Buck Township, Hardin County

How Buck Township, Hardin County began

Buck Township was organized around 1845 in south-central Hardin County and takes its name from Harvey Buckminster, an early pioneer settler. The first white family in the township, Alfred Hale's, arrived in 1817 at Fort McArthur, a War of 1812 supply post on the Scioto River near the site that became Kenton; part of Kenton, the county seat, sits in the township's north end. It stayed a farming township through the 1800s, served by nine one-room schoolhouses and a small cemetery founded in 1879, with milling activity centered in nearby Kenton rather than in the open country. Today it remains agricultural.

Settled 1817, incorporated 1845, by organized as a township; named for pioneer Harvey Buckminster.

Where the name comes from

The township is named for Harvey Buckminster, a pioneer settler; Ohio has no other Buck Township, though Tuscarawas County has a similarly named Bucks Township.

Before the town

No Native American site, village, or trail specific to Buck Township is recorded. Fort McArthur, the 1812 supply post where the township's first settlers arrived, stood along Gen. William Hull's military trace to Detroit. At the county level, Hardin County lay within lands used by the Wyandot (based around Upper Sandusky) and the Shawnee (based on the Mac-o-chee towns and the Scioto), connected by trails including one that followed today's County Road 265. Nothing site-specific to Buck Township itself is recorded. The 1883 county history adds a pioneer anecdote told by David Goodin: Judge William McCloud, who settled at Fort McArthur about 1828, killed a deer and was challenged for the carcass by an Indian who claimed his shot had killed it; the two settled the dispute by fighting, and McCloud, by the story, had to whip the man three times before he gave up his claim. The county history also notes that during the War of 1812 Colonel McArthur's road and Shelby's 1813 march passed through this ground.

Timeline

1. 1812-06 — Colonel Duncan McArthur's regiment is detached from Urbana to open a road in advance of General Hull as far as the Scioto River, where Fort McArthur is built in the northwest corner of what becomes Buck Township.
2. 1813-09 — Governor Shelby of Kentucky leads about 4,000 mounted volunteers up the McArthur trail from Urbana, turning off through the southeast corner of Buck Township and then through Dudley on the way north; graves of sixteen soldiers who died at the unhealthy fort are still visible on the opposite bank in 1883.
3. 1817 — Alfred Hale and his family, described as the first white family in the township, settle at Fort McArthur; his son Jonas, born 1819, is said to be the first white child born in Hardin County.
4. c. 1828 — William McCloud, an Irish immigrant, and Joel Thomas settle near Fort McArthur; Thomas builds a cabin on land later owned by Mr. Stevenson and stays eight to ten years.
5. 1833 — William McCloud Sr., a resident at Fort McArthur, is elected one of Hardin County's first associate judges and serves seven years; his son Robert is the county's first postmaster and its treasurer from 1834 to 1836.
6. 1845 — Buck Township is most likely organized as a civil township, taking its name from pioneer Harvey Buckminster.
7. 1845-04-07 — The first township election is held in the old log schoolhouse on the old Sandusky road; Harvey Buckmister, Josiah Trump and Sterling Scott are the first trustees.
8. 1852 — Wilson Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal class, is organized in the schoolhouse by Elder Roberts with six members; its frame church is built in 1873 for about $1,300.
9. 1878-11-28 — John Espy, called the pioneer miller of Hardin County, dies at his large farm in the township at age 68.
10. 1879 — Buck Township's first formal cemetery is established; it is enlarged in 1882 to five acres.
11. 1880 — Buck Township's population is 1,610, up from 456 in 1850, 794 in 1860 and 1,259 in 1870.
12. 1882 — The township operates nine schoolhouses on a 30-week term, paying male teachers about $35 a month and female teachers about $20.
13. 1883 — The Chicago & Atlantic Railroad runs through the north part of Buck Township and the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western through it northeast to southwest; the township has nine schools and no village or mill.
14. 2020 — The 2020 census counts 2,391 residents in Buck Township, which covers 30.7 square miles.

Stories

The first cabin at the old fort

When Alfred Hale brought his family into Hardin County's wilderness in 1817, he settled them at Fort McArthur, the log stockade the U.S. Army had raised on the Scioto five years earlier to guard Hull's supply trace to Detroit. The fort was already emptying out as the War of 1812 wound down, leaving its clearing and cabins to the first civilian families willing to take up land so far from any established town. Hale's son Jonas, born in 1819, is remembered in the 1883 county history as probably the first white child born in Hardin County. William McCloud, an Irish immigrant, moved his family to the fort about 1828.

Judge McCloud and the Indian's deer

William McCloud, an Irish immigrant who had settled at Bellefontaine, moved his wife and six children to Fort McArthur about 1828, in what is now the northwest corner of Buck Township. When Hardin County was organized in 1833, the Legislature made him an associate judge, a post he held seven years; he helped choose the county seat, and his wife is said to have named the town for her husband's friend, the scout Simon Kenton. The 1883 county history, on David Goodin's authority, preserves a story the judge liked to tell: after he shot a deer, an Indian claimed that his own shot had killed it and challenged McCloud to fight it out. The judge agreed, and, by his account, had to thoroughly whip the man three times before the claimant admitted he was beaten and gave up the carcass. Though a conservator of the peace, the history adds, he would watch a well-contested fight with admiration before punishing the participants for breaking the law.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · hmdb.org · hmdb.org · ohio.hometownlocator.com · archive.org · archive.org

Scioto River valley aquifer (local wells, low confidence) The water here

• Kenton City100% of residentsScioto River valley aquifer (local wells, low confidence)

Private schools (2)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (4)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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