ADAMS TOWNSHIP

     Adams township, lying east of Waterford, on the Noble County line, was incorporated in 1797, and was first settled when the Second Association was located at Waterford.  Its history during the pioneer period - before 1800 - has been sketched.  The earliest settlers were the Colburns, Allisons, Dodges, Davises, Fryes, Kinneys, Owens, Masons, Devols, and Spragues.
     A block-house was built on land settled by the Kinneys, known as "Kinney's Block-house."  A monument has been erected on the site.
     The improvement of the Muskingum River was the making of the little village "Buell's Lowell," laid out by P. B. Buell, which stood in what is now Upper Lowell.  The first store was opened here in 1822.  Lowell Mill was erected in 1842; Oak Mill was built in 1859; a .planing mill was built, but burned in 1879.  The first postmaster was E. Short, who went into office about 1820, the office then being known as Adams.  Buell's Lowell was incorporated May 10, 1851; the first officials were:  Theodore Schriner, mayor;  S. N. Merriam, recorder; John Scott, Solomon Sharpe, John B. Regnier, Joseph Cox and George Fleck, trustees.  William Bartlett was elected first marshal by the Board of Trustees.
     Among the early settlers were:  Nicholas and Asa Coburn, sons of Maj. Asa Coburn, with whom they came to Marietta from Massachusetts in the latter part of 1788.  Major Coburn had won his title in the Massachusetts line of the Revolutionary Army.  Many of his descendants live in Morgan County.
     Robert Allison came from Pennsylvania in 1788.  Moved to Cat's Creek in 1795.  His daughter, Mrs. Frost, born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 12, 1784, was for a long time before her death the only survivor of the pioneer life during the Indian war.  She had a clear recollection of events that occurred at the Campus Martius, and especially of the Sunday school taught by Mrs. Lake.  Mrs. O. A. Stacy, near Lowell, in 1891.
     James Owen, from Rhode Island, came to Ohio in 1788.  His son Daniel came into the Adams colony.
     Col. William Mason, a soldier of the Revolution and one of the first party of pioneers, settled in Adams about 1797.
     William Mason, of Pennsylvania, came to this settlement about the same time.
     Maj. Joshua Sprague, an officer in the Revolution, came to Marietta in 1788, with his two sons, Jonathan and William.  They went to Waterford but afterward Major Sprague and his son William Cyphers, Joseph Simons, Amos Wilson, Geo. M. Cox, Aftred Hall, Morgan Wood, James H. Rose (of Virginia).  Among the German settlers are Philip Mattern (a son of Henry Mattern, who lived in Salem), Jacob Schneider, Jacob Becker, and Jacob Reitz.
     Joseph Frye came from Maine to Waterford, where he taught school, before he moved down to his farm.
     William and Daniel Davis, sons of Capt. Daniel Davis, a soldier in the Revolution, and one of the 48 pioneers.  The descendants of Captain Davis bore an honorable part in our second war for liberty, that of 1861-65.
     Oliver Dodge, one of the 48 pioneers, came from Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.  His son, Richard, a lover of fine horses and of a good joke, was long a familiar figure in McConnelsville.  Richard left no children.
     Nathan King, a native of Nova Scotia.  Two of his daughters were married to sons of Robert Allison.
     Churches. - The Baptist Church dates from 1797; its reorganization from 1832.  The Christian Church was organized in 1831.  The German citizens of Lowell and vicinity organized the Protestant Evangelical Church in 1857.  The Congregational church built a house of worship in Lowell in 1860, but services are no longer held in it.  A few of the members now meet in Rainbow.

ADAMS TOWNSHIP AND LOWELL CORPORATION.

     Development -
     Industrial -
     Educational -
     Political -
     Fraternal -

AURELIUS TOWNSHIP.

     Aurelius township was originally a part of Monroe County, being admitted into Washington County, Dec. 15, 1818.  In that year John S. Corp and Judah M. Chamberlain headed a petition to the commissioners of Washington County, praying the establishment of this addition as a township.
     On the commissioners' journal, dated Dec. 15, 1818, appears this record:

     On petition of John S. Corp, Judah M. Chamberlain, and others, praying for the establishment of a new town in the county of Washington, therefore
     Resolved, by the Board of Commissioners, That that township, numbered five in the eight range, excepting sections No. 25, 26, and 27, and fractional sections No. 34, 35, and 36 he and the same is hereby declared and established unto an incorporated town, to be hereafter known and distinguished by the name and denomination of Aurelius, and the inhabitants residing in said district are hereby declared entitled to all the privileges and immunities of incorporated towns in the State.  The electors in said town will meet at the house of Mr. Judah M. Chamberlain on the second Monday of January, 1819, at 10 o'clock A. M., to elect their township officers agreeably to law.

     At this meeting Gilead Doane and Judah M. Chamberlain were elected justices of the peace but nothing else is known of the meeting.
     It will be noticed that the establishing act did not give Aurelius sections 27 and 34.  The date of this accession, as ascertained from the commissioners journal, was that of their June session, 1842.  For they
     Resolved, that section twenty-seven and fractional section thirty-four, in township five, range 3ight, heretofore belonging to township Salem, is hereby annexed to Aurelius.

