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SURVEYED IN 1807, by Jonathan Cox. On the 5th
of September, 1814, (Oliver Jones,
Jonathan Butler, and Benjamin Miller,
Commissioners of Wayne County,) Lake was organized
as it now is, except that a part of the whole of
Washington Township, Holmes County, was included.
Holmes County was erected since (January 20, 1824).
At that time Coshocton and Wayne joined.
| Population in 1820 |
..........311 |
| Population in 1830\ |
.........552 |
| Population in 1840 |
.......1145 |
| Population in 1850 |
........880 |
| Population in 1860 |
........912 |
There
are no towns in Lake Township. By the
operation of the act of 1846 erecting Ashland
County, Lake, which had already been shorn of its
full proportions by the erection of Holmes County,
became yet farther reduced, and has now a smaller
area than any township organization in the county
except Mifflin. It is known as "Little Lake;"
yet, notwithstanding its decimation of territory,
the census of 1860 exhibits a respectable gain, as
compared with the decennial period immediately
preceding, while other townships in the county show
a falling off in population during the same space of
time.
ODELL'S MILL.
As many
references are made in the memoranda of the early
settlers to this mill, it may be a matter of
interest to state that it was erected by Nathan
G. Odell, in the spring of 1812. Mr.
Odell entered the tract upon which the mill is
located in April, 1810, and at once commenced his
improvement, and in March, 1811, removed his family
to the place. He was the first white settler
within the limits of what is now Clinton township,
Wayne County. He died in Michigan, in 1833, at
the age of sixty-seven. His son, L. D.
Odell, Esq., is now the owner and occupant of a
part of the land originally entered by his father,
but the mill is owned by Joseph Newkirk.
The building was originally constructed of hewn
logs, and raised by the aid of friendly Indians,
then inhabiting the neighborhood, and without whose
aid it could not have been erected.
REMINISCENCES OF THE PIONEERS
OF LAKE TOWNSHIP.
GEORGE BENDER
immigrated to Lake Township in 1828, and purchased
the land now occupied by his son, Martin Bender.
He continued his residence upon this land until his
death, which occurred in June, 1859.
JACOB EMRICK
entered the southeast quarter of section 3, Lake
Township, at the land-office at Wooster, in 1830,
after the government had reduced their lands to
$1.25 per acre. The whole farm is upland, and
at the time of its purchase Mr. Emrick's
neighbors regarded his investment a very unwise one;
but him efforts at cultivation, after clearing a few
acres, proved successful, and he was among the first
who demonstrated the fertility of the hills, and
showed that, for wheat growing purposes, they were
really superior to the bottom lands, while for all
other crops, excepting corn, they were not inferior
to the valleys.
JOHN EMRICK
removed to Lake Township from Somerset County,
Pennsylvania, in September, 1822, his father,
Andrew Emrick, having entered for him the
northeast quarter of section 9, and the southeast
quarter of section 4, the preceding year. At
the date of his removal hither, his family consisted
of his wife and the following children, namely:
John, Jacob, Drusilla, Mary, Andrw Christiana,
George, and Rebecca.
At this date there was neither church nor school house in
the township.
Mr. Emrick died in July, 1847, aged sixty-six years.
John and George are residents of
Indiana; Jacob is a resident of Lake
Township; Drusilla is the wife of William
North, of Vermillion Township; Mary is
the wife of George Connell, of Lake Township;
Andrew died in Van Wert County, in 1856;
Christiana married Simon Tapper, with
whom she resides in Vermillion Township; and
Rebecca, wife of Michael Otto, resides in
Mohican Township.
JOHN EWALT, an
emigrant from Pennsylvania, removed with his family
to Lake Township in the year 1820, and entered the
land now owned by Morgan Workman. He
died in 1847 at the age of sixty-three William D.
Ewalt, of Green Township is the only son of the
deceased now residing in Ashland County.
GEORGE MARKS
removed to Lake Township from Washington County,
Pennsylvania, in June, 1819. His family then
consisted of his wife and four children, namely:
Mary, Ephraim, William, and George.
The citizens then residing in Lake Township, according
to his best recollection were Wm. Green, Wm.
Greenlee, Asahel Webster, Joshua Oram, Jabez Smith,
James Loudon Priest, and John Wetherbee.
Mr. Marks entered the tract of land upon
which his sons, Robert and George, now reside
in Lake Township.
Mary married Benjamin Finley, and died in
1854; Ephraim is a resident of Loudonville;
William died in 1842, and George, as
before stated, resides with his younger brother upon
the old homestead.
The first sale of lots in Loudonville was made on the
14th of September, 1814. The land upon which
the town is situated was originally entered by
James Loudon Priest, who subsequently sold an
undivided interest to Stephen Butler, and
they jointly executed titles to purchasers.
Mr. Marks died on the 2d of October, 1861,
having attained the age of 74 years.
ELIJAH ORAM.
In December, 1807, his father, Joshua Oram,
and family, immigrated to Fairfield County, Ohio,
from the State of Maryland. In November, 1811,
the family removed to Lake Township, and entered and
commenced improvement upon a quarter which, by
subsequent divisions, became a part of the Township
of Clinton. In the fall of 1812, the family of
Mr. Oram, with several others, established a
fort near the southern line of Lake Township, where
they remained about three months. In 1815 his
father sold the farm he originally purchased, and
entered the northeast and southeast quarters of
section 15, Lake Township, and immediately commenced
improvement upon the former quarter. After
residing upon this land about three years, he sold
the Asahel Webster, and removed to the
southeast quarter, which he improved and made his
residence until his decease, which occurred on the
27th day of August, 1831. Elijah Oram,
Esq., is the present owner of three-fourths of this
old homestead quarter, and of eighty acres
adjoining.
When his father commenced his residence in Lake, there
was not a white family residing within the limits of
what now forms the township. When he raised
his second cabin, in 1815, he traveled a circuit of
ten mile to gather the necessary force of men for
the purpose.
The supplies of breadstuffs were obtained from Knox
County, which was then considered the "Egypt" of the
country, where the corn purchased was ground at
Shrimplin's Mill, and was brought home on
packhorses during the winter season, and on canoes
when the streams were navigable. After the
neighborhood began to raise its own supplies of
corn, it was prepared for converting into bread by
breaking up in wooden mortars, an article which
belonged to nearly every cabin, and which was
regarded as an indispensable machine in the domestic
economy. The mills were so remote that several
families subsisted many years almost exclusively
upon this domestic flour.
JOHN WETHERBEE
emigrated from Pennsylvania to Lake Township in
1817. His family consisted of his wife and
nine children, the only surviving one of whom, now a
resident of Ashland County, is Justice Wetherbee,
Esq., of Mohican Township.
In 1846 Mr. Wetherbee removed to Green Township,
and on the 25th of December, 1853, died at the
residence of his son-in-law, James Aylesworth,
of Wayne County, at the age of seventy-seven years.
CHURCHES IN LAKE TOWNSHIP
PRESBYTERIAN.
GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
GERMAN REFORMED
EXTRACTS FROM LAKE TOWNSHIP
RECORDS.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR LAKE
TOWNSHIP.
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