Jackson Township, Hancock County

How Jackson Township, Hancock County began

Jackson Township, in the southern part of Hancock County, was erected December 7, 1829 as the fifth township, covering Township 1 South, Range 11, and named for Andrew Jackson, elected president the year before. Mordecai Hammond, who entered land on the Blanchard River on May 30, 1827 and settled that autumn, was its first settler, and its Methodist class formed about 1835-36. It never had a grist mill; the hamlet of North Liberty, better known as Houcktown, was laid out by Jacob F. Houck in 1853 and had 112 people in 1880. In 1845 the eastern tier of sections went to Amanda Township, leaving 30 sections; the township had 1,031 people in 2020.

Settled 1827 (Mordecai Hammond, on the Blanchard in section 35), platted 1853 (North Liberty, called Houcktown, by Jacob F. Houck, April 20); Martins Town platted in 1836, never built, incorporated December 7, 1829 (township erected), by Mordecai Hammond and Aquilla Gilbert, brothers-in-law from Pickaway County, Ohio.

Where the name comes from

Named for Gen. Andrew Jackson, elected president in 1828, who had many warm admirers in this part of the county; the commissioners granted the petition of residents of Amanda and Delaware townships to erect Township 1 South, Range 11 as Jackson on December 7, 1829.

Before the town

The Hancock County history of 1903 says the county lay between the Indian towns of what is now Wyandot and Seneca counties and those on the Blanchard, Auglaize and Maumee rivers, a hunting ground of the Wyandots and Ottawas. The treaty at the foot of the Maumee Rapids on September 29, 1817 ceded the remaining Indian lands in Ohio except reservations, enlarged by the treaty at St. Marys on September 17, 1818; the Wyandot reservation of 16,000 acres around the big spring at the end of the marsh (southwest Seneca County, reaching into Biglick Township, Hancock County) was for the Wyandots at Solomon's Town and on Blanchard's Fork. The reservations in Hancock and neighboring counties were sold in 1831 and the Wyandots ceded their remaining lands in March 1842. Wyandots had a small village on the site of Findlay, with ten or fifteen families around Fort Findlay under the chief Kuqua when settlers arrived in 1815-1821, and another village six or seven miles down the river at Indian Green. The Blanchard River crosses Jackson Township's southeast and northeast corners, and the Wyandot village at Fort Findlay lay just to the north. No mound, village or trail inside Jackson Township itself is recorded in the histories read.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Ottawa.

• Wyandot village and fields at Fort Findlay (village) — Site of Findlay, on the Blanchard River immediately north of Jackson Township (not within it), c. 1815-1821 (archive.org)
• Big Spring Wyandot reservation (treaty) — Around the big spring at the end of the marsh, southwest Seneca County and Biglick Township, Hancock County, 1818-1832 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1823 — On November 21, Peter George, the 'pioneer land hunter', made the first land entry in the township, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 35; he settled in Amanda Township.
2. 1827 — Mordecai Hammond entered land on May 30 and moved that autumn with his brother-in-law Aquilla Gilbert to the east bank of the Blanchard in section 35, the first settler; no one else settled the township before 1830.
3. 1829 — On December 7 the commissioners erected Township 1 South, Range 11 as Jackson Township, named for the newly elected president; it was the fifth township organized in Hancock County.
4. 1830 — Alpheus Ralston, who entered the southwest quarter of section 7 in September 1829, settled there permanently in October; his nearest neighbors were three miles away and a rude wagon track led to Findlay.
5. 1832 — Settlers on the Blanchard built a log schoolhouse in section 13 and hired Aquilla Gilbert to teach through the winter at $1.50 a scholar by subscription.
6. 1834 — Henry Hemry and his large family settled in section 3, and John and Mary Peterman came from Holmes County; the Biblers, Newells, Bears and Maphets followed in 1834-35.
7. 1836 — Martin Hollabaugh platted Martins Town on September 30 across the line into Eagle Township; a Martins Town post office opened in 1838 at Hathaway Warner's house and moved to Arlington in 1840, and the town never grew.
8. c. 1836 — A Methodist Episcopal class was organized in the township's northwest corner, led by the Newell family, and built the first church on land Joseph Newell gave.
9. 1845 — On March 5 the commissioners attached the eastern tier of sections to Amanda Township, leaving Jackson with thirty sections (19,200 acres) and without Misamore's mill.
10. 1850 — Jackson Township counted 880 people, rising to 1,272 in 1860.
11. 1853 — On April 20, Jacob F. Houck laid out fifteen lots as North Liberty, soon known as Houcktown, and a post office followed about 1856 with Robert Davidson as postmaster.
12. 1863 — Ewing's Corners post office was established at Jesse Ewing's house in section 15, northeast of Houcktown, and lasted until after 1872; Clements post office also moved into the township from 1862 to 1866.
13. 1880 — Jackson Township had 1,338 people; Houcktown had 112, with a store, saw mill, wagon factory and one physician, and nine schoolhouses served the township.
14. 1882 — A post office called Swank opened at John Swank's store and closed in December 1884, as farmers preferred to go to Findlay for mail.
15. 2020 — Jackson Township had 1,031 residents on 29.7 square miles; no village has ever incorporated in it.

Stories

Mordecai Hammond and the first cabin on the Blanchard

Mordecai Hammond, born in Maryland in 1791 and married in York County, Pennsylvania, entered his Hancock land on May 30, 1827 and came from Pickaway County that autumn with his brother-in-law Aquilla Gilbert to the east bank of the Blanchard. Hammond took part in the first county election in April 1828, was elected county commissioner in October 1829, and served as associate judge for seven years from 1842. He died on the old homestead in section 35 on February 25, 1855. Gilbert, who lived with the Hammonds, ground corn meal three times a week at Godfrey Wolford's hand mill in Delaware Township during the winter of 1828-29, and in 1832-33 taught the township's first school.

Seven miles in a day by sled

Henry Cooper was fourteen when his father died and he came with his mother and sister from Fairfield County in 1831 to a cabin in section 14. He often told how one snowy morning soon after he started for Findlay by sled with William Ebright and his son Philip. They cut a road with axes as they went, reached Michael Myers's cabin in Marion Township about dark, slept on its clay floor, and arrived at Findlay before noon next day, having covered only about seven miles. The township never had a grist mill; settlers took their grain to Wolford's, Carlin's at Findlay, Bishop's in Eagle or Misamore's in Amanda, and a miller was thought a benefactor.

Houcktown, the town that stayed a crossroads

Jacob F. Houck, born in Baltimore County, Maryland, settled in section 27 and in 1853 laid out fifteen lots as North Liberty. A post office named Houcktown opened about three years later and the name stuck. Two additions were made to the plat, but the town, in the middle of rich farmland, 'never made much progress': a general store, grocery, saw and shingle mill, wagon factory, blacksmith and shoe shops, a physician, a school and a church. The 1880 census counted 112 people, and Brown's 1886 history saw no perceptible increase since.

Photographs

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

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Findlay City63% of residentsFindlay's two upground reservoirs, filled by pumping from the Blanchard River
• Arlington Village37% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Private schools (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026 edition (Directory of Officials): county board of elections.

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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-08
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-11-26

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