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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS  A Part of Genealogy Express |
Welcome to Marion County, Ohio History & Genealogy |
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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS A Part of Genealogy Express |
Welcome to Marion County, Ohio History & Genealogy |
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History of Marion County, Ohio
GREEN CAMP TOWNSHIP THIS township lies in a picturesque portion of Marion County, southwest of the county seat. The beautiful Scioto is the principal stream flowing through this township, and, with its numerous little tributaries, drains all the territory of this region. The mouth of the Little Scioto is at Green Camp Village. The township is of irregular form, containing about eighteen square miles as the aggregate of its area, and is bounded on the north by Big Island Township, on the east by Pleasant Township, on the south by Prospect Township and Union County, and on the west by Bowling Green Township. ORIGIN OF THE NAME.
SETTLEMENT AND REMINISCENCES. DANIEL MARKLEY was one of the first settlers in this township. His cabin was located near the old block-house in the northeast part of the township, a short distance from John Rayl's residence. He went further up the Scioto for awhile but after a few years returned to Green Camp, and died there some twenty-five years ago. ALEXANDER PORTER settled in this township in 1819, before the land was surveyed or ready for sale, near where his grandson, David H. Porter, now resides. He afterward entered eighty acres of land, since owned by Isaac C. Davis. The same year a man named WICKS "squatted" on land now owned by the Johnson heirs. This land was entered by Levi Hammond about 1820 or 1821. A man named JAMES (or JOHN) OWEN located a little further south about the same time, on land now owned by ISAAC C. DAVIS, HENRY LANEOUS and DAVID C. MOORE. His cabin was on Davis' land. In 1820, ARMANUS ASHBAUGH entered the block-house tract. Among others who came within a year or two, were ANDREW SULLIVAN, DAVID A. TOWN, JAMES MURPHY, LEVI PERRY, EBENEZER PERRY and GEORGE WRIGHT. WRIGHT was for a number of years an associate with the Indians at Upper Sandusky. While with them he married an Indian woman, by whom he had two children. He finally accepted the idea that it was not right to live with a woman of such opposite color, and left her, giving her all his land, and came to Pleasant now Green Camp Township, and entered seventy acres of land, on which he resided until death. He was a an who possessed a peculiar genius for invention, and manufactured many articles of his own design. He made hair combs, finger rings, and various kinds of jewelry, and at his death had such a stock on hand that it took a two-days' sale to dispose of them. The Indians from Upper Sandusky would always bring their rifles to him whenever they needed repairing. WRIGHT possessed some commendable traits of character. At his death, he bequeathed his whole farm, which is now owned by JESSE JOHNSON, to the township for school purposes. JOHN LOGUE, ALEXANDER JENKINS and JOHN STRAW were squatters in 1820, but never bought or entered any land in the township. WILLIAM HUMPHREYS and SAMUEL POWELL were early settlers. ANDREW SULLIVAN settled in Green Camp about 1820, on land now owned by JAMES COFFY, but he entered land now owned by MRS. JACOB FREE, formerly MRS. MOORE. DAVID A. TOWNE settled in 1820 or 1821 on the farm now owned by SAMUEL RAYL. DAVID, WILLIAM and EZRA TRAVIS entered the old JESSE WALKER farm, on part of which ALEXANDER PORTER "squatted." This portion of the WALKER farm was purchased some years ago by JOHN H. PORTER for his sons; so that the old home of the squatter fell back into the possession of his descendants. In 1820, JAMES MURPHY entered the land now owned by DAVID R. THOMAS. LEVI PERRY, in 1820 or 1821, entered land now owned by ISAAC WYNN. EBENEZER PERRY entered land now owned by J. R. D. MORRIS. JOHN LOGUE, ALEX JENKINS and JOHN STRAW were squatters in 1820, but none of them ever bought or entered land in the township. WILLIAM HUMPHREY settled on the fish lands, and SAMUEL POWELL on the TRAVIS lands. The block-house above referred to
in the northeast part of the township was erected during the troublesome
times between this country and Great Britain, to guard white Americans
against those Indians who had been made hostile by British influence.
