SCIOTO TOWNSHIP.

     This township was included in the Old Virginia Military Land, and originally included territory only west of the Scioto River.  On Dec. 7, 1814, the county commissioners granted a petition to establish this township.  At that time the new township included all the land west of the Scioto that had been in

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Radnor, and extended south to the mouth of Mill Creek.  Concord Township was established in 1819, and two years later, the boundaries of Scioto Township were definitely fixed, as follows: Beginning on the west bank of the Scioto River at Dilsaver's Ford, the line ran west to Union County; thence south with said line to the middle of Mill Creek; thence eastwardly with the north line of Concord Township to the Scioto River; thence up the said river, with the meander thereof to the place of beginning.  In 1852. land embracing two school districts in the northern part of Concord Township, on the east side of the Scioto was annexed to Scioto Township.  A few years after that, a part of Concord Township situated directly west of the Mill Creek settlement, occupying the bend of Mill Creek south of it, was attached to Scioto Township, so that the people living on it might have the benefit of the Ostrander schools and the nearby voting place.  Scioto Township is now bounded on the north by Thompson and Radnor Townships; on the east by Radnor, Delaware and Concord Townships; on the south by Concord Township and Union County, and on the west by Union County.  The township takes its name from the Scioto River.  This is a corruption of the Indian name Scionto, which was applied to the river by the Wyandots.  Arthur's Run and Boke's Creek are the tributaries of the river in the northern half of the township.  The latter, which is a good-sized stream, was named for a Wyandot chief.  It is feed by Smith's Run.  Mill Creek, the principal tributary of the Scioto River in Delaware County, runs through the southern part of the township.
     Near the river the land is rolling, and in some places the banks of the river are quite steep.  The land along the river is rich.  Farther back it is more level, and is well adapted for grains and grazing.  Here and there through the townships clay knobs are to be found containing excellent material for the manufacture of brick and tile.  In the western part of the township, about where the farms of John W. Eddleblute and Acel Larcum and others in that neighborhood are located, there was at one time a pond of considerable size and much swamp Land.  This was drained, and in order to get rid of the vegetation with which the land was covered, it was set on fire.  It burned for a long time before the fire could be put out.  From this fact the road which runs north and south through this section became known as the Burned Pond Pike.  The lands proved to be some of the richest in the township.
     The Indians, which the first settlers found here were friendly, and imparted to them much valuable information regarding the salt licks, the fords in the river and the haunts of wild game.
     It is now generally conceded that the first settler in the township was Richard Hoskins, who came from Wales bringing a family of four sons and three daughters.  They reached Franklinton in December. 1805. and in May of the following year started north on the old Sandusky Military Road.  He settled at the mouth of Boke's Creek. About the same time, probably in June of that year, Zachariah Stephens settled near Hoskins, and as he was the first to complete his cabin, he has the honor of building the first white man's cabin in the township.  In the latter part of November, 1807, an Irish family, of which James McCune was the head cast in their lot with the little settlement.  In August of the next year, another Irishman, Stewart Smith, settled here.  In 1809, Jacob North came from the East and settled near the creek; Zachariah Williams and his family settled near by; and Joseph Shoub, a Pennsylvanian. settled near the mouth of Smith's Run.  The same year Philip Horshaw came and built a grist mill where the mill at Warrensburg now stands.  In 1811 Richard and Evans Carr arrived in the township.  The latter settled near the present site of the town of Ostrander.  In [814, John Sherman came from Kentucky.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812.  His son, Vincent Sherman, settled near the Union County line.  John Lawrence settled on a farm in 1814, where the village of Edinburg was later located.  The same year, John Cratty came through the woods and settled on a farm near the present site of Os-

