Recovery Township

Recovery Township

Was organized May 5, 1831. It is bounded on the north by Washington township, on the east by Granville and Butler townships, on the south by Gibson, township and on the west by the State of Indiana. It is six miles from east to west and has an average width from north to south of about four miles. The south line is irregular, being the Greenville treaty line, separating Recover)- from Gibson township. Gibson township was organized as a part of Mercer County at a later date, and lies between Recovery township and the Darke County line. The Wabash River flows across the township and is the only stream of any size in the township; at one time it afforded power for a number of mills that were built upon its banks. The surface of the township is inclined to be rolling. The soil is very fertile. The population of the township was 1,272 in 1880; 1,487 in 1890; and 1,396 in 1900. The present township officials are as follows: Trustees - Valentine Ideiby, J. W. Buscher and Charles Stein; clerk, Otto Summers; treasurer, Ber. Grieshop; justices of the peace - J. S. Clum and Michael Schock. if S&b

We find that entries of land in this township were made as early as 1831, possibly at an earlier date, but tbe fact of entry does not make those who entered the land settlers. A great many acres were entered by parties who never lived on the land. The McDowell family were early settlers. John Adney, David Beardslee and Obed Beardslee moved to the township in an early day. Alexander Grant was a pioneer. William Downs, the Andersons, Nickersons and Scotts, Nehemiah Grover and Isaac DeHays were among the pioneers, and their names are familiar ones in the township to-day. John Grant,

And Representative Citizens

Jacob and John Runckle, William Money, Alexander Scott, John Doll, John Wise, H. Davidson, John Miller, Wendel Doll, Anthony Dull, Samuel Phipps, A. Tucker, William McDowell, John S. McDowell, Anthony Bloom, Morand Buschor, George Troutman, James Houser, Daniel Roesner, Daniel Jones, Peter Schwartz, Philo Willischeck, Martin Burris, James Stowe, Ignatius Tollard, Isaiah Totten, Joseph Weis, Daniel Van Trees and many more helped to clear up and develop the township. David Anderson built the first mill on the Wabash River in the county in 1832. P. D. Moss built and operated an ox-mill, which may also be classed as one of the first mills in the county.

In the pioneer days there were few roads, and those hardly passable the greater part of the year. Schools and churches were scarce, and railroads, telephone and telegraph were things unknown. Steam mills were not found in every town in the county as they are at present. Recovery had a steam mill prior to the Civil War, built by John Oswald, which was one of the first, if not the first, in the county. But the history of the township to-day is full of interest. The roads of the township are well improved; pikes, which cost vast sums of money, are found all over the township ; railroads and telegraph and telephone lines are in use all over the county; free rural delivery of mail has been successfully established; and splendid churches and good schoolhouses, well furnished for the education of the children and the accommodation of the church-going people, have been built. Farming is the principal occupation of the people of Recovery township, and the staple agricultural products are corn, wheat and oats, although all kinds of grain and vegetables can be raised. Hay and pasture land is good in this township. The farmers are ambitious to have the best stock. Farmers' Institutes are held at Fort Recovery and are well attended by the farming community. The township to-day is in all respects up-to-date and its people are industrious and progressive.

Monterey, St. Joseph And Ferner

Recovery township has within its borders a number of small hamlets that usually have a store or grocery and, before the free delivery of mail went into effect, a postoffice.

The old town of Monterey, which was laid out in 1849 by Isaac Raus, had at one time a general store owned and operated by Henry Wurdeman and at a later date conducted by Mother Goerke; now it is only a place of a few residences, without any business.

St. Joseph, a small town not far from Fort Recovery, was laid out in 1861 by Archbishop John B. Purcell, who owned the land. This town at one time supported a small store and grocery. Its main feature at the present time is St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The church is one of the oldest in the southern part of the county and until the Catholic Church at Fort Recovery was built nearly all the Catholic residents of the latter place worshiped at St. Joseph's.

When the Lake Erie & Western Railroad was extended on west from Celina to Fort Recovery, a station was established in the northeastern part of the township called Ferner, which was at one time a postoffice.