Such a house was a sort of two-story structure, made of heavy hewed logs,
the lower portion having only one entrance and that well guarded, and the
upper perforated with numerous small apertures through which the refugees
within could shoot at the lower all around, to render it difficult for the
Indians to climb up on the outside. The timbers being securely spiked
together, the block-house constituted a good fortification against the
Indians of that day. In 1837, what is now Green Camp Township had the following settlers, among others: JOHN SIFRITT, on Survey 9,965; LEWIS COOKES, JOHN BRITTON and ADAM IMBODY, on Survey 9,943; JAMES CHARD, on 9985; JAMES JOHNSON, on Section 1; D. R. THOMAS and JOHN THATCHER, on Section 13; JACOB COOPER and J. KERSEY, on Survey 9,966. Green Camp Township has shared in
the experiences of pioneer school-teaching. The first school taught in
District No. 5 was in the winter of 1838 - 39. It was commenced in one
of the houses vacated by the Germans, but in a short time the house caught
fire and burned down. ADAM IMBODY had lately built an
addition to his house, but had not yet occupied it, so he gave the school
permission to occupy it. But a disturbance soon arose, and it again
became necessary to remove, which was done to a house 12x14 feet, in which
MRS. SIFRITT had kept her loom when weaving. Here the
term was finished. The next winter, the directors secured another
house, which was used for several years. It was built of round logs,
with clapboard roof, the boards being held in place by poles laid across the
building on top of them. The floor was made of puncheons, made by
splitting large logs into slabs about three inches thick, with one side
hewed smooth. The seats were made of lin logs, split apart and legs
putting them. The cracks between the logs were filled with clay taken
from under the floor, and as the clay washed out each year and had to be
replaced, it soon made quite a hole under the floor. The room was
lighted by greased paper windows. About one-half of one end of the
building was occupied by the fire-place, the back wall and jambs of which
were made of stones, and the chimney of sticks and mud. CEMETERIES. The march of the white race upon the wilds of America was a solid phalanz, as compared with the thin and straggling sojourns of the Indian. While the latter, therefore, left but little sign of burying grounds behind them, after an occupation of the land for generations, and probably for centuries, the former, within the first generation, established numerous cemeteries, wherein the remains of their beloved friends may be placed away, and marked by monuments as enduring as the rocks themselves. The first white settlers, within two, three or five years, begin the filling up of a graveyard. The Block-House Cemetery. - Among the first, if not itself the very first, of the cemeteries commenced or laid out by the pioneers of our race in Green Camp Township was that which was called the "Block-House Cemetery," as it was located near the block-house, that fortification of defense against the Indians already described. It was laid out by that prominent pioneer, Armanus Ashbaugh, who buried it in a daughter. Although there are about twenty-five graves within this sacred inclosure, there is but one tombstone, which is placed over the grave of Mr. Ashbaugh's daughter, just referred to. On this tombstone is the following inscription: "Sophia Ann, daughter of John and Sophia Ashbaugh, died November 6, 1825, aged one year ten months and one day. 'Sleep on, my infant daughter, sleep, This burying-ground is situated just south of the block-house site, and comprises an area of one-fourth of an acre. Green Camp Cemetery was laid out in the year 1866, under the direction of the Trustees of the township. The extent of its area is one and a half acres, and its location is just east of the corporation limits of Green Camp Village, in a picturesque locality near the river. In this secluded and sacred spot lie the earthly remains of some of the oldest pioneers of the township, many of whom have died since the survey and dedication of these grounds. The first person buried here was Ezekiel Thatcher, who was killed by a falling tree in 1821, his remains being removed here from their old resting place. Several years elapsed before any other interments were made in this cemetery. At present it marks the burial places of many of its citizens some of them by very fine monuments. Among those buried here is Robinson Stevens, who was a Lieutenant in the Mexican war, serving throughout that contest. He had been a member of the regular army. AGRICULTURAL.
GREEN CAME, FORMERLY BERWICK. The village was laid out in
June, 1838, by David Beach, who owned forty acres, which he had
entered, and now forms the site of Green Camp. The first house erected
upon this ground was a log structure, fourteen by sixteen feet in
dimensions, and was situated where the Methodist Episcopal Church now
stands. It was built by John Thatcher, who lived in what was
afterward the eastern part of the village. This building, however, was
not occupied until May, 1843, when John G. Bradshaw took up his
residence in it and occupied it for a time. This man was then running
the Isaac Halderman mill on the Scioto River. In 1844, he moved
into Jackson Township, Union County, just over the line; but in 1846, he
returned to Green Camp Township, and in 1862 came into the village.
Mr. Bradshaw was the first citizen of the village. MILLS.
MUNICIPAL
RAILROADS.
VILLAGE OFFICERS.
GREEN CAMP FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
GREEN CAMP LODGE, NO. 644, I. O. O. F.
PATRIOTIC ORDER SONS OF AMERICA.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF TEMPERANCE.
WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES FOR GREEN CAMP TOWNSHIP. The following biographical notices contain much instructive information, both biographical and historical. Many of the early settlers are mentioned and the story of their lives and progress related: WILLIAM ARONHALT
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