VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP.

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In June. 1838. Van Buren Township was organized, and named after the President then in office. James Gower, an early settler and a present pioneer of ninety- three years. was the - moving spirit" in its formation, which was not accomplished without much opposition and difficulty, and this now aged man was he who gave the township its name. It was taken from the south end of Adams and the east end of Neave. and contained all of Township 8 north Range 4 east, that is in this county, and all of Township 9 north. Range 3 east, except Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8, which are included in Greenville Township. In June, 1839, Franklin Township was formed, containing all of Van Buren east of a line running north from the southwest corner of Section 3G. Township 9 north Range 3. The township, as now constituted, contains twenty-six sections. The surface is extremely level and the soil excels in fertility. being of alluvial formation, with good body to it. In years past, from one to rive feet of water covered most of the surface, during half the year. Now, by an artificial system of drainage, it has been reclaimed to the uses of civilization. and is producing a hundred fold. The eastern part of the township is not so well advanced in improvement as is the rest, from the fact that its lands were, for many years. held mostly by speculators, who would not or at least did not either dispose of or improve it. There are no considerable water-courses in the township, the channels by which its surface is drained being small tributaries to Greenville and Panther Creeks. An extensive moraine passes from north to south through it, along the track of which are found an abundance of bowlders, many of which are of remarkable size, being from ten to twelve feet in diameter. Some gravel beds have been deposited omits surface, which afford convenient and valuable material for improvement of public highways. The roads are mostly in good condition, the larger proportion of them being piked. Some of these, however, from much travel and heavy hauling, are well-nigh worn out, and need considerable repairs. The staple products are corn and wheat, the soil being admirably adapted to the cultivation of the former grain. Barley, oats, rye and tobacco are raised to a considerable extent. The entire township is thoroughly

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agricultural, and in 1870 contained a population of 1,212. a small part of whom were colored and some foreigners. A few settlements were made within the present limits of the township before the close of the first quarter of a century, but improvements were slowly made, and for many years the clearings formed a small part of the area of the lands, owing to the wet. swampy condition of the country. Just who was the first settler and when he moved in, cannot be known with precision. There were probably no settlers in Van Buren Township previous to 1818 about which time several men built them cabins within its present limits. Samuel Pearce, Samuel Martin and Elias Burt were probably the first to erect houses in Van Buren, in about 1818. Eli Townsend and Jacob Sebring followed soon after. In the spring of 1820. came .John Charkwith, and settled in the extreme southwest corner of the township. He was born in New Jersey, and came to this part of Darke County from Montgomery. Isaac Byers, who was the first Justice of the Peace, moved up from Preble County the same spring ; a Virginian by birth, he yet preferred this section to his native State. His widow still survives. James Gregory settled, about this time or perhaps a year or so sooner. on lands he afterward sold to Benjamin Roe, and now owned by William Shields. David and William Byers, brothers to Isaac, came soon after he had got located. Richard and James Gower moved, in 1826. into the extreme north part of the township. where they were among the first settlers. John Fourman entered land in the southeast part of the township. Mordecai Ford, who was the first Clerk in Van Buren, was, also, a pioneer. .Jacob Potoff, at Nineveh, was an early settler at that point, and is remembered to have built the first blacksmith-shop in the township. Several others are deserving of mention in this connection, as pioneers of Van Buren. but authentic accounts of them have not been gained. The first election of the township was held in the smithery of Potoff. at Nineveh. at which time there were about forty or fifty votes cast. Improvements progressed quite slowly for some time, the characteristic pioneer cabin prevailing for many years. Finally. these began to give way to the more pretentious frame buildings, and occasionally a brick residence made its appearance. The first two of the last-named were built by John Fourman and John Walker. At the present day, there are many fine frame dwellings and substantial brick residences in the township.

There being no water-power facilities of any consequence. manufacturing industries developed slowly. The first mill of any kind in Van Buren was an old " flutter-wheel" saw-mill built by John Fourman, on Panther Creek. This establishment furnished lumber for a large tract of country for a considerable period, some of the buildings in the extreme southern part of the county having been furnished with lumber from this mill. The second mill of this kind was erected near Jaysville, by Messrs. Kilbourne and Jay. There are now four saw-mills in the township, with capacities ranging from three to six thousand feet per day. These represent the manufacturing interests of Van Buren.

Schools began in a small, crude way, about a half-century ago, and have steadily advanced to their present flouring condition. There is a great contrast between the pioneer log houses and their rude belongings, as compared with the newest structures. Then a single small rude house stood on the land of William Townsend, and within was Mordecai Ford, well skilled to rule and ferule. Now there are eight substantial brick buildings, having ten rooms, and requiring the employment of eight teachers. School statistics for the year ending August 31, 1879, are as follows : Amount paid teachers, $1,906.20 ; expense of sites and buildings, $2,143.14 ; incidental expenses, $499.97, and the entire expenditure was $4,549.31. There were eight gentlemen and five ladies a total of thirteen teachers employed, at wages averaging, for males, $39, and for females, $20 ; 212 boys, 186 girls, or a total of 392 pupils attended the schools : the average monthly enrollment was, of boys, 161 ; of girls, 139 ; total, 300. Daily attendance of boys, 114 ; of girls, 99 ; total, 213.

To the Christian denomination belongs the honor of having first borne the Goa-

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pel into the forests of Van Buren. The pioneers of this sect were Revs. Sneithen, Ashley. Williams and Mordecai Ford. They erected their first church in 1851, at Delisle. There are now three churches in the township. Two United Brethren and one Methodist. The former at Abbotsville, and the Methodist at Jaysville, were built about the same time, not far from 1850. The other United Brethren Church was built about 1868 or 1870, at Nineveh, and was called Keyler's Chapel, from the name of him who was the means'of its construction.

There are but two cemeteries in the township, one of which, old and dilapidated, is now almost abandoned. The first was established nearly fifty years ago by the society of the Christian Church, and is known as the Abbottsville cemetery. The second was recently established under the auspices of the Township Trustees, and is located upon a fine tract of six acres, inclosed with a substantial board fence.

There are several small villages in the township, but the tendency was to farms exclusively. The proximity to Greenville and Arcanum to a great extent dispenses with the necessity of more than exist. The first regularly laid out town in the township was Abbottsville, deriving its name from its founder, Abbott. This center for a time made an advance which promised much to its anxious inhabitants, but it was a transient effort, and its existence is known only to the pages of history. The eager speculation of that day caused the platting of thousands of sites which showed in later years a few ominous-looking horses and straggling occupants and seeming mourners of a drifting center of settlement, and Abbott was one of those not favored. Storekeeping was first engaged in by George and William Falkners and in addition to the store, there was a wagon and blacksmith shop. Delisle, now the only village regularly laid out in Van Buren Township, was platted under direction of the widow Fairchild in 1850, and a building for the purpose having been erected, the pioneer store in the place was opened by John Tillman and Jesse Lease. Aaron Vanatta was the first smith. The village, as at present constituted, contains a dry-goods and grocery store, a blacksmith and a wagon shop and sawmill. It is located on the Dayton & Union Railroad, which gave rise to the place.

Jaysville is a small hamlet on the same road, and is located about five miles south of Greenville. It contains a single store and a saw-mill. In the township, there are three post offices—one at Delisle. at Jaysville and at Poplar Ridge, in the northeast part of the township.