Clark Township, Brown County

How Clark Township, Brown County began

Clark Township was created by the Commissioners of Clermont County on October 18, 1808, while the area was still part of that county, and originally held nearly one hundred square miles before Washington and Franklin (1822), Pike (1823) and Scott (1828) townships were carved from it. The first settler was John Colthar, Sr., who located in the northwestern corner with his sons in the fall of 1801 or spring of 1802. It holds the village of Hamersville, laid out in 1838 by Nathaniel Moore, Sr. and George Flick and named for Congressman Thomas L. Hamer.

Settled 1801 or 1802, incorporated 1808, by Commissioners of Clermont County.

Where the name comes from

No documented source for the township's name was found.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound or trail specific to Clark Township is recorded. The township lies within the 1795 Treaty of Greenville cession and the Virginia Military District.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

Timeline

1. 1801-1802 — John Colthar, Sr. settles in the northwestern corner of the township with his sons Mathey, Isaac, James and John, and John Frazee and family settle nearby -- the township's first white settlement.
2. 1808 — The township is created by the Commissioners of Clermont County on October 18, with boundaries running from the State road crossing of White Oak to the Adams and Highland County lines.
3. 1808 — The first regular township election is held November 8; Jonathan Liming, James Liming and Christian Smith serve as Judges and Jacob Bradberry as Clerk, with eighty votes cast.
4. 1819 — Nathaniel Gist, through his trustees, buys about 1,200 acres on the east side of White Oak Creek and settles 34 families, some 200 Black people, who are legally warned to leave the township lest they become a charge on it.
5. 1822 — Asa Dutton erects the first saw-mill within the township's present boundaries, on the west end of Survey No. 573; it operates until about 1836-38.
6. 1823-03-23 — Pike Township is formed from Clark; Washington and Franklin (1822) and Scott (1828) had already reduced the township from nearly a hundred square miles to 18,223 acres.
7. 1826-06-06 — The trustees make the first regular division of the township into school districts, nine of them, covering the territory from Clermont County to White Oak Creek.
8. 1835 — The Methodists build the township's first church, a log building on the State road on land of Lemuel Rounds; Mt. Nebo Methodist, also of logs, follows in 1838 on John Brooks's land near the Newhope and Bethel road.
9. 1838 — Nathaniel Moore, Sr. and George Flick lay out the village of Hamersville, named for Thomas L. Hamer, then the district's Member of Congress, who helped secure a post office for the site.
10. 1838 — The first steam sawmill in Hamersville is built by Eliakim and Nathaniel Moore and W. H. Kennedy; it is later twice burned and rebuilt under J. W. Prather.
11. 1840 — The township has 232 electors; 175 vote for William Shannon for governor and 57 for Thomas Corwin.
12. 1848 — The Methodists build a log church in Hamersville, used fifteen or twenty years, but the class stays weak and the lot is later sold.
13. 1860 — The strongest religious society in the township, formed at Hamersville after ten years of worship at Unity church, builds a brick church there.
14. 1866-06-14 — De Soto Lodge No. 374, I.O.O.F., is instituted in Hamersville with fifteen charter members; Clark Grange No. 382 follows on January 13, 1874.
15. 1868-1881 — The Cincinnati & Portsmouth Railroad is graded across the township in 1868, and the first train reaches Hamersville in December 1881, its terminus for some time.
16. 1876 — A class of the Christian Union Church, organized soon after the war at Brownsville, builds a frame church.
17. 1880 — The census counts 1,579 white residents; the presidential vote is 297 for Hancock and 106 for Garfield, in a township described as strongly Democratic since the days of Jefferson.
18. 2020 — The census counts 2,952 people in Clark Township.

Stories

The disappearance of Matthew Colthar

Matthew Colthar, son of the township's first settler, served on a jury at Georgetown in November 1831. Dismissed on a Saturday, he was seen leaving the courthouse at dusk as if heading home, and was never heard of again. The surrounding country was searched in every direction, but not a trace of him was ever found. He left behind a wife, Mary Church, and children Harrison, Rebecca, Jonathan, Harriet, Eliza, Sarah, John P. and Sophia.

The hidden Henry Clay tickets

At the 1824 election, held in a log schoolhouse on John Wilks's farm, one of the four Whigs in Clark Township served as an election judge and brought a roll of Henry Clay's tickets, laying them on the writing bench. The tickets rolled back into a crack between the logs, and another judge, no supporter of Clay's, pushed the ballot box against the gap, hiding them until the polls closed. Since these were the only Clay tickets available, and voters could not recall the candidate's name well enough to write it in, Henry Clay received no votes at all in the township that year.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Tate-monroe Water Association51% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (collector/vertical wells)
• Hamersville Village28% of residentsOhio River Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Bethel Village15% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (collector/vertical wells)
• Brown County Rural Water5% of residentsOhio River Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Felicity Village1% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Mount Orab Village0% of residentsSterling Run (reservoirs)

Power plants (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

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