Hoaglin Township, Van Wert County

How Hoaglin Township, Van Wert County began

Hoaglin Township was struck off from Ridge and Pleasant townships on March 2, 1840, and named for the Hoaglin family -- Enoch M., Aaron and Jefferson Hoaglin among them -- who were among its very first settlers in 1839 and filled several of its first elected offices. Its early record, preserved in the county's 1906 history, includes one of the county's clearest documented encounters between a settler and Native visitors still living in the area a generation after the 1818 land cession: an armed standoff over a stolen horse that ended without bloodshed. It is one of the county's smallest townships by area (32.2 square miles), holds no incorporated village of its own, and borders Ridge Township along its southern edge.

Settled 1839 (Enoch M. and Aaron Hoaglin), incorporated organized as a civil township March 2, 1840, by Van Wert County commissioners, struck off from Ridge and Pleasant townships.

Where the name comes from

Named for the Hoaglin family -- Enoch M. Hoaglin (settled May 5, 1839), Aaron Hoaglin (settled May 25, 1839) and Jefferson Hoaglin, who between them held the township's first clerk, trustee and constable offices at its 1840 organization. Wikipedia notes it is the only township of this name statewide.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or treaty site specific to Hoaglin Township was located in the sources consulted. One specific, named encounter survives from the township's settlement period, recorded in the county's 1906 history under the heading 'Indians Steal a Horse': Enoch M. Hoaglin's only horse was taken, and when he traced it to a Native camp and found the occupants intoxicated, a 'painted warrior' rushed at him with a knife, shouting that he had not stolen it and threatening to kill him; Hoaglin held the man off at rifle-point, the man retreated, and Hoaglin recovered his horse, found hobbled among the camp's own ponies. No date more specific than the township's general 1839-40 settlement period, and no tribal affiliation, is given in the source.

Timeline

1. 1839-05-05 — Enoch M. Hoaglin settles in the township; Aaron Hoaglin follows on May 25.
2. 1840-03-02 — The county commissioners strike off Hoaglin Township from Ridge and Pleasant townships on petition of area settlers, ordering an organizing election at Jacob Speeler's house the first Monday in April.
3. 1840 — Seven votes are cast at the township's first election; Jacob Speeler, Elias Reamer and Aaron Hoaglin are elected trustees, Enoch M. Hoaglin clerk, and Jefferson Hoaglin constable.
4. 1840-02-08 — L. J. Mitchell settles in the township; during 1839 and 1840 John Speeler, Adley Calhoun, Elias Reamer, David Tolan, Jacob and Joshua Shaffer, William Hagerman, Henry Blythe and others also become residents.
5. 1841 — James Harvey, then about 17, comes to Van Wert County with his parents and works a full month plowing corn for J. G. Gilliland at 31 cents a day to pay for a cow; he marries Wilhelmina Reece on October 20, 1850 and farms in Hoaglin Township for the rest of his life.
6. 1841 — O. H. Harvey comes to the county; in 1846 he marries Zillabe Hoaglin, and over his life builds 22 houses for himself, moves his family 25 times and clears at least 150 acres.
7. 1844-11-01 — Seventeen electors vote in a justice-of-the-peace election in the township.
8. 1872 — The Walborn Lutheran congregation, St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, organises and calls its first regular pastor, Rev. John Snyder, three miles northeast of Van Wert.
9. 1873-08 — The cornerstone of the first St. John's (Walborn) Lutheran church is laid; Jeremiah Dippery and Louisa Walborn carry the project, and it is consecrated in 1874.
10. 1901-01-06 — A new St. John's Lutheran church, begun June 10, 1900 under Rev. F. M. Potts, is consecrated; the congregation numbers about 60.
11. 1905-03-06 — A. A. Giffin of Hoaglin Township delivers the address 'Van Wert and the Country' at the Business Men's League's annual banquet in Van Wert.
12. 2020 — The U.S. Census records 650 residents in Hoaglin Township, a population density of about 20 per square mile; no municipality lies within the township's 32.2 square miles.
13. 2020 — The census counts 650 residents in Hoaglin Township.

Stories

A rifle at the campfire

Enoch M. Hoaglin, one of the two brothers whose family name the township carries, once had his only horse stolen. He traced the theft to a Native camp and walked in to find the men there deep in an 'exciting revelry' of drink. He asked after his horse; they claimed to know nothing. He pressed, and finally accused them outright of having taken it -- which, the county's 1906 history records, 'aroused the anger of the demons.' A warrior rushed out with a large knife, war-whooping and advancing on Hoaglin, shouting 'Me no steal white man's horse. Me kill pale face.' Hoaglin raised his own rifle and covered the man, who broke off and retreated into his hut. Shortly after, Hoaglin found his horse exactly where he must have suspected it would be all along -- hobbled among the camp's own ponies. The story, told and retold in a settler family for two generations before it reached print, is one of the county's few surviving accounts of an armed confrontation between an individual pioneer and Native residents that ended, deliberately, without anyone being shot.

Starvation, a letter and a bushel of corn

Henry Taylor came to Hoaglin Township with his parents when they were so poor that, as he said, starvation stared them in the face. He appealed to James G. Gilliland, who had no corn to spare but gave him a letter to a Mr. Cochran in Allen County, saying to let Henry have all the corn he wanted and he would stand good for the pay. Taylor got his corn, worked almost day and night to earn the money, and walked to the Auglaize River to pay for it. Until the family could clear land and raise a crop he depended on Gilliland for provisions, and for the rest of his life he would drop his own work to help any of the Gilliland family. The 1906 county historian remembered him as a man of little schooling but good business sense, who accumulated considerable wealth.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Van Wert City92% of residentsTown Creek via two impounding reservoirs
• Middle Point Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Power plants (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 2 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 2025-02-25

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