Castine, Ohio

It is somewhat remarkable that the most diligent search of the records in the county offices gives no information concerning the date, etc, of the organization of this township, and conversations with the oldest residents now living afford no definite clew to the myster}'. The general impression among those who are now most likely to have opinions on the subject that approximate accuracy is that it took place in 1819-20. Dr. J. P. Love, now in his seventy-fifth year, and a resident at New Castine since 1833, says that about twenty years after the first settlement of what became Butler Township, the anomaly existed of four school districts that had never been legally or formally constituted, and of several road districts that had not been authoritatively defined ! In 1834, for the first time, these districts were legally bounded and laid out.

Passage source: The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880.

Butler Township is situated in the southwestern part of the county, being in the southern tier, and the second from the Indiana line. Harrison intervening. It is six miles square. The general surface is level, but is somewhat broken in the northwestern portion and in the vicinity of New Madison. There wTas a smali tract in the central part, known as Maple swamp, the value of which was depreciated on account of being subject to frequent inundations, but a drain was put through it by order of the County Commissioners, thereby draining this locality and rendering the " swamp " the richest and best of farming land, from the deep alluvium of the surface soil. Originally, the township was heavily timbered with such woods as no weak land can produce, and the fair proportion of timber that is still left standing is stalwart and symmetrical. It has been claimed that since the reclamation of Maple swamp there is less untillable soil in Butler than in any other township of Darke County. This is saying much, probably too much, but the fact remains that its fertility attracted within its limits at an early day men of ability and energy, who have brought it to a high state of cultivation and of public and private improvement. Eleven years ago, it had thirty miles of turnpike (or almost a mile to even* square mile of its area) under contract, at a cost of $60,000 - ample evidence of the truth of the above statement. The land was originally entered in eighty and one hundred and sixt}' acre parcels, principally, but more of the latter than of the former. In some instances, quarter sections have been divided, but in more cases two eighties have been thrown together. Among the large farms of to-day are Joshua Fowble's, 250 acres and upward, one and a half miles northeast of New Castine ; Jacob Wolverton's, about 175 acres, just north of Castine, and Esquire Voris', just south.

Passage source: The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway runs through the northwestern corner of the township. Twin Creek rises near the northern boundary of Butler, runs almost south into Section 22, thence southeasterly to New Castine, and by a circuitous but still southeasterly course leaves the township a short distance west of the center of Section 36. Between Section 22 and the south line of Butler, it sends off several branches to the right and left, at an average distance of threefonrths of a mile apart. Mud Creek also enters near the center of the township line and extends southeast into Section 8. The Middle Branch of Mud Creek enters the township one-fourth of a mile east of the railroad, in the eastern part of Section 5, near the center of which it crosses the railroad and then runs nearly parallel therewith until it leaves the township, at the northwestern corner of Section 18. The first turnpike was built in 1869, a north and south road, running from Greenville to Eaton, through New Castine, called the Greenville & Eaton Pike. The east and west road, crossing the other at right angles at Castine, is popularly known as the « New Garden Road." The name arose from the circumstance of semi-annual meetings held by the Quakers of New Garden, Ind., and the regular pilgrimage thereto of large numbers of Quakers from Union Township, Miami County, this State, over this road.

Passage source: The History of Darke County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men;, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Butler Township - it names this place 21 more 21 times.