Edinburg Township, Portage County

How Edinburg Township, Portage County began

Edinburg Township, the only Edinburg Township in Ohio, was drawn by Gen. William Hart of Saybrook, Connecticut and was first informally called 'Hart and Mother.' Eber Abbott, arriving in spring 1811, was its first settler, followed soon after by his brother-in-law Lemuel Chapman Jr.; both had reached the township from Chapman's father's land just across the line in Rootstown. The name shifted to Eddysburg, and then Edinburg, because Levius Eddy had bought the first land here (though he never took possession) and Alanson and Justin Eddy, who arrived by sleigh from Massachusetts in February 1815, became prominent early settlers. The township organized in 1819 and was the site of the county's largest recorded hunt, the 1819 Army Hunt shared with three neighboring townships. A post office operated from 1822 to 1903, and the Frederick Wadsworth House, apparently tied to an 1819 land donation for the township's first burying ground, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the roughly 24-square-mile township has 2,351 residents (2020).

Settled Spring 1811 (Eber Abbott, first settler), incorporated Organized April 5, 1819, by Eber Abbott (first settler); Gen. William Hart (Connecticut proprietor, never resided); Alanson and Justin Eddy (prominent early settlers for whom the township was renamed).

Where the name comes from

The 1885 county history gives a different and more detailed account than Wikipedia's short entry: the township was first called informally 'Hart and Mother,' possibly honoring the mother of proprietor Gen. William Hart, then became Eddysburg because Levius Eddy had purchased the first land in the township (though he never took possession, having failed to complete his purchase contract), combined with the fact that two later Eddys, Alanson and Justin, were prominent early settlers; from Eddysburg the transition to Edinburg was, in the history's words, 'not great.'

Before the town

Edinburg Township is one of the townships the 1957 county history 'Portage Heritage' lists as holding recorded prehistoric mounds and burials, though without giving exact locations. No named historic-era Native American village or camp specific to Edinburg Township is documented in the sources consulted. For the county's broader Native history.

Timeline

1. spring 1811 — Eber Abbott of Tolland County, Connecticut becomes the township's first settler, on Lot 2, Subdivision 5 in the southwest corner of the northwest quarter; a falling tree soon cripples one of his feet for life.
2. 1811 — Lemuel Chapman Jr., Abbott's brother-in-law, settles nearby, reaching the township from his father's land just across the line in Rootstown.
3. February 1815 — Alanson and Justin Eddy travel from Williamstown, Massachusetts by sleigh with their families and settle on farms later occupied by C. H. Rowell and Theodore Clark.
4. 1816 — Forty-two people arrive from Connecticut in seven wagons, including the Botsford, Canfield, Trowbridge, Bostwick, Ruggles and McArthur families, sharply accelerating settlement and land prices.
5. April 5, 1819 — The township formally organizes with twenty votes cast; Richard M. Hart, a nephew of proprietor Gen. William Hart who had been given the entire northeast quarter of the township, is elected the first Treasurer.
6. December 24, 1819 — Edinburg joins Rootstown, Atwater and Palmyra in the 'Army Hunt,' the biggest organized hunt ever held in Portage County, taking 103 deer, 21 bears, 18 wolves and about 500 turkeys across a square-mile drive.
7. 1822 — A post office opens in the township.
8. 1975 — The Frederick Wadsworth House, at 4889 State Route 14 northwest of Edinburg, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, May 29 (#75001520); a Frederick Wadsworth donated an acre of ground for the township's first burying ground in 1819.
9. 1903 — The township post office closes.

Stories

A den of rattlesnakes and a night in the trees

The ledge of rocks where Justin Eddy settled held what the 1885 county history calls an immense den of yellow rattlesnakes, and boys of the township spent many a Sunday hunting them down; seventy-two were said to have been killed in a single sitting, the largest of the lot tormented with sticks until it struck its fangs into a peeled green stick and its venom could be seen rising visibly through the wood grain. The same rocky, wooded country produced gentler misadventures too: one day Justin Eddy's daughters, out nutting with a Canfield girl, were caught in a rainstorm and had to spend the night in the woods, Justin having helped each of them up a tree and hung their nut bags around them for what comfort that afforded. All three survived, badly swollen-handed and exhausted, to marry and raise families in the township, and the story of their night in the trees was still good for a laugh among them decades later.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Portage County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Ravenna City96% of residentsLake Hodgson
• Maple Del Manor Llc2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Birchwood Manor Mhc New2% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Spring Lakes Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Ranch Club Estates Water Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Orchard Estates I Mhc, Llc0% of residentsBuried valley/sandstone aquifer wells (12 county wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Shale and injection wells (4)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-11-07

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