     Aurelius was reduced to its present small dimensions by the act of the Legislature forming Noble County.  It was passed Mar. 11, 1851.
     Among the earliest settlers in Aurelius were the Dains, Duttons, Bousers and Hutchins.  Dr. John B. Regnier, who came about 1819, has well been considered "the father of the township," being a leader in the formation and development of it.  He was appointed first postmaster in 1819, built the first grist mill about the same time, and secured the building of the first road from the mouth of Cat's Creek to Macksburg.
     William W. Mackintosh opened the first store about 1827.  Free Will Baptist Church was organized between 1810-12; a 'regular' or 'hard0shelled' Baptist Church was organized soon after.  In 1818 the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized.
     A public school was started as early as 1809 with Nancy Dutton as teacher.
     The two villages of the township are Macksburg and Elba, which have owned their prosperity by the oil development which has been very profitable here, there being now 75 producing leases in the township.  This is equaled by only one other township in the county as shown by the table of  leases in the chapter on "The Oil Industry."

BARLOW TOWNSHIP

     Barlow Township was organized in 1818 at a meeting held in July.  The first trustees were Cornelius Houghland,,, S. N. Cooke and Caleb Green; Duty Green was treasurer.  The first settlers in the township were the Lawtons, Vincents, Greens, Proctors, Houghlands, McGuires.  The main road in the early days was the "State Road" from Marietta to Athens, which passed near the Lawton cabin; another from Belpre to Watertown ran a little west of this cabin.
     The Methodist Eiscopal Church was the first to enter the township, the first church being a log meeting house built in 1808.  The First Presbyterian Church was erected in 1838.  In 1839 this church split, the "New School" faction leaving the parent church.  They united again in 1870.  The United Presbyterian Church was organized in 1849 and the Union Church at Vincent in which several denominations worshiped was built in 1867.  The Christian Church was organized in 1846.
     The first school house was built in 1808-09 and was known as the "Old Hickory" school house is afforded us in the papers left by Henry Earle Vincent:
     "The house in which the pioneer children of Barlow township first learned their A. B. C.'s, and to repeat In Adam's fall we sinned all.' was built entirely of rough hickory logs with chimney of 'cat and clay,' and a broad fire-place wide enough to receive logs the length of a common fence-rail, which not only furnished fuel for fire but seats for the young urchins while warming themselves.  The floor, benches and writing table were all made of rough-hewn puncheons - that is, longs split into slabs and some of the roughness 'scutched' of with a  broad-axe.  Small cavities were left in the back wall in which the ink-stands, containing the maple ink, were kept to protect it from the frost.
     "The windows were made by cutting out a piece of the log six or eight feet in length and placing small sticks perpendicularly across the space at intervals, thus making a sash over which the paper was pasted.  The paper used was generally the well-scribbled leaves of old copy books, as their were no newspapers in those days and blank paper was too scarce and too valuable to be used for such purposes.  This paper was made transparent by being first generally coated with coon's grease or possum fat, and a fire-brand held to it until well-melted.
     "The old schoolmaster was so deaf that the scholars would 'talk right out load,' and often he would go to sleep and then the way the young rogues in 'home-spun and linsey' would 'cut-up' was nobody's business but the teacher's and he did not know it.  When dismissed for noon, the first one on the ice was the best fellow - but the best fellow in this case happened to be a tall, portly girl, who generally led the van in all the sports.  The old schoolhouse has long since, with the youthful actors in the scenes about its portals, passed away forever.
     Barlow village was made in 1840 with John Craig, Horatio Ford and Lyman Laflin as proprietors, and "consisted of eleven lots of fifty-four acres each and located near the Marietta and Belpre roads,"  Lyman Laflin opened the first store.
     Fleming, a station on the old Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, now a prosperous little hamlet on the Marietta, Columbus & Cleveland Railway, was laid out Aug. 3, 1853, by Henry Earle Vincent, who kept the first postoffice.  The first store was opened by Church B. Tuttle and Enoch Preston kept the first tavern.
     D. C. Lasure contributed the following on "Stores and Trade" of Barlow to the Barlow Centennial which is of interest.
     "The first store of which I can learn, in Barlow township, was on the southeast corner of Barlow N. Roads.
     "H. N. Ford, C. B. Tuttle and C. Shipman started a store in the Ford building, under the firm name of H. N. Ford & Company.  H. N. Ford died in a short time, and C. D. Ford took  his place.  Soon John Ford bought C. D. Ford's interest and the firm was John Ford & Company.  Then D. H. Merrill and T. W. Moore bought this firm out, and Ford.  Shipman and Tuttle retired.  This was in 1858 or 1859.  Soon after D. H. Merrill bought Moore's interest and carried on the business two or three yeas, when J. W. Merrill bought an interest, and the firm became Merrill Brothers.  This firm did an extensive business for some years.  Then C. D. Ford bought a third interest and the firm became Merrill Brothers & Company, and continued so two or three yeas, when C. D. Ford retired, and the firm became Merrill Brothers and so continued until succeeded by Lazure Brothers.  Smith Brothers bought out Lazure Brothers, and they sold to A. W. Morris, W. E. Thompson and D. E. Greenlees, as Morris, Thompson & Company.  Soon Mr. Greenlees retired, and the firm was Morris & Thompson.  Mr. Thomson sold interest to J H. Fleming, making it Morris & Fleming, who after continuing business a short time, removed their stock of goods to Williamstown, West Virginia.  The store room, which had been enlarged at different times by Merrill Brothers, then was unoccupied for some time, but a year or two ago L. C. Maxwell put in a stock of goods and is now doing business there.
     "Lyman Laflin was postmaster for a number of years in early times and carried a small stock of goods in connection with the post-office.
     "Soon after the Civil War, the store room east of Mrs. M. A. Ford's was built by the Barlow Mill Company, composed of C. B. Tuttle, George B. Turner, Jude Chamberlain and Harry Burchett.  They did business in it for a year or two, then moved until the store to Vincent.  Somewhere in the 'fifties,' H. G. Lawrence partially built a store room just west of and near to the store so long occupied by Merrill Brothers.  This was occupied as a store room by a Mr. Coyton, later by John Barker, and finally by Scott & Pollard.  Each of these continued but a short time.  The building became the property of Merrill Brothers and when John Haddow's residence was burnt, Mr. Haddow bought the old store, and it is now the framework of Mrs. Haddow's house.  Ten years or so ago, J. H. Hadddow built a store room in the village and occupied it some time, in partnership with Mr. Gracey.

