Franklin Township, Wayne County

How Franklin Township, Wayne County began

Franklin Township lies in the southern part of Wayne County along Killbuck Creek. James Morgan and Thomas Butler came in 1808 and made the first settlement in the county outside Wooster; the township was organized on June 7, 1820 and named for Benjamin Franklin. Its only village, Moreland, was laid out by Jonathan Butler and George Morr in 1829. Settlers here remembered a blockhouse built in the summer of 1812, a burned cabin and Chief Dan Lyon, a Native man who stayed after the rest left. The township had 1,302 people in 1870 and 4,235 in 2020.

Settled 1808 (James Morgan and Thomas Butler, the first white settlers in Wayne County outside Wooster), platted January 17, 1829 (Moreland, laid out by Jonathan Butler and George Morr; recorded January 19, 1829), incorporated June 7, 1820 (organized for civil purposes), by James Morgan and Thomas Butler.

Where the name comes from

Both Douglass (1878) and Bowen (1910) say the township was named for Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, the statesman and scientist. It is one of twenty-one Franklin Townships in Ohio.

Before the town

Franklin Township has the fullest Native record of any Wayne County township in the 1878 and 1910 histories, though all of it is pioneer memory rather than archaeology. John Harrison remembered 'plenty' of Indians on Martin's Creek, and that Chief Dan Lyon stayed on after the others had gone, making wooden ladles to trade to the settlers for bacon. John Butler recalled that, some time after 1809, after a gang of Native men shot one of Thomas Butler's hogs, Butler followed them to their camp near the present site of Shreve, where the chief made the offender pay with two deer skins; Butler's cabin was burned soon after and he blamed the same group. Lyon's own camp stood near the mouth of Butler Spring run, where, sick, he told the boy Alexander Bell 'Me dead Indian'; friends from Sandusky took him away on a pony and word of his death came days later. The sources do not give the nations. Across Wayne County, the wider record is of the Delaware (Lenape), Wyandot and Shawnee.

• Chief Dan Lyon's camp (camp) — near the mouth of Butler Spring run, Franklin Township, about 1810s-1820s, undated (archive.org)
• Native encampment near Shreve (site of the hog payment) (camp) — in the locality of the present Shreve, near Thomas Butler's farm on the Killbuck bottoms, after 1809 (undated) (archive.org)
• Indians on Martin's Creek (camp) — along Martin's Creek, Franklin Township, early 1800s (as remembered by John Harrison) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1808 — James Morgan and Thomas Butler settle on what is later Thomas Dowty's farm, the first settlement in Wayne County outside Wooster; Morgan enters the township's first land and Butler the second 160 acres.
2. 1809 — On April 12 Thomas Butler marries Rebecca, daughter of James Morgan, the first marriage in the county; soon afterward his new cabin is burned in his absence.
3. 1812 — In the summer of Hull's surrender a company of soldiers from Tuscarawas County is stationed at the Morgan blockhouse, a large log fort on the Thomas Dowty farm.
4. 1816 — About 1816-17 Henry Munson Sr. burns the first lime in Wayne County, in a kiln, after an earlier test in a log heap.
5. 1818 — Jonathan Butler, who had come about 1818, builds the 'famous Butler mill.'
6. 1820 — On June 7 Franklin Township is organized for civil purposes; Samuel Mitchel, commissioned July 6, is its first justice of the peace.
7. 1825 — On March 7, after the formation of Holmes County, the commissioners enlarge the township by attaching the southern tier of sections 19 to 24.
8. 1829 — On January 17 Jonathan Butler and George Morr lay out Moreland, the only village ever platted in the township; a blacksmith named Loux builds the first shop.
9. 1831 — A post office called Moorland opens; it stays open until 1902.
10. 1843 — The Church of God is built at Moreland, with Adam Weiker, Isaac Tate and Samuel Metzler as the principal movers.
11. 1870 — The census counts 1,302 residents in the township.
12. 1990 — Township population recorded at 2,747.
13. 2000 — Township population grows to 3,485.
14. 2010 — Township population reaches 3,872.
15. 2020 — Township population reaches 4,235.

Stories

A hog, two deer skins and a burned cabin

Thomas Butler came to the Killbuck bottoms in 1808, entered 160 acres and boarded with James Morgan until, on April 12, 1809, he married Morgan's daughter Rebecca, the first marriage in the county. Butler raised corn in the bottoms and kept a good many hogs. One day a party of Native men passing through shot one, and Butler tracked them to their camp near the present Shreve and told the chief he must be paid. The chief made the hunter pay; when asked why he had killed the hog, the man said, 'I wanted grease.' Butler got two deer skins, which the man kicked toward him in disgust. Soon afterward, with Butler away at his father-in-law's, his new cabin was burned, and he always blamed the same band. He rebuilt a hewed-log house on the exact spot, and lived in it until his death.

Old Chief Dan Lyon

When the other Native people had left the Killbuck country, Chief Dan Lyon stayed on. He made wooden ladles and traded them to the settlers for bacon, and the early settlers all knew him, since he visited their cabins and was sometimes a source of terror to women and children. His camp stood near the mouth of Butler Spring run. Alexander Bell of Holmesville remembered that, as a boy, he found Lyon sick in his hut, asked to bring fresh water and look at his tongue, and heard the old man say, 'Me dead Indian.' Bell fetched Jess Morgan, who rode to Sandusky and returned with several of Lyon's friends; they took him away on a pony, and in a few days word came back that he had died.

The Morgan blockhouse and the painted soldier

In the summer of Hull's surrender in 1812 a company of soldiers from Tuscarawas County was stationed at the Morgan blockhouse, a large log fort on Thomas Dowty's farm that sheltered the pioneers. One soldier boasted constantly of his courage and said he ached for a fight with the Indians. His comrades decided to oblige him: they painted and dressed one of their number in Indian costume and hid him in a swamp near the fort. When the company marched past on a scout, the false Indian sprang out yelling and pointing his gun, and the braggart ran at top speed and hid in a marsh. The company went back to the blockhouse, and the would-be Indian fighter came in later, minus his shoes, which his friends fetched.

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

Every historic place in Wayne County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Wooster City88% of residentsKillbuck Creek Buried Valley Aquifer (own wells)
• Fredericksburg Village5% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Shreve Village5% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Spruce Tree Village MHP2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Green Meadows Estates1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Wooster Rolling Wheels Estates MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Private schools (5)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (2)

Shale and injection wells (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-07-09
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-08-08

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