Jackson Township, Shelby County

How Jackson Township, Shelby County began

Jackson Township, in the northeastern corner of Shelby County on the Auglaize and Logan county lines, was among the last parts of the county to be settled: James McCormick of Greene County entered land in 1831, and only a handful of families followed before 1840. It was organized in 1833, and its land includes the McPherson section, a square mile granted by the 1818 St. Marys treaty to a former captive who had lived among Native people, and part of the Lewistown reservation of the Shawnee and Seneca. Jackson Centre was platted in 1835 and Montra in 1849, and a Seventh Day Baptist congregation gathered in 1840 became one of the township's oldest churches. Heavy timber and wet ground made clearing slow, and drainage was still unfinished in 1883.

Settled 1831, incorporated 1833 (organized as a township), by Shelby County commissioners; first settler James McCormick.

Where the name comes from

Jackson Township is one of thirty-seven townships in Ohio named Jackson; given its 1833 organization date, during Andrew Jackson's presidency (1829-1837), the name probably honors him, following a nationwide wave of Jackson-named townships in that era, though no source we found states the naming explicitly for this township.

Before the town

Two treaty land titles lie inside Jackson Township. The McPherson section, 640 acres, was granted by the 1818 treaty at St. Marys to James McPherson, 'who was taken prisoner by the Indians, and has ever since lived among them,' to be located beside the Lewistown grant; the 1883 county history says it lies wholly in this township, and settlers bought parts of it in the 1840s. The Lewistown reservation of forty-eight square miles, set aside by the same treaty for Shawnee chiefs led by Quatawape (Captain Lewis) and Seneca chiefs including Civil John, also extends from Logan County into the township. That reservation was bounded on one side by the 1795 Greenville Treaty line, so this corner of the county was not part of the 1795 cession; an earlier version of this page said it was, and that has been corrected. The Lewistown lands were given up in 1831. Shawnee and Miami held the surrounding country in the 18th century, with Ottawa and Wyandot bands farther north and west.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Wyandot, Ottawa.

• McPherson section (grant to James McPherson) (treaty) — Jackson Township; 640 acres beside the Lewistown grant, 1818 (archive.org)
• Lewistown reservation (Shawnee and Seneca) (treaty) — extends into Jackson Township from Logan County, 1818-1831 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1831 — James McCormick of Greene County entered land in section 34, the only family known to have come that early.
2. 1833 — Jackson Township is organized as one of Shelby County's fourteen townships.
3. 1834 — Thomas Cathcart of Montgomery County entered land in section 33 in March, following Andrew Nogle, who came from Fairfield County in 1833.
4. 1835-05-04 — The plat of Jackson Centre, twenty-four lots in sections 10 and 15 surveyed by J. A. Wells for Calvin Davis, J. P. Forsythe, John S. Babcock and others, was recorded; E. P. Stout became first postmaster and first merchant.
5. 1839 — Daniel Davis built the first mill in the township, a horse mill in section 3 grinding wheat, buckwheat and corn.
6. 1840-03-22 — Elder James Bailey organized the Jackson Centre Seventh Day Baptist Church at Solomon Sayrs's house with about thirty members; it built a log church in 1842.
7. 1845 — Peter Hawver of Miami County bought 160 acres of the McPherson survey, and George Hawver settled on the same survey about a year later.
8. 1849 — Joel Babcock and sons built a steam sawmill at Jackson Centre; it burned in December 1868 and was rebuilt in 1869.
9. 1849-05-22 — Montra was surveyed in section 18 for William and Isaac Mahuren; its first storekeeper, a Mahuren, carried goods and mail on foot from Port Jefferson.
10. 1851 — St. Jacob's Lutheran Church was organized in April at Jacob Zorn Sr.'s house by Rev. George Spangler and built a hewed-log church that summer; a brick church followed in 1877.
11. 1860 — St. Emanuel's Lutheran Church was organized at Montra by Rev. Henry King; its 1862 frame church burned in 1874 and was replaced in 1875.
12. 1871-11-25 — Epler Lodge No. 458, F. and A.M., was organized at Montra; it moved to Jackson Centre on December 17, 1877.
13. 1982-05-13 — Emanuel Lutheran Church of Montra was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
14. 2020 — The U.S. Census records 2,414 residents in Jackson Township, including the village of Jackson Center and the unincorporated community of Montra.

Stories

The McPherson section

Among the grants written into the 1818 treaty at St. Marys was one section of 640 acres to James McPherson, described in the treaty schedule as a man 'taken prisoner by the Indians' who had lived among them ever since. He was to locate it in a square beside the Lewistown grant of the Shawnee and Seneca, wherever he thought proper, and the 1883 county history says the whole section lies in Jackson Township. The same treaty set aside the forty-eight-square-mile Lewistown reservation, which also reaches into the township from Logan County. After white settlement began, the McPherson land passed to farmers: in 1845 Peter Hawver of Miami County bought 160 acres of the McPherson survey, and George Hawver settled on it a year later.

A Seventh Day Baptist congregation in the woods

On March 22, 1840, Elder James Bailey, with Elders Simeon Babcock and S. A. Davis, organized a Seventh Day Baptist church at Solomon Sayrs's house near Jackson Centre with about thirty members, most of them from the Davis, Babcock, Knight, Hughes and Loofborough families. They met in members' homes until 1842, when they built a hewed-log church west of the village. Simeon Babcock served as minister for more than twenty years. A frame church a quarter mile west of Jackson Centre was dedicated in September 1859, and in 1881-82 the society built a new church in the village at a cost of about $2,000. In 1883 it counted about 108 members.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Shelby County on the full map

Groundwater wells (4 wells) The water here

• Jackson Center Village79% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Anna Village13% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Botkins Village5% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Mccartyville Well Association3% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Kettlersville Well Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Power plants (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 3 of 3 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-24

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