Harrison Township, Preble County

How Harrison Township, Preble County began

Harrison Township occupies the northeastern corner of Preble County, named for William Henry Harrison. Wikipedia gives 1815 for its founding; the 1881 county history instead dates the township's organization to 1816, the year the town of Lewisburgh was laid out soon afterward. During the War of 1812, citizen-soldiers built a blockhouse on the Wolf farm (section 11) that was garrisoned through the winter of 1813-14 under Captain Simon Phillips, part of Major Alexander C. Lanier's battalion, to protect settlers on Miller's Fork -- not, as an earlier version of our Lanier Township page had it, in Lanier itself. The same years brought hostile encounters recorded in the county history: an attempted killing turned aside twice by misfiring flintlocks, an Indian killed by settler James Abbott after trying to force his way into the Abbott house on Miller's Fork, and the 1812 capture and eventual release of settler Rebecca Sharpe. Its village of Verona grew out of an 1853 railroad-era land dispute with a rival plat just across the Montgomery County line, the two settlements feuding over the shared depot's name until 1899. The township also contains Lewisburgh (platted 1818), Euphemia and Sonora, and had 4,305 residents at the 2020 census.

Settled 1805-1806 (Twin, Swamp, Miller's Fork and Price's creek bottoms), incorporated 1815 per Wikipedia; 1816 per the 1881 county history.

Where the name comes from

The township was named for William Henry Harrison, the U.S. Army officer and later ninth president of the United States; it is one of nineteen townships of that name in Ohio.

Before the town

The 1881 county history records a cluster of hostile encounters in Harrison Township during and just before the War of 1812, though 'no record exists of any white being killed by an Indian in the township.' A man named Myers escaped an ambush when his attacker's flintlock misfired, as did John Aikman in a separate incident. An Indian who tried to force his way into the house of James and Catharine Abbott, on Miller's Fork, after being refused entry, was killed by Mr. Abbott with a blow to the head; a second Indian, whose death near William Myers' house was widely but never openly confirmed as Myers' doing, was buried by Myers in a nearby swamp. In 1812, Rebecca Sharpe, sister of early settler Henry Sharpe, was taken captive by Indians while visiting the Abbotts, carried to Darke County, and released near Greenville; she later identified a salt-making pit on Swamp Creek that her captors had used. Henry Howe's 1891 'Historical Collections of Ohio' independently records that a few years before the War of 1812, two young girls -- one named Tharp, one named Harper -- were taken from Harrison township by Indians. The Harper girl was found decades later at Kaskaskia, Illinois, so fully assimilated that a French interpreter was needed to confirm her identity to her father, and she chose not to return. The Tharp girl, found by her father around 1837-1838, had by then become the wife of a Native chief known as Captain Dixon (a name coincidence unrelated to Dixon Township or its namesake Eli Dixon); she too declined to return to the settlements, and Howe records that she later died by suicide. No prehistoric mound or earthwork specific to the township was found.

Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.

