Wayne Township

Wayne Township

WAYNE TOWNSHIP occupies the northwest corner of Tuscarawas County; Stark County bounds it on' the north and Holmos on the west, Franklin Township on the east and Sugar Creek on the south. Its northern line is the Greenville Indian treaty line, established in 1795 by Gen. Wayne and the tribes he had recently subdued in battle. Wayne is one of the oldest townships in the county. March 5, 1810, a petition of thirty-one subscribers of Lawrence Township, praying for a division of their township, was presented to the County Commissioners, and granted the next day by the establishment of Wayne with the following boundaries: Beginning at the southeast corner of the second quarter, Township 9, Kange 2 (in Dover Township); thence west to the county line; thence north to the old boundary line; thence eastwards along said boundary line to Range 2; thence south to Township 10; thence east to the northeast corner of the second quarter of Township 9, Range 2; thence south to the place of beginning. As thus formed, it included a portion of Holmes County, all of Wayne and Franklin Townships, and a fraction of Dover. The electors were directed to meet at the house of William Bacher, in what is now Franklin Township, on the first Monday in April, 1810, and elect officers.

The record of the earliest Justices of Wayne Township is not quite complete. Those whose names have been preserved in the book of oaths administered, with date of election, are as follows: Isaac Deardorff, 1810; Isaac

The surface of the township is hilly, though not so rough as in some other portions of the county. Sugar Creek crosses from south to north, and is met by Walnut Creek from the west. The soil is clayey and in places sandstone crops freely from the hillsides. Coal is found, but is mined only for home consumption. Wheat is the staple product, and fruit of all kinds is abundant.

The township consists of fractions of Townships 9 and 10, of Ranges 3 and 4. It is four and a half miles wide, east and west, and has an average length of about six miles. The line dividing the counties of Tuscarawas and Holmes if continued to the Greenville line, would have cut in twain a 100. acre lot, and placed part of the owner's farm in each county, and for his convenience, by arrangement between the Commissioners of the two counties, the entire lot was relegated to Tuscarawas, thus producing a slight irregularity or knob in the outline of Wayne Township. Most of the township is Connecticut Reserve School Land. The first quarter of Township 9, and the fourth quarter of Township 1$, Range 4, and three-fifths of the second quarter of Township 9, Range 3, in all sixty-five 160-acre lots, are of this description. There are also in the township five sections of Congress land, and about twenty-eight 100- acre military lota

As mentioned in a former chapter, the Connecticut Reserve School Lands were granted in 1802, by Congress, to that portion of Ohio known as the Western Reserve, for school purposes. There being at that time little or no demand for land, it was deemed expedient by the Reserve to lease the school lots for a period of years, until their value would be so enhanced that the proceeds derived from their sale would be considerable. It is not known when the first leases were made, but it was probably about 1810. The terms were highly advantageous to the lessee. By the terms of the lease, in consideration of clearing fifteen acres of land and erecting a cabin, he bad the use of a lot of 160 acres rent free for fifteen years. In reality, the lessees usually cleared a much greater amount, in order to obtain the use of so much more land. In 1820, all, or nearly all, the school lots in this township were leased. The lessees were usually a class of people whose means were too scant for them to purchase land from the Government, and the opportunity thus offered to obtain a free home for fifteen years, where life could be passed unmolest - edly in hunting and trapping, was gladly seized. Many of the occupants of these lands were genuine backwoodsmen, to whom the restraints of civilization were irksome. Rough in manners and habits, they kept on the foremost wave of emigration, constantly advancing deeper into the wilderness as the country cleared up around them. In 1830 or 1831, the school lots were disposed of at public sale. The land office was located at Millersburg, Holmes County. Some of the lessees were sufficiently enterprising to purchase homes, but most of them were unable to do so. A few speculators bought lands, but the great majority of the owners became residents on their property. The lots sold at from about $240 to $700 each, and those not sold at public auction could be purchased at their appraised value.

The first permanent settlement was made on the Congress land in the northeast portion of the township. No one is known to have preceded Aaron Patterson in the occupancy of the soil. He was a New Jersey farmer, entered the southeast quarter of Section 25, about a mile east cf Dundee, settled there in 1808 and remained through life. He is said to have wedded five wives in succession. His children were John, who died in early manhood; William, who was a Methodist, and attained a ripe old age in this township; Uriah and Aaron, who removed to Pittsburgh, Penn.; Obadiah, who went West; Jesse, a resident of Sandusky; Rachel (Hoagland), who returned to New Jersey; Hannah (Jennings), who moved to the West, and Mary (Kint), who became a resident of Sugar Creek Township. Obadiah served in tbe war of 1812.

The next settlers, reaching the solitudes of Wayne within a few years, were Jacob Bartlett, John Knistrick, Peter Bartlett, Joseph Brown and Henry

Knable. Jacob Bartlett entered the southwest quarter of Section 25. He was a Methodist, and died in the township, leaving no children. John Knistrick purchased from Jacob Bartlett and dwelt upon fifty acres in the southwest quarter of Section 25. He hailed from Maryland, was a Methodist, raised a large family and died in the township. Peter Bartlett was a brother to Jacob, and remained in the township the remainder of his life. Joseph Brown came from Pennsylvania. He entered the southwest quarter of Section 24, was a hunter of note, and subsequently removed with his family to Indiana. Henry Knable settled about a mile southwest from Dnndee, on a school lot, where he died.

