Jennings Township

Jennings Township

Jennings township also suffered in the donation of land to Allen county, just as Sugar Creek did. The south half of the township was cut off and two tiers of sections were added on the north from Jackson township, but three sections were cut off the west side and added to Monterey, thus the township now embraces twenty-eight sections.

Samuel Washburn was the first settler to purchase land and locate here. Washburn came in 1825 or 1826 and purchased two farms, which he cleared and sold to Isaiah Clawson and William Cochran in 1827 or 1828. About the year 1828, James Thatcher and William Scott cast their lot with the other early settlers in this township. A few others came in about this time and settled on the banks of the Auglaize river.

In 1832 or 1833 the township took on a temporary organization. William Cochran served as the first justice of the peace. It is difficult to get the true history of the township or the date of the permanent organization, as the early records were destroyed. In 1833 several families came over from Germany and took up their permanent residence here; among these were John Disher, Henry Wellman, C. Raabe, Henry Raabe and John

Raabe. In the following year H. J. Boehmer, V. D. Emse, George Calvage, Mrs. Calvage and several others settled here. The returns show that at the fall election in 1834 there were only seventeen votes cast in the township.

Colonel Jennings was the commandant at the fort, a small stockade built on the west bank of the Auglaize river, which served as a military post in the war of 1812. An incident concerning this post follows: Colonel Jennings sent out a detachment of troops under Capt. William D. Jones on a foraging expedition to the Indian towns of Upper and Lower Tawa on the Blanchard river. The detachment consisted of the Captain, Knowles Shaw, Aaron Howard, James Howard, Henry and Thomas Montgomery. They came in from the west and crossed the river near the Glandorf bridge. This was in August, 1813 or 18 14. They found the towns deserted and, after feasting on roasting ears, chickens and fat hogs for a week, they burned the Indian towns and destroyed the growing crops before they returned to the fort. Colonel Jennings left his name as a monument to the township and also the town.

The Jennings township officials are as follows: Justices of the peace, J. H. Hunt and Cornelius Kortier; trustees, Barney Bruskotter, William Von Sassan and Charles Ricker; clerk, Ferd Heising; treasurer, Charles H. Raabe; constable, Felix Calvelage: ditch supervisor, James Brackman.

Ft. Jennings is one of the oldest settlements in northern Ohio, where the white man made a permanent home in the wilderness. In 1812 Colonel Jennings erected a stockade, consisting of a line of posts set in the earth on a high and favorable bend of the Auglaize river, and it was from this stockade that the present village received its name. Settled at a time when there was no railroad, no canal, no stores, when by far the greater part of Ohio was one vast wilderness, the present generation can hardly realize the hardships and privations which these early settlers had to undergo.

The earliest industry was the manufacture of corn whiskey, but the construction of the canal drained the swamps and made this one of the richest corn-producing sections in northern Ohio.

The town of Ft. Jennings was platted in 1847 and incorporated in 1 88 1. The Clover Leaf railroad was built through the town in 1876 and this gave the farmers a ready outlet for their products to the chief markets of the country.

followed soon after by a saw-mill, elevator, a tile mill, a good music store, two hotels and stores representing all the different lines of merchandise.

The streets of the town are sewered and piked, and, with the industry and thrift of the farmers, she enjoys a proud place among the most progressive towns of the county.

The corporation officers of Ft. Jennings are as follows: Mayor, F. H. Geier; clerk, Ferd Heising; treasurer, Frank Geier; marshal, A. B. Miehls; councilmen, William Boehmer, Basney Wieging, Louis Brockman, Ferd Bertling, Frank Kohorst, Felix Calvelage.

Rushmore is situated on the Northern Ohio railroad and the southwestern part of Jennings township. It is surrounded by rich farming lands and bids fair to become a thriving little village. It has a church and school building for the convenience of its patrons.

Jennings townshiij is credited with fourteen volunteers' between July 2, 1862, and August 22, 1862, as follows: Isaac Riswer, Simon Allen, Joseph Stephan, Nathaniel Harris, Henry Roose, Hampton E. Wade, Henry Hershey, Asbury Riggle, Robert Good, Emanuel Clapper, Thomas Hunt, Henry Hunter, Presley Good and Henry R. Hagemann. This list is signed by Henry Raabe, the assessor of Jennings township.