• Swamp Creek salt pit (other) — Swamp Creek, Harrison Township, War of 1812 era (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1805-1806 — The rich bottom lands along Twin, Miller's Fork, Swamp and Price's creeks were entered by settlers, led by George Leas on Twin Creek and Tobias Tillman's large family group on Swamp Creek.
2. 1812 — Rebecca Sharpe was taken captive by Indians while visiting the Abbott family on Miller's Fork; she was later released near Greenville and returned briefly to the county before dying on a later journey back from Tennessee.
3. 1808 (about) — Two young girls, one named Tharp and one named Harper, were taken from Harrison township by Indians a few years before the War of 1812, according to Henry Howe's 1891 'Historical Collections of Ohio.'
4. 1837-1838 — The Tharp girl taken as a child was located by her father, by then the wife of a Native chief called Captain Dixon; she chose to remain with her Native family rather than return.
5. 1813 — A blockhouse was built on the northwest quarter of section eleven (the later Wolf farm) at the outbreak of hostilities with western tribes; every man in that part of the settlement was required to serve a six-month term there.
6. 1814-04-05 — Captain Simon Phillips' company, part of Major Alexander C. Lanier's Old Battalion of Ohio riflemen, was formally discharged from the Harrison Township blockhouse after completing its winter term protecting settlers on Miller's Fork; the discharge given to sergeant Jacob Miller survived in his son's possession into the 1880s.
7. 1815 — Harrison Township was founded per Wikipedia (the 1881 county history instead implies 1816); it is named for William Henry Harrison.
8. 1817 — The township's first church, a hewn-log building raised jointly by the Lutheran and Reformed congregations on land donated by Adam Brown and Frederick Black, was completed after a delay from its planned 1814-15 construction.
9. 1818-09-07 — Henry Horn recorded the plat of Lewisburgh at the Eaton recorder's office, on sections 27 and 28, after an earlier unrecorded attempt by Zachariah Hole; Euphemia was laid out nearby by John Muma, who named it after his wife.
10. 1840 — Harrison Township's population was recorded at 1,696.
11. 1852 — A rival village was platted just across the Preble-Montgomery county line, around what became the shared railroad depot.
12. 1853-06-21 — Preble Countians J. Karr, R. Calhoun, and two others named Reed and Leisure laid out a 53-lot village around the depot and named it Verona; the railway company had already named the depot West Baltimore and refused to change it.
13. 1856 — Sonora, on the Dayton & Western railroad, was laid off by Hiram McNutt, about a quarter-century before the 1881 county history was written.
14. 1880 — Harrison Township's population had grown to 2,663.
15. 1899-12-05 — The post office serving the depot moved to the Verona side, settling decades of dual naming between Verona and West Baltimore.

Stories

A depot with two names

When the railroad reached the Preble-Montgomery county line in the early 1850s, it created a small crisis of naming. A village had already been platted on the Montgomery County side of the line and given a name of its own; almost exactly a year later, on June 21, 1853, four Preble Countians -- J. Karr, R. Calhoun, and two more identified only as Reed and Leisure -- laid out a rival plat of 53 lots on the Preble side, around the same depot, and called it Verona. The railway company, which had already christened its depot West Baltimore, would not change the sign. For decades afterward the same stop went by two names depending on which side of the county line you stood on and which company's paperwork you were reading, a confusion sharpened further when the Railway Express Company opened an office at the depot and simply allowed both names to stand. It took until December 5, 1899 for the post office to settle the matter, relocating officially to the Verona side and giving the place, at last, one name.

Two girls, two returns that were not returns

A few years before the War of 1812, two young girls were taken from Harrison Township by Indians -- one from the Tharp family, one from the Harper family. Both families searched for years without success. Long after the war ended, Mr. Harper finally learned that a white woman answering his daughter's description was living at Kaskaskia, Illinois, and travelled there to find her. She had lived so long and so completely among her captors that she no longer recognized her own father, and it took a French-speaking interpreter to establish, to everyone's satisfaction, who she really was. Even then, she chose to stay where she was. The Tharp girl's story ran a similar course but took decades longer to resolve: found by her father only around 1837 or 1838, she had by then become the wife of a Native chief known to settlers as Captain Dixon. She too declined to leave the only life she remembered, and according to Henry Howe's 1891 county history, she later died by her own hand. Neither story has anything to do with Dixon Township or its namesake, Eli Dixon; the shared name is coincidence.

The blockhouse that belongs to this township, not Lanier's

An earlier version of our Lanier Township page placed a War of 1812 blockhouse story there. The 1881 county history's own township chapters, together with Henry Howe's independent 1891 'Historical Collections of Ohio,' show the blockhouse actually stood here, in Harrison Township: on the northwest quarter of section eleven, later known as the Wolf farm. Built in 1813 at the outbreak of renewed hostilities with the western tribes, it was garrisoned through the winter by Captain Simon Phillips' company of Ohio riflemen, part of the 'Old Battalion' commanded by Major Alexander C. Lanier (for whom the neighboring township is named). As many as sixty men served six-month terms there to guard settlers on Miller's Fork, a stream that runs through this township. When the company was discharged on April 5, 1814, sergeant Jacob Miller kept his discharge certificate; it was still in his son's possession, in Verona, when the county history was compiled in 1881.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · sites.google.com · genealogytrails.com · archive.org

Every historic place in Preble County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Lewisburg Village91% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Verona, Village Of5% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Arcanum Village3% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• West Manchester, Village Of2% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Bridges rated poor (3)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (7)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

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.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-04-08

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