Butler Township, Knox County

How Butler Township, Knox County began

Butler Township, in eastern Knox County along Owl Creek, was organized March 9, 1825, one of six Butler Townships in Ohio. John Shrimplin, who bought 3,000 acres along Owl Creek about 1805 and built the township's first grist-mill, is recorded as its first settler; Nicholas Riley followed in 1806, and Benjamin Butler, one of the three founders of Mount Vernon, settled here in 1809. Native people, including the Native chief Tom Jelloway, still camped and hunted in the township when settlers arrived, and Johnny Appleseed, who kept a nursery nearby on Mohican Creek, was a frequent guest at pioneer cabins. The township has no incorporated village of its own; the college town of Gambier, home to Kenyon College since the 1820s, sits just outside its border in neighboring College Township, though ZIP 43022 (Gambier's mail ZIP) reaches into Butler Township's eastern edge. Long isolated from the railroad, it kept log-cabin, old-fashioned pioneer ways later than most Knox County townships. Its population has grown substantially in recent decades, from 504 residents in 1990 to 1,294 by the 2020 census, likely reflecting spillover growth from the Gambier/Mount Vernon area.

Settled c. 1805 (John Shrimplin, first settler on Owl Creek), incorporated 1825-03-09 (township organized).

Where the name comes from

No source consulted, including the 1881 county history, gives the specific origin of the township's 'Butler' name. Early settler Benjamin Butler, one of the three founders of Mount Vernon, farmed and milled in the township from 1809 for nearly fifty years and is the most prominent bearer of the name in its early history, but no source explicitly ties the township's naming to him.

Before the town

The 1881 county history records a small Native village on the south side of Owl Creek, on land later owned by William Darling, and notes that arrowheads, stone knives, axes, and silver brooches were still turned up by plows in the late 1800s; skeletons buried in a seated position, in what the writer took for Native custom, were found washed out of a hillside on the G. W. Riley farm. In the township's northwest stood a curved stone wall about 175 yards long and four to five feet high, running to Owl Creek, which local tradition held was a fortification, with a nearby cave and cascade thought to have served as a retreat during conflict. The chief Tom Jelloway, remembered locally as a self-described 'bird charmer,' lived in the township in its early years; asked to demonstrate his claimed power, he climbed a wild cherry tree on the Beatty farm and called until birds of many kinds covered its branches and perched on him. Native people reportedly traded good dogs for horses and took part in wrestling matches with settlers, including pioneer Nicholas Riley. No source ties any of these sites to a specific nation by name beyond the general Wyandot, Shawnee, and Delaware (Lenape) presence recorded for Knox County.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Adena culture.

• Native village on Owl Creek (village) — south side of Owl Creek, on land later owned by William Darling, Butler Township, pre-1805 (archive.org)
• Stone wall fortification (earthwork) — northwestern Butler Township, a curved stone wall about 175 yards long reaching to Owl Creek, with a nearby cave and cascade, precontact (archive.org)
• Riley farm burials (burial) — hillside on the G. W. Riley farm, Butler Township, unknown (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1805 — John Shrimplin, born in Maryland about 1778, buys 3,000 acres along both sides of Owl Creek and becomes the township's first settler, later building the first grist-mill in the township.
2. 1806 — Nicholas Riley settles on Owl Creek, the second settler in the township, after buying 700 acres from John Shrimplin.
3. 1808 — William Carpenter settles in the township's north; the Carpenters had fought Indians during and after the Revolutionary War.
4. 1809 — Benjamin Butler, one of the three founders of Mount Vernon, settles in Butler Township, where he farms and mills for nearly fifty years.
5. 1815 — Jacob Horn settles near the Coshocton County line; his family of twelve children becomes the most numerous in the township.
6. 1817 — The township's first post office, 'Owl Creek,' opens with Abraham Darling as postmaster.
7. 1818 — John Shrimplin, the township's first settler and builder of its first grist-mill, dies by shooting himself with a rifle; the cause was never determined.
8. 1841 — The Butler Baptist church, the township's first church organization, is organized April 26 by Elder L. Gilbert.
9. 1874 — The Messiah Evangelical (Lutheran) church, a 28-by-44-foot frame building, is erected.
10. 1875 — Riley Chapel (Baptist) is built near the Coshocton County line.
11. 1990 — Butler Township's population is recorded as 504 at the census.
12. 2020 — Census records 1,294 residents in Butler Township, more than double the 1990 figure.

Stories

Johnny Appleseed's welcome

John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed, kept one of his largest nurseries on Nursery Island in the Mohican, a short distance from Butler Township's boundary with Coshocton County, and was a frequent visitor to the township's pioneer cabins. He often stayed several days and nights at a stretch with the Rileys, Shrimplins, Staats, Carpenters, and Benjamin Butler, who never charged him for board, treating him as a welcome guest rather than a stranger passing through. Apple trees grown from stock he supplied could still be seen decades later in Joseph Staats's orchard and others around the township, a living trace of his visits.

Tom Jelloway, the bird charmer

Among the Native people who lived in Butler Township in its early years was a chief remembered as Tom Jelloway, who claimed a gift for charming birds. William D. Beatty's father, curious whether the claim was genuine, once asked him to prove it, and Jelloway climbed a wild cherry tree on the Beatty place and began uttering a peculiar call. Within minutes hundreds of birds of every kind had gathered in the treetops, some perched on the branches and others settling directly on Jelloway's head and shoulders. The demonstration left Beatty convinced the claim had not been an idle boast.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Knox County Water and Wastewater86% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Gambier Village14% of residentsBuried Valley Aquifer (Kokosing River valley wells)
• Martinsburg Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Public EV charging (1)

Shale and injection wells (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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-08-20
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-10

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