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BELPRE TOWNSHIP.

     The names of the settlers in Belpre and much of the early history of the township are found in Chapter IV.
     It was created by resolution of hte Court of Quarter Sessions, Dec. 20, 1790, as is shown by the following record:

     Resolved, That townships No. 1 and 2, in the tenth

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THE TOWN OF BELPRE IN 1902.

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DECATUR TOWNSHIP

     There are four villages in Decatur township:  Fillmore, Decaturville, Hope and Prosperity.
     Decatur township was established November 30, 1820.  The first settler, Joseph Lovdell, came in 1816, soon followed by the Johnsons, Dufer, Fairchild, Bachelor, Dunn, Giddings and Ballard families who formed the "Lower Settlement" now known as Fillmore P. O. on the State road.  the "Upper Settlement" Decaturville P. O., was made soon after.  The Methodist Episcopal Church first entered Decatur township, a log cabin being built in the eastern part of the township about 1840.  The United Brethren began a society here before 1850, two classes holding services in the abandoned Methodist Episcopal buildings at Decaturville and west of Fillmore.  The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1847, a building being erected in 1849 and rebuilt in 1856.  A Baptist church (colored) was erected in 1856.  The first flouring mill was erected by Hiram Fairchild about 1821, south of Fillmore.  In this township lived PPeter M. Garner, Creighton J. Loraine and Mordecai E. Thomas, whose abduction by Virginia officers in 1845, almost caused a war between the States of Ohio and Virginia.  A history of the celebrated case is found in Chapter VI.

DUNHAM TOWNSHIP

     Dunham township has four villages:  Dunham, Veto, Briggs and Constitution.
     Dunham township was formed June 5, 1855, and changed to its present form on the petition of William P. Cutler, Dean Briggs, and others, October 19th, of the same year.  It was first settled by Elihu Clark, Benjamin and Hezekiah Bickford and Lemuel Cooper in the first half decade of the century.  The first tavern was kept by Nathan Cole near the head of Neil's Island in 1805.  The first postoffice was established at Veto with William Chevalier as postmaster in 1850.  The Dunham office was opened seven years later with Jasper Needham as postmaster.  Briggs P. O. was established in March, 1875.  The first religiious society to build a church in Dunham was the Methodist; a frame building was erected on the Little Hocking in 1830 but was removed before 1860.  A Universalist Church was organized in 1845 but soon united with the Belpre organization.  The United Brethren were given Cutler Chapel by William P. Cutler, operator of the principal quarries along the Lit-

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tle Hocking, in 1871.  The first school house was erected on the Goddard farm in 1814.  A town house was built in 1871.
     The fine stone quarries in Dunham were

first opened by Messrs. Harris, Schwan and Newton about 1820.  The quarries along the Little Hocking were operated extensively in 1870-71.  The stone for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad bridge at Parkersburg came largely from Dunham.
     Dunham township was named in honor of Jonathan Dunham who began work on his land in 1804.  He was a descendant of Rev. Jonathan Dunham of Martha’s Vineyard.  Mr. Dunham's daughter was married to Asahel Hollister, an emigrant from Litchfield County, Connecticut, and many of their descendants still live in this county.  One of their sons, W. B. Hollister, lived in Harmar about 50 years. 
     Thomas and Amos Delano came from Connecticut to Belpre about 1804, but in 1808 came to Dunham. 
     Benjamin Ellenwood, of Maine, with his three sons,—Benjamin, Daniel, and Samuel,— came from Pennsylvania to Dunham in 1811.  The family is still well represented in the county. 
     Benoni Lewis, an officer in the American army and navy of the Revolution, went from Rhode Island to Virginia in 1802, and in 1807 come to Dunham.  Hapgood Goddard, of New Hampshire, was in Dunham as early as 1814.  He after ward lived in Fairfield.
     Dunham township was fortunate in receiving a number of good settlers from Scotland, among whom may be named James Harvey, Daniel Shaw, William Fleming, Samuel Drain of Argylshire, Edward Henderson (who was employed by the pioneers as a scout) and Hugh Mitchell.

