Adams Township, Guernsey County

How Adams Township, Guernsey County began

Adams Township, in the central western part of Guernsey County, was taken from Knox and Westland townships in 1827 and named for John Quincy Adams, then president. It is five miles square, drained by small tributaries of Crooked Creek, and the National Road and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cross only its southeastern corner, where the 1828 Peters Creek S-bridge still stands. Its early settlers were largely Scotch-Irish families from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and from Ireland, who built the Lebanon United Presbyterian congregation in 1824. Cassell station and part of Mantua were the only villages ever platted in it, and it has always traded at Cambridge.

Settled by 1808 (Stewart Speer kept a hotel and farmed here from 1808 to 1812), incorporated 1827, by set off from Knox and Westland townships by the county commissioners.

Where the name comes from

Named in honor of John Quincy Adams, President of the United States when the township was set off from Knox and Westland townships in 1827.

Before the town

No Native village, trail or mound specific to Adams Township is recorded in the 1882 or 1911 county histories, both consulted; the township chapters begin with settlers of 1808 and later. Guernsey County as a whole has a recorded Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee and Mingo presence along Wills Creek and its tributaries.

Timeline

1. 1808 — Stewart Speer, born in Pennsylvania in 1783, kept a hotel and farmed in what became Adams Township from 1808 to 1812; he served as a lieutenant in the War of 1812 and later as an associate judge.
2. 1815 — Thomas Knox's family came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and settled in the township.
3. 1817 — David Thompson, an Irish immigrant, moved his family from near New Concord in Muskingum County to the township.
4. 1824 — The Lebanon United Presbyterian church was formed on April 24, at first sharing its minister, David Proudfit, with Crooked Creek in Muskingum County.
5. 1827 — Adams Township was set off from Knox and Westland townships and named for President John Quincy Adams.
6. 1828 — The Peters Creek 'S' bridge, carrying the National Road over Peters Creek near Cassell in the township, was built; its S-shaped stone-arch approach let the road cross the stream at a right angle while keeping the road line straight.
7. 1838 — The Lebanon congregation, grown to seventy-three families, was organized as a separate charge.
8. 1840 — The township had 866 residents; by 1880 it had 806.
9. 1853 — Mantua, part of which lies in Adams Township, was platted on August 6 by Thomas P. Wilson and William P. Rose.
10. 1900 — Adams Township's population was recorded at 717.
11. 1905 — The Lebanon congregation built a new church at a cost of $3,500.

Stories

The S-bridge on the National Road

When engineers built the National Road across Ohio in the 1820s, stone arch bridges were far cheaper to build square across a stream than at an angle to it — but the road itself needed to run straight. Their solution, used at several Ohio crossings, was to bend the roadway into an S-curve on the approaches so the bridge itself could sit at a right angle to the water below. Adams Township's example, built in 1828 over Peters Creek near the community of Cassell, is one of these S-bridges, distinct from the better-known S-bridge over Salt Fork Creek in neighboring Wills Township.

Jane Miller's two years in Newfoundland

Jane Miller was born in Ireland in 1800. In 1812, while she was crossing to America, her ship was taken by the British, and she was held in Newfoundland for two years; her mother died there. She afterward joined her father, who had settled in Pennsylvania, and came with him to Guernsey County. In 1832 she married Thomas Knox, whose parents had brought him from Washington County, Pennsylvania, to Adams Township in 1815. Thomas Knox died in 1870 and Jane in 1874. Both the 1882 and the 1911 county histories repeat her story in their Adams Township chapters.

Local history sources: ohiogenealogyexpress.com · hmdb.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org

Every historic place in Guernsey County on the full map

Wills Creek, impounded in the Cambridge (Wills Creek) Reservoir northwest of the city, with a supplemental direct Wills Creek intake The water here

• Cambridge, City Of85% of residentsWills Creek via Cambridge Reservoir + Wills Creek direct intake
• Western Guernsey Regional Water District4% of residentsWills Creek via Cambridge Reservoir + Wills Creek direct intake
• New Concord4% of residentsFox Creek via New Concord reservoirs (Upper & main reservoir)
• Byesville4% of residentslocal wells (mine-pool/groundwater under influence of surface water)
• Guernsey Co. Water Dept.3% of residentsWills Creek via Cambridge Reservoir + Wills Creek direct intake
• Muskingum County Water - Se0% of residentsMuskingum River buried valley aquifer (wells near Duncan Falls)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 5 of 5 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-18
• Financial Audit, 2021 to 2022, released 2024-07-25

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