In 1820, besides most of the above, the following were resident land-owners in Wayne: Richard Burrell, William Collett and Elias Melone. Richard

Burrell was a Marylander. He entered the northwest quarter of Section 25, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and remained in Wayne through life. His son Richard is still a resident of the township. William Collett entered and occupied the northeast quarter of Section 16; he afterward moved to the West. Elias Melone came from Maryland about 1814; he owned and settled on Lots 2, 3 and 4, on the western line of the township, where he died. He was a member of the Winebrenner Church.

A few years later, Samuel Boyd, from Pennsylvania, owned and dwelt upon Military Lot 1, on the western line of the township. He belonged to the United Brethren, the head of a numerous family, and a resident of the township until death. Cornelius Hance entered and settled on the northwest quarter of Section 16. Other early land holders were Aaron Vananda, John I. Wade, John C. Wright, Martin Walter and William Wade.

The Jennings, Amos, Lewis and Bayless families were among the foremost pioneers of the township. Amos came with his father, Augustus, to the county in 1807, and in 1809 settled in Wayne Township. The Jennings first settled in what is now Fairfield Township. Jacob Steffe, a German Lutheran from Maryland, emigrated to Holmes County, and shortly afterward, in 1814, caipe to Wayne Township and settled on Lot 12, about a mile south of Dundee. Quite a settlement of colored people, fifteen or more families, settled years ago in the vicinity of Dundee, but most of them have since removed elsewhere. For some time a German emigration has been steadily entering the township, and the people of this nationality will soon preponderate. The emigration of Wayne's people has been more largely to Davis County, Ind, than to any other locality. La Grange and Owen Counties, of the same State, have also received large accessions from this township.

About a half-mile west of Dundee, on Sugar Creek, is an old frame grist mill, at present operated by David Bradley. It was built as early as 1825, or earlier, by Mr. Morgan, and has since done the grinding aDd chopping for the people in this locality.

On the southeast quarter of Section 25, nearly a mile east of Dundee, was probably the first schoolhouse in the township. It was built in the woods about 1825, on land donated for the purpose by Aaron Patterson, and used many years. A Mr. Robinson is said to have been the first teacher, followed by James Hoagland. The " United States Speller" was the principal text- book in use.

In 1847, Michael Wallick laid out twelve lots in School Lot 1, of the first quarter of Township 9, Range 4, at the crossing of the Shanesville & Navarre with the Dover & Winesburg roads, and called tne place Dundee. The same year Edward Jones had eight Lots, 13 to 20, surveyed on the opposite side of the Shanesville & Navarre road, as an addition to the town of Dundee. Caleb Jones, in 1872, made a further addition of four lots to the hitherto unpreton - tious village. It had, in 1870, a population of 106; in 1880, of 147. The Coshocton branch of the Connotton Railway, built in 1883, passes near the village, and is proving a material advantage. Dundee contains two dry goods stores, a grocery, a stove and tin store, a millinery store, a blacksmith shop, three shoe shops, and two wagon shops. Its schoolhouse is a handsome twostury frame structure, built in 1869, and containing below two apartments, used for school purposes, and a large public hall above. The first school - house was a log building, which stood on the hill, east of town. Charles Strone, Alfred Longinecker, Martha Leetley, Alvin Norgan and others were early teachers. Its two medical practitioners are Charles Springer and William McKean. Dr. Cotter was an early physician, and Drs. William Wirtz, Wert, John Hani, Ayres Robinett and others have since practiced.

The village contains two churches. The Methodist Church is a neat frame, 48x32 feet, erected in 1880 at a cost of $2,200. A former church, erected soon after the town was laid out, occupied its site. Rev. G. A. Reeder, of Wilmot, is the present pastor. The present membership is about fifty-five. The Wilmot Circuit embraces four appointments - Dundee, Bolivar and two in Stark County. The society at Dundee is quite an old one. Previous to the erection of its first meeting-house, services were held for many years at the residences of John Knistrick and Joseph Bartlett. Among the early members were William Patterson and family, John Knistrick and family, Richard Burrell and family, Mary Morgan and James Wingard.

The Christian or Disciple Church was erected about 1860, directly after the society was organized, the leading early members of which were Beriah and Caleb Jones, James and Richard Cotton and Samuel Bowers. Revs. Wey and McBride were early ministers. At this writing, regular services are not held. The society now numbers about thirty members.

In the western part of the township, on School Lot 5, near Walnut Creek, is an old frame church built many years ago by a Winebrenner congregation. Among its early members were Peter Showalter and John Fair. Rev. Metzler is the present minister, and the membership is about seventy-five.

Thirty or more years ago, a United Brethern society flourished in the northwest part of the township. For a few years it met in a schoolhouse ; then a church was built on Chestnut Ridge, about three and a half miles northwest from Dundee. Its leading members included Jacob Efferd, John Keyse, Jacob Freed, John Stifle, Martin Overholtz and Samuel Kint. Most of these members removed from the neighborhood, and the organization has long since become defunct.