TP. 2, S.
AREA 23,040 ACRES

R. 9, E.
POPULATION 1,866

    John BYAL, John L. CARSON, and John ROSE, commissioners, at their session Mar. 2, 1835,  "Ordered that the original surveyed township number two north, in range nine east, be laid off and formed in a body politic and corporate, and designated Pleasant township,"  Previous to this date it had been a part of Blanchard township.
     This township lies in the northwest corner of the county, and is bounded on the north by Wood County, on the east by Portage township, on the south by Blanchard township and on the west by Putnam County.  It derives its name no doubt from its pleasant location and scenery, and is an original township of Thirty-six sections.

     John ALGIRE, of Fairfield County, made the first entry of land in this township.  The northeast quarter of section thirty-one being bought by him Mar. 15, 1833.  On the 20th day of April, same year, Alexander KILPATRICK of Hardin County, entered the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section thirty-one.  Edward STEVESON, of Franklin County, entered the west half of the northeast quarter of section twenty-seven, and on the same day John J. NEEDLES of the same county entered the east half of the northeast quarter of the same section.  On the 19th day of October 1833, John McCULLOCH, of Jefferson county and William WOODS, of Washington

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County, Pa., entered lands in section twenty-eight, and on the same day Eliakim Crosby entered the west half of section twenty-nine.  Jacob Lamb, of Fairfield County, entered the southeast quarter of section thirty, and George Kalb entered the west half of the northeast quarter of section twenty-six, on the 2d day of November, 1835.

     In 1834 entries of lands were made by Henry HEMRY, Nathan FIDLER, John KALB, Benjamin CUMMINS, Anthony WILCOXSON, Robert FLETCHER, Robert SHERRARD, Alexander AMSPOKER, Benjamin TODD, Bennet KIGER, Michael PRICE and others.
     The first settlement in this township was made in 1833 by Edward STEVESON, Benjamin TODD and John J. NEEDLES, at and near where the village of McCOMB now stands.  In the following year William and Alexander KILPATRICK, George ALGIRE, John KALB, Alexander AMSPOKER came to the same neighborhood.  In 1835 Robert MORRISON, John BARTHOLOMEW, Charles BLAKEMAN, Michael PRICE, David WRIGHT, Jacob THOMAS and others reinforced the new settlement.

     BENJAMIN TODD came from Franklin County, O., and settled on the present site of the village of McComb.  He was the first Justice of the Peace in the township, having helped to organize the township, and has held various offices since, discharging the duties of all with honesty and fidelity.  He was also a member of the first church organization in the township, and has ever since led a consistent Christian life, and now, at the age of ninety years, and having raised a large and respectable family of children, he resides in the village of McComb, surrounded by the triumph of himself and compeers,

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over nature, loved and respected by all who know him, almost the last of the hardy pioneers of this part of the county.

     JOHN J. NEEDLES emigrated from Franklyn County also, and redeemed from the wilderness a beautiful farm.  He was a rather impulsive, eccentric kind of a man, but withal a kind neighbor and a good citizen.  He removed to Iowa in 1856 and there died about six years ago.

     WILLIAM KILPATRICK, after a residence of a number of years, moved to Defiance County in 1859, and his brother Alexander, followed him after having made his township his home for nearly half a century.  Both were honest men and good citizens.

     GEORGE ALGIRE still resides here, on the same lands he cleared up and beautified, one of the oldest residents of the township.  A small wiry man of good constitution, untiring energy and industry, he has accumulated a competency, and enjoys it in the society of his friends.  He has been a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church for more than forty years.  As a minister he is fervent and zealous, of considerable ability, he plainly points out the way as he understands it.  As a christian he has led a consistent life.  As a man and neighbor he commands the greatest respect.

     JOHN KALB, another of that noble band, after a long and useful life closed up his earthly career on the first of March, 1872.  In his death the community lost a valuable member.  Mr. KALB was a member of the Methodist church for many years, and two of his sons, John S. and Isaac N., were ministers of that church.  Father KALB was a fine specimen of the frontiersman, and contributed his full share in clearing up the county.

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     CHARLES BLAKEMAN is still living, and a resident of McComb.  He, too, was a farmer, and a man of probity and industry, and has always enjoyed the esteem of his neighbors.  He is now in his old age, quietly enjoying the fruits of his labor.

     DAVID WRIGHT, SR., still resides on the old home farm, made pleasant and valuable by his own industry and economy.  He is passing the declining years of his life surrounded by his family and friends, beloved by all.
     The soil of this locality is a rich black loam, on a clay subsoil.  On the ridges, or higher lands, the soil is much mixed and made up of sand and gravel.  The entire body of land in this township is rich and very productive.
     The timber does not vary much from that of other parts of the county, being principally walnut, ash, oak, elm, maple and beech.
     The head waters of Portage River, with some small tributaries, are sufficient, with wells, which are from ten feet to twenty feet deep, to supply all the water necessary.
     The first election was held in 1835 and Benjamin TODD, George ALGIRE, Charles BLAKEMAN, Michael PRICE, John KALB, John J. NEEDLES, Alexander AMSPOKER, Robert MORRISON, Robert FLETCHER, Benjamin CUMMINS, David WRIGHT and Jacob THOMAS were the voters.  The officers elected were Benjamin TODD, J. J. NEEDLES and Alexander AMSPOKER, Trustees:  Benj. TODD., Clerk; George ALGIRE, Treasurer; Benj. TODD, Justice of the Peace.
     The first church organization was in the year 1835.  The Rev. THRAP, of the Methodist church, at that time organized a class, of whom Benj. TODD and wife, and John

