The
township is composed of two fractionally
surveyed townships, in range nineteen, and is
bounded on the west by the Scioto river, and on
the east by Sharon township. It is ten
miles in length from north to south, and from
one to three miles in width, varying with the
course of the river. It was originally a
part of Liberty township; afterwards a part of
Washington; then a portion of it was attached to
Norwich. It was organized with its present
boundaries in 1820, and received the name Perry.
There is no village in the township, and there
was no post-office until after the completion of
the Toledo and Columbus railroad. In 1878
a post-office was established at Olentangy
station, and called Olentangy post-office.
Previous to this time, the inhabitants procured
their mail from the most convenient post-office,
some going to Columbus, others to Worthington,
and still others to Durben.
In 1808 a tract of five hundred acres of land in the
north part of this township was given by the
government to Thaddeus Kosciusko, in
consideration for his services to the colonies
during the Revolutionary war. He attempted
to assign the patent to the land, to parties who
desired to obtain it, but was unable to convey a
good title, and the lands were afterwards
claimed by his heirs.
The first section, in the northeastern part of the
township, was for many years owned, in whole or
in part, by parties in Baltimore, Maryland, and
very little of it was settled until after 1830.
This section was first run off by Mr. Schenck,
who reserved three hundred acres in the eastern
part of the section, for his services in
surveying, but never occupied the land himself.
The portion belonging to the Baltimore parties
was placed in the hands of Flavel and Homer
Tuller, as agents. They surveyed it
into one hundred acre lots and sold to settlers.
There was also a tract of land in the south part
of the township, near the present property of
James Kenney, and known as the Dunn
tract, that was for many years unsettled.
About 1813 and 1814, Thomas Backus erected
flouring-mills on the Scioto river, which proved
of great benefit of the inhabitants of the
vicinity. These mills were long known by
his name. They finally passed out of his
hands, and were many years known as McCoy's
mills. They were still later known as
Matere's mills, and Marble Cliff mills
The township received its name at the hands of John
Davis, Chandler Rogers, Benjamin Gale, Mr.
Tuller, and Uriah Clark. It was
named Perry in honor of Commodore Oliver H.
Perry, at the time it was organized as an
independent township, in 1820.
For many years elections were held alternately at
school-houses number two and number five.
In 1854, the township erected a small building
for election purposes, and such other uses as
the township needed, on a lot leased from
Joseph Henderson, near the center of the
township.
SCHOOLS.
SETTLEMENT.
The first settlement of Perry township began on
the eastern side, which had an attraction to the
early comers, from the fact that a community of
a good class had early settled at Worthington,
in the adjoining township of Sharon.
Following closely on this was the settlement on
the Scioto river, near the present town of
Dublin. The first settlers on the east
were Ezekiel and Morris
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Brown, who located near the present
Elmwood station. They made improvements on
the land, and in 1806, Ezekiel sold his
land to Bela M. Tuller, who occupied it,
and made his home there in 1807. He was
located on the main road leading from
Franklinton to the army headquarters, near
Urbanna, and during the war of 1812, he found a
ready sale for a large amount of stock and
provisions for the use of the troops, and of
travelers along the road. Morris Brown
sold his property some years later to
Chandler Rogers.
Robert Boyd came to Perry about 1804,
and settled on fractional section fifteen, which
he bought with a tax title. He improved
the land, and, in 1834, sold it and moved to
Winchester, Illinois, where he died. His
first wife was a Kepler, the daughter of
an early settler in Delaware county; his second
wife was Electa Beal After her
death, he married a Miss Kilpatrick.
Peter Millington came from New York,
in 1804, and settled on lot fourteen, in the
fourth quarter. He cleared the land, and
raised a family there.
Paul Dearduff settled in Perry
township, very early, and bought lots one, two,
eleven, and thirteen, making his home on lot
eleven. He had a family, consisting of:
Peter, Anthony, Isaac, Susan, and Amy
He died before 1816.
Samuel S. Shattuc came from
Groton, Massachusetts, to Ohio, in 1811, and
first settled in Columbus, where he worked at
the carpenter trade two years. In 1813 he
came to Perry, and bought two hundred acres in
section four of township one, half a mile below
the present location of Olentangy station.
He first built a cabin in the woods, and
commenced improving and clearing his land.
In a short time he built a frame house, where he
died, in 1875. He was the father of ten
children, all but four of whom died young.
But two of the children are now living,
Rebecca and Harriet. Rebecca
married Jonathan Tipton and, with her
husband and mother, occupies the old homestead.
Harriet married B. F. Jaquith.
Harding Pearse came about the
same time as Mr. Shattuc, and bought
fifty acres, adjoining. Together, they
sold some land for village lots, but were never
able to build up a village. The balance of
his land, he sold to J. S. Fogle.
Pearce was a carpenter by trade, and
while living here married and raised a family.
His wife died, and a short time after he died at
James Kenney's.
Amaziah Hutchison came from New
York to Ohio, in 1812, and remained at Marietta
one year after his arrival. In 1813 he
came up to Perry township, where, with his
brother, Daniel, he purchased one hundred
acres to land, two and a half miles below Dublin
bridge. There was a small cabin on the
land, but no clearing. In 1818 he married
Mary Ebey, who came with her father's
family to Washington township, in 1806. He
cleared his farm, and among the first things he
did was to plant an orchard. They raised
eight children, and lost one when three years of
age. Of their children, Laura
married Daniel W. Thomas; Almira married
John M. Thomas, who lives a mile south of
the Dublin and Worthington pike, where he has a
farm of two hundred acres; Betsey Ann
married Jacob H. Withey, and lives in
Illinois; Mary Jane married Peyton
Hoard; Susan Ruth married Daniel
Matheny. The sons were O. S.,
Charles A., and George M.
William Walcott came from Virginia to
Ohio in 1814, accompanied by his son, Robert.
He was a Revolutionary soldier, and served
throughout the war. By trade he was a
shoemaker, and after his settlement he followed
that business. Their journey through the
woods was made on horseback, but to an old
soldier this was but pastime. They settled
below Columbus, where they remained several
years. In 1819 Robert Walcott
married Susan Legg, and in 1828 moved to
Perry township with his father and his wife, and
bought two hundred and ten acres of land in the
same tract as that of Thomas Legg.
Here William Wolcott died in 1835.
Robert Walcott and his wife raised a
family of eleven children in their new home.
He improved and cleared his land, and left a
good property. Several of their children
are deceased. Those now living are:
Absalom, John, James, Robert, William,
Tabitha, and Amelia. One lives
in Delaware county, and the others in this
vicinity. The home farm is now owned by
Robert Walcott.
John Davis came to Ohio in 1816, from
Montgomery county, Maryland, and remained in
Delaware county two years. In 1818 he
settled in what is now Perrytownship, on lot
thirteen, in the third quarter. The land
was surveyed in 1807, by a man named Spencer,
who laid it off into lots of one hundred acres
each. When Mr. Davis came, there
was no improvement of any kind. As soon
came, there was no improvement of any kind.
As soon as possible after his arrival he built a
hewn log house, before bringing on his family.
His wife was Ann Simpson, who was a
cousin of the mother of General Grant.
They raised eight children to maturity, as
follows: Ann, William, John, Nancy,
Joshua, Samuel, Joseph, and Elizabeth.
A son died when quite small. Three of the
family are now living. John Davis, sr.,
was a soldier of Revolutionary war. His
son, John, died in 1878, aged nearly
ninety. Elizabeth lives in
Shelbyville, Illinois; Samuel S. married
Mrs. Matilda Sells Kilbourn, and lives on
the north half of lot thirteen; Joshua
married Edith A. DeFord, and died,
leaving four children - Mary Ann, John
W., William, and Joshua E.