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trander.  Andrew Dodds and his family came here Mar. 15, 1815, from the Derby Plain.  They were natives of Pennsylvania.  They settled in the Edinburg neighborhood.  Polly Dodds, the wife of Andrew, died soon after they reached here.  She was the second one to be interred in the graveyard at Edinburg.  Her husband died in 1820.
     James Liggett came from Virginia in1817, and settled in the woods, on land which is now included in the village of Ostrander.  He was energetic, intelligent and a public-spirited citizen, who did all in his power to develop the town.  In 1815, Asa Robinson settled near the mouth of Big Mill Creek, and the following year a Kentuckian named William Ramsey settled on Mill Creek.  That year, H. G. Smith, a native of Massachusetts, also settled in the township, and Solomon Carr came from Virginia and settled on land that is now a part of the village of Ostrander.  George Bean came from Hardy County, Virginia, four years later and joined this little settlement. He was one of the first justices of the peace in the township.  The Deans came from Pennsylvania into Ohio before it became a State, and in 1829, they came to the neighborhood of Ostrander, and in the late '60's moved into the village.  Other settlers who came into the township at a later date were William Loveless, in 1828 from Maryland, and in 1837, W. G. McFarlin, both of whom settled near White Sulphur Station.  In 1834 a Welshman by the name of J. P. Owen, settled in the township.
     Robert Perry and Sarah Hoskins were the first couple married in the township.  This important event occurred in 1808.  Later in that year Isaac Smart married Margaret Smith.  Hugh Stephens, a son of Zachariah Stephens, was the first white child born in Scioto, and James McCune was the second.  The first death was that of Zachariah Williams, who died in 1809, and was the first one buried in the old cemetery on Boke's Creek.  The first postmaster was Harry Riggers, who kept a tavern at what was then known as Riggers Ford, where the covered bridge now crosses the Scioto on the Marysville Pike.  This was a famous tavern and the second one opened in the township.  The first tavern was opened by James Flannigan, John Cratty and David Shoup were the first justices of the peace.
     The first village in the township was Fairview, later called Edinburg. and now recognized only by a few houses in the neighborhood where the Gabriels live, north of Ostrander.  It is supposed that this village was laid out and platted soon after Cratty and the Dodds and John Lawrence came into the township, but the record does not show who made the plat or the date when it was recorded.  There were twenty-seven lots shown on the plat.  Harrison Street, running east and west was to be the principal street; others running in the same direction were Columbus. Franklin and East Streets.  Its beautiful location suggested the first name of the settlement.  It was expected that the place would develop into one of importance, and for a time it had a slow but steady growth.  When, however, the railroad was put through the present village of Ostrander, the hopes of the citizens of Edinburg were blasted.  The village of Ostrander owes its existence to the building of the railroad through that part of the township, and what was once a bare clay knob now supports one of the flourishing villages of the county.  It is named for the engineer who surveyed the line for the railroad.  The town was laid out in 1S52 by I. C. Buck, and as originally platted contained 104 lots.  The town was incorporated May 18, 1875.  The first Council meeting was held Apr. 5, 1876, at which were present.  D. G. Cratty, mayor; W. C. Winget, treasurer; Dr. D. C. Fay, clerk.  The members of the Council were T. Maugans, J. H. Fields, Samuel Stricklin, G. S. Carr, F. W. Brown and J. B. Roberts.  M. C. Bean was the first postmaster.  W. C. Winget was the first merchant.  Dr. Erastus Field was the first physician.  He came here in 1849.  William Fry was the first blacksmith, and Samuel Stricklin was the first tavern-keeper.
     Ostrander's present-day business men are enterprising and up-to-date.  They are comprised substantially in the following list:

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     Physicians - D. C. Fay, G. E. Cowles, V.
B. Weller.
     Ostrander Business Houses - R. B. Shaw, restaurant and meat market; H. T. Kyle, druggist; C. Hannawalt, dry goods and groceries; E. B. Bean, dry goods and groceries; Robinson Bros., furniture, carpets and undertaking; A. .M. Jacobs, monuments; Shoaf & Anderson, dry goods and groceries; The Ostrander Banking Company; W. C. Bovey, blacksmith and carriage manufacturer; Fegley Bros., blacksmiths and repair shop; Albert Huntley, cement blocks and fence posts; Palace Hotel,  W. E. Honneter, proprietor; J. C. Maugans, elevator and lumber yard; Manville & Winston, hardware; C. L. V. Liggett, hardware; also two livery barns.
     Ostrander officials for 190 - E. B. Bean, mayor; M. M. McBride, clerk; W. A. Anderson, treasurer.
     Councilmen - Charles Ekelberry, president; R. T. Gates, John Fegley, Eli Maugans, D. W. Felkner, Charles Shoaf, George P. Liggett, marshal.
     School Board - S. T. Carr, president William Harris. C. V. Liggett, Dr. G. E. Cowles, S. M. Schoppert.
     M. M. Mcbride, health officer.
     M. L. Kalb, postmaster.
     The history of the lodges, schools, churches and manufacturing plants will be found in the chapters devoted to those special subjects.
     Warrensburg is a small village located on the Sandusky Military Road over which Hoskins and the other pioneer settlers on Boke's Creek passed when they came up the river.  It is located two miles north of White Sulphur Station, and was originally and for many years called Millville.  It received its present name of Warrensburg when a postoffice was established there, Aug. 26, 1885.  Owing to the establishment of the rural free delivery, the postoffice was discontinued a few year ago.  At one time Millville was the largest village in the township, but the building of the railroad so far to the south blighted it prospects of any large development in the future.
     The public officials of Scioto township for the year 1908 are:  S. B. Myers, justice of the peace; Charles Cryder and George Culp, trustees; G. E. Cowles, treasurer; Stanley McKittrick, clerk; John Stover and Fred Faucett, assessors, and William Harter, constable.

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