Genoa Township, Delaware County

How Genoa Township, Delaware County began

Genoa Township was set off from Harlem Township on June 4, 1816, and named -- unusually for Ohio, since it is the only township in the state to carry the name -- for Genoa, Italy, Christopher Columbus's birthplace, at the suggestion of settler Elisha Bennett. Jeremiah Curtiss, arriving from Connecticut around 1806, is remembered as its first settler, building a sawmill, gristmill and still on Big Walnut Creek; his brother Marcus built the brick inn and post office at Galena that still stands. The Stephen Sharp House on Africa Road later became a documented stop on the Underground Railroad. Today the township holds Hoover Reservoir along its Big Walnut Creek and has grown into a populous Columbus suburb.

Settled c. 1806, incorporated June 4, 1816 (set off from Harlem Township), by Jeremiah Curtiss (first settler); Elisha Bennett (proposed the name).

Where the name comes from

Genoa Township was named by early settler Elisha Bennett for Genoa, Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. Unlike the Italian city's pronunciation, the township's name stresses its second syllable, 'ge-NO-a.' It is the only township in Ohio to carry the name, though a separate village called Genoa exists in Ottawa County.

Before the town

The area that became Genoa Township was used for centuries before white settlement, with Wikipedia's township article citing Adena and Hopewell mound-building cultures, followed by the Lenape (Delaware), Miami, Mingo, Ottawa, Shawnee and Wyandot peoples, the Wyandot said to be 'among the last to remain until forced out in 1843.' The 1880 county history gives specific, local texture to this: it says the Big Walnut Creek valley, alive with fish and game, was a place 'the Indians held ... in high favor,' and that after the treaty line moved and Native families were required to withdraw, they nonetheless 'would avail themselves of every opportunity to come down and hunt' in their old territory. No source consulted names a specific village, mound, or named leader located inside the township's own boundaries; for the fuller regional record of nations, treaties and removal, see the county file.

Nations recorded here: Adena culture, Hopewell culture, Lenape (Delaware), Miami, Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga), Ottawa, Shawnee, Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1800 — The first deeds to land within what becomes Genoa Township are granted under the U.S. Military District system, under President John Adams.
2. c. 1806 — Jeremiah Curtiss, of Connecticut, becomes the township's first settler, building a sawmill, gristmill and still along Big Walnut Creek.
3. 1807 — Joseph Latshaw arrives from New England, settling first in Berkshire Township before relocating to the northern part of Genoa near Galena.
4. 1808 — Marcus Curtiss, Jeremiah's brother, arrives in Genoa Township.
5. 1810 — Hezekiah Roberts arrives from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, buys out Latshaw's claim, and begins farming the cleared bottomland; supplies run short and he walks the Indian trail to Zanesville and back for provisions.
6. 1816 — Genoa Township is set off from Harlem Township on June 4 and named for Genoa, Italy at Elisha Bennett's suggestion.
7. 1822 — The Marcus Curtiss Inn is built (or rebuilt) in brick near Galena, serving as an inn, the township's first post office, and one of its first brick buildings; Marcus Curtiss serves as first postmaster.
8. 1833 — Diadatus James Keeler, who had arrived from Vermont in 1819 and become a prominent sheep and hog farmer, builds a one-and-a-half-story house southeast of Galena with a tiger-maple staircase exceptional for its era.
9. c. 1857 — Stephen Sharp, son of early Westerville settler Garrit Sharp, builds a house on Africa Road that later becomes documented as part of one of the largest concentrations of Underground Railroad family stations in Ohio outside Ashtabula County's John Brown family houses.
10. 1866 — In September, one of the worst floods in local memory overflows the Big Walnut Creek bottoms, drowning livestock and destroying haystacks and buildings.
11. 1873 — Passenger rail service begins through Genoa Township, continuing until 1950; freight service on the same line lasts until 1982 and the corridor is later repurposed as the Genoa Trail.
12. 1953 — Construction begins on Hoover Reservoir, later covering a significant portion of the township along Big Walnut Creek; sources disagree on the completion year, Wikipedia giving 1958 and the township's own history page giving 1955.

Stories

Named for Columbus's Birthplace

Most Ohio townships took their names from New England hometowns, Revolutionary War figures, or plain description. Genoa Township took a more unusual path: early settler Elisha Bennett proposed naming it for Genoa, Italy, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, when the township was set off from Harlem Township on June 4, 1816. The choice stuck, and Genoa Township remains the only township of that name in Ohio -- a small linguistic quirk survives too, since local usage stresses the name's second syllable, 'ge-NO-a,' unlike the Italian city itself.

Two Brothers on the Big Walnut

Jeremiah Curtiss came from Connecticut around 1806 and is remembered as the first white settler in what became Genoa Township, building a sawmill, a gristmill and a still along the banks of Big Walnut Creek. His brother Marcus followed in 1808. It was Marcus, not Jeremiah, who left the more lasting mark: around 1822 he built or rebuilt in brick an inn near Galena that also served as the township's first post office, with Marcus himself as postmaster. That building, the Marcus Curtiss Inn, still stands on Sunbury Road and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.

A Family of Underground Railroad Stations

Garrit Sharp settled near what became Westerville and helped build an early Methodist church there; several of his children built homes of their own nearby, including his son Stephen, who put up a house on Africa Road in rural Genoa Township around 1857. According to local history research, each of the Sharp family's houses served as an Underground Railroad station, together forming possibly the largest concentration of family Underground Railroad stations anywhere in Ohio outside the John Brown family's houses in Ashtabula County. People escaping slavery reportedly moved from the Sharp House along Alum Creek to the Patterson House, then north again toward Marengo. The Stephen Sharp House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Photographs

Local history sources: archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · genoatwp.com · 1808delaware.com · 1808delaware.com · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Alum Creek Reservoir intake at the Scott plant, Lewis Center Rd at Africa, Orange Township The water here

• Del-co Water Company, Inc.77% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells
• Westerville City23% of residentsAlum Creek + wells
• Columbus Public Water System1% of residentsScioto River (Griggs & O'Shaughnessy), Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Ck, plus wells

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