Amanda Township, Hancock County

How Amanda Township, Hancock County began

Amanda Township, in eastern Hancock County, was one of only three townships organized in the county's first year, 1828, with its boundaries formally fixed by county commissioners in December 1831. Thomas Thompson made the first land entry on February 25, 1822, built a cabin near the Big Springs in 1823, and became Hancock County's first Justice of the Peace in 1829; he died in Vanlue on October 26, 1873. William Vanlue laid out the village of Vanlue in May 1847 with forty-four lots, and it grew into a grain market after the railroad arrived. A second platted town, Capernaum, laid out by Abraham Huff in 1831, never developed beyond the plat. The township remains agricultural, centered on Vanlue in its northeastern corner.

Settled 1822 (Thomas Thompson's land entry, February 25; cabin and first crop, 1823), platted 1831 (Capernaum, never developed); 1847 (Vanlue, by William Vanlue), incorporated township organized 1828; boundaries fixed by county commissioners December 1831, by Hancock County commissioners.

Where the name comes from

No known source we consulted states who or what Amanda Township was named for; the 1881 county history's chapter on the township does not give a name origin, and no other source located fills the gap. This is left as an open question rather than guessed at.

Before the town

The 1881 county history's chapter on Amanda Township records no named Native village, mound, or encounter within the township. About two miles east of Vanlue, just across the county line in Ridge Township, Wyandot County, lies Sheriden Cave, a karst sinkhole where radiocarbon-dated bone and stone tools, including a fluted Clovis-culture spear point, show Paleo-Indian use of the area roughly 11,000 to 12,000 years ago -- among the oldest and best-preserved evidence of early human presence found anywhere in Ohio. The cave itself is outside Hancock County and outside Amanda Township, but its proximity to Vanlue marks this stretch of the Blanchard's Fork valley as long-used ground reaching back to the end of the last Ice Age, well before the historic Wyandot and Shawnee presence recorded elsewhere in the county. No reservation tract or historic-era village specific to Amanda Township itself was found in the sources checked.

• Sheriden Cave (near, not within, Amanda Township) (other) — Ridge Township, Wyandot County, Ohio, about 2 miles east of Vanlue -- across the Hancock County line, not inside Amanda Township, Paleo-Indian, roughly 11,000-12,000 years before present (radiocarbon dated) (en.wikipedia.org)

Timeline

1. 1822-02-25 — Thomas Thompson makes the first land entry in what becomes Amanda Township, near the Big Springs about a mile from the future site of Vanlue.
2. 1823 — Thompson builds a cabin and plants the township's first crop; his family joins him from Pickaway County the following year.
3. 1828 — Amanda Township is organized, one of only three townships formed in Hancock County's first year.
4. 1829 — Thomas Thompson becomes Hancock County's first Justice of the Peace.
5. 1831 — The township's first school is taught by Aquilla Gilbert; the same year the first church, a Lutheran log building known as the 'Swamp Church,' is built, and Abraham Huff plats the town of Capernaum, which never develops.
6. 1831-12 — Hancock County commissioners formally define Amanda Township's boundaries.
7. 1847-05 — William Vanlue lays out the village of Vanlue with an initial forty-four lots.
8. 1850 — A post office opens at Vanlue.
9. 1873-10-26 — Thomas Thompson, the township's first settler and first Justice of the Peace, dies at Vanlue.

Stories

The pioneer land hunter

Amanda Township's settlement began with Thomas Thompson, who entered land near the Big Springs in February 1822 and had a cabin up and a crop planted by 1823, before his own family had even left Pickaway County. He went on to become Hancock County's first Justice of the Peace in 1829 and, according to the 1881 county history, lived to see the township grow around him until his death at Vanlue in 1873. Among the settlers who followed him, the history singles out Peter George as the township's 'pioneer land hunter,' a man who made a specialty of guiding new emigrant families through Hancock County's dense forests to find and claim land -- an unglamorous but essential role in a county where the difference between a good farm and a swamp often was not visible from the road.

A railroad town, and a town that never was

William Vanlue platted his namesake village in May 1847 with forty-four lots on Amanda Township land near where Thomas Thompson had planted the county's first crop a quarter-century before. The village's real growth came later, once a railroad reached it: the 1881 county history notes Vanlue 'was a very considerable grain market for a number of years after the completion of the railroad,' as farmers across the township hauled wheat and corn in to be shipped out. Sixteen years before Vanlue was platted, Abraham Huff had tried the same thing a few miles off, laying out a town he called Capernaum in March 1831; unlike Vanlue, it drew no settlers, and the county history records flatly that it 'has no record' beyond the plat itself -- a reminder that platting a town on paper and building one were two very different undertakings on the Hancock County frontier.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Vanlue Village39% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Mt Blanchard Village39% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Arlington Village11% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Carey Village11% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026 edition (Directory of Officials): county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 2 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.
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-10-01

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