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Welcome to
Seneca County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

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Source:
History of Seneca County :
from the close of the Revolutionary War to July, 1880 :

embracing many personal sketches of pioneers, anecdotes,
and faithful descriptions of events pertaining to the organization of the county and its progress

Published: Springfield, Ohio: Transcript Print. Co., 
1880

CHAPTER XXXVI
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
Pg 549

T. 3, N. R. 14 E.

     THIS township was organized on the 5th day of June, 1832.  The first election took place April 1st, 1833, when the following persons were elected as township officers, viz:
     Trustees - John Rosenberger, Evan W. Brook, Jacob Kaine.
     Clerk - John Craun.
     Constables - Eben Conway and Nicholas Rumbaugh.
     Supervisors - Adam Fleck, Isaac Hartsock, James Hudson, Levi Crissey and Joseph S. Conway.

     In 1840 the population was 1,084; in 1870 it was 1,668 and in 1880 it is 2,159.
     An area of nearly a mile wide and three miles long, in the north-eastern part of the township throughout the northwestern portion of Ohio.  In some places the limestone rocks cover the ground almost entirely.  In other localities, near the ridge, they are strewn less thickly and the land is cultivated.  The township generally is free from stone, which makes this spot rather remarkable from a geological standpoint.  It is otherwise level but very fertile and undulating in some localities.  Large crops are raised here annually.  The western branch of Wolf creek passes in a northeasterly direction through Liberty, driving several saw mills.  The supply of water is sufficient to run three mills six months in each year.
     A town by the name of Middleburg was surveyed by D. Risdon, on the 8th of September, 1832, and on section nine.  The land was formerly owned by Jacob Kessler.  The town never flourished.
     On the 12th of April, 1838, John Betts, a very enterprising citizen, laid out a town on section three, and called it Bettsville; David Risdon was the surveyer.  It is situate near the west branch of Wolf creek and has now over one hundred dwellings, two churches, one saw mill

Page 550 -
and sash and blind factory and several stores and shops.  The large brick stream flouring mill is doing a good business.  Since the location of the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern railroad the business of the town has improved very materially and is constantly on the increase.  Fine brick residences have been erected and the town has assumed a very business-like appearance, and the warehouse of Flumerfelt & Titus has greatly added to its trade.
     Abraham Ash, guardian of Jacob Ash, on the 9th day of March, 1855, laid out the town of Kansas, near the northwest corner of the township.  It is on the line of the Lake Erie & Louisville railroad.  It is fourteen miles from Tiffin and thirteen miles from Fremont.  The town has one dry goods store, one cooper shop, one blacksmith shop, one wagon shop, one stove factory, one steam saw mill and one steam grist mill.  There are about fifty dwellings, occupied by over two hundred inhabitnats.
     The soil of the township is rich and very productive.
     James Grimes, Jacob Null, Daniel Lynch, the Brickners, Gassman, Lendelbachs, Smiths, Zimmer, Jacob Zeis, the Robertsons, John Michaels, Joseph Cessna, avid Brown, Reuben Lott, John Powell, John Baughman, George Feasel, Orrin Betts, Barney Zimmerman and others are among the earliest and most prosperous farmers.  Daniel Reinbolt settled here in 1828.
     On Saturday morning, the 7th day of August, 1880, a fire broke out in the back end of A. W. Day's building, and destroyed nine rooms in Bettsville, and other property, estimated over $11,000.  Mr. Betts, Schubert, John Cook, C. Norton, Joe Massony, George Schuster and John Perong were the principal sufferers.

MRS. RACHAEL K. TURNER

This lady is one of the veteran pioneers of the county, spending the evening of her long, eventful life in the shades of Liberty township.
     She was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July 1797.  In 1817 she came to Perry county, Ohio, where she remained one year with friends and in the following year she went to Fairfield county, where, in January, 1818, she was married to Benjamin Turner.  In 1829 they removed to this county and located one mile west of Sandusky street, in Tiffin.
     McNeal's store and Smith's tavern were then the principal buildings in town.  Their neighbors were the Ogles, Creegers, Cadwalladers, Millers, Jnnings, Gordons, Arbogasts, Adelspergers and Graffs.  She was well acquainted with Mr. McNeal and Mr. Crissey, and knew

Page 551 -
Joseph Jenay, the colored cabinet maker.  Crissey was the blacksmith.
     In the summer of 1830, when the Senecas prepared for their departure to the west, they came to Fort Ball, where they camped out some two or three weeks and made sale of their ponies and other personal property.  General Brish and Mr. Hart with them to the west.
     Mrs. Turner also recollects the excitement occasioned by the accidental drowning of Robert Burns an Bartholomew Kinney, who attempted to cross the river to the Tiffin side for the purpose of buying a yoke of cattle.
     In the year 1834 the Turner family removed to the northeast corner of Liberty township, where she still resides.  She says:
     When we came to Fort Ball, we bought 19 acres from Smith, the tavern keeper.  We paid him $94 in cash and the other $6 he was to take in game, paying 60 cents for a hind-quarter of deer.
     To Mr. C. W. Harris my thanks are due for this statement.

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