Clinton Township, Fulton County

How Clinton Township, Fulton County began

Clinton Township lies in southern Fulton County and contains the city of Wauseon, the county seat since the early 1870s, in its eastern part, with the community of Pettisville in the west. It was organized from York Township on March 5, 1838, when it was dense forest in the Six Mile Woods; Elisha Williams, Thomas Bayes and Thomas Lingle came in 1835, and the Huntington, Lamb, Losure, Tedrow and Mikesell families in 1836. Native families still hunted, made maple sugar and raised corn here in the 1830s, and a settler who arrived in 1837 recalled that they left this part of the county in 1843. The township grew slowly until the Michigan Southern (later Lake Shore) railroad crossed it in 1853 and 1854 and Wauseon was laid out beside it. It is one of seven Clinton Townships in Ohio, and no source consulted explains its name.

Settled 1835, incorporated Organized March 5, 1838, by Elisha Williams, Thomas Bayes and Thomas Lingle (settlers of 1835).

Where the name comes from

No source consulted gives a naming account for this township. Aldrich (1888), Mikesell (1905) and Reighard (1920) record its organization on March 5, 1838, but none says whom or what the name honors. It is one of seven Clinton Townships across Ohio, a name often given for DeWitt Clinton, though no source checked confirms that for this township.

Before the town

Aldrich (1888) calls the township a hunting ground of easy access from the Maumee River towns and records, from John H. Williams, that Native families hunted here in winter, made maple sugar in spring in troughs of green elm bark, and in summer went back to the river or to the openings near Spring Hill or Winameg to raise corn, using hoes hewn from tree limbs; their shelters were pole frames covered with elm bark. William F. Williams, who came as a boy in 1835, wrote in 1908 of a small Indian town on the Zina Eager farm about a mile and a half east of Wauseon, a large town on the Sam Foncannon farm, and a chief's home on a hill in the west part of Wauseon (other settlers placed it on the northeast hill later owned by Col. D. W. H. Howard). Charles W. Cornell, who came in 1837, remembered a village on the hill south of the H. H. Williams mill and said the Indians left this part of the county in 1843. Wauseon itself was named in 1854 for a chief the settlers knew; Aldrich calls him about the last of the Potawatomi chiefs of the Maumee Valley, and Howard, who knew him, described him as a half brother of Ottokee among the Ottawa and Potawatomi. Other accounts give this chief as Odawa; the sources disagree.

Nations recorded here: Potawatomi, Ottawa (Odawa).

• Small Indian town on the Zina Eager farm (village) — about 1.5 miles east of Wauseon, per William F. Williams (1908), 1835 to 1836 (archive.org)
• Large Indian town on the Sam Foncannon farm (village) — Sam Foncannon farm, near Wauseon (exact location not given), 1835 to 1836 (archive.org)
• Village on the hill south of the H. H. Williams mill (village) — Wauseon, until 1843 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1807-11-17 — The Treaty of Detroit cedes the tract of northwest Ohio that includes the future township's land.
2. 1820-04-01 — The Ohio legislature organizes Wood County from former Indian territory, taking in the future township's land.
3. 1835 — Elisha Williams and his son John H. build a cabin in the Six Mile Woods in October and return with the family in December; Thomas Bayes and Thomas Lingle also settle that fall.
4. 1836-03 — Elisha Huntington brings his family to section 25, followed that year by Avery Lamb, Christopher H. Losure, Isaac Tedrow and the Mikesell brothers.
5. 1836-10 — A preacher named Spencer, of the Disciples, preaches at Elisha Huntington's cabin, the first traveling preacher in the township; a class soon forms at the Williams cabin.
6. 1836-10-13 — Charles G. Williams is born, the first white child born in the township.
7. 1838-03-05 — Lucas County commissioners meeting at Toledo organize Clinton Township from York; the first election is held on the first Monday of April 1838.
8. 1839-03-04 — German Township is organized from Clinton's western territory.
9. 1843 — The Native families living near the future site of Wauseon leave this part of the county, as recalled by Charles W. Cornell.
10. 1843-06-03 — Dover Township is organized, taking town eight north, range six east, and the north tier of sections of town seven from Clinton.
11. 1850 — With the creation of Fulton County, a two-mile strip of Henry County's former Freedom Township, sections 1 to 12 of town six north, range six east, is added to Clinton.
12. 1853 — The Michigan Southern Air Line Railway reaches the site of Wauseon (Wikipedia's date; Aldrich's 1888 history has the first train passing through in July 1854), in the township's eastern portion, spurring the growth that would later bring the county seat there.
13. 1854-03-13 — Wauseon is laid out by Epaphras L. Barber, Nathaniel Leggett, J. H. Sargent and William H. Hall; the first building goes up on April 4.
14. 1854-07-20 — The first train passes through Wauseon on the Air Line road, when the village has fifteen residents.
15. 1857-06-13 — Wauseon is incorporated as a village.
16. 1866 — Amasa B. Verity opens the township's first brick kiln, making the brick for Col. D. W. H. Howard's house in Wauseon.
17. 1872 — The Fulton County Courthouse opens in Wauseon, within the township, completing the county seat's move from Ottokee.
18. 1872 — The Hartman Church of the Evangelical Association is founded two miles west of Wauseon.
19. 2020 — The township's census population is recorded at 9,630, a count that includes the part of Wauseon within its borders.

Stories

How the Six Mile Woods were shared

John H. Williams, who came with his father Elisha in December 1835, told Aldrich that Indians were very numerous in the township then. They hunted through the winter and made maple sugar in the spring, shaving the ends of sheets of green elm bark about eighteen inches long and folding them into troughs that held half a pail of sap. In summer they returned to the Maumee or went to the openings near Spring Hill or Winameg to raise corn and vegetables, hoeing with blades hewn from a tree limb and the wood around it. Their wigwams were poles covered with elm bark. Williams said settlers' cabins were often crowded at night with land hunters sleeping on the floor, and sometimes Indians stayed overnight as well, and that no one then feared the Indians more than they feared white men.

Wages and prices in 1836

John H. Williams cleared two and a half acres in the spring after his family arrived in December 1835, sowed spring wheat, and harvested twenty-five bushels. There were no roads; settlers cut away brush to move between neighbors with ox teams, and trips to mill at Canandaigua, Adrian or Palmyra in Michigan, or at Maumee, Waterville or Texas on the Maumee, took three or four days. Williams chopped heavy timber at four dollars an acre and cordwood at twenty-five cents a cord, earning seventy-five to eighty-seven cents a day, and by the end of his first year had nearly paid for eighty acres bought for $215, the farm he still lived on in 1888. Wheat then sold for thirty cents a bushel and corn for nine cents, and a night's supper, lodging and breakfast at a tavern cost twenty-five to thirty-five cents.

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 · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Wauseon City86% of residentsMaumee River (via Napoleon pipeline) + Big Ditch/Stucky Ditch, in reservoirs
• Swanton Meadows10% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Northeast Water System4% of residentsLake Erie

High-hazard dams (1)

Public schools (2)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2016: 10 of 11 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 3 of 4.

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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-01-15

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