Reily, Ohio

December 7, 1807, on the meeting of James Blackbum, Matthew Richardson, and James Smith, commissioners, on a petition of some of the inhabitants of St. Clair Township, it was "ordered, December 8, 1807, that so much of the township of St. Clair as lies within the following boundaries, to wit : Beginning on the western boundary line of the county at the southwest corner of the fourth township in the iirst range; thence east with the township line to the southeast corner of the section numbered 32 of the fourth township in tiic second range; thence north with the sectional line to the north boundary line of the said fourth township in the said second range ; thence west with the township line to the western boundary line of the county aforesaid ; thence j south with the same to the place of beginning, - shall ! compose a township which shall be called and known by j the name of Reily Township." Election to he held at i the house of Henry Burget on the 2d day of January, j 1808, for electing township officers.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

The justices of the peace have been Ithamar White and William Mitchell in 1808; Ithamar White and John Burke in 1811; the same in 1813 and 1814; Daniel Trimbly in 1816; John Burke in 1817; Daniel Trimbly in 1819; John Burke from 1820-23; Daniel Trimbly again in 1824-25; John Burke in 1826; Daniel Allhands in 1828; John Burke in 1829; in 1831, Daniel Allhands; John Clark and John Johnson in 1832; in 1833, Samuel Port; in 1834, Amos Larison, and in 1835, Jacob Miller and David Lindley; in 1836, Isaac Clark; in 1888, Amos Larison and Jacob Miller; in 1839, Isaac Clark; Amos Larison in 1841, also Samuel Trimbly; 1842, Elias H. Gaston; in 1844, Alexander Ogle and W. P. Deneen; and in succeeding years, James B. Trimbly, Silas C. Stewart, Thomas W. Lawrence, P. J. B. Welliver, Thomas Smith, Joseph W. Frazee, William L. Lane, John W. Owens, G. W. Welliver, L. D. Hancock, L. C. Addison, and Alonzo Urmston. ~~. In 1844 there were nine school districts in the township and $1,206 annually collected for school purposes. The population in 1820 was fourteen hundred and fiftyone; in 1830, eighteen hundred and thirty-two; in 1840, seventeen hundred and fifty-eight. Reily post-office was the only one in the township in 1844.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

Indian Creek passes through Reily Township from north-west to south-east. Its principal tributaries are Little Indian, which flows from the west, taking its rise in the neighborhood of Peoria. Chase's Run flows from the north, and takes its name from Valentine Chase, a pioneer in this part of the township. Mr. Chase entered the south-east quarter of Section 5, the same quarter on which the Indian Creek Baptist Church stands. Further east is Boone's Run, also am affluent of Indian Creek. This creek took its name from a distant relative of Daniel Boone, who settled in this region far back in the 20's. Reserve Run flows from the north through Sections 5'and 6, emptying into Indian Creek one-quarter of a mile below Reily. Indian Creek has a bottom some three-quarters of a mile in width, which is very fertile. These bottoms are very fine lands for raising corn. It was along this stream and its tributaries, in the opening of Indian Creek Valley to agriculture, that such fine crops were raised. The other streams named have no bottoms of any size. In the south-west corner of the township the lands are avell adapted to agricultural purposes. The soil is a dark, rather heavy loam, inclined to be wet. When drained it produces the best of crops. The north-east corner is broken somewhat, and not so well adapted to farming; the soil is clayish generally? In the vicinity of Ogleton and Woods' Stations the surface is flat, and the soil a dark loam, naturally wet. All kinds of timber abounded here when the first settlements were made. There has been a very great quantity of good timber destroyed, but there is still standing a sufficient forest for many years. This township, like Morgan and Hanover, was plentifully supplied with pea vines along the creek bottoms in early times. The undergrowth was mainly spice bushes. Many hooppoles were cut from the forests when still-houses were running their best. Flour barrels, as well as whisky barrels, commanded a good price in those days, and it is said ''a cooper-shop was kept going on every section."

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

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 Reily Township - it names this place 40 more 40 times.