Powell, Ohio

One-half of this township was military land, and the other half Congress land. Much of the latter was entered after the township was organized, which was in 1832. "Wm. Addy was the first tax-paying freeholder (in 1819). Among the earliest settlers were Robert Corbit ; James Jones, who, while the region was yet a part of Oxford township, served as justice of the peace, and his brother Wm. Jones ; Wm. Norris, from Virginia, whose distinction was that of having twenty-one children ; Thomas Powell, an emigrant from England ; John Baker, the founder of Bakersville, coming from New Jersey ; another branch of the Norris family settled near Bakersville, and of a somewhat later date, but still in before the township was organized ; the Campbells from Steubenville, and the Walters from Eastern Ohio. The first justice of the peace was Patrick Steele Campbell, who held the office until his death in 1850« Vincent DeWitt, and Leonard Hawk were early settlers, and the latter name is still represented in the township. The Mysers and Shannons, too, have long had a place " in the land."

Passage source: Historical Collections of Coshocton County, Ohio :, published 1876.

The township is five miles square in area, consisting of the sixth township in the fourth range of the United States military district. The eastern half was congress land, which was surveyed into sections of one mile square by Alexander Holmes, in the year 1803. The western half was composed of two military sections of 4,000 acres each. In 1800 military land could be entered only in tracts of 4,000 acres, and it sometimes occurred that a number of persons, each holding an insufficient number of warrants to enter a whole section, would unite their several claims for this purpose, afterward dividing the section among themselves, in proportion to the amount of each one's warrants. Thus it was with both of these sections. The northern one, constituting the northwest quarter of the township, was entered by a company of ten individuals as follows: Jesse and Abijali Hunt, of Hamilton county, holding warrants for 1,500 acres ; Ephraim True, with warrants for 600 hundred acres ; James Percival, of Connecticut, for 500; Lewis Morris, of Charleston, South Carolina, for 400 ; Joseph Loveland, of Fairfield county, for 300; Joseph Lockland, for 300, and four others, Henry Ross, of Washington county; -John Buel, major in the army; Stephen Smith and Christopher Hamel, for 100 acres each. The section was located and surveyed for the company by John Matthews, he receiving in compensation for his services the onetenth part, or 400 acres. The other section, forming the southwest quarter of the township, was located for a company of Marylanders, of whom Rezin Davis and 0. H. Williams were the most extensive shareholders, the two owning more than the one-half of the section. S. Herbert, Jacob S. Towson, Richard Pindall, W. VanLear and P. Thomas had lesser amounts. TJie land in these two sections was not placed in the market for many years, and, as the owners were non-res- idents, the settlement of this portion of the township was somewhat retarded. The few pioneers who settled here, did so without title to the soil, and were obliged to abandon their cabins when the legal holders put in their appearance, if they "had not already done so.

Passage source: History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881. Containing a Comprehensive History of Ohio; a Complete History of Coshocton County ... a History of Its Soldiers in the Late War ... Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, Etc, published 1881.

Upon the formation of Oxford township, in the fall of 1811, that territory was embraced in its limits which now constitutes Adams township. In 1823, when White Eyes township was organized, the northwestern quarter of what is now Adams township was taken from Oxford, and made a part of the new township. In 1832, the county commissioners ordered the establishment of Adams township, as it now exists. The completion of the organization, by the election of local officers, is thus recorded in the township book:

Passage source: History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881. Containing a Comprehensive History of Ohio; a Complete History of Coshocton County ... a History of Its Soldiers in the Late War ... Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, Etc, published 1881.

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 Adams Township - it names this place 5 more 5 times.