CHAPTER XXV.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP.

     Harrison township was named in honor of General Wm. H. Harrison, and was organized as a separate political township, in 1820.  Previous to that time it was attached to Clayton.  The territory comprising it, before the organization of Perry county, belonged to Muskingum.  Harrison is not a full township, and contains only twenty-four sections.
     The territory comprising it lies wholly on the Muskingum slope, and is drained by the waters of the South Fork of Moxahala and tributaries, chief of which are McLuney, Black's Fork, Buckeye, Burley's Run and Wigton's Run.  About one-third of the township is extremely hilly, the remainder principally level or gently rolling.  The greater part of the soil is fairly productive, and the land is well watered.  The land-holders are mostly engaged in general farming, stock raising and wool growing.  Some of the best sheep in the county are in Harrison township.
     It is rich in minerals. Coal No. 5 and No. 6 underlie nearly the whole township, except in the low valleys.  Coal mining has been extensively carried on, at and near McLuney and Crooksville for several years - at the first named point for quite a long time.  The coal has been shipped far and near, stands well in market, and has a good sale.  Much of the township is also rich in iron ore, but there has not been much practical development of this mineral.  A considerable portion of Harrison has a valuable seam of potter's clay, which has been well tested and worked for a long time.  The manufacture of potter's ware is a very considerable industry at various points in the township.  There are also seams of fire clay, but these have been but little developed.
     The first permanent settlement appears to have been made in Harrison about 1806, several families coming about the same time.  It is claimed that James Clark, who owned land on both sides of what is now the county line, came in 1799 or 1800, and built a cabin on the Perry county side, residing there for a number of years before settling on the Muskingum side, Clark, afterward, was a State Senator, Justice of the Peace, and kept a tavern at Roseville, (then called Milford,) at an early day.  The Ilift's, Brumages, Burleys, Dusenberries, Roses, Holcombs, Dennis', Hightshces and Hitchcocks were among the first settlers.  The following named persons were living in the township as early as 1816 or 1817: John Iliff, William Iliff, John Dusenberry, John Burley, John Brumage, W. McCaslin, John C. Cox, James Spurgeon, William Combes, Joseph Taylor, Hugh Lennington, Jacob Reed, James Mumford, M. Plummer, William Turner, James Iliff, Nicholas Hitchcock, James Rose, Tubba Taylor, John Hough, Israel Hitchcock, Wm.

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H. Herron, Jeremiah Rose, Aaron Dennis, Sen., Aaron Dennis, Jr., John Barcroft, John Melick, John Moore, John Reed, John Rose, Alexander Brumage, William Cox, Jacob Holcomb, John Carr, Robert Allen, George Moore, Robert Moore, Thomas Taylor, Sen., Thomas Taylor, Jr., John Taylor, George Taylor, John Combes, Israel Combes, Stephen Owens, Bennett Woods, Isaac Hitchcock, Jacob Richards, John Hitchcock, George Wolf.
     The first church in the township was the Iliff church, a log building erected in 1819 or 1820, by the Methodist Episcopal denomination.  A class had been previously organized, which met mostly at the house of Jacob Holcomb, who resided on the sixteenth section.  The Iliff church prospered, and about 1852, built a new frame church.  Rev. T. C. Iliff, a prominent minister of the M. E. Church, is from this place.  The next church in the township was built at Roseville, for the use of all denominations of Christians, and was so used for a long time, and until the several sects erected their own houses of worship.
     The Bible Christians built a brick church at Roseville, on the Perry side of the line, in 1844, which is still in use.
      A society of the M. E. Church was organized at Reeds, and a church was built in 1816, which is still a regular charge.
     The Presbyterian Society at Roseville was organized in 1849, at the old house on cemetery hill, which was open to all denominations.  The society was organized by a committee appointed by the Presbytery of Pataskala, and continued to worship at the house named, until the erection

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from McLuney Creek. It has a railway station, post office, stores and church.  A number of potteries are in the town or near vicinity.  There are also mills in the suburbs or near vicinity.  The coal mines at this point are extensively worked and coal shipped to distant markets.  The mines are principally in seam No. 6, but No. 5 is also mined to some extent.  The coal of both seams is a good marketable commodity, though differing somewhat in quality from each other.  McLuney had in 1880 a population of sixty-six, though with the suburban inhabitants would doubtless count considerably more.
     Crooksville, situated two miles east of McLuney, on the C. & M. V. R. R., was established about 1874, and soon became a considerable point for coal mining.  It has also several potteries, and a large quantity of potters' ware is manufactured there, most of which is sold in distant markets.  The town has a railway station, post office, store, etc.  Crooksville does not appear in the census reports as a separate village, but it is justly entitled to recognition as such, and has a population of about one hundred inhabitants.
     Roseville is situated chiefly on the Muskingum county side, but the railway station, several churches, a number of potteries, and twenty or thirty private dwellings are on the Perry side, in Harrison township. The population of Roseville is about five hundred, of which the census returns ninety-six as in Harrison township, Perry county.  Most of the buildings on the Perry side are new, and if Roseville continues to improve, it is likely to extend still further on the Perry county side.
     The population of Harrison township in 1880, including villages, was one thousand five hundred and sixty-two.

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