Jefferson Township, Jackson County

How Jefferson Township, Jackson County began

Jefferson Township, in the southern part of Jackson County, was surveyed in June 1801 and organized by the county auditor on January 25, 1822, taking the name of the third President. Welsh immigrants from Cardiganshire began arriving in the area from 1818 onward, and by the 1830s-40s their numbers were large enough to found Welsh-language congregations; the eastern part of the village of Oak Hill, formed from portions of Jefferson and Madison Townships in 1873, grew as a center of that community. The township's chief 20th-century landmark is Jackson Lake, dammed in 1938 and made a state park in 1979 on ground that once fired 19th-century iron furnaces.

Incorporated 1822-01-25 (organized by the county auditor as the original surveyed Township No. 5, range 18); Wikipedia gives c. 1818, by Jackson County auditor Daniel Hoffman, on petition of citizens; the township was surveyed in June 1801 by John G. Macon.

Where the name comes from

Jackson County's 1900 history says two townships organized a few years after 1816 were 'named for the first and third Presidents,' Washington (1821) and Jefferson (1822); Wikipedia likewise says Jefferson Township honors Thomas Jefferson and that Ohio has other Jefferson townships.

Before the town

Wilson's 1900 History of Jackson County describes a mound near Jefferson Furnace that he calls the Martin Mound: after the furnace was built, men dug into it and found that it had been built of blocks of iron ore covered with earth, and about 15 tons of ore were hauled off to the furnace. He regrets that it was never opened scientifically, thinks the ore and flint point to a 'house mound' type and suggests that others of the kind may exist in the township. He gives no builder or date.

Nations recorded here: Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga), Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee.

• Martin Mound (mound of iron-ore blocks) near Jefferson Furnace (mound) — near Jefferson Furnace, southern Jackson County (the history's section on the township), undated; destroyed after the furnace was built (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1801 — John G. Macon surveys Jefferson Township in June; the same year he surveys the part of Madison Township in township 6, range 17.
2. 1818 — The first Welsh immigrants from Cardiganshire, Wales settle in the Gallia/Jackson County area that includes what became eastern Jefferson Township; larger waves follow in the late 1830s and 1840s.
3. 1822 — On January 25 Jackson County auditor Daniel Hoffman, on petition of citizens, sets the bounds of Jefferson Township as the original surveyed Township No. 5, range 18.
4. 1831 — The last bear killed in Jackson County is shot by William Whitt at the head of Cub Run in Jefferson Township in winter; the Massie boys had chased it from the site where Gallia Furnace was later built.
5. 1834 — Wolves are still heard howling at night in Jefferson Township, according to the history's author, a boyhood resident.
6. 1837 — The Oak Hill post office is established March 11 with Levi Massie as postmaster, the second in the county after Jackson.
7. 1850 — Construction of the Hocking and Scioto railroad begins in Scioto County; the county's subscription to it, the 1900 history says, 'built Oak Hill mostly in Jefferson township instead of in the flatwoods of Madison.'
8. 1869 — The Welsh Congregational Church is completed at what is now 412 E. Main St., Oak Hill, for a congregation of Welsh immigrant miners; its primary builders were Isaac Parry and Thomas Herbert.
9. 1873 — The village of Oak Hill is formed (January 12) from portions of Jefferson and Madison Townships.
10. 1938 — A dam on Black Fork creates Jackson Lake, on ground where 19th-century iron works, including the Jefferson Iron Furnace, once operated.
11. 1978 — The Oak Hill Welsh Congregational Church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (May 23).
12. 1979 — Jackson Lake's surrounding grounds are upgraded from a state reserve to a full state park.

Stories

The Welsh chapel of Oak Hill

The first Welsh settlers reached the Gallia and Jackson county hill country in 1818, drawn by cheap land and, later, by work in the coal and iron trade; many more followed in the late 1830s and 1840s. By the late 1860s their numbers around what became Oak Hill were large enough to build a proper chapel: by 1869 its primary builders, Isaac Parry and Thomas Herbert, had finished a Greek Revival church on Main Street for a congregation of Welsh immigrant miners. Services in the Welsh language continued there and at other Oak Hill-area chapels into the 1920s. The building, now the Welsh-American Heritage Museum, sits on Main Street in a village whose corporate limits straddle Jefferson and Madison Townships, a reminder that this part of Jackson County was, for a century, one of the most concentrated pockets of Welsh culture in the United States.

A lake over an iron furnace

Jefferson Township's forests fed the Hanging Rock Iron Region's charcoal furnaces through the 19th century, and the Jefferson Iron Furnace once stood on Black Fork within the township. In 1938 a dam went in on that same creek, drowning the old furnace ground under Jackson Lake and giving the township a 252-acre reservoir. It served for decades as a modest state reserve with a beach and campground before Ohio upgraded it to a full state park in 1979. Ruins of the furnace are still reported within the park today, a quiet trace of the industry the lake buried.

The mound made of iron ore

Jackson County had many earthworks, but the 1900 county history singles out one near Jefferson Furnace as peculiar. After the furnace was built, men dug into the Martin Mound and found that it was made of blocks of iron ore covered with earth. They hauled about 15 tons of ore to the furnace and, the historian laments, nobody opened the mound scientifically, so any relics inside are unknown. The ore and flint he saw in it suggested to him 'the house mound class' of earthworks, and he urged owners of similar mounds in the township to have them opened by the methods archaeologists prescribed. Neither the builders nor the date are known, and the mound is gone.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Oak Hill, Village Of89% of residentsPurchased: Scioto Co. Regional Water Dist. #1 (Teays Valley Aquifer)
• Jackson, City Of11% of residentsJisco Lake + Hammertown Lake (Jackson City Reservoir)
• Wellston City1% of residentsLake Rupert + Lake Alma (Little Raccoon Creek reservoirs)

High-hazard dams (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (5)

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 2025-11-06

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