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Jefferson
Township erected
First settler
Other
early settlers
Early schools
Revolutionary
soldier dies in Jefferson township
About the land
Murder
in Jefferson Township
Jefferson
Township erected
The county commissioner, on the 6th of June, 1837, erected Jefferson,
by the following official order: "It is ordered by the Board
that Town seven, Range 3 east, also all the territory north to the
Michigan line, is hereby set off from Beaver (Pulaski) Township, and
the same is hereby erected and organized into a township by the name of
Jefferson; and the Board order the Auditor to give notice for an
election to be held at the house of Andrew Farrier, Junior, on the
first Monday of July next, for the purpose of electing the necessary
officers for the further organization of said township."
Thus it will be seen that all the territory comprise din the present
township of Madison was at that time attached to Jefferson; but these
boundaries were changed on the organization of the Bridgewater an
Millcreek townships in 1839, leaving Jefferson in its present
rectangular form, bounded by four straight lines, six miles east and
west, and a little more than seven miles north and south. The
northern boundary is the "Fulton line," so called, and was the boundary
line between Ohio and Michigan, according to the latter's
contention. Brady township lies on the east and Superior on
the west.
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First
settler
John Perkins was the first permanent settler in Jefferson
township. This distinction has also been accorded him in
relation to Pulaski township, ... He came from Brunersburg in the
spring of 1833 ... The same year he ... erected his
cabin. Neither Pulaski nor Jefferson has as yet
been erected as townships, and when they were finally divided the
township line was found to pass between Mr. Perkin's place of residence
and the little village (of Pulaski)... to give Perkins the honor of
being the first settler in tow different townships without compelling
him to go through the ordeal of moving his goods and
chattels. Mr. Perkins was born in the State of Virginia about
the year 1770; came to Ross county, Ohio, and married Miss
Dawson. The fruits of said marriage were three sons and four
daughters.
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Other
early settlers
* Eli Oliver settled in the township in the fall of 1833,
coming from Pickaway county, Ohio.
* Jabez Jones was born in
Hampshire county,
Virginia, in June, 1792, and while young, he with his father's family,
came to Ross county. He came to Jefferson township in the
spring of 1834, and served as one of the first justices of the peace in
Williams county. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was at Upper
Sandusky (now Fremont) with General Harrison.
* George W. Myers was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania,
December 24, 1808. ... in 1835 (he) visited Jefferson
township ... where he entered 160 acres of land, cleared three acres,
sowed in wheat and put up a first rate log cabin, and in 1837 moved his
family and his few household goods upon the place ... The first farm
owned by Mr. Myers is now owned by the county and the infirmary is
located upon it. Mr. Myers was justice of the peace nine
years in Jefferson township and filled various other offices.
* Albert Opdycke, another of the soldiers of 1812, with R. H.
Gilson, moved from Trumbull county, Ohio, and settled in Jefferson
township. He was one of the hardy pioneers and reared a large
family of boys, ... He cleared up a large farm, was loved and respected
by all, and was twice elected commissioner of Williams
county. He lived more than four score years, and was one of
the pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
* Jacob Boyers moved from Crawford county, Ohio, in 1835 and
settled on the farm so long owned by George Arnold, and known as the
Andrew Smith farm.
* George W. Perky came from Hancock county, Ohio, and settled
on a farm now owned by Martin V. Bible, one-half mile west of West
Jefferson. He was smart but an oddity. Once, as one
of his neighbors was passing, Perky was chopping out the road in a cat
swamp. He remarked that, "We read that God divided the land
from the water, but here is a place he forgot."
* Andrew Ferrier and his sons moved from Coshocton county in
1835, and erected the first grist mill in Jefferson township, on Beaver
creek, in 1837.
* Andrew Smith moved from Seneca county in 1835, and erected
the first sawmill. He was a native of Ohio, but was descended
from Iris ancestors.
* Henry Newman erected the second sawmill.
* Joseph Moudy moved from Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1835, and
settled in Pulaski; thence removed to Jefferson township, and was there
at the organization of the same, being elected township treasurer and
justice of the peace.
* Ephraim Plummer came from Ross county in the fall of 1834.
* John Shankster, accompanied by his sons, moved from Ross
county in 1835, ... He was born in Lincolnshire, England , in
1806, and in 1832 emigrated to America. He first located at
Chillicothe, and in 1835 moved to Jefferson township where he entered
eighty acres of land in the midst of the woods, where wild beasts
abounded and the Indians far exceeded the whites in number.
* Joseph Bush, later of Florence township, was one of the
early settlers.
* John Snyder, John and William Barger, George D. Dorshimer,
Jacob Andre, Joseph Engle, Turner Thompson and Isaac Fickle were among
the first settlers of the township.
* Thomas Reid, ... was born in Cork, Ireland, and in early
manhood came to America. ... and in 1835 came to Jefferson
township. He settled on and cleared up the farm which is now
owned by Sylvester Shiffler, and he resided there until the death of
his wife, about 1860. He then lived with his son, George
Reid, in Jefferson township, for several years, then removed to
Illinois.
* Henry Miller moved from Stark county, Ohio, and settled on
the land in section thirteen, which was afterward known as the property
of Martin L. Burns. Upon this place Mr. Miller subsequently
started a carding machine which was operated by horse-power.
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Early
schools
The first justice of the peace in Jefferson township was Thomas Reid,
who was chosen at the first election, held July 2, 1837. The
first schoolhouse was erected on the farm of Mr. Reid in the southern
part of the township. Joel F. Pool, George W. Durbin and
James Welch were early teachers. As inhabitants increased,
schools were opened from time to time, and there are not eleven
building devoted to school purposes within the bounds of the
township. These are good brick or frame structures, equipped
with modern appliances and conducted by a corps of well qualified and
practical teachers.