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP

     Fairfield township has six postoffices, namely:  Qualey, Cutler, Layman, Dunbar, Virgin and Napier.
     Fairfield township was organized in December, 1851.  The first trustees were Peter B. Lake, John Burfield and James Smith; township clerk, Charles H. Goddard; treasurer, Peter B. Lake; assessor, Torrens Gilmore; constable, Augustine Stephens.  The first justices of the peace were Torrens Gilmore. and Augustine Stephens.
     The earliest settlers in Fairfield were David Ewell, Joshua Shuttleworth, William Dunbar; all these came in from Virginia about 1814.  The path afterward followed by the “State Road" was the first passageway into this district.  Other settlers were Walter Kidwell, Daniel Dunbar (a soldier of the Revolution), both from Fairfax County, Virginia; Carmi Smith of New York, Phineas Dunsmoor of Townsend, Massachusetts, William Moore from Pennsylvania, Moses Campbell from Ireland, Joseph H. Gage from New Hampshire, William Thompson from Guernsey County, Ohio, and Owen Clark from Ireland.  For a picture of early scenes in this township the reader is referred to the “Grand Circus Hunt” described in Chapter IX.
     The first school house near the Lake farm, known as Lake's school house, was opened about 1819.  The next school, near the Dunbar farm, was built in 1840.  The first church was erected by the Methodist Episcopal society on the site of their present church at Fishtown, about 1824.  About 1863 a new church was built by general subscription but was burned within a year.  The present Methodist Episcopal Church was built in I864.  The Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1867.  In the same year the building now owned by the Universalists was erected: this denomination has a building at Fishtown erected a year later.
     Cutler on the Marietta, Columbus & Cleve land Railway was laid out in 1857, being first named Harshaville in honor of Dr. John M. Harsha, whose cabin was the first built at this place.  The name was later changed to Cutler in honor of William P. Cutler.  The first store was kept by Harvey Smith.  In 1857 the first hotel was erected by A. A. Campbell.

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     Dunbar is on the line of the M., C. & C.  Ry., and ,has a postofiice. 
     Wesley P. O. is one of the old offices in the township.
     James Lake kept the first store in Fish town (Layman P. O.) in 1837, in the store of Carmi Smith.

FEARING TOWNSHIP

     Fearing township, named in honor of Hon. Paul Fearing, was established March 8, 1808.  In 1809 and 1861 its boundary lines were changed slightly.
     On the fourth day of April, 1808, the electors met at the house of Henry Maxon and elected the following officers: Henry Maxon, clerk; Thomas Stanley, John Porter and Resolved Fuller, trustees; Simeon Wright and Joel Tuttle, overseers of the poor; Solomon Goss and John W. White, fence viewers; William Stacy, Jr., and John Miller, appraisers; Didier Gevrez, Isaac Hill, Daniel Dunchew, Henry Maxon, John Porter and Ebenezer Nye, supervisors; Daniel G. Stanley and George Nye, constables; Solomon Goss, treasurer.
     Much of the early history of this township, as is true with all the rest, has been described in the history of the Ohio Company.  A public school was in existence as early as 1804.
     One extraordinary .bit of history, which characterizes the early inhabitants of Fearing as exceptionally enterprising and educated, was the formation of a township library as early as 1812.  The library was incorporated in 1816. The articles of incorporation limit the property besides books, maps, charts, and the like, to $3,000.  As officers until an election could be held: Thomas Stanley, Robert Baird and Elisha Allen were made directors: John Miller, treasurer; and Daniel G. Stanley, librarian.  In time the association dissolved, the books were distributed among the share holders and many yet remain in private libraries of their descendants.  Many books are of a religious nature, and all are of the weightier class of reading.  The latest (late noticed on the title page as date of publication is 1813.  In the back fly-leaves of many books are the notes of damages and fines written by the librarian on the return of the book. The principal disasters to the works are from grease spots—suggesting the light of other days. 
     A Presbyterian Church was erected in Stanleyville on land given by Thomas Stanley, in 1814.  The Fearing Religious Society was incorporated in 1813 and reorganized (for business purposes) in 1853, a dispute over property having arisen.  A Congregational Church was organized in 1851 and a building erected in 1856.  A Methodist Church came into existence in 1820 and a building was completed in 1847 and a parsonage 16 years later.  A branch of the Congregational Church at Stanleyville was organized near Cedar Narrows and a church was erected in 1873.  A second Methodist Church was built east of Stanleyville in 1839, and was replaced by the present church 20 years later.  The first Protestant Evangelist Church was erected near Whipples Run in 1872 and St. Jacob’s Church was erected a mile west of Stanleyville in 1858-59.
     Among the early settlers were: Levi Chapman, from Saybrook, Connecticut; Thomas Stanley, from Marietta; Joel and Simeon Tuttle, from Connecticut; Simeon Blake, from Rhode Island; John Amlin, a native of Germany; Patrick and Daniel Campbell, Charles Daugherty, John Forthner, Andrew and Daniel Galer, Seth Jones, Henry and Richard Maxon, Allen Putnam, Conrad Rightner, Abraham Seevers, Charles H. Morton. Ephraim True, John Widger, William Caywood, Robert McKee, Nathaniel Kidd from Pennsylvania; Walter Athey from Virginia; William Price, Reuben McVay from; Pennsylvania; James Dowling from New York: Thomas Ward, John P. Palmer, Dr. Hicks, John Young, and William Brown from Loudoun County, Virginia.  Of the German emigrants who after 1830 settled in Fearing and aided in its material development. we have the names of the Donakers, the Seylers, Conrad Biszantz, Jacob Zimmer, Theobald Zimmer, Dietrick and Henry Pape,

