Chapter IV

EMERALD TOWNSHIP
Pg. 18

     This township, although settled as early as 1826, was not organized until 1852.  Prior to that time it was attached to Crane township.  The first actual settler was William Gordon, who, in the spring of 1826, built a small cabin on the bank of the Maumee, in the northwest corner of the township, and moved his family therein.  In the following year the settlement begun by Mr. Gordon received an addition by the settling of George Platter, Guy Hamilton and John Musselman, who also built cabins along the Maumee, and commenced battling with the frowning forest.  Of these first settlers, John Musselman yet lives on the farm which he cleared up, and at the advanced age of ninety years is one of the best preserved specimens of pioneer life in the county.  He is in the enjoyment of good health, is an extensive reader, especially of the county papers, and is thoroughly posted on all the leading topics of the day.  Among other early settlers who became residents of this township may be mentioned John Fahy, who came in 1838, and Lyal Tate and Richard Carle, in 1840.  These last named pioneers settled along the line of the Wabash & Erie canal, which was then in process of construction.  Mr. Carle was a stone-cutter, and assisted in stone work along the canal.  He died in 1880, aged about sixty-five years.  Mr. Tate was a contractor on the canal, and became one of the first and most successful merchants of the township.  In 1887, fifty years after his emigration to America, and Queen Victoria's jubilee year, he visited the home of his birth, in the north of Ireland, accompanied by his only son, Samuel J., and returned after an absence of six weeks.  He died in Paulding in 1890, aged sixty-nine years.  Mr. Fahy became a farmer near Tate's Landing, and died in the spring of 1891, aged eighty-nine years.  The first election in the township was held in 1852, at the residence of Lina Parrish, on Six Mile creek.  The first officers elected were:  John Musselman, justice of the peace; Abraham Latty, clerk; Anthony Whippart, treasurer; and Lina Parrish, Thomas Whalen, Sr., and Richard L. Carle, trustees.  The township received its name from the fact that a number of the noble "sons of Erin" had settled within its limits.  The first school in the township was taught by Isaac McCowan, in a cabin belonging to David Hughes, and situated on section 5.  It had a clap-board roof, stick chimney, mud fire-place, and a seating capacity of about twenty, which number of pupils attended.  The first school house was located on section 6.  It was built by John Musselman for a residence, but was sold by him to the township (one especially for colored pupils).  Three of the sub-districts have good brick buildings, and the township board of education has arranged to erect brick buildings in each of the remaining districts whenever new houses are needed.  The township has two postoffices - Reid's and Emmett.  Beld's  was the first to be established and was so called in honor of Captain Robert M. Beld, who was largely instrumental in securing its establishment.  It is located on the defunct Wabash & Erie canal, in the western part of the township.  Daily mails are carried but now for many years a widow, resides at the little city of Westerville, Ohio; and often, no doubt, as she sits at eventide by the window of her residence, and looks out upon the towering walls of Otterbein University, her thoughts wander away through the dim vistas of the past to the pioneer days of her youth when she taught a little class of backwoods pupils in the wilds of Paulding county.  All the honor to this first teacher of Harrison township.  Let the pedagogues of to-day pay to the memory of this primitive teacher that tribute which she so richly deserves.  The first school house in the township was built in the year of 1850.  It was a log cabin, 16x20 feet in size, and situated on the northwest quarter of section thirty-six.  There are at present eight school houses in the township; all good frame structures and supplied with modern furniture.  Payne has a graded school and employs four teachers.  The first post-office was located at the house of Adam Snellenberger in the year 1858.  Mr. Snellenberger was the first postmaster.  The office was on a route leading from Paulding to Monroeville, Ind.  It was called Payne.  It was moved to Malottville in 1872, but still retained its former name; and in 1881, the name of the village of Malottville was changed to Payne, the same as the office.  There is one other office in the township.  It is called Smiley, and is located on the Nickel Plate railway, three miles west of Payne.  The first sermon preached in the township was at the residence of Theodore G. Merchant, in the year of 1843, by Rev. Joseph Miller, a United Brethren minister.  The first church society was organized at the same place, the same year, by Rev. Joseph Miller, assisted by Rev. Charles B. Gardner.  It was of the U. B. Denomination, and its first members were as follows:  Theodore G. Merchant and wife, Niram Strout and wife, John Northup and wife; William and Sarah Sheppard, Harriet E. Wentworth, Thomas Wentworth, Jr., B. L. Wentworth, and Mrs. H. J. Woodcock.  The second church was organized, in 1864, by Rev. John Brakefield, and was of the Methodist Episcopal denomination.  Louis Stillwell was first class leader.  The first members of this society were Louis Stillwell and wife, P. W. Hardesty and wife, a. F. Hardesty and wife, Anna Hardesty, Jonathan Snellenberger and Caroline Christopher.  The Flat Rock society of the Disciple church was organized Mar. 18, 1877, with fifteen members, Elder E. Leavitt minister in charge.  The first officers appointed were Samuel Wiltzie, elder, and James Bainbridge and Hiram Underwood, deacons.  The first members were Samuel Wiltzie, James Bainbridge, Hiram Underwood, Samuel H. Wiltzie, Jonas Fry, A. D. Underwood, Evans Wood, Silas Brattain, H. K. Baut, Mary Wiltzie, Emma Underwood, Rachel Underwood, Alice K. Wood, Mary Bainbridge and Rachel Brattain.  The first Sunday-school organized in the township was in 1854, at the Merchant school house, by Adam Hardesty.  About twenty pupils were in attendance.  There are now several in the township, attended by four or five hundred pupils.  Such are the changes wrought out by the hand of time.  The church buildings of the township are located in the village of Payne, and will be described in the Payne "write-up."  Part of Payne and Smiley are the only villages of the township.  The former will be given a special history, and the latter is a small station on the Nickel Plate, in the extreme southwest corner of the township.  It contains a small store, postoffice, saw mill and three or four dwellings.  The numbers of voters in the township, as returned May 18, 1891, was, north precinct, 166; south precinct, 327; total, 493.  The population in 1880, was 772; in 1890, it was 2,252, including the part of Payne village which is in the township.
 

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