Jefferson Township, Crawford County

How Jefferson Township, Crawford County began

Jefferson Township, in the southeastern corner of Crawford County, was organized in 1873, the last and youngest of the county's townships, named for President Thomas Jefferson. Its land was surveyed in 1807, and its earliest known settler, Westell Ridgely, squatted where the Leesville-Bucyrus road crosses the Sandusky River about 1816-17. The township's ground carries the county's most specific piece of Revolutionary-era history: Col. William Crawford's army halted at the future site of Leesville on June 2, 1782, camped nearby that night on its march to disaster at Upper Sandusky, and passed the same spot again in retreat, all without noticing a nearby camp of Delaware people under war chief Wingenund. Leesville itself, founded in 1828-29 by the Rev. Robert Lee, grew alongside Middletown (founded by Henry Hershner) and North Robinson (founded by Col. William Robinson, 1830), and its wagon-maker Peter Wert, known as 'Black Pete,' ran a station of the Underground Railroad from his home before the Civil War.

Settled c. 1816-1817 (Westell Ridgely), platted 1828-1829 (Leesville, by Rev. Robert Lee), incorporated 1873, by Organized as a township in 1873, the last of Crawford County's townships to be formed; land surveyed 1807 by Maxfield Ludlow.

Where the name comes from

Named for President Thomas Jefferson, one of twenty-four townships of that name in Ohio; formed in 1873 from the twenty western sections of the older Jackson Township after residents there objected to the eastern sections (including Crestline) controlling township offices.

Before the town

The most specific Native American history recorded for any part of Crawford County sits within this township. On June 2, 1782, Col. William Crawford's army, marching to destroy Wyandot towns on the Sandusky, halted for half an hour at about 2 p.m. on the riverbank where Leesville now stands before camping for the night near the eastern edge of the Sandusky Plains; after the disastrous battles of Sandusky and Olentangy and Crawford's capture and execution, the retreating American army under Williamson passed back through the same spot and camped again within a mile of the pursuing Delaware and British force, losing two soldiers captured and tomahawked the next morning. Directly north of Leesville, unnoticed by either Crawford or Williamson as they marched past to the south, stood a camp of Delaware (Lenape) people under war chief Wingenund. Decades later, Wyandot and Seneca families living near the Christian Snyder farm helped that pioneer family build its cabin and supplied them with game after their 1817 arrival. The traditional capture site of Col. Crawford himself lies about 0.5 miles east of State Route 598 and County Road 229, east of Leesville; Crawford was captured by Lenape warriors on June 7, 1782, and executed near Upper Sandusky on June 11. The capture site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 1979.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Wyandot, Seneca, Shawnee.

• Col. William Crawford Capture Site (other) — 0.5 miles east of SR 598 and CR 229, east of Leesville, Jefferson Township, 1782 (en.wikipedia.org)
• Wingenund's Delaware camp (camp) — directly north of Leesville, on land later owned by Joseph Brown and John Newman, 1782 (Crawford campaign) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1782-06-02 — Col. William Crawford's army halts for half an hour on the Sandusky riverbank where Leesville now stands, then camps for the night nearby on its march toward the Wyandot towns.
2. 1782-06-07 — Colonel William Crawford, retreating from the defeated Sandusky expedition, was captured by Lenape warriors near present-day Leesville, in what would become Jefferson Township.
3. c. 1816-1817 — Westell Ridgely becomes the township's earliest known settler, squatting with his family where the Leesville-Bucyrus road crosses the Sandusky River.
4. 1820-05-17 — A powerful cyclone, remembered as 'the Windfall,' flattens forest across part of the township, destroying settlers' cabins, barns and provisions and driving some as far as Coshocton in search of corn.
5. 1828-1829 — The Rev. Robert Lee, an Irish-born Presbyterian minister, buys 160 acres from Jacob Snyder and lays out the town of Leesville, named for himself.
6. 1830 — Col. William Robinson, a War of 1812 veteran, purchases the land on which North Robinson now stands.
7. 1873 — Jefferson Township is formed from the twenty western sections of Jackson Township, the last of Crawford County's townships to be organized.
8. 1979-04-03 — The Col. William Crawford Capture Site, and Leesville's J & M Trading Post, its annex, and the Leesville Town Hall, were all listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the same date.

Stories

The camp no one noticed

As Col. William Crawford's army marched toward its disastrous defeat at the Sandusky towns in June 1782, it passed within what would become Jefferson Township not once but twice, halting on the riverbank where Leesville now stands, camping nearby, and later retreating back over the same ground with Delaware and British forces harassing its rear. Directly north of that campsite, a group of Delaware people under the war chief Wingenund had their own temporary camp — yet neither Crawford on his march out nor Gen. Williamson on the retreat ever noticed it, both armies passing just to the south. Two American soldiers were captured and tomahawked near this spot during the retreat, and days later Crawford himself was captured farther on and executed near Upper Sandusky — all while a Delaware camp sat quietly, undiscovered, almost within sight of the army's own campfires.

Black Pete of Leesville Cross Roads

Peter Wert, a wagon-maker in Leesville known throughout the township as 'Black Pete,' was a committed opponent of slavery in the years before the Civil War, and his house served as one of the stations of the Underground Railroad. According to the 1881 county history, he aided the cause of escaping slaves to a considerable extent, and many who passed through his hands on their way north had reason to remember him afterward. Wert eventually moved to Missouri, where he was still living when the county historian last had word of him, a quiet footnote to a township whose most famous history otherwise belonged to a Revolutionary-era army that camped and marched through nearly a century before Jefferson Township itself was organized.

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

Every historic place in Crawford County on the full map

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Galion City57% of residentsBlack Fork/Rocky Fork of Olentangy River via Amman, Amick & Powers Reservoirs
• Crestline Village35% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Del-co Water Company, Inc.8% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells
• Spring Valley Mobile Home Park0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Public schools (4)

Spills reported since 2021 (7)

Money issues on the ballot since 2026: 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, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-03-10

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