Jefferson Township, Logan County

How Jefferson Township, Logan County began

Jefferson Township was formed in 1813 out of Zane Township, in the east-central part of Logan County that includes the village of Zanesfield. Its first white settler was Isaac Zane, who had been captured as a boy by the Wyandot and lived among them for years before settling here around 1800 and building the village's first house in 1811; a Quaker family named Marmon arrived in 1805 and is remembered as the county's first white families. The township's Quaker heritage produced the Goshen Friends Church, said to be the oldest church in Logan County, and the Martin Marmon House, a Quaker-plan farmhouse from around 1820 that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Settled 1800, incorporated 1813, by formed from Zane Township in 1813; first settled by Isaac Zane about 1800 and the Marmon family in 1805.

Where the name comes from

No source consulted gives a specific naming story for Jefferson Township beyond the common practice of naming Ohio townships for American presidents; Zanesfield, the township's village, is named directly for early settler Isaac Zane.

Before the town

Jefferson Township's defining native history is the life of Isaac Zane. Captured by Wyandot raiders around age nine near his family's home in present West Virginia around 1762, Zane was adopted into the tribe and lived among them for roughly seventeen years, becoming known as 'Ojaageht' or 'Great White Eagle.' Around 1771-1777 he married Myeerah (also called White Crane or Walk-in-the-Water), daughter of Wyandot chief Tarhe, in a union that was as much a political alliance between the Zane family and the Wyandot as a marriage, and Zane served afterward as an interpreter and go-between in Wyandot dealings with settlers and the British. Zane and Myeerah eventually settled at the site that became Zanesfield, where Zane built the village's first house in 1811; most of their seven children married into the Wyandot and followed the tribe west, first to the Wyandot reservation at Upper Sandusky and then, after the 1842 removal treaty, to Kansas. Both Isaac and Myeerah died in 1816 and are buried at Zanesfield. The township was also part of the wider Mad River valley area that was Shawnee territory before 1786.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee.

• Zanesfield (Isaac Zane's settlement) (other) — Zanesfield, Jefferson Township, c. 1800-1816 (hmdb.org)

Timeline

1. 1800 — Isaac Zane, raised among the Wyandot after his capture as a boy, settled at the site that became Zanesfield.
2. 1805 — Martin Marmon, a Quaker from North Carolina, arrived from Kentucky with his brothers and their families, remembered locally as the first white families in Logan County.
3. 1811 — Isaac Zane built the first house at Zanesfield.
4. 1813 — Jefferson Township was formed out of Zane Township.
5. 1816 — Isaac Zane and his wife Myeerah, daughter of Wyandot chief Tarhe, both died and were buried at Zanesfield.
6. c. 1820 — Martin Marmon built the Quaker-plan farmhouse near Zanesfield now known as the Martin Marmon House.
7. 1986 — The Martin Marmon House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 20.

Stories

The captive who became a Wyandot diplomat

Isaac Zane was about nine years old when Wyandot raiders took him from his family's home near Moorefield, in what is now West Virginia, around 1762. Rather than being ransomed back, he was adopted into the tribe and grew up among them, taking the name Ojaageht, or Great White Eagle, and spending roughly seventeen years learning Wyandot ways. As a young man he married Myeerah, daughter of the powerful Wyandot chief Tarhe, in a match that bound the Zane family to the Wyandot leadership and made Isaac a trusted translator and negotiator between the tribe, the British, and American settlers through the Revolutionary War era. In the early 1800s Zane and Myeerah settled on the Mad River at the site that became Zanesfield in Jefferson Township, where he built the village's first house in 1811. Most of their seven children grew up Wyandot and moved west with the tribe, first to the reservation at Upper Sandusky and then, after the 1842 treaty, to Kansas -- but Isaac and Myeerah themselves stayed at Zanesfield, where both died in 1816 and are buried today.

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

Every historic place in Logan County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Bellefontaine City95% of residentslocal wells (shallow carbonate aquifer)
• Mountainview Mobile Village5% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

High-hazard dams (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-23
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-09-24

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