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Theobald Boeshar, Lewis Motter, John Bules, Rev. F. C. Trapp, and Conrad Leonhardt.
     The following petition from the Hildreth manuscripts is interesting on account of the names and topography:

     To the Honorable Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace of the County of Washington:
     Your petitioners request that a road may be laid out from Marietta to the forks of Duck Creek and on to Mr. Tolman's in the most eligible situation to be taken past Pott's Mills, so called, or any other place that should be found more convenient hereafter, from thence on to a ridge, keeping the same ridge to the Cedar Narrows, so called, thence following the creek by Mr. Widger's then past Mr. Levi Chapman's, and crossing the creek and on to the forks of Duck Creek, from thence to the mouth of Pawpaw and on to Mr. Tolman's.
     Which your petitioners, as in duty bound, request a committee may be appointed for that purpose.  Signed,

GRANDVIEW TOWNSHIP

     Villages and population of the different places in the township.

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INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP

LUDLOW TOWNSHIP

MARIETTA TOWNSHIP

MUSKINGUM TOWNSHIP

NEWPORT TOWNSHIP

     In 1798 all territory lying east of the west-

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ern boundary of the seventh range was erected into Newport township.  From this great territory Grandview was established in 1802, Lawrence in 1815, Ludlow in 1819, Liberty in 1832, and Independence in 1840.  This, the early history of Newport, is the early history of several townships already sketched, especially of Independence.
     Newport was first settled before 1798 by William Tison, Neal Cortner, John Cotton, Joseph Luckey and David Stokely at the "Upper Settlement" - near the present village of Newport.  These forerunners of civilization gave way before the so-called "real pioneers," among whom the Danas and Greenes share the honor of making the first permanent settlement, soon followed by the Holdens.   Templetons, McKibbens, Nichols and others.  In the northwestern portion of the township William Hill, Sr., began a settlement on the Little Muskingum which has since borne his name.  A "Lower Settlement" was begun early, known as Lower Newport.
     Newport was laid out by Captain Battelle,, son of Col. Ebenezer Battelle, a graduate of Harvard College, early in the first decade of the century.  The first school in the township was opened at this spot by Caleb Green.  A school in the Hills neighborhood was started about the same time by Annie Plumer and a third was soon in existence on the east bank of the Little Muskingum near Beech Grove Church.  In 1816 a log school house was built in Lower Newport with George Greenwood a first teacher.
     Itinerant Methodist clergymen were in Newport before 1800 and within 15 years a log church was built at Lower Newport on the bank of the Ohio.  The first Methodist Church in Newport was organized in 1825 and in four years a church was completed.  In May 1870 a new brick church was dedicated.  In May 1870 a new brick church was dedicated.  A Presbyterian Church was organized June 9, 1838.  For many years they were supplied by President Smith of Marietta College, who "was accustomed to remark that his visits to the little flock at Newport were the green spots in his life."  In 1860 the society was dissolved.  The Beech Grove Presbyterian Church was built in 1848.  In 1861 when the Presbyterian Church at Marietta died, this church was named the Beech Hill First Presbyterian Church, which name it retains.  The nucleus of the Newport Baptist Church was formed previous to 1822, when meetings were held in various houses in the "Upper Settlement."  The interest grew through the years and the church was organized in January, 1838.  The first structure, a brick, was erected and dedicated January 1, 1842.  There had been paid on the church $951.24, leaving a debt of $336.44.  William Dana paid this and took the note of the trustees for the amount.  At the death of William Dana search for the note was made, but it could not be found.  In this quiet way did Mr. Dana pay the debt, having destroyed the note as soon as received.  In 1878 the church was thoroughly remodeled at a cost of 42,000 and dedicated Mar. 21, 1880.  About 1855 a building erected on land given by William Seevers.  It is known as the Kinderhook Church.  The Beech Grove Church was organized in a school house in Newell's Run in 1863.  In 1870 a little church was built on the site of the abandoned Methodist Church near the mouth of Newell's Run.
  j   Soon after the formation of the "Upper Settlement," Luter Barker was appointed postmaster.  In 1825, when Ebenezer Battelle was appointed postmaster, the office was removed to his residence in Newport.  The postoffice at Lower Newport was established in 1841, Jacob Middleswart being the first proprietor.  That at Newell's Run, on the Ohio, was established in 1865 with Thomas J. Conner  as postmaster at Hills P. O., which was established in 1869.
     On the pages of the records of Washington County is found "a plat of the villages of Newport, comprising forty lots in section twenty-seven, in the original surveyed township, numbered one, in range numbered six of the old seven ranges; surveyed Jan. 30 and 31, 1839, for Ebenezer Battelle, the proprietor, the streets to be ninety-one links and the alleys sixteen links in width."  This is wit-

