TP. 1, S.
AREA 15,360 ACRES

R. 10, E.
POPULATION 1,101

     From the organization of the county in 1828, until December, 1830, this township was a part of Findley township.  At the session of the County Commissioners held in that month, present, Mordica Hammond, John P. Hamilton, and Charles McKinnis, it was determined that it was necessary to divide the townships of Findley and Amanda into three townships, after the following manner:  Then follow the boundaries of Findley and Marion, and this order in relation to Liberty township, "and in the next place commencing at the south-east corner of section 34, in township 2 south, range 10, thence north to the north-eat corner of section 3, in township 2 north, thence west to the north-west corner of section 6 in range 9 thence south to the south-west corner of section 31, in township 2 south, thence east to the place of beginning, in which bounds shall be made a separate township, and become a body corporate and politic and be known and designated by the name of Liberty."
     This township comprises section 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 in township 1 north, and range 10 east, and is bounded north by Portage township, east by Findley, south by Eagle, and west by Blanchard.  It is situated in the center

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ter of the county north and south, and just west of the east and west center, which location gives it some advantages over its neighbors.
     The first entry of lands in this township was made July 3d, 1821, by Vance, Neil and Cory, of the south-west quarter of the south-east quarter of section 8.
     On the 20th of December of the same year, ROBERT McKINNIS entered the east part of the north-west quarter of section 7, and Charles McKinnis entered the west half of the north-west quarter of section 7.  John Gardner entered the north half of the north-east quarter of section 10, and on the 27th day of the same month Jacob Poe entered the west half of the south-west quarter of section 8.  Sept. 5th, 1825, Thomas Wilson entered the east half of the south-east quarter of section 9., and in August 1828, R. L. Strother entered the north-east quarter of section 21, and these were followed by entries made by Alfred Hampton, John Hobbs, Richard Watson, Isaac Comer and others.
     The first settlement was made in 1821, in the spring, by Jacob Poe, and in the fall by Robert McKinnis and his sons, Charles, James, Philip and John.  Judge McKinnis settled on the farm now owned by Oliver P. Shaw, James on the farm owned by Solomon Swarts, and Poe on the farm now owned by his son Nelson.  The sons of Charles McKinnis now reside on the lands on which he first located.
     These men were followed by Fishel and his sons John, Michael and Daniel, and some grown up daughters, Johnson Bonham, John Boylan,  Judge Ebenezer Wilson, Richard, William and George Watson, Barna Beardsley, William Fountain, Isaac Strother, Nathan Frakes, Isaac Comer, Povenmire, John Price, the Radabaughs, Solomon Lee, Abraham Bails, and others.

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     This township was heavily timbered with walnut, ash, beech, sugar oak, cottonwood, sycamore, and the inevitable buckeye.  No part of the land was clear of timber, and the immense forests of walnut which were destroyed, burned up to make way for the plow, would now be of incalculable value.
     The soil of this locality is variable.  Along the river it is warm and sandy, and on the ridges, sandy with a mixture of gravel.  Between the ridge and the river it is a rich vegetable loam, in places partially mixed with clay.  On the north of the river the prevailing soil is clay.  The rich bottomlands are adapted to corn, the sandy gravelly soil to wheat, and the clay or up lands are used for grazing purposes.  The principal crops are wheat, corn, oats, flax and grass.
     The Blanchard River crosses this township from east to west, furnishing an abundance of water not only for stock purposes, but during a good portion of the year enough to propel the two flouring mills located upon it.  The river bottom lands are exceedingly rich and productive, but are subject to occasional overflows, by which crops and fences are damaged more or less.
     On the north side we have Watson's, Wilson's, Grassy and Worden's runs, small wet weather streams, whose channels furnish good drainage for the adjacent lands.   There are several springs along Watson's and Wilson's runs, which keep them supplied with water the year round.
     On the south side Comer's run enters the river on the Dye farm, and is the only creek of any importance on that side.  None of these creeks furnish water power now.  There was for a number of years a saw mill on Comer's run, on the old Povenmire farm, just south of the Findley

