The township was organized Mar. 12, 1821, and the first election was held May 10, 1821, for the selection of Justice of the Peace.  Clark Provin received the entire fifteen votes cast.  James Ewing, Frederick Sager and Simeon Hager were the judges of the election.  John Taylor and John McCune were the clerks.
     When the first settlers came into the territory in Jerome Township along Darby Creek, it was the favorite "hunting grounds" of the Indians.  In many places the traces of their wigwams still remained and the country was full of all kinds of game, including bears, deer, wolves, panthers, and small game.
     Just north of Plain City, the Indians had a town where they lived in large numbers in wigwams covered with bark, until about the year 1800.
     On the old Kent farm on Sugar Run was a sugar camp where the Indians manufactured maple syrup.  Parties from Chillicothe often came here to trade for large quantities of raccoon skins and other furs.  At this time the Indians were generally friendly.
     The first sheep were brought to the township by James Ewing and he had to keep them confined in a high pen built of logs to keep the wolves from attacking them.  One day, a number of Indians called at his cabin and one of the dogs belonging to the Indians jumped into the pen and attacked the sheep, whereupon Mr. Ewing took his rifle and killed the dog.  This made the Indians very angry, and they had some trouble.  At it happened, Jonathan Adler, who had been among the Indians for many years and understood their ways, interposed and peace was established between the Indians and the white men.
     Wolves were very plentiful, but soon after the settlement was established, a bounty of $4.00 a scalp was paid by the county, which resulted in killing off the larger number of wolves.
     Jonathan Alder lived in Jerome Township on the west side of Darby, just north of Plain City.  He was taken prisoner by the Indians in Virginia when he was a small boy and lived with them until he grew to manhood.  When he lived in Jerome Township he had a squaw wife.  At this time he talked the Indian language entirely, but soon re-learned the English language.  He finally parted from his squaw wife and she went northward with her people.  He then married a white girl, but always seemed to be very much afraid of his squaw wife.  The squaw wife did visit Mr. Adler's house during his absence and destroyed much of his white wife's wardrobe.  She then left he neighborhood and that seems to have been the last he heard of her.  The following is the inscription on his tombstone:

"Jonathan Adler, born September 17, 173.
Taken prisoner by the Indians in 1781.
Died January 30, 1849."

     When the War of 1812 opened, apprehensions of trouble with these Indians were entertained, but they remained friendly and no hostilities or difficulties arose to mar their peaceful relations.  Some of the rougher class of settlers were peaceful relations.   Some of the rougher class of settlers were on intimate terms with the Indians and would go to their camps and join in the convivial feasts that were held there.  The children of the earliest pioneers were for a time in mortal dread of them and it required a long time before they could be accustomed to their presence.
     James Robinson had one of the earliest orchards in the vicinity, and after the trees approached the age of bearing he was greatly annoyed by the birds that had a strong liking for his choice fruit, and manifested the design of indulging their appetites before it was ripe enough to pluck.  Some Indian lads, belonging to several families near by, were very expert in shooting birds with their small bows and arrows, and Mr. Robinson agreed with them, by means of signs, that for each bird they killed in the orchard he would give an apple.  It

Log Cabin Homestead of Stephenson Curry.
(Erected 1829)

Old Schoolhouse, New California
(Erected 1852)

Old Seceder Church, New California
(Erected 1852)

Cavalry Watering, Chattanooga Valley, Tennessee

happened that the following day was Sunday, and as Mr. Robinson, who was a God-fearing Presbyterian, was engaged in the usual morning prayers, the Indian lads rushed in with a bird they had killed.  The conscientious pioneer could not tolerate the idea of profaning the Sabbath by this unhallowed sport, and by shaking his head and gesticulting, intimated to them that they must not engage in it that day.  They departed highly incensed, thinking he had withdrawn from his agreement, and after the old folks had gone to church that day, the Indian youths amused themselves by pointing their weapons at the children left at home, who fled to the house for protection and remained within with bolted doors till their parents returned.
     When the troubles of 1812 had commenced, it was several times rumored that the Indians had taken up arms and were preparing to make a raid upon the settlement.  Many families, panic-stricken, deserted their homes and fled farther south.  At one time, a party of settlers, including Moses Mitchell, then a lad of sixteen years, fearlessly marched to the Indian villages far to the north to ascertain if they had concluded to put on the war paint and make the rumored attack.  They found the Indians sitting in council, but with no hostile intent.  The band of whites remained with them all night, then returned to their friends and quieted their fears.