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nessed by the county surveyor, Benjamin F. Stone, and by the proprietors of the village, Ebenezer and Mary Battelle.  The ground was surveyed anew May 27, 1839.
     The following is the record of the vacation of the town plat by the original proprietor:
     "In the Court of Common Pleas, September term, 1839, on application of Ebenezer Battelle, he having produced to the court satisfactory evidenced that notice of his intention to vacate the town plat of Newport had been given according to law, and a statement in writing filed from the persons, to whom by verbal contract said Battelle had given an equitable claim on lots in said town, of their consent to said vacation.  It is ordered by the court that said proprietor be permitted to vacate said town plat of Newport."
     Newport township as at first established covered territory not included in the Ohio Company's purchase.  It was very natural that shrewd farmers among the pioneers were attracted by the beautiful and fertile plain in the southern part of this tract and the name Newport, as well as the family names of some of the settlers, reminds us of Rhode Island.
     In the hilly part of old Newport, now included in Independence, Lawrence, Liberty, Ludlow and Grandview, the hunter and the squatter, usually the same person, had almost exclusive control for many years after prosperous settlements had been begun on the river bottoms.  There are many traditions of this class of  “pioneers,” who often made it as uncomfortable for the man who had bought the land, as they had for the former claimants, the Indians.  Some of these squatters became civilized but others preferred to move on to a newer and wilder country.
     As early as 1820, Joseph Barker erected a mill in Newport township for the extraction of flaxseed and castor oil.  It was worked for awhile but the cultivation of flax and the castor-oil bean seems not to have proved a very profitable business.  In recent years Newport town and township have been greatly enriched by the petroleum industry, a fuller account of which is to be found in another chapter.

PALMER TOWNSHIP

     The first pioneer into what has been a part of Waterford, Watertown (then Wooster), Roxbury, Wesley and is now in Palmer township, was Christopher Malster who settled here in 1796.  Other early settlers were the Palmers, Rices, Dauleys, Gards, etc.
     Prior to the formation of Noble County in 1851, a man standing on the northeast corner of section six, now in Palmer, could have placed himself by a single step, either northeast, in Watertown, southeast in Barlow, southwest in Wesley, or northwest in Roxbury. From this point the dividing lines ran toward the four points of the compass in two straight lines through the present township.  But, by the formation of Noble, Morgan County lost large areas, and was partially recompensed by the addition of the larger part of Roxbury, taken from Washington County.  At a special session of the commissioners, May 19, 1851, the remaining portions of Roxbury, with parts of other townships just mentioned, were consolidated into a new township, named after the family so much concerned in the settlement and growth of its territory and interests. The entry on the journal reads as follows:
     A and parts of Wesley, Watertown and Barlow for the erection of a new township composed of territory embraced within the following boundaries, viz.: Commencing at the northwest corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 1,079, range eleven, town eight; thence south to the southwest corner of said lot; thence to the northwest corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 1,080; thence south to the southwest corner of section thirteen. range eleven, town eight; thence south to the southwest corner of section No. 17. range eleven, town seven: thence to the southeast corner of section No. 5. range eleven. town seven: thence east to the southeast corner of section No. 35, range ten, town three; thence north to the southwest corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 780: thence east to the southeast corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 780; thence north to the northeast corner of section No. 30, range ten, town three; thence north to the northeast corner of fractional lot No. 838, range ten, town four; thence north to the southeast corner of one hundred acre lot No. 47, range ten, town four, south branch allottment: thence to the northeast corner of one hundred acre lot No. 47 aforesaid; thence west to the northwest corner of one hundred acre No. 14, range

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ten, town four, west branch allottment; thence south to the southwest corner of one hundred acre lot No. 15, range ten, town four, west branch allottment; thence westwardly to follow the line which divides the late township of Roxbury, setting off the said township to Morgan county, to the place of beginning.

     Schools were started in Palmer township at the very first; as early as 1806 Russell Darrow was engaged as teacher.  James Ashcroft, Jabesh Palmer, John T. Dumont and William Brown were early teachers.
     Free Will Baptist and Methodist meetings were customarily held in private houses throughout the early years.  In 1837 a Methodist Church was built.  The first store was opened about 1825 by Hiram Gard.