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KALB and wife were the members.  Services were held in private houses, and in the school house until 1850, when the Methodists erected a church building, which was the first in the township.
     The first school house was built in 1838 at the present site of McComb.  It was of the then approved style, round log, clap board roof, mud chimney order of architecture.  There are now eight good school buildings in the township, and an enrollment of four hundred and forty-four children of school age.
     The first flouring mill was built by Thomas PICKENS in 1845 on Pickens' Run.  Previous to that time a hand mill owned by William TODD, was the only means of making bread-stuff in the township.  In 1841 George ALGIRE built a saw mill on ALGIRES Run.  Its capacity for manufacturing lumber was three hundred feet per day.  The first steam saw mill was built in 1850 by TIPTON & PORTER, and the first steam flouring mill was built by Capt. Isaac CUSAC in 1857.
     Thus has this part of the county been developing little by little with the hardest of labor, the greatest of patience, and most persevering industry, until to-day Pleasant township is one of the most populous, wealthy and beautiful in the county.  Her farms, and farm buildings, will compare favorably with those of any other part of the county, whilst in honest thrift, intelligence and true hospitality her people are surpassed by none.
     List of persons who have been elected to the office of Justice of the Peace:
     Benjamin Todd  - 1835, 1838, 1843, 1846, 1849
     George Hemry - 1838

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     Benjamin CUMMINS - 1850, 1853, 1856, 1859
     Thomas B. KELLEY - 1855, 1874.
     Charles PURSEY - 1856
     Samuel McBRIDE - 1859
     Isaac H. MYERS - 1862, 1865.
     Daniel HIGH - 1862
     J. E. CREIGHTON- 1864
     Jackson CRITES - 1865, 1868
     S. H. FAIRCHILD - 1868
     A. R. BECHTEL - 1869
     Elisha TODD - 1870
     Joseph C. BROWN - 1872
     William H. TODD - 1873
     Jacob PRIEST - 1876
     Isaac CUSAC - 1877, 1880
     W. S. KELLEY- 1880
     F. F. PARKER - 1880

OLNEY.

     In April 1857, Isaac FAIRCHILD laid out the town of Olney on the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and the wet half of the southwest quarter of section fifteen, which comprised forty lots.  The platting of the town was as far as it ever progressed, and it was only a town on paper.  The lands on which this town was to have been built are now owned by J. B. WILLIAMS.

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MCCOMB.

     BENJAMIN TODD laid out a town on the northeast part of the west half of the northeast quarter of section twenty-six, in 1847, and called it Pleasantville.  The town originally comprised only eighteen lots.  Afterwards successive additions were made by Mr. Todd, Ewing, Rawson and others.  The town is pleasantly situated on the ridge running the Tiffin to Ft. Wayne, and about ten miles from Findly.  The village is the largest in the county, outside of Findley, and being situate in a fine farming country, and having good railroad facilities, bids fair to become a place of some importance.
     This town was incorporated in 1858, when the name was changed from Pleasantville to McComb.
     The first Mayor was William CHAPMAN.  For some years the town waited and watched for the completion of the Continental Railway, which had been graded for miles, both east and west of the village, alternately between hope and fear, the energies of the place became paralyzed, business gradually fell off, and everything came to a stand still, and a state of retrogression was setting in.  The people, however, appreciating the situation, roused up and procured the building of the McComb and Deshler Branch of the Dayton and Michigan Railroad, and thus obtained communication with the outside world, and, as if fortune was now determined to smile upon them, the Continental changed hands and under the name of N. Y. C., and St. L. Railroad, has already more than fifty miles of road completed, beginning at Arcadia and running west through McComb.  To say that the long expectant people of this village are jubilant, but tamely expressess the situation.

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     A post office was established here in 1847 with William MITCHELL Postmaster.  He has been succeeded by Zelotus BARNEY, James PORTER, Eliza FISHER and Mrs. Margaret BARNEY present incumbent.
     The Odd Fellows have a flourishing lodge here, established in 1859, called McComb Lodge No. 354.
     The business of this place is rapidly on the increase.  A number of good business houses have recently been erected, as well as many residences.  There are already two well stocked dry goods stores, two hardware stores, two neat well filled drug stores, one clothing store, two grocery and provision stores, two meat markets, one furniture store, two harness shops, four blacksmith shops, one jewelry store, one gunsmith shop, two wagon and carriage shops, two saw mills, one steam flouring mill, two shoe shops, one undertaker, one livery stable, one pump factory, two hotels, five physiciasn, one attorney, and one news paper, the "McComb Herald," by a Mr. DRAKE, and three churches, one Methodist Episcopal, one Presbyterian and one Disciples.
     There are a number of very tasty dwellings, many of them surrounded by beautiful grounds.  Altogether the village has an air of thrift and rapid growth, which is very encouraging to its people, and the beauty of its location, its healthfulness, and intelligent society, are sources of just pride to the inhabitants.  Four hundred and twenty-three was the population in 1880.
     There is here a fine brick school building, and three teachers are employed to conduct the schools.  There is an enumeration of one hundred and eighty-one youth in the district.

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     The following named persons held the office of Mayor of the village:
     William CHAPMAN.
     Benjamin CUMMINS.
     S. H. FAIRCHILD.
     W. J. SHOLTY.
     Charles BLAKEMAN.
     J. R. TURNPAUGH.
     A. R. BECHTEL.
     E. TODD
     I. H. MYERS.
     A. BENNETT.
     J. T. SMITH
     Isaac CRUSAC.
     W. H. CONINE.
     S. A. COOPER.
     H. W. HUGHES.

END OF PLEASANT TOWNSHIP, NEXT PORTAGE TOWNSHIP