Hardy Township, Holmes County

How Hardy Township, Holmes County began

Hardy Township lies at the center of Holmes County, with the county seat, Millersburg, in its middle; it is the only Hardy Township in Ohio. Peter Casey settled on the west side of the Killbuck opposite the later town in 1810, and Charles Miller and Adam Johnson laid out Millersburg in 1824 beside an earlier paper town of the same name. The county commissioners organized the township in December 1825 as No. 7, and Casey of Hardy sat among the first associate judges. It was the most populous township in the county in 1840 (1,985) and 1880 (3,280) and had 5,870 residents in 2020.

Settled 1810 (Peter Casey, west side of the Killbuck opposite Millersburg), platted Millersburg, 1824 (public lots sold June 4; an earlier town of the same name was laid out about 1816 a quarter mile north), incorporated December 1825 (township organized by the county commissioners as No. 7), by Peter Casey; Charles Miller and Adam Johnson laid out Millersburg.

Where the name comes from

No source checked explains the name Hardy. The early county history lists the 1825 townships in order (German, Mechanic, Killbuck, Richland, Knox, Monroe, Hardy, Berlin, Walnut Creek, Paint, Salt Creek, Prairie, Ripley, Washington) without giving reasons, and Wikipedia says only that it is the only Hardy Township in Ohio. Millersburg is named for Charles Miller, one of its proprietors.

Before the town

No Native village or mound is recorded within Hardy Township itself in the sources checked. The early county history places the 'Indian boundary line' of the treaties diagonally across the county, so that before 1825 settlers south of it paid taxes at New Philadelphia or Coshocton and those north of it at Wooster, and it records that Tom Lion, the last Delaware (Lenape) man to keep a camp in the valley, had his wigwam on Lion's Run north of Berlin. His quarrel with Jacob Ammon, who lived a little northeast of the old town of Millersburg, in Hardy, is the township's one Native story (see below). Mohican (Mahican) and Delaware towns on the Killbuck, including Killbuck's Town near the county's northern boundary, are covered in the Prairie Township file.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

• Tom Lion's wigwam on Lion's Run (camp) — Lion's Run, north of Berlin (Berlin Township); Jacob Ammon, his neighbor in the story, lived northeast of old Millersburg in Hardy Township, 1810s-1820s (undated) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1810 — Peter Casey settles on the west side of the Killbuck opposite the site of Millersburg and raises a good crop of rye.
2. 1815 — Charles Uhl Sr. settles on the flats southwest of Millersburg, followed by his brothers William, Jacob and George.
3. 1816 — An earlier town named Millersburg is laid out about this year a quarter mile north of the present site.
4. 1817 — The Gainouns (Guinns) settle in Hardy Township; James settles on Sand Run and is still living in the township, nearly ninety-two, when the county history is written about sixty years later.
5. 1818 — John Painter and James French build the second bridge over the Killbuck in the county, opposite the old town of Millersburg.
6. 1820 — A post office named Millersburgh opens; it keeps that spelling until 1894.
7. 1824 — Charles Miller and Adam Johnson lay out Millersburg and public lots are sold on June 4; the first houses are on Washington, Jackson and Adams streets.
8. 1825 — On February 18 the associate judges, among them Peter Casey of Hardy, hold the first term of court at Millersburg; in December the commissioners lay out the 14 townships, Hardy being No. 7, boundaries unchanged since.
9. 1828 — The first newspaper in the county, the Millersburg Gazette, is printed on June 9; it becomes the Holmes County Farmer in 1840.
10. 1830 — The Seceder church, the first built in Millersburg, is erected; the village has about 320 people.
11. 1834 — The log courthouse and jail and a large part of Millersburg burn on a Sunday afternoon; brick buildings replace them.
12. 1840 — Township population recorded at 1,985, the highest in the county.
13. 1846 — Millersburg has 673 inhabitants, two newspapers, a foundry and a gristmill.
14. 1880 — Township population recorded at 3,280, again the county's highest; Millersburg has 1,814 people.
15. 1886 — The present stone courthouse is completed, built of white, blue and gray stone from county quarries.
16. 2020 — Township population recorded at 5,870, up from 5,261 in 1990.

Stories

Tom Lion and the disappearing neighbor

Tom Lion, an old Delaware man, kept his wigwam on Lion's Run north of Berlin long after his people had ceded the land. Because he spoke fair English, he enjoyed frightening settlers' wives with tales of his fights with white men and sometimes told them he had at his wigwam the dried tongues of 99 white people and would like theirs to make a hundred. Jacob Ammon, a settler northeast of old Millersburg and a veteran of the War of 1812, was once on friendly terms with him and lent him a gun; when Lion kept it past the promised day Ammon sent word he would pay with his life, and Lion returned it in a very bad humor. At a house-raising the next day in Salt Creek Township, Lion boasted of having helped murder the Hochstetler family on the Pennsylvania border, and a young relative of the murdered family overheard him. Shortly after Lion left, the young man and Ammon were seen going the same way. Lion was never seen again in Holmes County; Ammon often said he knew where Lion went, and nothing was done, 'the people were all glad to get rid of him.' The story came from the settler Anson Wheaton, Ammon's friend.

How Millersburg began

The first Millersburg was a town laid out about 1816 a quarter mile north of today's. The present one was laid out in 1824 by Charles Miller and Adam Johnson, who sold public lots on June 4 of that year in the forest. Dr. Robert K. Enos, who came on April 24, 1824, cut the first trees, planted the first shade trees, served as the first mayor and cashier of the first bank, and was clerk of court for twenty-one years; the first lawyer was James McKennan and the first physician James S. Irvine. Three houses went up before the sale, the first a frame at Jackson and Washington streets. The Seceder church of 1830 was the first church. In 1834 a fire that began in a frame house on a Sunday afternoon destroyed much of the village, including the log courthouse and jail. Millersburg Gazette appeared on June 9, 1828 and the present stone courthouse was completed in 1886.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Millersburg Village71% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Berlin Water Company17% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Bloomfield Water Company10% of residentsGroundwater wells (5 wells)
• Walnut Creek Water Co.2% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Nashville Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Private schools (3)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Public EV charging (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (6)

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-08-05

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