SALEM TOWNSHIP

     Salem was originally a part of Adams.  But the following petition was handed in to the Court of Quarter Sessions, part of whose business it was to establish townships:

To the Honorable Court of General Sessions of the
Peace for the County of Washington:

     Gentlemen:  Your petitioners, the inhabitants of Duck Creek. beg your honors to take into consideration the local situation they are in from other settlements. and whereas your honors at your last session in March did at that time form the different settlements into towns, and at the same time put us, the in habitants of Duck Creek, into an association with the inhabitants of Virgin Bottom, Rainbow, Cattle Creek, and Bear Creek (into one town called by the name of Adams). whose situation is inconvenient for us to associate with as respects a town by reason of the inconvenience of passing the hills and ridges where it is not practicable to make roads to pass from Duck Creek to Muskingum at the same time, our numbers are almost if not quite equal to some of the other towns already laid out by your Honors being in number on Duck Creek thirty-four families and upwards of sixty men capable of hearing arms. 
     For this and other good motives, your petitioners request your Honors would take the matter into consideration, and make a division in the town of Adams west by a division line between the waters of Duck Creek and Muskingum, and as far south as Shepard's old mills so called. as far as your Honors in their wisdom shall judge best. 
     We also would inform that the people on Duck Creek did on the second day of May last, make choice of us, the subscribers, to prefer a petition to your Honors for the above mentioned purposes. 
     Duck Creek, June 3, 1797.
                                       Signed:

     The first settler in Salem was probably Amos Porter, who was followed by the Nashes, DeLongs, Tolmans, McCunes, Fultons, Davises, Dains, Perkines and many others, for what is now Salem was comparatively thickly settled in early years.  John True kept school in Salem as early as 1807.
     Elisha Allen erected a sawmill on Duck Creek before 1820 and in that year he built a. grist mill at the same spot.  These were on the “Lower Ox-Bow.”  On the “Upper Ox Bow," S. N. Merriam built steam, saw and grist mills 10 years later.  He also kept one of the first stores open in the township, as did Elisha Allen in his earlier mill.  Salem is credited for having one of the earliest temperance societies in the West, if not the earliest.  It was organized about 1822 by Ephraim Gould and his brother Dennis, a student at Lane Seminary; a pledge was made and called “teetotal.”  The first postmaster in Salem was Daniel G. Stanley who held office about 1827.
     The old Presbyterian Church society was holding meetings by April, 1812. The first session meeting in Salem was in October of that year.  Churches were erected in Harrietsville and Bonn.  A series of Freewill Baptist services were held as early as 1810.  Before 1815 a Methodist Church was organized and a church was built in 1836.  A Protestant Methodist Church was erected in 1878.  The Mount Ephraim Methodist Church was organized early and buildings erected in 1846 and 1873.  The Good Hope Baptist Church was organized in 1835 and two houses of worship

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have been built - one in 1836 and one in 1851.  The Bonn German Methodist Church was organized in 1840.  In 1842 a church was erected and replaced in 1871 by a new edifice.  Two parsonages have been built, one in 1852 and another in 1874.  The Disciple Church at Bonn was organized about 1852; another in Warner was started in 1872.  The Universalist Church in Salem was organized in December, 1859, and a church building was dedicated in 1861.  A German Lutheran Church was organized about the same time and a building erected.  The Corinth Church was organized in 1863 and in 1876 a building was procured.  The Baptist Church of Lower Salem was organized in 1877.  A building was erected in 1880-81.
     Salem village was laid out in 1850 at the end of a plank road from Marietta and the toll house at the end of the road was the first building in the village.
     Warner, a station on the C. & M. R. R. was laid out by P. and E. Boye in 1873 and named in honor of Gen. A. J. Warner of Marietta.  Bonn, named by the Germans who early came here from the city of the Rhine, was laid out about 1835.  The first store was opened here by Rufus Payne about the same year.

WARREN TOWNSHIP

     Warren township was incorporated by the Board of County Commissioners in 1810, but the original lines have frequently been altered.  The first permanent settlers in Warren were the Baileys, Newtons and Coles who came about 1805.  Within a year or so came the Humphreys, Finches and Cutlers.  The first roads were the Marietta-Belpre road (1793), the Marietta-Lancaster road (1797) and the Marietta-Athens road (1800).
     One of the most singular documents in existence in the county is a contract for teaching an early school in Warren township which is preserved in the memoranda of Judge Ephraim Cutler.  It reads as follows:

