Harrison Township, Logan County

How Harrison Township, Logan County began

Harrison Township lies west of Bellefontaine near the center of Logan County, thirty sections of Congress land drained by Buckongehelas and Blue Jacket creeks, streams named for a Lenape (Delaware) and a Shawnee chief. Its first settler, James McPherson, a former captive who became the government's agent to the Shawnee and Seneca at Lewistown, built his cabin in the fall of 1811 near the site of the later county infirmary, and two blockhouses rose nearby in the War of 1812. Settlement began in earnest about 1820, and the township was cut from the west side of Lake Township in 1832 (Wikipedia gives 1836) and named for General William Henry Harrison. The county infirmary and, from 1886, the county orphans' home stood here; today the eastern part of the township overlaps Bellefontaine and the township holds the Bellefontaine Regional Airport, with 2,061 residents at the 2020 census.

Settled 1811, incorporated 1832 (Wikipedia gives 1836), by cut off from Lake Township; James McPherson, first settler.

Where the name comes from

The 1903 county history states that the township was named for General William Henry Harrison, the War of 1812 commander of the Northwest army and later President.

Before the town

The township's two creeks carry the names of Native leaders: Buckongehelas Creek for Buckongehelas, a Lenape (Delaware) village chief and warrior whose village, the 1903 history says, stood on the stream, and Blue Jacket Creek for the Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket; Henry Howe places Blue Jacket's town on the site of Bellefontaine and Buckongehelas's town three miles north of it. Hull's Trace, the 1812 military road, ran northwest through the township past the blockhouses. At the outbreak of the War of 1812 several hundred Native people friendly to the United States were gathered under guard at Zane's and McPherson's blockhouses, and an old graveyard near the county infirmary held the graves of Native people who died while held there. Settler accounts in the 1880 history describe Native people moving freely through the township on generally good terms with the families, and record a fatal fight between two intoxicated men on Hull's Trace in 1813. James McPherson, the first settler, served as Indian agent for the Shawnee and Seneca at Lewistown until 1830.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Seneca.

• McPherson's blockhouse (camp) — a few rods west of James McPherson's cabin, near the site of the later Logan County Infirmary, 1812-1815 (archive.org)
• Graveyard near the County Infirmary (burial) — near the Logan County Infirmary building, Harrison Township, War of 1812 and after (archive.org)
• Hull's Trace (trail) — ran northwest through the township past the blockhouses; later improved as the first road, 1812 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1795 — James McPherson, captured by Native warriors at Loughry's defeat near the mouth of the Great Miami, was held until after the Treaty of Greenville.
2. 1811 — In the fall James McPherson, with his wife and four children, camped near the site of the later county infirmary and built the first cabin in the township.
3. 1812 — George Blaylock, a Georgian reputed to be a counterfeiter, built a cabin at the outlet of the lake later named Silver Lake and lived there alone for years.
4. 1812 — Rangers built McPherson's blockhouse a few rods west of his cabin, and a few months later Captain James Manary's company from Ross County built a second blockhouse about half a mile southeast.
5. 1813 — Mrs. Carnes watched from her cabin as two intoxicated men in a party riding Hull's Trace fought on horseback and one was killed with a hatchet.
6. 1815 — After the war a log schoolhouse was built near the later sub-district No. 3 school; Isaac Myers taught the first term.
7. 1820 — Settlement began in earnest, with George Heath, Michael Carnes, Thomas Sutherland, Samuel Carter, John Houtz, John Horn and others arriving over the next years.
8. 1821 — John Houtz built a saw mill on Blue Jacket Creek, the first frame mill in the township.
9. 1825 — By this year Rev. Robert Casebolt, a Methodist preacher who settled in the township, was holding religious meetings; he is also credited with bringing some of the first blooded cattle into the county.
10. 1830 — About this year a colony of Germans led by George Walpers built a distillery and small grist mill on Blue Jacket Creek.
11. 1830 — Sebastian Keller taught the winter term of 1830-31 in a hewed-log schoolhouse on John Roger's land, the first school in the south of the township.
12. 1832 — Harrison Township was organized at the expense of Lake Township, taking territory from Lake Township's west side.
13. 1836 — Wikipedia gives 1836 as the year Harrison Township was organized.
14. 1874 — Harrison Grange No. 378, Patrons of Husbandry, was chartered in the winter of 1873-74 with twenty-nine members; its two-story hall on the Sidney pike, about a mile west of Bellefontaine, was built in 1877.
15. 1878 — A post office was established at Gretna, a railroad station and country store west of Bellefontaine (the 1880 history dates it to spring 1879, with Adam Hover as postmaster); it closed in 1901.
16. 1880 — The only church building in the township was the Flat Branch Christian Church, on land given by James McPherson and Henry Buckwalter; a Mennonite society organized in 1875 also met there.
17. 1886 — The county orphans' home was built in the township, on a farm of about 100 acres on the road from Bellefontaine to Sidney.

Stories

The red-faced man

James McPherson, born at Carlisle in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, was taken prisoner at Loughry's defeat near the mouth of the Great Miami during the Revolution. Henry Howe records that he spent years in the British Indian Department under Elliott and McKee, married a fellow prisoner, and was known to the Native people as Squa-la-ka-he, the red-faced man. After Wayne's treaty of 1795 he entered American service, and he remained in charge of the Shawnee and Seneca of Lewistown until he was removed from office in 1830. When the War of 1812 began, several hundred friendly Native people were collected at Zane's and McPherson's blockhouses under the protection of the government, which for a time kept a guard of soldiers over them.

Blaylock Lake becomes Silver Lake

Shortly before the War of 1812 George Blaylock, a native of Georgia, built a small cabin in the woods at the outlet of a lake of about 100 acres on a branch of Blue Jacket Creek, and lived there for years apart from everyone. Settlers believed he belonged to a gang of counterfeiters and thieves that ranged from the Lakes to the Gulf, but nothing was ever proved against him; he later moved to a hunter's cabin on a lake now part of the Lewistown Reservoir and died there. The water was first called Blaylock Lake, then Spencer Lake for Alexander O. Spencer, the first buyer of much of the land around it, and finally Silver Lake under a later owner, William Denison. By 1880 it was becoming a pleasure resort and yielded thousands of tons of ice each winter.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · genealogytrails.com · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

local wells (shallow carbonate aquifer) The water here

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