Bridgewater Township, Williams County

How Bridgewater Township, Williams County began

Bridgewater Township lies along the Michigan line in northern Williams County, inside the strip Ohio and Michigan disputed in the 1835-36 Toledo War. Speculators had entered most of its land before anyone settled. The first permanent settlers were the Smith family from Lenawee County, Michigan, who entered land in January 1836. Daniel Smith's grandson was the poet Will Carleton. The county commissioners organized the township in March 1839 on the petition of W. H. B. Smith and others. In the early years, small Native bands, including Potawatomi led by a chief the histories call Metea, still traded at N. S. Dewey's store. A mill dam on the Little St. Joseph River in 1844 began the crossroads that was platted in 1871 as Bridgewater Center, still the township's only community. It is the only Bridgewater Township in Ohio.

Settled 1836 (Asa, Anson and Daniel Smith entered land January 26 and began clearing in May; families moved in 1837), incorporated Organized by the county commissioners in March 1839; first election April 1, 1839, at Daniel Smith's house, by Daniel, Anson and Asa Smith (first permanent settlers).

Where the name comes from

No source checked explains the township name; the only Bridgewater Township in Ohio. The name of Bridgewater Center, platted in 1871, was chosen because the village stood almost exactly at the geographical center of the township. The township's first post office, established in 1846, was also named Bridgewater.

Before the town

The 1882 county history records two large mounds in the southern part of the township, on fractional Section 12. Clark Backus and one of the Sumners found them while hunting in the early days. Each was six or seven feet high and fifty or sixty feet across. The men opened one and found two skeletons, but Sumner had scruples and insisted they be put back. The 1905 history places the mounds on or near John Lantz's land on the bank of the St. Joseph River and says plowing had leveled them. Neither history names the culture that built them. In the historic period, Potawatomi people were still in the township when settlers arrived. The 1882 history says small bands wandered all over the country, trading furs and skins at N. S. Dewey's store for powder, lead, whiskey, tobacco, calico and trinkets. It also tells of Metea, whom it calls a Potawatomi chief, dining at Joseph Back's cabin. The 1920 history names two Potawatomi leaders, Beaubice and Mitea, as having roamed Bridgewater's forests. The 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids had carried Indian title to this land to the United States.

Nations recorded here: Potawatomi.

• Two mounds on fractional Section 12 (mound) — Southern Bridgewater Township, near the St. Joseph River (on or near the John Lantz land, per the 1905 history); since plowed level, prehistoric (culture not identified in the sources) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1817 — The Treaty of the Maumee Rapids carries Indian title to this part of northwestern Ohio, including the future Bridgewater Township, to the United States.
2. 1835 — A Detroit man named Tucker, who owns land on Section 25, tries to establish a mill site at a bend of the Little St. Joseph River, but gives up. The 'Tucker Clearing' keeps his name. Daniel M. Jordan builds a log shanty on Section 24 the same year.
3. 1835-1836 — The Toledo War decides, in Ohio's favor, which state the northern tier of Williams County townships, including Bridgewater, belongs to.
4. 1836 — On January 26, Asa Smith comes from Michigan and enters tracts for himself, his father Daniel and his brother Anson. They clear land that May and move their families in during 1837.
5. 1838 — George H. Smith, son of Asa, is born on March 5, the first birth in the township. Curtis Cogswell, Chandler Holt and the Back family arrive that year.
6. 1839 — In March, on the application of W. H. B. Smith and others, the county commissioners order Bridgewater Township created. It also includes present Northwest Township.
7. 1839 — At the first election, on April 1 at Daniel Smith's house, Hiram Covell, Asa Church and Chandler Holt are chosen trustees and Anson Smith clerk.
8. 1839 — Curtis Cogswell plants the first orchard. In October, E. G. Back and Lucy Sumner marry, the township's first wedding.
9. 1840 — The township has not one horse and only fifty-one cattle. On July 4, Erastus Back's barn goes up as the first frame building, with a picnic dinner for the crowd.
10. 1841 — Northwest Township gets its own organization and leaves Bridgewater.
11. 1844 — Riley W. Parker, Benjamin B. Van Court and Richard Wittington dam the Little St. Joseph at the later Bridgewater Center and build a sawmill, soon adding a small gristmill.
12. 1846 — On April 14, a post office named Bridgewater is established at Chandler Holt's house.
13. c. 1848 — Curtis Cogswell opens one of the first public houses under a sign reading 'Travelers' Home.'
14. 1871 — On March 6, Joseph Diebely has twelve lots surveyed on Section 27 and names the village Bridgewater Centre.
15. 1871 — On January 1, the Church of God dedicates the first church in the community, built at a cost of $3,000.
16. 1880 — On August 25, the Ainger post office is established with John W. Wisman as postmaster, at his store in the western part of the township.
17. 1894 — Bridgewater Township, with landowners' names, appears on sheet 18 of the Atlas of Williams County.

Stories

Metea at the Back cabin

The 1882 county history records that small Native bands still moved through Bridgewater when the first settlers arrived. N. S. Dewey kept powder, lead, whiskey, tobacco, calico and trinkets at his store and traded them for furs and skins. Once, when two men in the store drew knives on each other, Dewey pushed one of them out the door and closed it, and the quarrel was settled by talking. Joseph Back told of a visit from Metea, whom the history calls a Potawatomi chief. Invited to dinner, Metea passed around a bottle of whiskey until it was empty. He then took out a deer bladder full of more whiskey, filled his mouth from it and squirted it into the bottle until the bottle was full again. When he offered it around a second time, the family declined.

The mounds Sumner would not disturb

In the early days, Clark Backus and one of the Sumners were hunting in the southern part of the township when they came on two large mounds on fractional Section 12. Each was six or seven feet high and fifty or sixty feet across. They came back and opened one, and found two skeletons, one very large and one of ordinary size. Sumner was troubled at disturbing the dead, refused to open the other mound and insisted the bones be put back, and they were. By 1905, sixty years of plowing had so leveled the mounds that a passerby would hardly notice them.

The doctor who hunted first

Dr. William D. Stout, who came about 1846, was Bridgewater's first resident physician and was known mainly as a deer hunter. The 1882 county history says that when a settler sent for him in the morning, he would take his rifle, hunt all day and reach the patient about nightfall. It also repeats the local joke that if he fell down while hunting, he would stay down until he had shot four or five deer. The history adds that the best way to hunt deer was to sit and wait, and that the doctor was very patient while his patients suffered.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Montpelier Village65% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Pioneer Village26% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Seneca8% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Williams Co/hillside Country Living2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

High-hazard dams (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-07-06: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 2 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-08
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-07-16

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