Darby Township, Madison County

How Darby Township, Madison County began

Darby Township, in the northeastern corner of Madison County along the Big Darby Creek, was the home ground of Jonathan Alder, taken captive by Shawnee raiders in Virginia in 1782 at age eight, raised by a Mingo family, who after the Treaty of Greenville settled in Pleasant Valley near present Plain City and in 1806 built a second cabin on Big Darby Creek. Part of the village of Plain City, most of which lies across the line in Union County, extends into the township's northeast corner, along with the crossroads of Kileville. Plain City's downtown Farmers National Bank, organized in 1900 and housed since 1902 in a fortified brick building that was never successfully robbed, anchors the township's National Register listing.

Settled c. 1806 (Jonathan Alder's cabin on Big Darby Creek), by Jonathan Alder.

Where the name comes from

The township is named for the Big Darby Creek, which runs north to south through it. Local legend holds the creek was named for a Wyandot chief called Darby who lived near its mouth, but a Columbus Metropolitan Library researcher found little evidence for that story; a more documented account traces the name to surveyor John Mansfield, who in 1806 recorded the stream as 'Derby Creek,' an English place-name meaning 'deer village,' with the spelling shifting to 'Darby' by about 1820.

Before the town

Jonathan Alder's life is the best-documented Native history tied to this specific place. Captured by Shawnee raiders near his Virginia home in May 1782 at age eight (his brother David was killed in the raid), he was adopted by a Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga) chief, Succohanos, and his wife Whinecheoh to replace their own dead son, and grew up hunting and eventually fighting alongside Mingo and Shawnee people through the Northwest Indian War. He stayed with them until 1795, refusing a ransom offer in 1783 and marrying a Native woman named Barshaw. After the Treaty of Greenville (1795) ended the war and pushed the treaty line, Alder settled in Pleasant Valley near present Plain City, about five miles north, and in 1806 built a second cabin on Big Darby Creek. His 1806 cabin survives at the Madison County Historical Society Museum. The Big Darby Creek's own name is popularly but doubtfully tied to a Wyandot chief named Darby.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga), Wyandot.

• Jonathan Alder cabin site (other) — Big Darby Creek (township not confirmed), c. 1806 (en.wikipedia.org)

Timeline

1. 1782-05 — Eight-year-old Jonathan Alder was captured by a Shawnee raiding party near his family's Virginia home; his brother David was killed in the same raid.
2. 1795 — The Treaty of Greenville ended the Northwest Indian War and opened the region to settlement; Alder, until then living among the Mingo and Shawnee, settled in Pleasant Valley near what became Plain City.
3. 1806 — Alder built a second cabin on Big Darby Creek; the same year he married Mary Ann Blont and began a second, white family of twelve children.
4. 1806 — Surveyor John Mansfield recorded the stream through the township as 'Derby Creek'; the spelling shifted to 'Darby' by about 1820.
5. 1900-08-06 — The Farmers National Bank of Plain City was organized with $25,000 in capital stock, its first president William Atkinson.
6. 1902 — The bank built a fortified brick building at Post Road and Chillicothe Street, with a steel cage and inch-thick bulletproof glass separating the lobby from the tellers.
7. 1934 — A robbery attempt at the Farmers National Bank failed; the bank was never successfully robbed in its history, and it obtained FDIC insurance the same year.
8. 1995-03-09 — The Farmers National Bank building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
9. 2020 — Census recorded 4,261 residents in the township.

Stories

A captive who settled on Big Darby Creek

Jonathan Alder was eight years old in May 1782 when a Shawnee raiding party attacked his family's Virginia farm, killed his older brother David, and carried him off. A Mingo chief named Succohanos and his wife Whinecheoh, grieving their own dead son, adopted the boy in his place, and Alder grew up entirely within their world: hunting, learning the language, marrying a Native woman named Barshaw, and eventually fighting alongside Shawnee and Mingo warriors in the Northwest Indian War. He turned down a chance to be ransomed back to white society in 1783. Only after the 1795 Treaty of Greenville ended the fighting did Alder move toward the American side, settling first in Pleasant Valley near Plain City and then, in 1806, building a second cabin on Big Darby Creek. That same year he married a woman from Virginia, Mary Ann Blont, and started a second family of twelve children, later serving as a militia captain in the War of 1812. His cabin still stands, preserved at the Madison County Historical Society Museum, and Plain City's schools carry his name.

A bank built to be robbery-proof

When the Farmers National Bank of Plain City put up its new building in 1902 at the corner of Post Road and Chillicothe Street, the $15,289.27 cost bought more than a handsome Early Commercial storefront: it bought a steel cage and an inch of bulletproof glass separating the lobby from the tellers, security the owners clearly took seriously. It worked. In 1934, the only recorded attempt to rob the bank failed, and the institution went on to earn a local reputation for never having been successfully robbed. The building outlived several name changes, closing as a branch in September 2020 and standing unused as of early 2021, its National Register listing since 1995 the only thing keeping its history visible.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · wosu.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Mill Creek water pumped into and stored in the Marysville Upground Reservoir on Raymond Road, plus groundwater from city-owned wells, treated at the plant on the reservoir site The water here

• Marysville City50% of residentsMill Creek via Marysville Reservoir (Raymond Rd) + wells
• Mid-ohio WSD - Jackson Street WTP36% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Columbus Public Water System8% of residentsScioto River (Griggs & O'Shaughnessy), Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Ck, plus wells
• Canaan Community MHP2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Del-co Water Company, Inc.2% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells
• Suburbans Community MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Private schools (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 2 of 2 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 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.
• Financial Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-23

Cite this page