BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

West Jefferson, Ohio

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Jefferson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43543. The Survey maps it on the Montpelier quadrangle.

West Jefferson within Williams County

Then and now

1914 to 1990

The same ground, surveyed 76 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of West Jefferson, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of West Jefferson, surveyed 1914

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

4,637 words on this township

Williams County, Ohio 1870 Census and Index to Brady Township and the Village of West Unity, published 1870 names this settlement in its chapter on Jefferson Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The microfilm census roll for Jefferson Township was difficult to read in spots. In all cases the surnames were checked with other sources to make sure the transcription was correct. These other sources were: list of personal property taxpayers of Jefferson Township, 1867; Williams County, Ohio Atlases, 1864 and 1874; biographical sketches within several county histories; and, Williams County, Ohio Marriages, Volumes I-III (1824-1868), There were some surnames that were obviously misspelled by the census taker; therefore, family researchers should be careful to check various surnname spellings.

Passage source: Williams County, Ohio 1870 Census and Index to Brady Township and the Village of West Unity, published 1870.

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 Jefferson Township.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 210 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 210 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Jefferson between 1890 and 1974: 207 Animalia, 2 Plantae, 1 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Adler, K. K., Barnes, T. N., Bauer, L. and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Gomphus exilis Selys, 1854Gomphus exilis Selys, 18541946H. PriceNorthwest Township, Nettle Creek
Specimen of Lampsilis radiata radiata (Gmelin, 1791)Lampsilis radiata radiata (Gmelin, 1791)1948Kansas UniversitySt. Joseph River, Florence
A photograph of the species Plowrightia morbosa, not of this specimenPlowrightia morbosa (Schwein.) Sacc.1890Woodard EdwinStryker
A photograph of the species Moxostoma erythrurum, not of this specimenMoxostoma erythrurum (Rafinesque, 1818)1893P. KirschTiffin River, West Unity, Ohio
A photograph of the species Aspidium Sw., not of this specimenAspidium Sw.1895Collector(s): Edwin Lincoln MoseleyFlorence
A photograph of the species Sciurus niger, not of this specimenSciurus niger Linnaeus, 17581926Collector(s): unknownNo specific locality recorded
A photograph of the species Acris crepitans, not of this specimenAcris crepitans Baird, 18541927Hine, J. S. (James Stewart)Near Stryker, Williams Co., Ohio
A photograph of the species Rana clamitans, not of this specimenRana clamitans Latreille, 18011927Hine, J. S. (James Stewart)Near Stryker, Williams Co., Ohio
A photograph of the species Sturnus vulgaris, not of this specimenSturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 17581927Price, H. (Homer)Evansport, Williams, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Esox vermiculatus, not of this specimenEsox vermiculatus Lesueur, 18461929Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)Nettle Creek, within Bridgewater township, near Montpelier, Bridgewater township
A photograph of the species Etheostoma nigrum, not of this specimenEtheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 18201929Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)Nettle Creek, within Bridgewater township, near Montpelier, Bridgewater township
A photograph of the species Micropterus salmoides, not of this specimenMicropterus salmoides (Lacepède, 1802)1929Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)Nettle Creek, within Bridgewater township, near Montpelier, Bridgewater township

All 210 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of West Jefferson: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Dennis Winzler Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
J.E. Brown PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Tri-State Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Williams County

Storms near this place

1 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Jefferson in 1 storm report between 2019 and 2019: 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2019HailWest Jefferson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Williams County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Maplecrest1.2 miles13
Hillcrest1.4 miles13
Holiday City2.5 miles13
Montpelier2.7 miles13
Hallock3.1 miles13
Jefferson Estates3.2 miles14
Baldwin (historical)3.2 miles14
Deer Lick (historical)3.3 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on West JeffersonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q22673251The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1061740. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.