Brown Township, Darke County

How Brown Township, Darke County began

Brown Township, in northern Darke County, was constituted in December 1833 out of Richland Township, not Washington Township as sometimes stated; parts of Townships 14 and 15 were added and then split off again in 1839 to form Allen Township. John Woodington, on St. Clair's tract, is named the township's pioneer settler, followed by A. Teegarden in 1820 and Daniel Dewall the same fall. Its village, laid out as Dallas in 1845 and incorporated in 1867, grew into a busy rail and manufacturing town of hub, spoke and stave works before taking the name Ansonia from its post office and railroad station in the 1870s.

Settled 1820 or before (John Woodington, exact year not given; A. Teegarden by summer 1820), incorporated 1833-12, by split from Richland Township.

Where the name comes from

Name origin not confirmed in the sources checked; one of eight Brown Townships in Ohio.

Before the town

No Native American village or site specific to Brown Township is documented in the sources checked. The 1880 county history records that in the 'squirrel year' of 1822, local Native people attributed a mass squirrel migration through the area to a failure of the forest mast (nut crop) that year; this is the only Native-linked observation tied to the township in the sources checked. The township lies in northern Darke County, part of the broader homeland ceded under the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

Timeline

1. 1820 — A. Teegarden enters the southwest quarter of Section 18 in the summer; Daniel Dewall settles the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 20 that fall, among the township's earliest documented arrivals after pioneer John Woodington.
2. 1822 — The 'squirrel year': enormous numbers of squirrels, driven by a mast failure, overrun the township's clearings and migrate southeast toward Virginia, many dying of starvation along the way.
3. 1827 — The township's first school opens, taught by John Huffman in a pole cabin built to serve settlers for miles around.
4. 1833-12 — Brown Township is constituted out of Richland Township; parts of Townships 14 and 15 to the north are later added and then detached again in 1839 to form Allen Township.
5. 1845 — The village of Dallas (later Ansonia) is laid out within the township, one mile west of its eastern boundary.
6. 1867 — Dallas is incorporated as a village.
7. 1872 — A post office named Ansonia, rather than Dallas, is established in the village; the name is later adopted by the railroad station, the Methodist Episcopal charge (1875), and eventually the village itself.

Stories

A township pieced together twice over

Brown Township's boundaries did not come from Washington Township, as later summaries sometimes state, but from Richland Township, in December 1833. It did not even keep the shape it started with: portions of Townships 14 and 15 to the north were added on afterward, only to be detached again in 1839 to help form the new Allen Township. What remained was flat, poorly drained ground that early land law made accessible in stages -- first quarter-section tracts requiring a third down, then a forfeiture option allowing settlers to relinquish half an overextended claim, and finally, to the recorded 'great rejoicing' of poorer settlers, a law permitting entry in forty-acre parcels that brought a rush of new arrivals into this part of the county.

The squirrel year

Old settler David Kittle's account, recorded in the 1880 county history, described 1822 in Brown Township as the famous 'squirrel year': squirrels appeared in such numbers that clearings were reported to be covered with them, as thickly as a flock of blackbirds settling on a field. Local Native people attributed the event to that year's failure of the forest mast -- the nut crop the animals depended on -- and, driven by hunger, the squirrels reportedly lost their fear of people entirely, swarming anyone carrying an ear of corn and gnawing at clothing to reach it. Millions were said to have migrated southeast in search of food, crossing the Ohio River into Virginia, with many so weakened by starvation that they fell out of the migration and died along the way.

Dallas becomes Ansonia

The village in Brown Township was platted as Dallas in 1845 and incorporated under that name in 1867. But when a post office was established there in 1872, it was registered under a different name, Ansonia -- and that postal name, shared by the railroad station, gradually displaced the original one. The township's Methodist Episcopal charge, which had been called Wabash, then Versailles, then briefly Dallas after 1872, was renamed Ansonia in 1875 to match 'the name of the railroad and the post office,' as the church's own historian put it. The village itself eventually followed suit, and the place platted as Dallas is known today as Ansonia, Ohio -- a name change driven by postal and rail administration rather than any vote of its residents.

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

Every historic place in Darke County on the full map

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Ansonia Village97% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Northtowne Communities Llc3% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (5)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-08-08

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