CHAPTER XXVIII. -
 SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP
pg. 554 - 558

Name - Population - Streams - Organization - Pioneers - List of Original Entries - Schools - Churches - Postoffice - GOMER VILLAGE - Its Additions - Physicians - Churches.

     THIS division of the county takes its name from the number and productiveness of the sugar maple groves of pioneer days.  Here the Indians of Charloe and indeed of Shawnee, made their spring encampments, and from this district they obtained their year's supply of maple syrup and sugar.  The population is 1,032, or forty-three inhabitants per square mile.
     The township is well supplied with schools and churches.  Throughout the territory the homes of the people speak of the rewards of industry.  In every section comfortable homes, substantial farm buildings, well cultivated farms and orchards tell of progress.
     The Ottawa River flows north in the tortuous course through the western sections.  Sugar Creek waters the eastern sections, while the streams known as Pike Run, Rabbit Run, Taway Run, Beaver Run, Dug Run, Toad Run and Honey Run offer water to the territory at a distance from the main streams.

ORGANIZATION.

     The township was set off in 1831 as a division of Putnam County.  At that time it was known as Congressional Township 2, Range 6.  James Porter, Daniel Gray and William Turner were the first trustees; Abrah Sarber, Clerk; Benjamin Clevenger, treasurer; and Obed Martin, justice of the peace.  Under the reorganization of 1848, the

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north tier of sections belonging to original Township 3 south, Range 6 east, or German, were added to the south half of Township 2 south, Range 6 east, or Sugar Creek, and organized under the name of Sugar Creek.  In 1834, James Nicholas was elected justice as successor to Obed Martin, and ahs been re-elected for three-year terms ever since that time.

PIONEERS.

     So much has been written in the general history respecting the pioneers of Sugar Creek, the list of original entries, a history in itself, is given here.  When James Nicholas settled in Sugar Creek Township, in September 1833, he found a few settlers in that district.  The neighbors that preceded him were Sanford Bertch, Arnold Bertch, Thomas Dehen, John Enslen, Frederick Ehernman, Thomas Watkins, David Roberts and Adam Bussart.  The first school was in a cabin, in 1833, and taught by William Ramsey.  It had but fifteen or sixteen scholars, and was what was known as a subscription school.  Preaching was generally in the cabins of the pioneers, and was usually by Methodist preachers.  The early milling was at a little mill built on Sugar Creek by Benjamin Clevenger, about 1832.  The next mill was by Peter Rhodes, on Hog Creek, 1837.  Some of the early settlers went to Cherokee, some to Piqua, and some to Wapakonetta.  The first carding was done at the machine of John East, in German Township.  For leather, salt, etc., they went to Lower Sandusky or Fremont.  The Welsh put a god log church in what is now Gomer, in 1838.  These people have greatly increased of late years, by immigration, and the membership of that church has become quite numerous.  The old church has been replaced by a large new brick, built at a heavy cost, in 1873.  The first road was from Lima to Defiance.  The next, the Bucyrus and Fort Wayne, was built in 1835.  It makes the principal street in Gomer.

LIST OF ORIGINAL ENTRIES

     In the following list of names of those who purchased lands in this township, as now constituted, are only given.  Sections 1 to 6, inclusive, are in Township 3 south, Range 6 east.  Sections 19 to 36, inclusive, are in Township 2 south, Range 6 east.

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     Sections 1 to 18, inclusive, which formed the north half of the original township of Sugar Creek, still belong to the town of that name in Putnam County.

SCHOOLS.

     So early as 1833 a subscription school was opened by William Ramsey, and attended by fifteen pupils.  The statistics for 1884 show receipts, $4,069.89; expenditures, $2,463. 30.  There are seven school buildings valued at $4,000.  Fifteen teachers are employed.  The number of pupils enrolled is 343 - 196 boys and 147 girls.

CHURCHES.

     In 1833 the Methodist preacher was known in the township, but that denomination gave the honor of building a house of worship to the Welshman, who erected a log church in 1838, the same which continued in use until 1873, when the brick building at Gomer was erected at a cost of about $17,000.  There are four buildings now in the township devoted to the uses of religion, viz.:  the Congregational Churches at Gomer and on Section 26, the Methodist Church on Section 30, and the building in the northeast corner of Section 5.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     No line of railway passes through this township, the nearest being

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the Cleveland, Delphos & St. Louis to the north of it in Putnam County, and the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago to the west and south in Marion and German Townships.  Gomer is the only postoffice in Sugar Creek.

GOMER VILLAGE.

     Gomer, Sections 20, 21, 28 and 29, Sugar Creek Township, was laid out in 1850, by Samuel Ramsay and James Nichols.  The first and second additions, made by D. D. Nicholas, together with the Davis, Jones and Congregational Church properties, constitute the village of the present day.  Here Dr. Jones came to reside in 1853, and a year later Dr. Davis arrived.  In 1873 the Welsh Congregationalists erected a house of worship, just south of the village, at a cost of over $16,000.  Two and one-half miles east the Welsh erected another church building, while one mile west the Methodist Episcopal Society erected a house of worship.  Bethel Church is in Marion Township, west of the line of Sugar Creek; while in the northeast corner of Section 5 a fifth house of worship stands.

- END OF CHAPTER XXVIII. - SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP