Newville Township

Newville Township

The southeastern corner of DeKalb county is occupied by Newville township, a fractional township, six miles long and two and a half wide, containing twelve whole and six half sections. It is bounded on the north by Stafford township, on the east by the state of Ohio, on the south by Scipio township, Allen county, and on the west by Concord and Spencer townships. The St. Joseph of the Maumee crosses the northwestern corner, flowing from northeast to southwest. A smaller branch of the same river is located in the southwestern corner of the township. The Baltimore & Ohio railroad crosses the middle of the township. The land is much the same as that of Concord and Spencer townships, rich river-bottom land, oak-timbered wheat land, and beech and maple timbered land. However, the timber has been largely cleared aAvay, to make room for the crops.

Early Settlement

The pioneer settlers of Newville township were John Platter and Solomon DeLong, who, when traveling through the woods in the summer of 1834, became bewildered, and encamped at the border of a prickly ash swamp. Here they dug a hole for water, using their axes and hands. They found water, but the fluid was so heavily mixed with the juices from the roots of trees as to be scarcely drinkable, though their craving for drink led them to make the best of it. Platter settled on section 7, and DeLong settled on the bank of the St. Joseph, across from Newville; was one of the early county commissioners, and served during the Civil war in the Forty-fourth and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, having the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the latter. Daniel Strong was another pioneer. Others were Dwight Moody, J. S. Peck, John Thompson, I. N. Blood, Alva Lawrence, and Ephraim Strong. S. H. Bartlett and family came in 1836, also George Weeks.

"The Mound" is an elevation of ground on section 7, on the Ashman farm. It is about ten rods from the "Little St. Joe," and on the south bank of a small creek that empties into the St. Joe at this point. It was opened in the fall of 1837 by Silas H. Bartlett, Daniel Strong, Jr., John Platter and Frasier Bertlett. They found a large quantity of human bones about three feet below the surface. The elevation was then ten feet, but has decreased since, until now it is hardly visible. It is evident that this was a sepulcher of the mound builders, and the rude earthworks indicate that here was also at some time a fortification.

First Officers

Constables were : John P. Widney. John Thompson and Asa Overacker, and the first trustees were: D. Strong, A. B. Fetterer, N. Fuller, John Newton, John Murphy, N. L. Thomas, Newton Thomas, I. N. Blood, Alva Lawrence, S. DeLong, D. Moody, Ephraim Strong and John Platter.

The village of Newville. once called Vienna, is located on the northwest bank of the river, in the southwest quarter of section 6. George W. Weeks surveyed and platted the town in March, 1837, for Washington Robinson, settler and owner of the land. The original plat contained twenty-six and a half acres, exclusive of streets. N. L. Thomas, a Methodist minister, was the first store keeper in this town, and a Mr. Dodge the host of the first tavern opened to the public. Dr. John Lattman was the first physician. John Cary was a shoemaker, also an early justice of the peace. Newville has been restricted in her growth by the lack of a railroad, but the people are very progressive, and keep in touch with the world just as well as if intercourse were provided by steel rails.