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Source:
A
History
of
DARKE COUNTY
OHIO
Containing
A History of the County; its Cities, Towns, etc.; General and Local
Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;
History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio;
Map of Darke County; Constitution of the United
States, Miscellaneous Matters, etc., etc.
-
ILLUSTRATED -
CHICAGO
THE W. H. BEERS & CO.
1880
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PATTERSON TOWNSHIP
Pg. 385
To the northeast and in
close proximity to the site of old Fort Loramie, and
bounded north and east by parts of Mercer, Auglaize and
Shelby, is situated Patterson Township, a part of Darke
County devoted with good results to the interests of
agriculture.
Its history is a record of individual exertion.
Orchards and groves have been made to alternate with
fields of corn and wheat. Much of the olden time
yet remains in the fields of woodland, tracts of the
original forest, and the work of reconstruction still
proceeds. Annually, the area of woodland is
diminished; the timber, however, is no more gathered in
windrows, and the settlers are no longer called to log-rollings.
A chopper or two, felling the trees carefully, cords the
wood for the home fire or the city market, but the
smaller branches feed the element that once consumed the
finest and most valuable of timber. Much of the
lands of Patterson are the depository of the golden
seed, whence the landscape is clothed in summer green,
and granaries later filled with corn and wheat.
It is strictly an agricultural section, although its
citizens were not inferior i soldierly ability during
the momentous years of the civil war. Its
territory earlier formed the northern portion of Wayne
Township, and, while so constituted, the first
settlement was made in 1827 by Isaac Finkbone,
and upon the adjacent section a man named Philip
Pitzenberger erected a cabin, and, clearing a few
acres, lived for a time upon the land as a squatter.
The location of these two pioneer clearings was Sections
32 and 33.
The township was formed in 1841, and its original
boundary is described as "commencing at the east line of
the county, at the southeast corner of Section 33,
Township 11 north, Range 4 east; thence west to the
southwest corner of Section 35, Township 12 north, Range
3 east (the east line of York Township); thence north to
the county line; thence following the county line to the
northeast corner of the county; thence south to the
place of beginning."
A portion of the township was taken in 1848, to
complete the area of Mercer County, and the county line
ceased to be identical with that of the Greenville
treaty.
Patterson was still farther limited in territory during
the same year, by a transfer to Wabash township of
Sections, 2, 11, 14 and 23, of Township 12 north, Range
3 east.
The population in 1850 was 319, and this had increased
twenty years later to 978. Soon after the
formation of the township, a schoolhouse was
erected of the old log pattern on Section 32, and a man
named A. L. Wilson was engaged as the first
schoolmaster. Judgment may be passed upon the
interest attached to education by the knowledge of the
fact that of the 319 inhabitants of 1850, there were but
a score of persons over twenty years of age who could
neither read nor write. Nine years subsequent to
its formation, Patterson's real estate was valued at
$49,865. There were 57 improved farms, upon which
there were 1,624 acres of improved lands and 4,028 of
unimproved. The cash value of the farms was
$48,470; of farming implements, $2,274; and of stock,
$7,883. Upon the farms were 127 horses, 136 cows,
10 yoke of oxen, 331 sheep, and 672 swine. There
had been raised, in 1849, 4,305 bushels of wheat, some
rye, 5,225 bushels of corn, and 1,292 bushels of oats.
The pasturage and the industry are shown by the
statement of 7,010 pounds of butter made. Such is
a passing glimpse at a township whose present status
establishes a continued and permanent progress from
1840, when there were scarcely a dozen inhabitants in
the region at a time, not even midway to the present.
Its future is assured, since in the wealth of the soil
is found the basis of all real and substantial strength,
whose perpetuity is secured by intellectual culture and
physical exercise.
Turn we to note in brief a few facts pertaining to the
initiatory settlement and concurrent events, with a
further glance at consequent social progress.
The administration of justice in minor courts was a
feature of the early day. A suit was brought in
Patterson by Isaac Finkbone against Reason R.
Miller upon a book account kept by the latter for
the former. In the book all the leaves containing
credits in favor of Finkbone had disappeared.
James Patterson acted as Constable. The
case was tried before William J. English, the
first Justice of the Peace in the township, and interest
attaches from the circumstance that this was the first
resort to legal tribunal for redness of grievances in
the neighborhood. The defense employed James
Brandon as counsel, who won the case on good legal
ground, though his client was morally in error.
The Millers became obnoxious to the community,
and it is said that their habitation was destroyed, and
they themselves finally disappeared from this vicinity.
The advantage of a country store to a rural community
and the chance of a livelihood by carrying on business
in such a place was first understood by Joseph Vanky,
who opened a grocery in Woodland a short time after it
was laid out. Through the efforts of Dr. S. A.
Greer, one of the oldest and most influential
residents, a post office was established at this same
place some time before the civil war. It was
kept in his house, which stands a half-mile south of
Woodland. It was removed to the Childers'
farmhouse, Mr. Childers being appointed
Postmaster, and a year and a half later was brought back
to Dr. Greer's, and Abner Clark became
Postmaster. The office was temporarily
discontinued until the spring of 1879, when Willow Dell
Office was created and located at Woodland, with John
C. Schilling, Postmaster.
Among the first township officers may be named Dr.
