Grand Township, Marion County

How Grand Township, Marion County began

Grand Township, in the northwestern corner of Marion County, was organized June 7, 1824 at the new county commissioners' first session and took its name because it was, at the time, the largest civil division in the county, encompassing three full surveyed townships plus a tract of Virginia Military Lands. James Stiverson, who arrived in 1821-22, is recorded as its first permanent white settler, followed through the 1820s and 1830s by families including the Higginses, Seaburns, Deals, Terrys and Gillespies. It remains an unincorporated farm township of 18.2 square miles, the only Grand Township in Ohio.

Settled 1821, by organized by the Marion County commissioners.

Where the name comes from

The township was named Grand because, when organized on June 7, 1824, it was the largest division of the newly formed Marion County, covering three full surveyed townships and part of the Virginia Military Lands.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, or trail located specifically within Grand Township was found in the sources checked. The 1883 county history's chapter on Indians and early settlement, which covers the county as a whole, includes a section titled 'The Wyandot's Farewell Song' illustrated with a portrait of early Grand Township settler Jacob Seaburn, suggesting a local memory connecting Seaburn to the Wyandot departure, but the song's text and the connection's details were not recovered from the source.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1821 — James Stiverson settled in what became Grand Township, the area's first recorded permanent white inhabitant.
2. 1821-02 — Enoch Clark entered 99 acres in Salt Rock Township and 80 acres over the line in Grand Township, the first lands entered northwest of Big Island; he later built a mill on the creek that bears his name.
3. 1824 — Marion County's newly seated commissioners organized Grand Township at their first session on June 7, 1824, naming it for being the largest division in the county; the first township election that June drew twelve votes for justice of the peace, electing William Cochran.
4. 1824-10-12 — At the fall state election thirteen votes were cast for Jeremiah Morrow and six for Allen Trimble, seven more voters than had turned out at the township's first election in June.
5. 1826 — A log schoolhouse was built on Section 25, among the township's earliest schools, with teachers including Nancy Brown, Michael Vincent and Thomas Lapham.
6. 1828 — Henry Deal and Elisha Davis settled in the township; Champness Terry came from Virginia in 1830, Walter Davis in 1832 and David Bower in 1835.
7. 1831-12-05 — Montgomery Township, taking in the land that became Bowling Green Township, was set off from the southern part of Grand Township.
8. 1845-03-23 — After the General Assembly created Wyandot County (act of February 3, 1845) and took the northern part of Grand, the Marion County commissioners reorganized the remaining fraction as a separate township under the old name.
9. 1850 — The Paw Paw Free-Will Baptist Church was organized in the township.
10. 1850-03-16 — The Paw Paw Free-Will Baptist Church was organized by Revs. John Wallace and A. Hatch; Myrack Higgins gave a site on Section 33 and a meetinghouse was dedicated the next year.
11. 1852-02-28 — The Montgomery Free-Will Baptist Church was organized with John King and wife, Joshua Davis and wife, William Lauderback and Hiram Owens; it later disbanded and its members joined the La Rue and Paw Paw churches.
12. 1869 — Methodist and Christian congregations jointly built the $2,250 Union Church.
13. 1869 — Methodists and Christians together built the 36-by-46-foot Union Church on Section 25 for $2,200 plus $50 for the ground, the Methodists paying three-fourths; Rev. Avery Wright supervised and Rev. Harvey Wilson preached the dedication.
14. 1880 — A fire destroyed the township clerk's early records, a loss the 1883 county history notes explicitly.
15. 1883 — The township, by then the smallest in Marion County at eighteen sections, reported 9,520 acres owned, 51,205 bushels of corn and 32,644 pounds of wool.
16. 2020 — The census counted 373 residents in the 18.2-square-mile township.

Stories

Named for being the biggest

When Marion County's first board of commissioners sat down on June 7, 1824 to organize the new county's territory, the district in the northwest corner dwarfed everything else on the map: three full surveyed townships plus a slice of the Virginia Military Lands, a tract set aside decades earlier to pay Revolutionary War veterans from Virginia. The commissioners simply called it Grand Township, for its size, and the name held even as the county later carved smaller townships around it. Its first election that same June drew just twelve voters, who chose William Cochran as justice of the peace, an early sign of how thinly the northwest corner of the county was settled compared with the older townships to the south.

The largest township, then the smallest

On June 7, 1824, the first day of its first session, the new Marion County board of commissioners set off Surveyed Townships 3, 4 and 5 in Range 13, with the Virginia Military land south of them, as one township and called it Grand because it was the largest in the county. It took in what are now Grand, Montgomery and Bowling Green townships plus one that later went to Wyandot County as Marseilles. The first election that June gave William Cochran twelve votes for justice of the peace. Montgomery Township was cut from its south in December 1831, and when the General Assembly created Wyandot County in 1845 the commissioners had to reorganize the leftover fraction as a township of its own. By 1883 Grand held only eighteen sections of Congress land, the smallest township in the county, and its clerk's books had burned about 1880, so that, as the county historian put it, some of its history could not be recovered.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Aqua Ohio - La Rue Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2024-03-19; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-10-21

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Grand Township, Marion County, Marion County and its school district:

• Marion County: Renews a 3-mill property tax levy to acquire, construct, renovate, finance, maintain & operate developmental disabilities facilities of Marion County for 5 years, beginning in 2026.
• Marion County: Renews a 1-mill property tax levy to operate alcohol, drug addiction & mental health programs of Marion County for 5 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

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