CHAPTER XXIV. -
 PERRY TOWNSHIP
pg. 516 - 521

Establishment and Organization - Population - Market Town - Church Buildings - School Interests - Pioneers - List of Original Entries - Schools - SOUTH WARSAW VILLAGE - AMHERST VILLAGE - Railroad and Post offices in Perry Township

     THIS township was established by the County Board in December, 1833, and organized at the house of Joseph Crossley in April, 1834.  Hugh Skilling, Sr., John Ridenour and Joseph Crossley were elected trustees; Moses McDonald, justice of the peace, and James Chenoweth, clerk.  At this time the northeastern sections of Jackson Township, as originally set off from Congressional Township 4 south, Range 7 east, were detached and added to Perry, giving the new township her full area.  The population is 1,465 or about forty inhabitants to the square mile.  The centers of settlement are Warsaw, Amherst and South Warsaw, all in the southern portion of the township.  Westminster, in Auglaize Township, is the market town for residents in the eastern portion of Perry.  There are church buildings erected by the Lutheran, southeast corner of Section 17; west

[Page 517]
center of Section 14; northwest corner of Section 29; west corner of Section 25; one in Section 35, west of Cherry Grove Church, on same section, and Disciples Church, in northwest quarter of Section 34.  A reference to the school statistics, shows the advance condition of school interests.  As good quality of stone is found in the northern sections of Perry.

PIONEERS.

     The settlement of Perry may be said to date from the year 1830.  When John Ridenour arrived in Perry Township, in 1830, he found the county almost a wilderness, occupied largely by the Shawnees along Hog Creek, and in the village in Shawnee Township, with here and there a white family.  He succeeded in erecting a cabin after traveling many miles to gather a few hands to help at the raising.  After that time it was quite common to be visited by the Shawnee hunters.  The old chief Quilna often came to his cabin.  Pht and other influential red men paid him frequent visits, and were very friendly and seemingly harmless.  When the Shawnees left in 1832 Mr. Ridenour obtained a pony formerly owned by the family of Pht, which had been given Andrew Russell for paling in the grave of the chief, and which survived to the great age of twenty-eight years.  The forest were heavily timbered, and Mr. Ridenour performed a great deal of labor in clearing up his farm.  Even in 1840 the township presented a very primitive appearance.  Several reminiscences point out the fact that although almost all the lands were taken up at that time, the work of improvement was carried on slowly.  In 1836 James C. Hullinger settled in Auglaize Township, and in 1840, erected a cabin on Section 25, Perry Township, and commenced improvements.  His nearest neighbors at that time were Isaac Schooler, one and a half miles west, Moses McCoy, Elijah McCoy, John Shockey, and Thomas Philips  The first schoolhouse was built on Section 25 in 1844, and taught by John Terry.  The first mill was in Auglaize Township, two and a half miles away.  The pioneers generally had to go to Cherokee to mill.  The names of those who actually held property in the township in 1834, are given in the assessment roll for that year in the history of settlement and occupation.

LIST OF ORIGINAL ENTRIES

     In the following roll of purchasers of United States lands in this

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township all names and dates are given, as shown in duplicate of United States Land Receiver's record.  The record is a simple history of the settlement of this township.

     *Sections 5 and 6 are referred to in the history of Ottawa Township, to which portions of them were attached in 1857.

SCHOOLS.

     The first school in Perry was presided over by Leonard Skilling, in 1835.  The same year a schoolhouse was erected on Section 8, located on the Budd farm.  Mr. Hullinger, a settler of 1840, states that a schoolhouse was built on Section 25, in 1844, where John Terry was employed as teacher.  The advances made by the people in educational matters within the last half century are shown in the following statistics for 1884: Revenue, $2,943.72; expenditure $2,860.78.  There are eight school buildings, valued at $2,800.  Fifteen teachers are employed.  The number of pupils is 363 - 189 boys, 174 girls.  In addition to the township schools there is the Perry special district of which the following statistics are given: The receipts for 1884 were $1,352,77; expenditures $875.  There are two schoolhouses, valued at $2,600.  During the year thirty-nine teachers were employed, of whom only two taught the entire year.  The number of pupils enrolled is ninety-six - forty-three boys and fifty-three girls.

SOUTH WARSAW VILLAGE.

     South Warsaw, on Section 35, Perry, was regularly laid out, but never rose above small hamlet.  The little village comprises nine blocks of twenty lots, along the south bank of the Auglaize.  A postoffice was established here, and in the neighborhood are a few church buildings.
     The little settlement known as Warsaw, is situated on Section 27.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     Amherst, Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, Perry Township, was platted, but like the other settlements, ceased its growth then.  The original plat comprised twenty-one lots, north of Mulberry Street, and east of Market Street.  Ream's Addition lies south of Mulberry, east of Market and north of

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Sycamore.
     The Chicago & Atlantic Railroad passes through the most northerly sections of Perry Township from east to west.  The only postoffice in the township is South Warsaw.

- END OF CHAPTER XXIV. PERRY TOWNSHIP -