Greer, Richard Mendenhall, John Puterbaugh, Samuel Day,
James Davidson, James Patterson, Anthony Coble, John
Deweere and Robert Brandon. Of those
oldest settlers who have died may be mentioned John
Day, J. P. Puterbaugh, J. Davidson, S. Day and R.
Mendenhall. William Russel came to Piqua from
North Carolina, and moved into Patterson Township in
1834 or 1835, and settled on forty acres of Section 28.
He had a son Joseph, now deceased, and the place
is now owned by John Piquenot. Thomas
Mendenhall moved in from Miami County in 1835 or
1836 and located near the northwest corner of the
township. Arphaxed Julian of Shelby County,
settled in the west part of the township.
James Patterson, Sr., father of him who gave his
name to the section, came to Ohio in 1817 from
Westmoreland County, Penn., made a brief stay at
Lebanon, Warren County, then came to Union, and a year
later entered 160 acres south of Webster, on the
Stillwater. His wife died in 1826, and, selling
his land, he went back to Warren County, and thence
returned to what is now known as Patterson Township,
where he entered eighty acres southeast of Woodland, in
Section 28, Town 11, Range 4 east, being the east half
of the northeast quarter. He died on this farm in
1855, at the age of fifty-six years. His first
marriage was to Polly McIntyre, his second to
Catharine Rudy. There were fourteen children
in the two families. A son, James Patterson,
is owner of 280 acres in Sections 22 and 28, adjoining
the Shelby County line, is a leading citizen, and has
been Justice of the Peace for a number of years.
The land in Patterson was entered principally in small
tracts of forty and eighty acres, but there have been
among the settlers large landholders. John
Deweere has 600 acres after having disposed of as
much in farms to his children. Nicholas Flinney
has about 500; J. Patterson, having sold 120, has
280 acres; Peter Shields has 480; Hamilton
Coble has 180; Anthony Coble has disposed of
about 600 acres, and has 200 left; Henry Starke
has 400 acres. Seven hundred and fourteen acres
was entered by one party, and John Wood, of
Chillicothe, entered an entire section.
The southern part of Patterson is rolling, and much of
the soil is light clay. The timber is beech, sugar
maple and oak. The northern part is a darker and
stronger soil, bearing more of lime, sycamore and
walnut. There is moist, cold land in the north,
which is rapidly being improved by drainage. The
hamlet of Woodland is on the watershed, the slope being
southward toward the Stillwater, and northward into
Mercer County. The village school is a short way
south of the place, and J. B. Martin, the present
teacher, has an average attendance of about thirty
pupils. There are seven school districts, having
six frame houses and one of brick.
No railroads traverse the township. It contains
three churches. The Lutheran, in Woodland, built
in 1865, with a parsonage. The first residence for
the minister was a log house, erected in 1868, the
present is a frame. The first preacher was Rev.
Leiderman. A Sabbath school, held during the
summer, is largely attended. The Pine Church
(Christian), is located two and a half miles north of
Woodland, on the Berlin pike, in the Coble settlement.
The house was erected in 1863. Rev. Richard
Brandon was the first minister succeeded by Abner
Long, and he by Rev. Butts. Preaching
is held once a month. The membership has been as
high as forty. The Christians are now engaged in
building a church in the Speelman settlement, on
the northeast quarter of Section 25, Range 3. A
congregation and Sabbath school are established in that
neighborhood. Meetings are held at the house of
John Blotner, and in the schoolhouse on the farm of
A. Mendenhall, part of the southwest quarter of
Section 24. Services and Sabbath school are
largely attended. The people of Pleasant Ridge and
vicinity, belonging to the United Brethren, have Sabbath
school in the house on the northeast corner of the farm
of John Long. Church services are held once
in three weeks. About thirty pupils attend the
school, of which Joseph Wolf is the
Superintendent. The Christian denomination held
religious services at Grange Hall (formerly a
schoolhouse), and their Sabbath school is superintended
by W. W. Richardson.
The Patrons of Husbandry
have an organization in this township, established in
1876, with a membership of about forty. Mr.
Richardson, above named, was the first Master.
The present Township Trustees are William Hawk,
David Speelman and J. M. Simon. The
Township Clerk is F. B. Hawk. Merchandise
is sold by J. C. Shilling and F. P. Hawk,
in a building erected for the purpose, some twelve years
ago, by G. B. Litman, the first storekeeper
therein and the present owner of the premises.
About eighteen years ago, a blacksmith, named Henry
Howshilt, located in the township and still pursues
his useful and laborious calling.
During the war for the Union, the people of Patterson
were prompt and patriotic, their quota was speedily
raised and the draft, obnoxious and dreaded, had little
influence with them. Although late of settlement
and remote from towns, when it will stand well among the
leading townships of the county. |
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