CHAPTER XVIII.
 BATH TOWNSHIP
Pg. 416 - 428

     BATH is a land of well cultivated farms, groves of forest trees, pleasant streams, and is altogether one of the most picturesque divisions of Allen County.  The principal streams are the creeks, known as Hog or Swinonia, and Sugar Creek - the former coursing through the southern sections and the latter through the northern sections,  each stream flowing in a southeastern course.  Several tributaries of these creeks course through the township, leaving few, if any, sections without a water supply.  The economical geology of the township is treated of in the chapter on natural history.
     Very early in the history of this township, its pioneer, Christopher Wood, saw in its southwestern section, a beautiful site for a village, and there, in 1829, he located the Seat of Justice.  In 1831 he was appointed Commissioner for the sale of lots in the Town of Lima, which belonged to the township until the establishment of Ottawa.

ORGANIZATION.

     It appears that the name and organization of Bath Township existed prior to the organization of Allen County; yet there is no record of its establishment either in the records of Allen or Mercer County.  It is conceded, however, that in 1831 it was a regularly organized township, with the town of Lima as a center.  Chris. Wood, John Schrouf and James Daniels were Justices.  On June 6, 1831, a petition for the organization of Jackson Township, was presented and granted.  In December, 1834, the people of Jackson petitioned to have the present township (Con

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gressional) organized under its original name, which petition was granted, and the two tiers of eastern sections of Bath, which belonged to Jackson up to this time, were detached and added to Bath.  This order of affairs continued down to May, 1857, when Bath was ordered to contribute portions of Sections 29 and 32, and all Sections 30 and 31, to the new town of Ottawa.  Up to the organization of Lima Village, in Section 31, it too formed a part of Bath, and its affairs were administered by the Town Board.
     The sight of a town meeting in early days was an interesting one.  Here the freeholders came, one by one, from different parts of the town, hard-working, hopeful, earnest, honest men.  They met, perhaps, for the first time in a year.  They went early in the morning to cast their votes, and, under one excuse or other, remained until late at night.  They urged their local political campaign in a homely way, spoke freely their thoughts respecting the candidates, performed their duty at the polls and enjoyed it, and this done, returned to their clearings in the wilderness, to battle with the obstacles of early settlement, until the fall elections called them from their homes again.
     Pioneers: Christopher Wood, his sons, Joseph and Albert G. Wood, and his son-in-law, Benjamin Dolph may be credited with settlement in Bath Township, so early as April, 1824.  Early in this month they left Bellefontaine to visit lands, which were entered in the land office at Piqua.  The story of their exploratory trip and final settlement is told in the following extract from the original biography of Christopher Wood: "From Logan County, on the Miami, where resided a man named Stewart, who had married an Indian wife, they left the borders of the white settlements, and cut a road a distance of twenty-four miles, camping at night in the woods until they reached the Indian town of Wapakonetta.  In all this distance, except at Stewarts, they found not a trace of civilization.  When they reached Shawnee Town, now Hovers, in Shawnee Township, where 'Pht' the chief resided in a cabin, and had about twenty acres of cleared land in good culture, they stayed all night, and on leaving, purchased corn and potatoes for seed.  They cut a path, and after two days' hard work, reached their land on Sugar Creek, having been sixteen days in the wilderness, since quitting Logan County.  They landed about the 16th of April, 1824.  The parties at once com-

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menced the work of erecting cabins, and clearing land and planting crops, after which they returned to Champaign County, and moved their families out in the fall.  They were at once visited by Wyandots, who assisted them in the erection of their cabins.  Captain Wood was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace for Bath Township, when it had civil jurisdiction over nearly all Allen County.  In 1829 he was appointed by the legislature one of the commissioners to locate the county seat of Allen County, and upon the erection of the county, in 1831, was appointed one of the associate judges, and when Lima and platted, the first city director for the sale of lots.  He was to, and resided in Lima until 1856, when, having served faithfully is day and generation, full of years, he was gathered to his fathers, aged about eighty-seven years."  Tobias James and John Wood; the Jennings family, Evans and Everett, came in within a few years.  Alex. Allison, who died in 1871, settled here in 1827, Matthew Allison, his son, in 1827; John Crawford, who died in 1839, and his son, David Crawford, arrived in 1828.  Previous to the organization of the county in 1831, a number of pioneers settled in the southeastern part of the township, whose names are so intimately associated with Lima Village and Ottawa Township, that they are given in the history of these divisions of the county.  In the following history of the purchase and settlement of the United States lands of Bath, many names and dates are given, all historically interesting.  Again, in the pioneer chapter, the names of all tax-payers in the township (including Lima) in 1834 are given, so that in this important matter of pioneer settlers, names and dates are based upon the records of fifty years ago, thus avoiding the errors and omissions which generally mark legendary or unwritten history.

CHURCHES.

     The Methodist society was form in 1835 by Rev. George Swigert, and one year later a log-house for church purposes was erected on Section 4, near the Sugar Creek trail.

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     The German Baptist Church may be said to have been organized by Abram Miller in 1833, the year of his settlement in Allen County.  Within the seven years succeeding the number of members of this faith who settled in the neighborhood was eleven, increased to thirty in 1845 and to 170 in 1880.  In 1853 a house of worship was erected on the south bank of Sugar Creek in Section 7, which is still the church of this society.  The pastors have been Abram Miller, David Brower, Benjamin Burley, Daniel Brower, Daniel Miller, Robert Edgecomb, Samuel Metzger, Anthony Miller and Samuel Duver; Elder A. Miller died in 1862, when Daniel Brower was elected Elder.  The Disciples established a class here in 1834-35, with Rev. Mr. Wilson in charge, and in 1840 erected the first house of worship in the township.  Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on Section 22, and the Presbyterian Church on Section 12, make up the list of Churches.

SCHOOLS.

     The pioneer school of Bath Township was opened by Daniel Bradigan in the Crawford-Allison settlement on Section 3, near where the Sugar Creek school building now stands.  Ezra Comb followed Bradigan, Scranton taught in 1832, and William Terry in 1834-50.  The receipts in 1884 for school purposes were $3,580. 16, the expenditures $2,956. 95.  There are ten school buildings valued at $9,100.  Twenty teachers were employed during a year.  The number of pupils was 404 - 234 boys and 170 girls.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     The railroads passing through this township are the Dayton & Michigan, the Lake Erie & Western, and the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago. 
     In this sketch of the township only that which is directly connected with its local history is dealt with.  This is due to the fact, that, in the chapters of the general history, every name and almost every item which connects its settlement and progress with Allen County, find mention.  Again, in the chapters devoted to personal history, the minutise or details of the story of its advance in wealth and intelligent appears.