Martinsville Road Covered Bridge

Clark township la bounded on the east by Greene township, of Clinton county ; on the southeast and south by Highland county; on the west by Brown county and Jefferson township, of Clinton county, and on the northwest and north by Washington township. It Is located In the southern part of the county and extends further south than any other portion of the county. It is very irregular In shape. A line drawn between the extrcmest points north nnd south would extend about nine miles and such a line across the center, east and west, would measure about six and a half miles. Its area Includes about twenty-three thousand Are hundred acres of land. This section was part of the Virginia military district and, prior to the organization of Clinton county in 1810. the eastern portion was Included In Illghland county and the western portion was embraced In Warren county, the line between the two being about one-half mile west of the present site of Martinsville. From 1810 to 1817, the portion east of this line was included In Crcen township, that west of the line. In Vernon. A petition, signed by many citizens of this section of the county, was presented to the codnty commissioners on July 14. 1S10, asking that a new township be organized with the boundaries as they are at present, except that it extended northward to Cowan's creek, thus including nil the eastern portion of Washington township. It was reduced to Its present confines by the establishment of Washington township in 1835.

Passage source: The History of Clinton County, Ohio : Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Cities, Towns ... General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio .., published 1915.

Tradition has It thnt Thomas Johns was the first to settle within the present bounds of Clark township. He is said to have located on the Bast fork, about three miles southenHt of the present site of Martinsville. Nothing about the place of bis birth or of the date of his settlement can be ascertained. However, it Is known that Isaac Miller settled about three miles east of Martinsville. The story is told that Mr. Miller, needing a hoe. Journeyed sixteen miles on foot through the forests to New Market In Highland county to make his purchase. Joseph McKibben also settled about the same time In the same neighborhood. In 1806. John Wright came from North Carolina, bought the present site of Martinsville, for two dollars an acre, and settled there. He was mainly Instrumental in the laylng-out of that village and erected the first bouse within Its limits. A daughter of bis was the first person to be Interred In the Friend's graveyard at Martinsville. By the year 1808, Samuel McCulloch had settled on East fork, four miles southeast of Martinsville, and Isaac Van Meter and John Jones near the present site of Lynchburg.

Passage source: The History of Clinton County, Ohio : Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Cities, Towns ... General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio .., published 1915.

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 Clark Township - 7,004 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.