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and Kalida State road, but that has long since been abandoned.  On the farm of Nelson Poe, and some forty-or fifty feet from the river is what the people in the neighborhood call a sink hole, that is the water disappears in the ground, and is not seen again until it is emptied into the river.
     Blanchard Church, on the Ewing farm, on Defiance road, built by the Presbyterians in 1850, was the first church building in the township.  The congregation, however, previous to that time, held services in private houses, and in the school house in then neighborhood.  The society was organized in 1832 by Rev. Peter Monfort.  The first stated minister, the late Rev. Geo. VanEmon, was at the same time pastor of the church in Findley.  Of the first membership we find the names of Judge Wilson and wife,  William Coen, wife and two daughters, Jacob Poe and wife, and Mrs. Jude McKinnis.
     As a proof of the strictness of church rules, and their enforcement, in years gone by, it is related to me by a friend that the late William Taylor, of Findley, was once reported to the congregation that met at the house of Jacob Poe, as having been guilty of violating the rules regarding the keeping of the Sabbath day, which violation occurred in this wise:
     At that day the means of transportation of produce and other barter to a market, was by floating it down the Blanchard, Auglaize and Maumee, to Perrysburg or Toledo.  Mr. Taylor was in trade at Findley, and desiring to make a trip, had his fleet of canoes loaded, waiting for a rise in the river, and a favorable time to set out on hi voyage.  After waiting a few days, the favorable time to start came on Sunday, and Mr. Taylor being impatient by delays, shoved off his canoes, and silently, perhaps, floated down the peaceful

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Blanchard, never intending any disrespect to the day or the church.  But the church dignitaries could  not overlook so flagrant a breach of church regulations, and Bible commands, and Mr. Taylor was cited to appear and answer, and to show cause why he should not be visited with the penalties of his disobedience.  My friend says he came, answered, confessed, and was forgiven.
     In 1832 the first school house was built in the township, on the farm now owned by John Reed, Esq.  Richard Wade was the first teacher.  There are now eight school houses in the township, the most of which are commodious buildings.  The youth of school age number three hundred and seventeen.
     There are one Evangelical, one United Brethren, one Christian Union, and one Presbyterian Church building, in the township.  Each of these churches has a flourishing Sunday School attached, under the charge of efficient and zealous superintendents.
     The first mill, or rather mills - for there were a flour, and lumber mill both - was butilt by John Byal, and is near the Infirmary.  The flour mill was run by water.  The machinery was moved by a large overshot wooden wheel, which kept plashing and creaking all day, and about which there was to us boys always a charming atmosphere of coolnes, and a capital place for fishing.  The water pouring over the dam, not in a rush, but slowly and at times almost noiselessly, the slow but continued movement of the old wooden wheel, the long drawn-out screech of the wooden machinery of the mill, the quiet movements of the miller, all had a lazy feeling inseparably connected with them, which I guess was contagious, for when we boys got sprawled out on the grassy bank of the river, near the old mill, we were sure to

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be infected with such feelings, and it required something tolerably exciting to fully arouse us.
     In about 1844 Miller Johnson built a saw mill at the site of the Holden Mill, and in about 1853 Amos Hartman now of Iowa, built a flouring mill at the same place, both of which mills are now standing.
     When the township was first settled wolves were very plenty, and also very destructive, killing the sheep, hogs, and even young cattle of the settlers.  Near where the Blanchard Church now stands Mr. Poe had some young cattle killed by the wolves.  Numbers of wolves were killed for their scalps, for which the State paid a bounty.
     In this township is the Indian Green, Plum orchard, and Indian burying ground.  Of the Indian Green, as it was called, is said by the early settlers, that quite a considerable tract of land on the north bank of the river, had been partially cleared up, on which the Indians had a burying ground, and perhaps a village, and certainly some kind of fortifications or earth works, of which I have heretofore spoken.  In addition to this there were several acres of lands along the river bottoms which had not only been cleared, but cultivated as every indication plainly showed.  Whether the presence of so many plum trees was the work of the Indians, or of that eccentric person already alluded to - Johnny Appleseed - will perhaps never been known.  The fact however remains that they were here, and among them were also a number of apple trees.
     The Indian burying ground was frequently visited by members of their tribe - the Ottowas - and at one time a white man by the name of Ellison, with his family, settled on this ground.  Ellison dug up quite a number of skeletons, and opened graves for such trinkets as were buried

