Bethlehem Township, Coshocton County

How Bethlehem Township, Coshocton County began

Bethlehem Township, in north-central Coshocton County, takes in the valleys of the Walhonding River and the Killbuck, where Denman's prairie drew the first settlers in the county in the spring of 1800. It was organized in 1826 and named by William Speaks, a Revolutionary soldier and the oldest resident, who was given the honor. Two Delaware (Lenape) towns lay in the valley a century earlier, including Custaloga's Town in the forks of the Walhonding and Killbuck, and the river's old name, White Woman's creek, comes from Mary Harris, whom Christopher Gist heard of in 1751. The land is entirely military land and the township has never had a village; the Walhonding canal, rafting of logs and farming made its living. It had 1,054 residents in 2020.

Settled 1800 (Denman's prairie: Charles Williams, William Morrison, Isaac and Henry Hoagland), incorporated 1826 (township organized), by William Speaks was given the honor of naming it.

Where the name comes from

The 1881 county history says that when the township was organized in 1826 'the honor of naming it was given to William Speaks, a revolutionary soldier, who was the oldest resident of the township at that time'; it gives no reason for the name Bethlehem.

Before the town

The 1881 county history gives this valley a long Native record. Killbuck Creek was named for a noted Delaware (Lenape) chief whose town stood farther up the stream, between Millersburg and Wooster. 'A hundred years ago' (about 1780) two Delaware villages stood in the valley, three and ten miles above Coshocton, and in the forks of the Walhonding and Killbuck stood Custaloga's Town, probably the residence of Mary Harris, for whom the river was called the White Woman's River, and where Christopher Gist stayed in the winter of 1750-51; Custaloga, a Delaware chief and orator, was with twenty warriors the first to deliver up prisoners to Colonel Bouquet and spoke at the Fort Pitt treaty. The Walhonding name is given as meaning 'the White Woman' in the Indian tongue. Two mounds are known in the township: a large one about fifteen feet high on John Hogle's farm on the east reserve of the Rathbone section, near the Walhonding, and a smaller one on the Moffitt farm in the Killbuck valley. Indians from the Tuscarawas still came to the Killbuck to trap and hunt in the summer as late as 1822. The land was ceded by the Treaty of Greenville (1795).

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Wyandot.

• White Woman's Village (White Woman's Town) (village) — on the Walhonding River near Warsaw, Coshocton County, c. 1750-1777 (accessgenealogy.com)
• Custaloga's Town (village) — in the forks of the Walhonding River and Killbuck Creek, 18th century (archive.org)
• Mound on John Hogle's farm (east reserve of the Rathbone section) (mound) — near the Walhonding River, Bethlehem Township, prehistoric; undated (archive.org)
• Mound on the Moffitt farm (mound) — Killbuck valley, northwest of the township center, prehistoric; undated (archive.org)

Timeline

1. c. 1750 — Mary Harris, an English captive married to the chief Eagle Feather, is living at White Woman's Town in the forks of the Walhonding and Killbuck, according to the 1881 county history.
2. 1751 — Christopher Gist, a surveyor for the Ohio Land Company, stays at White Woman's Town from December 14, 1750 to January 15, 1751 and, the county history says, spends the winter festivities with Mary Harris, who tells him her story.
3. 1800 — In the spring Charles Williams, William Morrison and Isaac and Henry Hoagland settle on Denman's prairie, the first settlement in what is now Coshocton County; Ebenezer Buckingham settles at the mouth of the Killbuck for two years.
4. 1801 — Samuel Morrison, Ira Kimberly, George Carpenter and James Craig join them on the prairie; Mrs. Sallie Kimberly swims the Walhonding to fetch a deer her brother-in-law shot.
5. c. 1802 — A school is said to have been taught on the prairie up the Walhonding in 1802 or 1803, the first in the county, though its teacher is unknown.
6. c. 1806 — Henry Carr settles on lot 11 of the southwest section and runs a small still, trading whisky at a gallon for a bushel of corn; John Bantum, a Revolutionary veteran, settles on the Rathbone section.
7. 1814 — Michael Hogle, from Vermont, settles in April and raises nineteen children; Albert Torrey, the township's first mechanic, settles as a blacksmith.
8. 1816 — John Markley, one of Adam Markley's sons, is killed at an election at Coshocton by George Arnold of the Bethlehem area, the first murder committed in the county.
9. c. 1820 — A Methodist class is formed under Samuel Clark and others; a schoolhouse is built about 1821 near the center on the Killbuck with Matthew Boner the first teacher.
10. 1826 — Bethlehem Township is organized and named by William Speaks, the oldest resident.
11. c. 1830 — Thomas H. Miller builds the township's only sawmill near the mouth of the Killbuck; rafting logs down the Killbuck to Zanesville, Roscoe and Coshocton is the chief industry.
12. c. 1834 — The Rathbone section is surveyed into thirty lots of 100 to 150 acres, with two mill-site reserves on the river; little of it was sold before 1835.
13. c. 1850 — The Mount Zion Methodist Protestant church, a hewed-log building, is erected in the northwest on land given by John C. Frederick.
14. 1868-1869 — A bridge across the Walhonding at Fry's Ford replaces the ferry; the masonry cost about $5,700 and the wooden superstructure $6,100.
15. 2020 — Bethlehem Township has 1,054 residents.

Stories

Two accounts of the White Woman

The Walhonding River is said in the Indian tongue to mean 'the White Woman', and the 1881 county history gives two accounts of the name. Along the west bank on the Denman farm, a broken ledge of rock overlooks the river, and a legend traced to the Carpenters, who came to the county in 1801, says a beautiful young captive preferred death to life among the Indians, fled from their camp in a storm and leaped from the rock into the flooded stream. In one version the water closed over her; in another she hid under a ledge until her pursuers gave up and then slipped away. The earliest white witness tells it differently: The county history says that Christopher Gist, who stayed at White Woman's Town from December 1750 to January 1751, met there Mary Harris, the white woman for whom the town and river were named and the wife of the chief Eagle Feather. The county historian guessed that she lived at Custaloga's Town in the forks of the Walhonding and the Killbuck.

The deer and the neckerchief

In the early years on Denman's prairie, William Morrison saw a deer across the Walhonding, shot it, and was too unwell to fetch it himself. His wife's sister, Sallie Kimberly, who was visiting, agreed to bring it over. The river was deep and nowhere fordable, but she sprang in and swam across, tied her large neckerchief around the deer's neck, and holding the other end of the cloth in her teeth swam back towing the animal to the near shore. The county historian says the women of the Carpenter family, who had grown up on the Ohio during the border wars, were known for strength and endurance; their father had once been left for dead by Indians while his wife outran them to a fort. The story is from the 1881 county history.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · accessgenealogy.com · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org · jhmuseum.org · web.archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Coshocton79% of residentsSand & gravel aquifer near Walhonding River/Mill Creek valley (wells)
• Warsaw20% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bomac Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Public schools (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 1 of 1 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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-07-07

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