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Welcome to
Athens County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

Source:
History
of
Athens County, Ohio
And Incidentally of the Ohio Land Company
and the First Settlement of the State at Marietta
with personal and biographical sketches of the early
settlers, narratives of pioneer adventures, etc.
By Charles M. Walker
"Forsam et hæc olim meminisse juvabit." - Virgil.
Publ. Cincinnati:
Robert Clarke & Co.
1869.  

CHAPTER VIII.

Alexander Township
Pg. 351

     ALEXANDER, one of the four townships into which the county was divided on its organization, originally included the territory which now forms eleven townships, viz: Bedford, Scipio and Columbia Townships of Meigs county; Vinton county; and Lee, Lodi and Alexander of Athens county.  Its territorial extent was the same as that of Ames and just twice that of Athens.  The township was located and surveyed in 1795.  Athens and Alexander being the "college townships, " were generally spoken of in connection, and, as Alexander lay south of Athens, it was for a long time familiarly designated as "Southtown."  Among the residents of Alexander as early as 1805 were Robert Ross, William Gabriel, Amos Thompson, Enos Thompson, Edward Martin, Isaac Stanley, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Thomas and Isaac Brooks, Matthew Haning, Thomas and John Armstrong, Jared, Israel and Martin Bobo, Caleb Merritt, Joel Lowther, Michael Bowers, William Strond, Esquire Bowman, Abner Smith, Charles and Isaiah Shepherd, Thomas Sharp, and Richard and William Reeves.  The population of the township in 1820 was 854; in 1830 it was 882; in 1840 it was 1,451; in 1850 it was 1,735; in 1860 it was 1,675.  In Hebbardsville,1 pleasantly situated in the western part of the township, is the principal center of population.
     Jeremiah Clements and Israel Bobo, noted as hunters in the early settlement of the county, killed in one season sixty-five bears in one neighborhood, included in the site of the present town of Hebbardsville.  The same men were fond of whisky, and, to get a supply, took a horse-load of bear skins to the Ohio river and traded for a barrel of the desired article.  The next difficulty was how to get it home.  They finally cut two poles from the forest and formed a sort of a drag to be drawn by the horse the largest ends of the poles resting on the ground.  The barrel of whisky was then secured between the poles and thus dragged through the woods to Alexander township, where they lived.  This was the first barrel of whisky ever brought into Alexander.  In after years the use of it became common and greatly the fashion, but at the present time it is not kept for sale at any place in the township.
     In Alexander the Methodists were, as usual, the pioneer church.  At a very early day they built a meeting house at "Centre Stake," and the Presbyterians not long after built one near the site of the present Cumberland Presbyterian church.  There are now in the township three Methodist churches, three Free Will Baptist, one Old School Presbyterian and one Cumberland Presbyterian.  Near the latter church is located the principal cemetery in the township, which is being tastefully improved.  Pleasanton, situated in the eastern part of the township, on the road between Athens and Pomeroy, is a thrifty settlement, containing about twenty-five families.  Simon Pierce built the first house here about 1817.  Other settlers located here from time to time, and in 1851 a post office was established and the place called Pleasanton.
     The early records of the township were destroyed by fire in the house of John McKee in 1827 or 1828, but as nearly as can be ascertained the first trustees were Caleb Merritt, John Brooks, and Thomas Sharp, and Caleb Merritt the first justice of the peace.

Trustees since 1829.
     1829 Ziba Lindley, Sen., Samuel McKee, Nicholas Misner.
     1830 Ziba Lindley, Sen., Samuel McKee, Elias N. Nichols
     1831 Ziba Lindley, Jun., Samuel McKee, Elias N. Nichols
     1832 Samuel Earhart, Asa Stearns, Benjamin Parks, Jun.
     1833 Samuel Earhart, John V. Brown, Benjamin Parks, Jun.
     1834 Ziba Lindley, Jun., Jesse M. Mahon, Benjamin Parks, Jun.
     1835 Ziba Lindley, Jun., John Brooks, Samuel Earhart.
     1836 Daniel Dudley, Ami Conde, Archelaus T. Clark.
     1837 Samuel Earhart, John Brooks, Jun., Archelaus Stanley
     1838 Wm. B. Reynolds, John Brooks, Jun., Franklin Burnham
     1839 Wm. B. Reynolds, John Brooks, Jun., Franklin Burnham
     1840 John Rickey, Peter Morse, John W. Drake
     1841 Franklin Burnham, John Grey, A. Love
     1842 Franklin Burnham, J. H. Brooks, A. Love
     1843 J. W. Drake, Ziba Lindley, Jun., A. Love
     1844 J. W. Drake, Ziba Lindley, Jun., A. Burtnett
     1845 J. W. Drake, Moses Patterson, A. Burtnett
     1846 George Bean, Daniel Teters, A. Burtnett
     1847 George Bean, John H. Brooks, Abram McVey
     1848 Archelaus Stanley, John H. Brooks, Abram McVey
     1849 James S. Hawk, A. G. Henderson, William Wood
     1850 John Rickey, Joseph W. Blackwood, John W. Drake
     1851 John Rickey, George Bean, William Wood
     1852 John Rickey, Franklin Burnham, William Wood
     1853 Daniel Teeters, Peter Long, William Wood,
     1854 Missing
     1855 Alexander Love, James H. Martin, Abram Coe
     1856 Alexander Love, James H. Martin, William Campbell
     1857 Moses Patterson, William Wood, William Campbell
     1858 Moses Patterson, Isaac Stanley, George W. Sams
     1859 E. N. Blake, John Rickey, George W. Sams
     1860 E. N. Nichols, John Rickey, George W. Sams
     1861 E. N. Blake, John Rickey, George W. Sams
     1862 E. N. Blake, John Rickey, George W. Sams
     1863 E. N. Blake, Isaac Bean, Isaac Brooks, Jun.
     1864 E. N. Blake, Isaiah Been, Isaac Stanley, Jun.
     1865 B. Rickey, Isaiah Bean, Peter Long
     1866 B. Rickey, Isaiah Bean, Homer Chase
     1867 S. B. Blake, Isaiah Bean, P. G. Hibbard
     1868 Samuel Blake, Isaiah Bean, William Bean.

Justices of the Peace.
     1829 Ami Conde, J. M. Gorsline
     1831 Samuel McKee
     1832 J. M. Gorsline, Alfred Dunlap, Samuel Earhart
     1834 Josiah Wilson
     1835 William Golden
     1837 Josiah Wilson
     1838 William Golden
     1849 Franklin Burnham
     1850 John Camp, Joseph W. Blackwood
     1852 Franklin Burnham
     1853 John Camp, Joseph W. Blackwood
     1854 Joseph McPherson, George Adair
     1855 Daniel Drake
     1857 Joseph McPherson, A. S. Coe
     1858 Daniel Drake
     1860 James Strite, L. Oliver
     1861 L. C. Crouch, Wm. B. Dickerson, A. S> Coe, A. C. Murphy, S. H. Kinney
     1863 Leven Oliver
     1864 Wm. Watson, Amos C. Murphy
     1866 Leven Oliver
     1867 Wm. Watson, Amos C. Murphy
     1868 Peter Vorhes

Personal and Biographical
(FOR BIOGRAPHIES, CLICK HERE)

* ARMSTRONG, Elmer
* ARMSTRONG, Thomas
* BLAKE, Samuel L.
* HIBBARD Family
* NORTHROP, Amos, Capt.
* SICKLES, William
 

 

NOTES:

1. Hebbardsville is the spelling adopted by the Post office Department at Washington, and used in the official records.

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