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Revolutionary
soldier died in Jefferson Township
Isaac Fickle, another of the early pioneers of Jefferson township, ...
-- his father, Benjamin Fickle, a Revolutionary soldier, died in
Jefferson township in October, 1839, and was buried on the farm of this
son. In April, 1888, the farm having passed into other hands
and the hallowed burial place being neglected, the remains were removed
and re-interred in the Fountain Grove cemetery at Bryan. In
all probability, Benjamin Pickle is the only Revolutionary patriot
whose body found a resting place in the soil of Williams county ...
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About
the land
* The surface of Jefferson township is unbroken and generally
level. The drainage is principally toward the south, and the
valleys of the small streams, with naturally higher adjoining land, are
the only exceptions to the general application of the term.
The territory is well watered, the principle stream being Beaver Creek,
which rises in the northern part of the township and flows southward
through the central portion of Jefferson to the village of Pulaski;
thence through Pulaski into Springfield township, where it joins the
Tiffin river. Leatherwood creek, with three branches, also
has its source in Jefferson township, entering Brady, and near the
southern boundary of the latter also emptying its water into Bean
creek. Little Beaver rises in the western part of the
township and flows east until it empties into Beaver creek in section
twenty-one. These streams are not large but they afforded
waster power for the early mills which were established along their
banks.
* Jefferson township was originally covered with all kinds of
native timber, and the quality was of the best. The principle
varieties were oak, hickory and maple, while black walnut, butternut,
elm, sycamore, buckeye and willow were also quite plentiful.
* The soil of this township is a heavy bed of clay overlying
a subsoil of sand and gravel. Occasionally the sand appears
upon the surface. The soil is very fertile and produces heavy
corps of all kinds of cereals, and all the land of the township is made
to yield profitable returns to the owners. Stock raising and
fruit culture receives considerable attention and these afford good
margins of profit.
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Murder
in Jefferson Township
The most atrocious crime that blots the annals of Williams county was
committed in Jefferson township. ... the murder of David, little son of
Peter D. Schamp -- who lived in the eastern part of the township on
section twelve -- by Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew J. Tyler.
The crime was committed June 20, 1847, on the farm owned by the little
victim's father. Tyler was a roaming scoundrel who was
temporarily stopping in this part of the country, and professed to be a
fortune teller. he visited the home of Mr. Schamp, told the
latter's fortune, then went to where Heckerthorn lived, and, after
plying his vocation there, asked if Mr. Schamp was not a man possessed
of considerable means. Receiving an affirmative answer, he
told young Heckerthorn (who was only about seventeen years old and
below the average in intelligence) that if he would kill David, the
six-year-old son of Mr. Schamp, and hid the body in a secret place,
both of them would get some money out of the affair. The
proposed arrangement was that Heckerthorn was to give Tyler a
description of the place where the boy's body was hidden, and then when
Mr. Schamp came to the pretended seer for information concerning his
child, a large sum would be exacted, out of which Heckerthorn should
receive enough money to take him back to Wayne county, his former
home. The proposition was accepted, and on the following
Sunday morning, according to well laid plans, Heckerthorn went to the
residence of Mr. Schamp, and decoying the boy from the house, took him
to the dense woods nearby and to the north of the dwelling.
He gave him some candy with which arsenic had been mixed, but it
seeming to be slow in its effects, Heckerthorn seized the boy by the
heels and struck his head against a knot on a beech tree and killed
him. He placed the body in a hollow log, covered it with
rotten wood and then placed green brush over it. The boy was
soon missed, and that same afternoon the search commenced by some of
the neighbors, excitement becoming general the following day.
Monday night Schamp went to see Tyler to ascertain if he could tell of
the whereabouts of the boy, and the conscienceless scoundrel said he
was near water and under rotten wood and green brush. The
excitement became greater; on Tuesday men and boys came from
considerable distance to assist in the search, and by Thursday the
woods for miles were full of people. In the afternoon of the
day, however, suspicion fastened on Heckerthorn and Jacob Bohner, of
Brady township, and Milton B. Plummer found Heckerthorn in hiding at
his brother's house. He was taken into custody and soon made
a confession, admitting the guilt of himself and Tyler. The
same day, George Ely, who was then the justice of the peace for Brady
township, issued a warrant for the arrest of both of the men, and after
a preliminary examination they were committed to the county jail.
At the fall term of the Court of Common Pleas they were separately
indicted, and Tyler, as was his privilege under the old Constitution,
elected to be tried by the Supreme Court, which then sat annually in
each county. The old log jail at Bryan was not considered
safe, and they were taken to Maumee City and were confined there until
the fall of 1848, when Tyler was tried on a charge of murder in the
first degree. Joshua Dobbs, the prosecuting attorney, was
assisted by Charles Case, who was afterward a representative in
Congress from Indiana, and Schuylar E. Blakeslee was the attorney for
the defendant. The knot against which the little boy's head
had been dashed was cut from the tree and brought into court as
evidence, an inanimate accomplice in the awful
crime. Tyler was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on
January 26, 1849. Daniel Langel was sheriff at the time, and
he built an enclosure, in accordance with legal requirements, in which
to execute the sentence, but on the evening of the 25th, the people
demolished it and Tyler hung in public view. At the November
term of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1849, Heckerthorn was tried and
found guilty, and also sentenced to hang, but on account of his youth
and imbecility, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and
about ten years later he was offered a conditional pardon by the
governor, but what finally became of him is not know. It is
certain, however, that he never returned to Williams county.
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