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with the dead.  This coming to the ears of the Indians, they visited the place, and were so emphatic in their denunciation of the vandalism, that Ellison thought it prudent to quit the premises, which he did.  This plum orchard and burying ground covered some twelve acres or more.
     Of the earliest settlers of this township, I have already spoken of the McKinnis family.  NELSON POE, a descendant of that family, resides upon the old farm of his father, Jacob Poe, who came to this part of the county with the McKinnis.'  JACOB POE was a hardy specimen of the backwoodsman.  He was a relative of the celebrated Indian fighters, Adam and Andrew Poe, and was possessed of the physical strength and courage attributed to the celebrated brothers.  He lived to a good old age, respected and honored.
     JOHN BOYLAN, for more than forty years a resident here, came from near Newark, Licking County, Ohio, in 1832.  He was one of the first school teachers in the county, and for many years taught "the young ideas how to shoot," and how to shout too, for that matter, for I have a very vivid recollection of the energetic manner in which he swung the birch.
     Mr. Boylan was a local preacher of the Methodist Church, and one of its earliest members in the county.  As a minister he was fervent and touching in his appeals, and powerful in his exhortations.  After hi long evidence here he went west, and is now a resident of Iowa.
     RICHARD WATSON and wife are both dead, and all their living children but one are now residents of the county.  Mr. Watson was a good neighbor, and enterprising citizen, and honest in all his dwellings.  He died, leaving to his children a fine farm, which he had reclaimed form the wilderness.  Mr. Watson, though a strong partisan of the

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Democratic school of politics, did not attempt to impertinently intrude his opinions one others.  He held the office of Coroner of the County for one or two terms.
     ISAAC COMER came to this township from Fairfield County, and located on the farm now owned by J. B. Wagner, about four miles west of Findley, on the Benton road.  Mr. Comer was one of those large, jolly, good-natured men that we occasionally meet.  Frank in all his sayings, kind and generous in his acts, honest and prompt in his dealings, he was universally liked, and his death was sincerely regretted.
     The REV. GEO. VAN EMON, one of the purest men who ever lived, may well be claimed by this township, as nearly all his life in this county was spent here.  As a minister he was sincere, and his words carried conviction with them.  As a christian he was blameless. As a neighbor he was kind and hospitable.  As a citizen he was one whose example might be safely followed.
     WILLIAM FOUNTAIN, or the old man Fountain, as he was familiarly called, came to the county in 1830, and settled in this township, on lands on which he resided for nearly fifty years, and up to the time of his death.  Of an unassuming and retired disposition, attentive to his own affairs, taking little part in public matters, his acquaintance was never very extensive.  But no man in his neighborhood was more highly respected, or considered more trustworthy.  Mr. Fountain came from Franklin County, and lived to be almost a centenarian.
     Mr. F. was born in Caroline Co., Md., Jan. 6th, 1784.  He was of Irish decent, and was the second of three brothers.  In 1824 he came to Franklin Co., Ohio, and settled in Plain township.  In 1809 Mr. F. was married to Sarah Barton, by whom he had five children.  Mrs. F. died

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in 1821, and Mr. F. married Mrs. Rebecca Smith, with whom he lived until the time of her death, a period of more than forty years.  Mr. F. sold his farm in Franklin, and came to Hancock, taking up his residence on the farm on which he died.  At the time of his death he was the oldest person in the county.

DANIEL CUSAC

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PHILIP McKINNIS

NELSON POE

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     This township contains some of the finest farm buildings in the county.  Amongst them is the fine brick residences of W. C. Watson, R. W. Boyd, Elijah Gowdy, Cornelius Ewing, John Hart and Samuel Mosier, and the very substantial frame dwellings of Joseph Wilson, Jacob Grubb, Wm. Renninger, C. C. Harris, all on the north side of the river whilst on the south side, Crondall, Watson, Henry Sherrick, Henry Rudisill, John Radabaugh, Joseph Barnhill, David Bish, J. M. Morehead and others living on the south side have equally tasteful dwelling places.  The farm are well improved, and supplied with the bet of out-buildings.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

     Below we give the names, with the dates of their election of those who have held this office.
     Benjamin Cummins- 1831, 1834.
     Johnson Bonham - 1834, 1843.
     Merriman Price - 1836.
     James H. Barr - 1841
     Van Burton - 1841-1844
     John Smith- 1842.
     William S. Burkhead - 1844.
     Aaron Hall - 1845-1848-1851
     Levi Taylor - 1837, 1840, 1853.
     John Radabaugh- 1847, 1880

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     Thomas H. Taylor - 1853, 1856, 1859, 1862.
     Alexander Philips - 1850, 1858, 1872, 1875
     John Hall - 1853, 1856, 1859
     W. H. Fountain - 1860, 1863, 1866.
     J. E. Dresbach - 1865
     Joseph Wilson - 1872
     John Reed - 1873
     Henry Rudisill - 1877, 1880
     R. W. Boyd - 1877
     Table showing the number and value of live stock, and the number of acres of grain sown, and bushels produced, as returned by township Assessor in 1881.