Dublin Township, Mercer County

How Dublin Township, Mercer County began

Dublin Township, organized in 1824 -- the same year Mercer County itself was formally organized -- is the only Dublin Township in Ohio, and its central village, Rockford, is by local reckoning the oldest settlement in the county. Rockford began as Shanesville, platted in 1820 by Anthony Shane, a French-Ottawa interpreter and scout who had worked for the U.S. government since the 1795 Treaty of Greenville; the township's history is closely bound to his.

Settled 1815 (Rockford area), platted 1820 (Rockford, as Shanesville), incorporated 1824 (township organized), by Ohio township organization; Anthony Shane (Rockford).

Where the name comes from

The only Dublin Township in Ohio; no source for the origin of the name itself was found.

Before the town

The 1907 county history says that during the War of 1812, before the area was open to white settlement, there was an Indian village on the St. Marys River in this township called Old-town, near the present Rockford, with lodges of Anthony Shane, Louis Godfrey, the Crescent, Labadie and Rushville; they were friendly and helped the government. Land grants near Rockford were made to several of them: a section on the river at Shane's Crossing to Shane, six sections above that to Louis Godfrey, a section to Chief Charlie, another to Peter Labadie, and a section to Alexander T. and Richard Godfrey, adopted children of the Potawatomi, taken from the land ceded by the Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa. Old-town lay about a mile and a half up the river from Shane's Crossing. When the first settlers came in 1819, right after the cession at the Treaty of St. Marys, they found Shane on his reservation in a double log house. Shane remained until 1832, when as a government agent he accompanied the Shawnee in their removal to Kansas, and Lovinski Circassian Ninham, an Indian educated by Abraham Shingledecker Sr. for the ministry, taught a school northeast of Shane's Crossing.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Potawatomi (Pottawatomie), Ottawa, Chippewa (Ojibwe).

• Old-town Indian village (village) — On the north bank of the St. Marys River, about a mile and a half above Shane's Crossing (Rockford), about 1812 to the 1820s (archive.org)
• Shane's Crossing and Anthony Shane's reservation (other) — St. Marys River at Rockford, 1818 to 1832 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1814 — Anthony Shane is granted 320 acres along the St. Marys River for his wartime service as a U.S. government scout and interpreter.
2. 1815 — French-Indian trader Anthony Madore is credited with the earliest settlement at the site that becomes Rockford.
3. 1819 — The first white settlement is made immediately after the cession of lands under the Treaty of St. Marys; William B. and John P. Hedges, the Roebucks and others arrive in 1819-20, finding the French trader Anthony Madore trading with the Indians.
4. 1820-06-23 — Shane files his plat for the town of Shanesville, 42 lots on the south side of the river.
5. 1824 — Dublin Township is organized.
6. 1832 — Anthony Shane leaves Shanesville to accompany the Shawnee as government agent on their removal from Ohio to Kansas (Wikipedia gives 1828).
7. 1866 — Shane's Crossing (Shanesville) is incorporated on June 12; P. F. Robinson is elected first mayor.
8. 1874 — The Rockford Village School District holds its first election on April 6; an eight-room brick school is built in 1888.
9. 1880 — The census counts 2,027 people in the township; the Rockford Milling Company mill is built.
10. 1890 — The town, by then called Shane's Crossing, is renamed Rockford by decree of court on November 10.
11. 1890 — The township has 2,625 people.
12. 1900 — The township has 2,751 people, of whom 1,207 live in Rockford.
13. 2020 — The census counts 2,132 people in the township.

Stories

The trader who founded the county's oldest town

Anthony Shane -- born Antoine Chene to a French-Canadian father and an Ottawa mother -- grew up among the Shawnee along the St. Marys River, fought alongside Native and British forces against American expeditions through the 1790s, and then, after Wayne's 1795 victory at Fallen Timbers, switched sides entirely to become a U.S. government interpreter fluent in at least five Native languages. His wife, Lamateshe, was a Delaware woman and kinswoman of Tecumseh; Shane himself was present when Tecumseh's body was identified after the Battle of the Thames in 1813. In 1814 the government rewarded his service with 320 acres along the river, and in 1820 he platted a town there -- Shanesville, renamed Shane's Crossing and finally, in 1890, Rockford. He left for Kansas in 1828 by Rockford's account (the 1907 county history says 1832), part of the same removal era that pushed out the Native communities he had spent his life among, and died there in 1834.

Old-town and Shane's Crossing

Before the first white settlers came to the St. Marys River in 1819, an Indian village stood on its north bank, a mile and a half above the place that became Rockford. The 1907 county history calls it Old-town and says it had lodges of Anthony Shane, Louis Godfrey, the Crescent, Labadie and Rushville, who were friendly and useful to the government in the War of 1812. After the 1818 Treaty of St. Marys, grants of land were made to several of them: a section on the river at Shane's Crossing to Shane, six sections to Godfrey, and others to Chief Charlie and Peter Labadie. The first settlers found Shane in a double log house on the north side of the river and the French trader Anthony Madore with a post. Shane laid out Shanesville in June 1820 and stayed until 1832 (Wikipedia gives 1828), when he went west as a government agent with the Shawnee. The town took the post office name Shane's Crossing when it was incorporated in 1866, and a court changed it to Rockford on November 10, 1890.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Rockford Village83% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mendon Village17% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2024: 1 of 1 passed.

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 2026-09-10
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-07-30

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