JACKSON TOWNSHIP

Source:
History of Monroe County, Ohio
- Illustrated -
A Condensed History of the County;
Biographical Sketches: General Statistics; Miscellaneous Matters &c.
Publ. H. H. Hardesty & Co, Publishers
Chicago and Toledo
1882

Page 213      In this township the first settlement in the county was made.  In 1791 Philip Witten and family settled on the Ohio river bottom, opposite what is now known as Williamson's Island, having removed there from either Short creek or Wheeling creek, Virginia.  His sons were Thomas, Joseph, John, Peter and James, and one daughter, Rachel.  Thomas married Sarah Buchanan, of Virginia, at an early date in the beginning of this century, and soon afterward settled in Guernsey county, near what is now Byesville, where he died many years ago.  Joseph married Nancy, daughter of Arthur Scott, an early settler of the townships; John married Susan Ruby, of Salem township; Peter married Rachel Bowen, also of Salem township; James married Margaret Scott, a sister of his brother Joseph's wife, and Rachel married Nicholas Wells, of Virginia.  All these parties are now dead.  Peter and James died on the old homestead, which is still in the possession of their descendants.  for many years prior to the erection of the county, Philip Witten was a justice of the peace for the township in which he lived, then in Washington county.  Joseph and Joseph lived and died on fishing creek bottom, Wetzel county, West Virginia.  When the family came to the territory they brought their slaves with them, the last surviver of whom, Sol. Hooper, the old fiddler, will be remembered by the older citizens, who, in times long past, danced to his merry strains in the rude cabins of the early days.      A Mr. Ramsey settled, in 1801, on an improvement that had been made prior to that date, below the mouth of James' run, near which is now the town of Cochransville.  Daniel Main, a Pennsylvania German, settled opposite Sisterville - then Ezekielton - several years previous to 1800.  soon after the settlement of Philip Witten his brother-in-law, Henry Dickinson, and a Mr. Abbott settled on section 23, now known as the Russell and Trippet or Talbott farms.  A Mr. Stanley settled on what is now known as the Stewart farm, and a Mr. Kemple, from Ezekielton, started a store there in 1804.  Azariah Hoskinson, Arthur Scott, Baziel Barnett, and others, settled on this bottom about 1800.  John Bridgman, and his son, John H., came from New England in 1818 and settled on the river above Witten's.  David and James Harrison, Thomas and David Evans, John Knight, Felix Sigler, the Applegates and Bargesons were very early settlers, and a Mr. Barnes, from whom Barnes' run takes its name, was amongst the first.  James Hissom, named above, is yet living, at the age of 103 years.  He is a pensioner of the war of 1812, and still rides a horseback to Woodsfield, a distance of some sixteen miles, to get his pension check cashed.      The township was organized July 19, 1815, and is one of the four townships into which the county was first divided.  It lies in original townships 1 and 2 of range 4, and contains 24 sections, but sections 18, 23, 24, 28, 29, 33 and 34, of township 1, and sections 7 and 13, of township 2, are fractional sections, lying on the river.  Sections, 13, 24, 29 and 34 are nearly full, each containing over 600 acres.  It is the southeastern township of the county.  The dividing ridge between the Ohio and Little Muskingum waters extends through the western and northwestern portions of the township.  There are no streams of any considerable size in it.  Barnes' run flows through the eastern, Miller's run the central, and James' run the western parts of the township.  Walnut Camp run, Dog-skin run, and Trail run, have their sources in the township, and flow in a northwestern direction and empty into Witten Fork of the Little Muskingum.  It is bounded on the north by Perry, Greene and Lee townships; on the east by Lee; on the south by the Ohio river, and on the west by Benton and Perry.      A postoffice was established on the Witten farm in 1833.  It was called Witten's.  James Witten was the first postmaster, and remained such until his death, some twelve or fifteen years ago.  It was then kept by his family until some four or five years since, when it was removed to the Stewart farm, next below - still retaining the name, Witten's.      The village of Cochransville was laid out by Thomas Cochran, in 1846.  It is situated on the Ohio river at the extreme southern point of the county.  The postoffice here, when first established, was called Cochran's Landing, but has been changed to Centerview, being about the center of what is known as the "long Reach," - a straight stretch in the river of almost twenty miles.      The first school house that the writer has any knowledge of was on the Bridgeman farm.  It was there some fifty years ago.  Among the first teachers was John A. Musser.  In this school house, which was rather a nice hewed log structure, religious services were held many years ago, by Rev. Dewitt and Rev. Dunham of the Presbyterian Church.  Rev. Joseph Junior Smith, of the Baptist Church, ministered to congregations in the township at an early period.      There are, in this township, three Methodist Churches - Stewart Chapel, on the Stewart farm; the German Methodist Church, on Trail run, and the M. E. Church in Cochransville.  The United Brethren have a church some two and a half miles back of Stewart Chapel.      The population of the town of Cochransville, for 1880, is reported at 119, and the township including the town, at 1,382.      The school statistics for the year ending Aug. 31, 1881, were as follows:  Total amount of school money received within the year, $2,670.70; amount paid teachers, $1,260.04; fuel and other contingent expenses, $481, 48; paid for sites and building $410.00; balance on hand September 1, 1881, $756. 18; No. of sub-districts, 7; No. of school houses, 7; value of school property, $2,500; No. of teachers necessary, 7.  Average wages paid teachers for month - gentlemen, $30; ladies, $25.  No. of pupils enrolled within the year, 361.      The present justices of the peace for the township are: Elias Barker, B. F. Folger and J. Haught.       The number of pounds of cheese manufactured in the township in 1881, was 25,400.

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