MILFORD
TOWNSHIP was organized in 1837. The
first settlers were William G. Pierce, George
Chapman, Linus Clark, Ezra Crary, Thomas Slater,
Thomas Green, Jacob Welden, Harrison Conky,
Elias Crary, Spencer Hopkins, John Henry and
George Green and their families.
These twelve were present at the first election.
The officers elected at that election were
Linus Clark, Justice of the Peace; Ezra
Crary, George Chapman and Thomas Slater,
Trustees; Linus Clark, Treasurer;
Ezra Crary, Clerk, and W. G. Pierce,
Constable.
The following were the Milford Township voters in
October, 1845:
Ezra Crary, John Mochman, JamesMarshall, AbramMerser,
Dennis Boyles, Ira W. Ladd, J. G. Thompson, A.
W. Wilcox, Oliver Farnsworth, John H. Hopkins,
Jesse Snow, BenjaminFurlow, Armenius Crary,
Eisha Clark, Joseph Long. Henry Hulbert,
Lucius Gale, William G., Pierce, James
Pierce, Peter Beerboer, Charles W. Barney,
Samuel Slater, Michael Upp,Ezra Grandey, Harry
Hasting, William Brattone, Jefferson Wartenbee,
G. C. Noble, B. F. Squire, John Henry, Clement
Hulbert, Adam Casebeer, Chancy P. Lowrey, Peter
Helwig, Daniel Coy, Hezekiah Arrants, John
Halley, William Lewis, Harrison Conkey, Elias
Crary, Andrew Wickerham, Joseph Wickerham.
William G. Pierce, Daniel Coy, and
William Lewis, Judges; Lucius Gale
and Harrison Conkey, Clerks.
The first child
born in Milford Township that lived to manhood
was Luther Slater, November, 1835, and
the first marriage was Jeremiah A. Ball
to Malinda Slater, in August, 1836.
Milford has taken a due interest in the Ohio school
system, as her schoolhouses fully attest, and
has freely spent many thousand dollars to
preserve a
system that tends to perpetuate free thought and
liberty of opinion.
Milford is a fine township, and very productive.
Her lands will compare favorably, for
productiveness, with other parts of the county.
They do not
need so much ditching and tiling as the wetter
ones to prepare them for culture. They are
very productive, and raise fine wheat, corn and
grass.
By the census of 1880, the population was 1,460.
CHURCHES.
The Universalist Church of Logan, in Milford
Township, was built in 1868, at a cost of
$1,800. The services there have been
maintained regularly by N. Crary, W. J.
Chaplin, E. Moorefield, J. merrifield and
others. The removals and deaths, and other
causes, have weakened the church, but the few
believers . are firmly attached to the church
and its doctrines. The liberality of other
churches has done much to soften old asperities
against the doctrines of Universalism.
The Lutherans have a small frame church in Section 10,
and a membership of some thirty. The
second preacher was Ernest Stubnace.
The church cost about $800. The former preacher
was Adam Detzer, in 1845, still living in
Indianapolis, Ind.
The Methodists have also a small church, in the
northeast part of the township. The
membership is small. It was built in 1872, and
is a frame. The preacher is Adam
Kruemling.
ARROWSMITH MILL.
The Arrowsmith Mill was not only one of the
useful institutions of its day, but an
institution of prime necessity to the
neighborhood and country around. It served the
purpose of supplying the simple needs of its
patrons, when habits of living were plainer than
now. But this mill, conditioned like all
things else, was forced to yield to time and
circumstances, and has finally passed away, its
ponderous wheels ceasing to turn about 1846.
It was located just north and a little west of
the crossing of Lost Creek. A portion of
the building was of logs, and for some years has
been used for storing a lot of blacksmith tools.
In 1844, Mr. John F. Haller, though not a
millwright, helped Mr. Arrowsmith,
the proprietor, on the repairs of this mill.
Mr. Arrowsmith, however, was a
regular millwright, and also understood the
business of grinding, and dressing buhrs, etc.,
etc. The repairs proper were chiefly
confined to the water-wheel, and the tools
employed in this undertaking were an inch augur,
a hand-saw and an ax. The wheel to this
mill was one of Mr. Arrowsmith's
own invention, and was thought, by him at least,
to be a very good one. When the repairs on
the mill had about reached completion, and the
dressing of the buhrs being the next thing in
order, an old ax was added to the former stock
of millwright tools, and with this instrument,
whether it was called picking or chopping, the
buhrs were dressed and the mills set
to running.
PERSONAL
REMINISCENCES.
WILLIAM G. PIERCE
JACOB GREEN, JR.
AVA GINGERY
JOHN HENRY
JACOB D. SERRILL
NATHANIEL CRARY
JOHN F. HALLER (and
Portrait)
C. M. HULBERT
RUDOLPH J. BATTERSHELL
JOHN JACKSON HOOTMAN
JOHN HOOTMAN
CHRISTOPHER HOOTMAN
ALPHA STONE
ISAAC WARTENBEE
CHARLES W. BARRY
A. W. WILCOX
GEORGE W. CHAPMAN
MERRILL OTIS.
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