Antioch

How Antioch began

Antioch grew out of Dye's Settlement, founded in Perry Township in 1812 by Baptist minister Daniel Dye Sr. and his sons, and was formally organized as a village by William Jarvis in 1837. By 1881 it had three general stores, two blacksmith shops and two hotels and 210 residents. The census counted 212 residents in 1900, its highest, and 71 in 2020.

Settled 1812 (Daniel Dye Sr., as Dye's Settlement), platted 1837, by William Jarvis.

Where the name comes from

William Jarvis organized the village of Antioch in 1837 near the older Dye's Settlement; the reason for the name is not recorded.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or trail is recorded at Antioch or in Perry Township. The one Native story tied to the place concerns Henry Johnson, who taught the first school at Dye's Settlement in 1824 and died in Antioch. Born in 1777, Johnson was captured with his brother John by two Indians near Short Creek in the fall of 1788, when he was about eleven, and with John killed both captors in their sleep that night before they escaped to Carpenter's fort; Howe's 1891 history prints his own account and says he was the first mayor of Woodsfield. That adventure took place on the Virginia side of the river, not at Antioch.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

Timeline

1. 1800 — Jesse Fleming built the first cabin in what became Perry Township, though permanent settlement waited until 1812.
2. 1812 — Daniel Dye Sr. and his sons settled what became known as Dye's Settlement, the site that grew into Antioch.
3. 1823-12-30 — Perry Township was organized, in the same commissioners' session as Wayne Township.
4. 1824 — Henry Johnson taught the settlement's first school; he later died in Antioch.
5. 1824 — The first township election was held at George Foraker's farm; Thomas Mitchell Sr. also built the first sawmill that year and in 1826 the first water mill, on Witten Fork.
6. 1827 — Daniel Dye Jr. organized the township's first Sabbath school at his home near the Unity Baptist Church, the first church in the township.
7. 1837 — William Jarvis formally organized the village of Antioch.
8. 1836 — Henry Johnson, who as a boy in 1788 helped kill two Indian captors, is elected Woodsfield's first mayor; he later dies at Antioch and is buried in the Woodsfield graveyard.
9. 1880 — Perry Township counted 1,214 residents, up from 980 in 1840; nine schools served the township.
10. 1881 — Antioch had grown to 210 residents, with three general stores, two blacksmith shops and two hotels.
11. 1882 — A coal town named Mechanicsburg was organized on the creek, with the township then reported at 1,124 people.
12. 1900 — The census counted 212 residents, the highest ever recorded.
13. 1990 — The census counted 68 residents, the lowest ever recorded, before 89 in 2000.
14. 2020 — The census recorded Antioch's population at 71.
15. 2023 — Antioch's estimated population was 74.

Stories

Henry Johnson and the two Indians

Henry Johnson, who taught the first school at Dye's Settlement in 1824 and died in Antioch, told his own story to a Woodsfield paper about 1835. Born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1777, he was taken prisoner with his brother John in the fall of 1788 by two Indians while they sat on a log cracking nuts after looking for a lost hat. The Indians marched them over the Short Creek hills and, when they whetted their knives, the boys feared the worst; John told them his father was cross to him and made him work hard, which seemed to please them. That night, with both Indians asleep, John cocked the gun, drew a tomahawk over the head of the other captor, and Henry pulled the trigger as John struck. They hurried to Carpenter's fort before daybreak, and a party that went back found one body, while the other captor had crawled away with his gun. Henry Johnson later settled in Monroe County and in 1836 became the first mayor of Woodsfield; Henry Howe met him there in 1846.

Dye's Settlement

In 1812 the Baptist minister Daniel Dye Sr. and his sons Daniel, Vincent, David, Reuben, Enoch and John R. settled about a mile and a half southeast of the future village, in a township where Jesse Fleming had built the first cabin in 1800 and few had followed. Dye preached the first sermon at his own home, and the Unity Baptist Church was the township's first church; the second congregation, a Christian church, formed at Antioch. Henry Johnson taught the settlement's first school in 1824, and Thomas Mitchell Sr. built the sawmill that year and a two-story water mill with two runs of stone on Witten Fork in 1826. In 1837 William Jarvis organized Antioch; by 1881 it had three general stores, two blacksmith shops, two hotels, two doctors, a steam grist and woolen mill and 210 people, and in 1882 a coal town called Mechanicsburg was started on the creek.

Local history sources: monroe.ohgenweb.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Woodsfield Village98% of residentsVillage-owned reservoirs (incl. Rubel Lake)
• Monroe Water Systems2% of residentsGroundwater wells (5 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-11-06

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