Cherry Valley Township, Ashtabula County

How Cherry Valley Township, Ashtabula County began

Henry Patch and Zebulon Congdon built Cherry Valley Township's first log house in 1817 but soon abandoned it; Nathaniel Hubbard, from New York, took over the structure as a permanent home in 1818, making him the township's lasting first settler. Ashtabula County commissioners created the township from part of Andover Township on June 8, 1827, with its first election held that July 4 at Josiah Creery's home; sources differ on whether the name Cherry Valley came from Creery's own suggestion or simply from cherry trees along a local stream. Population peaked around 800 residents before declining to 256 by 1920, a decline the local history attributes partly to the township's lack of railroad access.

Settled 1817 (Henry Patch and Zebulon Congdon build the first house, abandoned); 1818 (Nathaniel Hubbard, first permanent settler), incorporated June 8, 1827 (organized, created from Andover Township), by Nathaniel Hubbard, first permanent settler.

Where the name comes from

Sources disagree on the origin of the name: the 1924 county history credits Josiah Creery, an 1834 arrival, with suggesting the name "Cherry Valley," while another account attributes it simply to abundant cherry trees growing along a local stream.

Before the town

No Native American village, trail, or site specific to Cherry Valley Township is recorded.

Timeline

1. 1812 — The Hayes road, named for Richard Hayes of Wayne who helped build it, is established as the first regularly laid-out highway through Cherry Valley; a general road-building program begins in 1828.
2. 1817 — Henry Patch and Zebulon Congdon build the township's first log house but abandon it before long.
3. 1818 — Nathaniel Hubbard, from New York, takes over Patch and Congdon's abandoned house as a permanent residence, becoming the township's lasting first settler.
4. 1819 — John Fenn and Nathaniel Johnson settle in the township.
5. 1820 — Mrs. John Fenn begins making cheese with a crude wooden press, starting the township's dairy industry.
6. 1823 — Josiah Creery, credited by the county history with suggesting the name Cherry Valley, joins the colony; Wooster and William Benjamin buy fifty acres each in 1828 and build their sawmill on Patch Creek in 1830.
7. c. 1825 — Methodist religious services begin under Elder Davis.
8. 1827 — Jesse Steele settles in the township, one of several settlers purchasing substantial land tracts that year.
9. June 8, 1827 — Ashtabula County commissioners create Cherry Valley Township out of part of Andover Township; the first township election is held July 4 at Josiah Creery's home.
10. 1828-29 — Hannah Clark becomes the township's first school teacher.
11. 1829 — W. A. Clark opens the township's first store and becomes its first postmaster.
12. 1830 — The Benjamin brothers build a sawmill on Patch Creek.
13. 1840 — Elder C. R. Richmond organizes a Baptist church; a Methodist church organizes around the same time under Rev. Sturgis.
14. 1870 — Charles Petrie builds a cheese factory able to turn out 25 cheeses a day, the first commercial successor to Mrs. Fenn's press of 1820.
15. 1920 — The township's population has fallen to 256, down from a peak of about 800, a decline the local history attributes partly to the absence of railroad access.

Stories

A barrel of salt

Everything that could not be grown on a Cherry Valley farm was a luxury in the 1820s, because of the cost and difficulty of hauling it from the eastern supply. Salt came by boat from eastern harbors to the mouths of the large streams on Lake Erie's south shore, where settlers from many inland settlements gathered to trade their produce for it, making the meeting a social occasion. Jesse Steele, who had crossed from Andover in 1827, hauled three bushels of wheat, six bushels of rye and a bushel of corn to one such meeting point and exchanged them for one barrel of salt. The trip to the shore and back took five days, though the distance one way was only about twenty-five miles. The 1924 county history contrasts it with its own day, when a farmer could load a truck, drive paved roads to the lake and be home in three hours.

Mrs. Fenn's cheese press

Cheese making, which became one of Cherry Valley's chief industries, was begun in 1820 by Mrs. John Fenn, a year after her family and Nathaniel Johnson's settled near Nathaniel Hubbard's home. Her supply was a single cow, and her press was a long piece of wood. She set the cheese to be pressed on a block close to the house, laid the board across it with one end beneath the house, and put a heavy weight on the other, so that leverage did the pressing. It was crude but served every need of her small dairy. In 1870 Charles Petrie built a factory able to make 25 cheeses a day, and the township's dairy trade followed from that start.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Andover-camplands Water61% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Village of Jefferson20% of residentsLake Erie
• Andover Village19% of residentsGroundwater wells (5 wells)
• Dfc Mobile Home Park0% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Private schools (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-05-07

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