St. Francis Catholic Church and Rectory

The township is hounded on the north by Butler township, on the east by Marion township, on the south by Darke County and on the west by Gibson and Recovery townships. It is practically six miles square ; the southern and western lines are slightly irregular. The surface of the township is generally low and level, with an extended basin in the central eastern portion, known as Cranberry Prairie. This prairie was orig'inally something of a marsh hut in the years since the settlement of the township it has undergone a wonderful change. The dredging of the Wabash River, which cost many thousands of dollars, has reclaimed all this waste land, which has become the finest farming section of the township. In this locality the Wabash River begins to assume an important aspect; its source is some distance west, on the line between Darke and Mercer counties in the Hog Prairie, which at the present time is all farm land. The land of Granville township is highly productive and is in an advanced state of cultivation. All kinds of grain are grown in abundance, but the soil is best suited to the rais- ing of corn. In 1881 this township had 10,452 acres of arable land; 438 acres of meadow land; and 13,325 acres of woodland. In 1906 there were 13,179 acres of land under cultivation, 2,624 acres of pasture land, 3,891 acres of woodland and 1,829 acres of waste land. Nearly all the original woodland has been cleared and is now under cultivation. Farms of 40 and 80 acres extent predominate; some men own farms of 160 acres, and Judge Dwyer, of Dayton, Ohio, owns over 400 acres of the Cranberry Prairie, all in one farm, but these are exceptions to the rule. One of the first gas-wells in the county was drilled on the Cranberry Prairie, on land owned by Judge Dwyer, and a good supply of gas was found. Afterwards a large gas territory was opened up in Mercer County, which supplied Dayton, Troy, Piqua and other towns with gas for fuel and light for a number of years.

Passage source: History of Mercer County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, published 1907.

Among the earliest settlers of Granville township, in and around St. Henry, were the families of Henry, Bernard and James Romer, all of whom settled here when the township was an unbroken wilderness. Henry Bruns and his wife came to the county in 1827 and settled in this township; their son, Bernard Bruns, was an infant at the time; Henry Beckman was a pioneer business man of Granville township as early as 1839. The descendants of the Bruns, Beckman and Romer families are numerous throughout the township and represent the leading business interests of St. Henry and Granville township to-day. There is scarcely an industry in St. Henry that has not connected with it a member of one of the above named families. Christian Stelzer settled in the township in 1833; his son Casper was born here December 25, 1837. William J. Stetcher has lived here since 1859; his parents, Casper Stetcher and wife, came here in 1833. J. B. Drahman settled here in 1836. Joseph Robbins, an early pioneer of this township, was born in Alsace, France, and settled in Mercer County in 1839. John E. Uhlenhake settled here in 1844 and George A. Mueller, in 1846, while John Shaner came to this section in 1848. Sebastian Gebele settled here in 1849 and Harman Savert in 1854. The Hemmelgarn family came to the township at an early date and located near the settlement of Cranberry Prairie. Joseph Rammel was another early settler of German nativity. Of the English-speaking people who settled in Granville township, Alexander Grant, James Grant, William Franklin, Landon Bennett, John Wright, H. E. Franklin, Lot Timbrell, James Dunwoody and Nathaniel Hewitt were among the first settlers. These and many others came to Granville township in an early day and helped to subdue the wilderness. Their descendants are now enjoying the results of their labors.

Passage source: History of Mercer County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, published 1907.

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 Granville Township - 2,021 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.