She then married Joseph Davis, a brother
of her first husband. They raised six
children, the youngest of whom lives on the old
homestead and cares for his father in his
declining years. Mrs. Davis died in
1874. Francis Davis, the oldest son
of Joseph Davis, raised a company in Iowa
during the war, and served with it nearly
through the war until his health failed and he
was obliged to resign. The other children
were: Martha Jane, Lucinda, Jacob,
Elizabeth and Joseph W., the latter
of whom remains at home.
Uriah Clark
Chandler Rogers
Samuel S. Davis and Matilda Davis
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JAMES DAVIS and wife with
their children, William,
Samuel S., Joshua, and
Joseph, emigrated from
Montgomery county, Maryland
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he died. His family are all dead or
removed to other parts.
John Bickett
A man named
Lord owned a
large tract of land near where the Backus
mill was built. He died on his land before
1816. One of his daughters married
Thomas Backus.
Benjamin Cole
Frederick Wiser
Mr. Morris
Captain Daniel Mickey
John Shepard
Anthony Courtright
Joseph Smith
David Smith
Eleazur Piper
Daniel Bowers came to Ohio, from New
York State, in 1816, and first settled on the
Pickaway plains, where
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he remained about eleven years. In 1827,
he moved to Perry township, with his family, and
settled nor farm from the present location of
Olentangy station. His children
were: Daniel, Allen, Wheeler, Eleazur,
Lyman, Clark, William, Polly, Julia, and
Philena All are now dead.
The
early settlers on the Kosciusko tract were the
Marshs, Smiths, and Courtrights,
all of whom bought the land at tax sale.
Benjamin Marsh came from the east, and
settled at Marietta, at an early day. From
that place he moved to Franklinton, and then to
the Kosciusko lands, where he settled before
1816. He brought a family of four sons and
four daughters. They were: Josiah,
Joel, Esther, Patsy, Lucinda, and three
others. None of the family are living in
the county. Josiah lives in Union
county.
John Smith, son of Joseph Smith,
settled on lot four, near the Scioto river, in
the north part of the township. He
improved this land, which he then sold, and
settled on a part of his father's farm. He
again sold, and this time moved to Allen county
where he died.
Robert McCoy
Abraham Preston
Joseph Ferris
John Kenney
Samuel Harper came to Ohio about 1819,
and settled on section one township one,
northwest from the farm of John Kenney.
He cleared and improved this land, after which
he sold it, and moved to Illinois, where he
died.
Reuben Skeels
Elijah Legg
Thomas Legg
Pg. 379
Joseph Slyh
Samuel Billingsly
Jacob Pawpaw
Pleasant Litchford
J. S. Fogle
R. H. Armstrong
Thomas Johnston
James Bickett
Rudolph Pheneger
Pg. 380 -
California; two live in the north part of Perry
township and two are at home.
Samuel Galbriath
John and Ezekiel Wilson
Henry Armstrong
Joseph Wethrill
George Umbaugh
John K. Delashmutt
John Stewart
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
Pg. 381 -
CHURCHES.
ASBURY CHURCH.
FLETCHER CHURCH.
BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH
A PREDESTINARIAN BAPTIST
CHURCH
ANCIENT WORKS.
Pg. 382 -
stead of the inner ditches of the fort, where
probably was the habitation of the builders.
A short distance from this larger fort is a
smaller one than that first described.
There have been several old works of this kind
along the bank of the river, between these works
and Columbus, but they are mostly obliterated by
the cultivation of the land on which they stood.
GENERAL.
The
north part of Perry Township, as well as several
large tracts of land in other parts, was not
settled until within the past twenty or thirty
years, the land being owned mostly by
non-residents and their heirs, who did not see
fit to place it on the market until quite
recently. The timber was white oak, burr
oak, elm, beech, maple, ash, hickory, and
walnut, along the river and runs.
There has never been a regular cemetery in Perry,
although there are many private burial grounds.
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