Jackson Township, Pike County

How Jackson Township, Pike County began

Jackson Township, in Pike County's northeastern corner on both sides of the Scioto River, is the county's largest township, 32,160 acres by the 1884 county history, and by its account the best in agriculture, minerals, wood and water. Its settlement began early in the 1800s, only a few years behind Pee Pee and Seal; the miller Samuel Wilson came from Kentucky in 1796, and the hamlet of Sharonville (later known as Omega) grew where Wilson's Run enters the Scioto. By 1883 it was 'the most thriving town in the county, excepting Waverly,' and the township had the county's largest Black population, with its own churches and schools. The eastern part, East Jackson, has drawn national attention as a community of light-skinned families who identify as African American; the township had 1,170 residents in 2020.

Where the name comes from

Not established from the sources read. The 1884 county history does not say for whom the township is named; Wikipedia notes only that Ohio has thirty-seven Jackson townships.

Before the town

No village, mound, trail or encounter is recorded for Jackson Township in the sources read. What the record supports is the land's status: Pike County lies south and east of the Greenville line, and the Treaty of Greenville (signed August 3, 1795) ceded roughly two-thirds of Ohio to the United States. The first settlers in this part of the county came within a few years after it, in 1796 and later. The 1884 county history notes that the township is rich in the 'Jackson Hill' coal of its eastern hills and that its valley is two to five miles wide, but it records no Native site there.

Timeline

1. 1796 — Samuel Wilson, who came to Ohio from Kentucky, erects the first flour-mill in Pike County on the present site of Sharonville.
2. early 1800s — Pioneers named in the county history include John Pancake Sr. and Jr., Joseph Foster Sr. and Jr., Isaac Pancake, Daniel Slain, James Davis, David Condon, Samuel Corwine and Abraham Rhoades.
3. 1814-1815 — Jackson Township is formed, one of the first townships of Pike County; the history says both that the county commissioners formed it at their first session and that Ross County cut it from Pee Pee in 1814.
4. 1825 — George Corwine starts a one-burr flouring mill at Sharonville, drawing power from Wilson's Run.
5. 1840 — The township has 1,096 residents; by 1850 it has 1,465.
6. 1842 — Sharonville's Methodist Episcopal church is organized by Rev. James Laws, and a frame church is built that year on Main Street for $1,500.
7. 1849 — Slain & McAllister buy the Sharonville mill and from the state buy canal water-power for thirty-five years at $100 a year.
8. 1853 — Township officers include trustees B. F. Corwine, Eli Brown and William A. Jones, and clerk W. D. Williams.
9. 1855 — Mt. Sinai Baptist Church is formed by Revs. William Evans and Nelson Satterwhite with ten members; the 1884 history calls it the oldest colored church society in the county, and it builds its church in 1872.
10. 1858 — The Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church (colored) is organized by Rev. William James with fifteen members; it builds a church only in 1882.
11. 1859 — The United Brethren in Christ church (colored) is organized by Rev. George Livingston with fifteen members and builds its church in 1866.
12. 1860 — Sharonville has 115 residents; the Bethesda Christian Church is organized there on January 3 and builds in 1864.
13. 1878 — C. W. Marshall & Co.'s tile works start at Sharonville, with a capacity of 40,000 miles of tiling a year by 1883.
14. 1880 — J. & C. Blain start a spoke-and-rim factory at Sharonville; the township has 2,067 residents, up from 1,840 in 1870.
15. 1883 — Sharonville has about 300 people, eight general stores and a post office in McMillan's store; the township has sixteen school districts, among them several for Black children.
16. 2013 — Public radio's State of the Re:Union program airs "East Jackson, Ohio: As Black as We Wish to Be" on the township's East Jackson community.
17. 2019 — The Guardian publishes a report (July 25) on East Jackson and its residents who look white but identify as Black.
18. 2020 — The census counts 1,170 residents in the township.

Stories

East Jackson and its churches

Wikipedia's article on the township says the eastern part, known as East Jackson, is unique among American communities because many white-passing, mixed-race residents there choose to identify as African American, and cites a July 25, 2019 Guardian report and a January 2013 public-radio program for it. The 1884 county history, written long before that attention, shows a Black community already established in the township: it had the largest 'colored population of any in the county,' and the list of its sixteen school districts marks several as colored. Black congregations are recorded early: Mt. Sinai Baptist, formed in 1855 with ten members and later called the oldest colored church society in the county; the Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church of 1858; and the United Brethren church of 1859, whose building was dedicated by Bishop Edwards in 1866.

Sharonville, the county's second town

Sharonville grew up on the north bank of the Scioto, at the mouth of Wilson's Run, on the outer edge of the river's Great Horseshoe Bend a few miles south of the Ross County line. Samuel Wilson, who came from Kentucky in 1796, built the first flour-mill in Pike County on the spot. George Corwine started a one-burr mill there in 1825, powered by Wilson's Run; when the Ohio and Erie Canal came, the mill bought water-power from the state, and in 1849 Slain & McAllister paid $100 a year for thirty-five years of it. By 1883 the village, with perhaps 300 people (115 in 1860), had eight general stores, two blacksmiths, a tile works, a spoke-and-rim factory and the old mill, and the county historian called it 'the most thriving town in the county, excepting Waverly.' The 1958 county history says Sharonville was by then known as Omega.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Waverly City57% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Ross County Water Co. Inc14% of residentsTeays Valley Aquifer (buried valley groundwater)
• Beaver13% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Lake White9% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Pike Water, Inc.-plant7% of residentsTeays Valley Buried Valley Aquifer (wells near Jasper)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-02-12
• Financial Audit, 2021 to 2022, released 2025-06-24

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