Staunton, Ohio

Inasmuch as Staunton was the first place of settlement permanently maintained in this county, and the nucleus around which all subsequent settlements clustered, and, by natural sequence, the starting-point and reservoir from which the greater portion of the earlier county history has been drawn, it was, therefore, unavoidably blended and absorbed in the same, leaving facts for an individual history almost as anaemic as King Psammis' mummy, in Caesar's reply to Clodius, over the Greek girl, Zoe. Staunton should not, therefore, be jealous or feel slighted if she loses the luster of individual history in the more exalted flame of the initial point of county history.

Passage source: The History of Miami County, Ohio, published 1880.

As has been said previously, the first settlements in Staunton Township were made by the Knoops and Michael Carver, who came from Pennsylvania in 1799. One year later, Carver purchased a half-section of J. C. Sy names, at $2.50 per acre. At this period, civilization had not yet reached this region, which for miles was one vast forest, inhabited only by straggling bands of Indians. There was a great spirit of rivalry manifested between this portion of the county and the upper part, in the location of the seat of justice, which was carried to such an extent as to sever the social ties in great part.

Passage source: The History of Miami County, Ohio, published 1880.

Mrs. James Dye (now living in Troy): u I am a daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Dye. The Cumminses, Morpheys and Metcalfs were among the early settlers of Staunton Township. I was bom in 1800, and married in 1818, and settled near the Elizabeth Township line, on land now owned by Mack Hart. The Indians often came to our cabin, but never disturbed anything. We made our own sugary and would often take sugar-water, yeast, sassafras and spices and make beer, which was a favorite beverage of the Indians. At one time, my father-in-law, Stephen Dye, obtained a half-barrel of cider from a num living below Dayton, which was, perhaps, the first ever brought to this settlement, and possibly, to the county. 1 remember once, while my husband, myself and children were returning from a virit to his father's, we were attacked by wolves. We were on horseback, and the wolves were very close to their heels, and my husband barely succeeded in getting into a place of security. When he returned with a gun, they had given up the chase and skulked away. I can remember well when calico was $1 a yard." in early times, the squirrels were very troublesome here, even destroying the C01n^r0P ' 8°m,e^me8 shocks of com would seem almost alive with them, and well-beaten paths would be made through the fields, and from the shocks to the bordering forest, to which the provident little animals would carry the ears of corn ^ r? a.man. make a living and pay taxes, he was consi dered , nate* Cmcmnati was the nearest market, to which wheat and pork ,were roads through the woods. The nearest mil was

Passage source: The History of Miami County, Ohio, 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 Staunton Township - it names this place 33 more 33 times.