansburg is not on a steam road the electric line does an immense amount of freight business at that point. CHANGES IN FARMING METHODS. The outstanding feature of the agricultural history of the township during the past twenty-five years is the introduction of modern farming methods in all lines. Even corn is cut by machines at the present time; potatoes and cabbage plants are planted with drills; cream is separated from milk and the cow herself is milked by machinery. The creamery at Thackery has worked a great change in things in that section of the township. More than one hundred thousand dollars in actual cash was paid to the farmers in the vicinity of Thackery in 1916, and this money could not help but be of untold benefit to the general welfare of those receiving it. One farmer told the historian that a good cow would yield a gross return of at least one hundred dollars a year, and that fifteen acres of. ground and a dozen cows would make a very comfortable living for a family. A creamery was organized at Thackery by a number of farmers, but at the present time practically all of the stock in the company is owned by E. B. Smith. The growth of this industry during the time it has been in existence is little short of remarkable. Starting out with a score of patrons it has built up a list of three hundred patrons and in the spring of 1917 was distributing ten thousand dollars each month in actual cash for milk supplies. The creamery condenses one thousand four hundred pounds of milk daily and manufactures one thousand pounds of butter weekly. The milk is gathered from the patrons by automobile trucks, three of which are on. the road all the time. Two other trucks are employed in -hauling condensed milk across the county to Marysville, trips being made daily. CHAPTER XVI. JOHNSON TOWNSHIP. Johnson township, named in honor of Silas Johnson, its first permanent settler, was cut off from Concord township and is one of the several townships of the county which fell within the limits of the original Mad River township of 1805. Later, upon the organization of Concord township, it was made a part of that township and subsequently was set off as an independent political organization when it was sufficiently settled to justify its erection into an independent township. PROBABLY HIGHEST POINT IN THE STATE. As now organized Johnson township contains thirty sections of land or nineteen thousand two hundred acres. It is the middle township of the western tier, being bounded on the north by Adams township, on the east by Concord and Mad River townships, on the south by Jackson township and on the west by Miami and Shelby counties. It falls within ranges 11 and 12 of township 3. The township bears the unique distinction of having probably as high an altitude as any one township in the state of Ohio. It was stated in one of the state geological- reports that Johnson township had one point with an elevation of one thousand three hundred and twenty-six feet, but the latest map of the department of the interior gives the highest point of the township as one thousand two hundred and fifty feet. Of course, there may he higher points in the township, but this altitude was the highest recorded by the government surveyors in 1916. This point is in the southeastern corner of section 7, about a quarter of a. mile north of the Pence school house. DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY. The township presents a curious topographical study. Roughly speaking, its surface falls into two watersheds, the south and east portion falling into the Mad River valley with Nettle creek as_ the drainage factor, and the north and west falling into the watershed of the Great Miami, with Mosquito 298 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. creek as the drainage agent. When the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton railroad was built it passed along the watershed between Nettle and Mosquito creeks. With the watershed to the east of the middle of the township most of the territory falls within the basin of Miami river. The only body of water in the county which approaches the dignity of a lake is found in section 16, in the northern part of the township. This lake is nothing more than an expansion of the creek of the same name. In former years this expansion created a swampy lake of half a mile in length, extending. across the southwest quarter of section 16 from east to west, but at the present time it is reduced in size to a few rods in width and some score of rods in length. The government map of 1916 dignifies it with the name of Mosquito lake. It requires no stretch of the imagination to explain the origin. of the names of these two creeks. No doubt there are other creeks in the county inhabited by mosquitos and bordered with nettles, but back in the dim and misty past someone was struck with the abundance of mosquitoes along the creek, which was still unnamed, and in his way of describing this stream to his neighbor he called it by the name which brought to him the most vivid memories. Likewise he who named Nettle creek undoubtedly had occasion to recall the warm reception which the festive nettle gave him as he tramped along its banks. The Leatherwood stream finds the origin of its name in the trees of that name which graced its banks in other days. EVIDENCES OF THE GLACIAL PERIOD. In no other township in the county has nature been so lavish with topographical decorations. Sharply rising hills and correspondingly precipitous valleys are to be found up and down Nettle and Mosquito creeks and the many little streams which find their way into these creeks. Hidden away in these hills are to be found bountiful beds of gravel, and the geologist who walks over the township is greeted with kames and eskers on every hand. Indisputable- proof that the glacial period found Johnson township submerged under a coat of snow and ice is to be seen by the most casual observer. The farmer who hauls a load of gravel to fill a mud hole in the barn lot does not stop to think that he would not have that gravel if it had not been for the glacier invasion of tens of thousands of years ago. And if other evidences are wanting that the glacial drift was partial to Johnson township, the presence of thousands of granite boulders furnishes additional proof. It is reported that an attempt was made some years ago CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 299 to start a factory in this township for the manufacture of granite ware, but before the suggestion was acted upon it was found that the process would be too expenive to make it profitable. In addition to these granite boulders, which, at the present time, command a good price, the township has ample supplies of good brick and tile clay and there have been hundreds of thousands of brick and hundreds of miles of tile manufactured in the southern part of the township. The presence of gravel, boulders and clay furnish abundant evidence of glaciation, and if additional evidence is wanting, it may be found in the shape of the beds of the watercourses and the regular contour of the watersheds of the township. Along the larger streams are to be found beds of peat which have never been commercially valuable. In connection with the beds of peat are deposits of marl and muck both of which have a commercial value yet untouched. LARGEST BUCKEYE TREE IN THE STATE. The township was originally heavily forested with. all kinds of hardwood trees peculiar to this latitude. In all their majestic splendor there were to be found the poplar, ash, walnut, maple, oak, beech, sugar, hickory and buckeye. Everywhere the sugar and beech were to be found on the upland and the oak and hickory on the lower levels. But these forests have practically disappeared and today only scattered clumps of trees are to be found in the township, the most extensively forested tracts being found on the high lands bordering Mosquito and Nettle creeks. Johnson township boasted in 1876 of the largest buckeye tree in the state of Ohio. It was announced that the state should be searched over in the spring of 1876 for the largest buckeye tree to be found, the intention being to exhibit boards of the tree at the centennial exposition in Philadelphia. The state's forests were searched diligently and when the reports were in from all over the state it was found that the largest buckeye tree in the state was on the farm of E. H. Furrow (section 22), about four and one-half miles north of St. Paris. The tree was cut and found to be seventy feet in height with a diameter at the base of three feet and eight inches, the bole continuing for practically the same diameter for thirty feet. While there was no. dispute that the Johnson township tree was the largest in the state, yet it was found when it was cut open that portions of it were not sound and for this reason:" it was not shipped to the exposition. |