     Memoranda of an agreement entered into this third day of February, 1807, by and between Isaac Humphreys, John Henry and Ephraim Cutler and John D. W. Kip, on the other part witnesseth:  That for the consideration of the sum of twenty-five dollars for every three months, to be paid him at the expiration of siad term by Humphreys, Henry and Cutler, he, the said Kip, doth engage to keep a school at such place as they shall direct and to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, and to govern himself and school by the following rules and regulations, to-wit:  He shall keep school from nine o'clock in the morning till twelve at noon, and from one in the afternoon until four, provided that during the months of June, July, August and September school may commence at half past one and close at half past four.  He shall be excused from keeping school on Saturdays in the afternoon, on the Fourth of July, when he shall be called to attend trainings, and on election days.
     The whole school shall be arranged into two or more classes at the direction of the master, the senior class to be admitted to the exercise of writing and arithmetic; the lower classes shall be employed in reading and spelling, and that no time may be lost they shall have portions assigned them for study, from which at proper hours the master shall ask them to spell, and in order to promote emulation, the priority in standing shall be determined by their accuracy in spelling.
     Particular attention shall be paid in the upper class in teaching them punctation; and that in reading they be taught to observe the stops and points, notes of affection and interrogation, also accenting and emphasizing.
     The master shall consider himself as in the place of parent to the children under his care, and endeavor to convince them by mild treatment that he feels a parental affection for them.  He shall be sparing as to promises or threatenings. but punctual in the performance of one and execution of the other, and that the inculcate upon the scholars the propriety of good behavior during their absence from school.
     He will endeavor on all suitable occasions to impress upon the minds of his scholars a sense of the being and providence of God. and the obligations they are under to love and serve Him; of their duty to their parents; the beauty and excellency of truth, the duty which they owe to their country, and the necessity of a strict observance of its laws.
     He shall caution, and, as far as he can, restrain them from the prevailing vices, such as lying. profaneness, gaming and idleness.
     From these general rules he may form particular rules, and if they are broken he must be particular to punish the offender, but mildness in punishment is recommended.
     Despite the exhaustiveness of the contract, Mr. Kip taught the school only one week.  A successful school was taught in judge Cutler’s stone house in 1809-10 by Gen. John Brown, afterward treasurer of Ohio University at Athens.  In 1810 the first school house was built.  As early as 1814 a summer school especially for girls was taught by Miss Sallie Rice.
     The Presbyterian Church of Warren was

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formed in 1828 and joined Athens Presbytery the same year.  In 1837 the church on the river road was built, largely by the funds furnished by Oren Newton, Ephraim Cutler, William P. Cutler and Seth Bailey.
     The late Bishop Morris, of sainted memory, was probably the pioneer missionary in Warren township.  At an early date the two Methodist churches known as the "Zoar" and the "Bethel" churches were erected.  The Mount Moriah United Brethren Church was organized and a log meeting house built about 1850.

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP

     On December 20, 1790, the Court of Quarter Sessions established three townships: Marietta, Belpre and Waterford. The following resolution fixed the bounds of Waterford:

     Resolved, That the seventh and eighth townships in the eleventh range, the fourth and fifth townships in tenth range. and mile square.  No. 33, in the fourth township of the ninth range, be, and they hereby are incorporated and included in one township, by the name of Waterford.

     The first town officers were: Capt. Ebenezer Gray, town clerk; Noah Fearing, over-seer of the poor; Dean Tyler, constable.
     To these three townships—Marietta, Belpre and Waterford—Rev. Daniel Story was employed by the Ohio Company to minister. The early history of Waterford township is given very fully in other chapters.  The following article on Beverly, prepared by Miss Virginia V. Dodge, leaves little more to be desired as to the history of that town, and also gives us many items of general interest relating to the surrounding country.  The sketch of the Dodge family, likewise prepared by Miss Dodge, also fills out the history of Waterford township and the town of Beverly.

THE TOWN OF BEVERLY

WATERTOWN TOWNSHIP

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WESLEY TOWNSHIP

     Wesley township was established on petition of Joseph Palmer and others, in 1810 and originally embraced the territory of township three, range ten, and township seven, range eleven, then belonging to Wooster, also the south half of township eight, range eleven, belonging to Roxbury.  Afterwards sections one, two, three, four, five, six of township seven and sections one, two, three of township eight were added. At present it is nine miles long from north to south, and four miles wide, containing in all 30 sections, embracing an area of almost 20,000 acres.  Wesley claims as one of its earliest settlers Hon. Thomas Ewing, whose lowly cabin stood just west of Plymouth.  Other early settlers were Woodruff, Rardins, Breckenridge, Mullen, Coaley, Cable, Ames, Arnold and Smith.  The first school house was built a mile north of Plymouth about 1820.  The first teacher was Miss Hewitt. Bartlett's Acade my was organized in 1856, the Board of Trustees being Joseph Penrose, president, Joseph K. Bucy, Isaac Emmons, James King, Jefferson M. Heston was first principal.  The Methodist Episcopal Society erected the first church building in the township about a mile north of Plymouth in 1825.  It was a log meeting house and was used until the church at Pleasanton- was built in 1855.  A Friends’ Church was organized in 1837 and a building erected in Plymouth.  The Friends Church (Southland) was a branch from the first society and erected a church four miles west of Plymouth in 1850.  A United Brethren Church was erected in 1870, less than a mile south of Patten's Mills; another branch has a church in the northwest part of the township, erected in 1870.  Plymouth, on the State road in the center of the township, was founded by Harvey Smith in 1835.  Mr. Smith was the first store keeper.  Pleasanton was established at an earlier date, the post office being named Bartlett in honor of Amos Bartlett, the first post master.  The first mill was erected on Wolf Creek by George and John Martin in 1816 near the present site of Patten’s Mills.

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