Jeromesville

How Jeromesville began

Jeromesville was platted in 1815 by Christian Deardorf and William Vaughn on land bought from Jean Baptiste Jerome, a French-Canadian fur trader, a short distance from the site of Jerometown, an abandoned Native village on the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River where, according to the 1880 county history, Jerome, Captain Pipe and a number of Delawares (Lenape) settled about 1796 or 1797. A post office opened in 1816 under the earlier spelling Jeromeville. The village grew as a small crossroads community in Mohican Township and includes the Lakefork School, southeast of the village, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and established, in 2018, the first legally chartered Junior Village Council in Ohio.

Platted 1815, by Christian Deardorf and William Vaughn.

Where the name comes from

Jeromesville takes its name from Jean (John) Baptiste Jerome, a French-Canadian fur trader and early settler from whom Christian Deardorf and William Vaughn purchased the land they platted as the village in 1815; the village was first spelled Jeromeville.

Before the town

Jeromesville was platted in 1815 near the site of Jerometown, an abandoned Native village. According to the 1880 Ashland County history, after the 1795 Treaty of Greenville the French-Canadian trader Jean Baptiste Jerome, Captain Pipe and a number of Delawares (Lenape) left the northwest and settled on the south side of the stream, about three-quarters of a mile from the present village, probably as early as 1796 or 1797; the stream became known as the Jerome Fork. Surveyor Joseph Larwill found Jerome, his wife and daughter in their cabin in 1806-07, and Captain Pipe built a wigwam about a mile from Jerome. A short time before the War of 1812 Captain Pipe and all his Delawares except three or four friendly families quietly slipped away to join their friends in the northwest. Jerome's wife and daughter were taken to Urbana in 1812 with the Greentown Indians, according to the account the historian accepted. Wikipedia notes that Jerometown is often equated with the mid-1700s village of Mohican Johnstown, but that village was not at this location.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

• Jerometown (village) — on the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River, about three-quarters of a mile south-southwest of present Jeromesville, Ashland County, occupied from about 1796-97 until shortly before 1812 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1796 — Baptiste Jerome, a French-Canadian trader with a Lenape wife, settles on the south bank of the stream that is later called the Jerome Fork, as early as 1796 or 1797 according to the 1880 county history; Captain Pipe builds a wigwam about a mile from him.
2. 1806 — Surveyor Joseph Larwill finds Jerome with his wife and daughter in a cabin southeast of the future mill site, with thirty-five or forty acres cleared along the bottom and planted in corn.
3. 1812 — Shortly before the War of 1812 Captain Pipe and all his Delawares except three or four friendly families slip away to join their friends in the northwest; the Hill county history accepts the account that Captain Douglas took Jerome's wife and daughter to Urbana with the Greentown Indians, and says both were dead before the war ended.
4. 1812-09 — Settlers on the Jerome Fork gather in the Jeromeville block-house after the fight at James Copus's cabin; General Beall's brigade passes through in October and camps three miles away.
5. 1815 — Christian Deardorf and William Vaughn plat the village of Jeromeville (later Jeromesville) on land purchased from Jean Baptiste Jerome.
6. 1816 — A post office opens in the village.
7. 1817 — Constance Lake of Jeromesville erects a small log grist mill where Goudy's mill later stands.
8. 1836 — William Goudy and his sons build the large grist mill at Jeromesville, with a sawmill attached and good water power.
9. 1982 — The Lakefork School, southeast of Jeromesville in Mohican Township, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 5, 1982.
10. 2000 — The census counts 478 residents in Jeromesville.
11. 2010 — The census counts 562 residents in Jeromesville.
12. 2018 — Mayor Randy Spade establishes the Jeromesville Junior Council for grades 5-8, the first Junior Village Council codified into law in Ohio.
13. 2020 — The census counts 531 residents in Jeromesville.

Stories

A village named for the man who bought the land, not the people who lived on it

When Christian Deardorf and William Vaughn platted their village in 1815 they named it for Jean Baptiste Jerome, the French-Canadian trader who had sold them the land. Wikipedia says the plat lay near the site of an abandoned Native village called Jerometown. The 1880 county history places Jerome, Captain Pipe and a number of Delawares there from about 1796 or 1797, on the south side of the stream three-quarters of a mile from the future village; Jerome had a cabin and some thirty-five or forty acres of bottom land cleared and planted in corn, and Pipe's wigwam stood about a mile away. The stream took the name Jerome Fork. Shortly before the War of 1812 Pipe and nearly all of his Delawares left for the northwest. The village name, first spelled Jeromeville, is the trader's.

The trader on the Jerome Fork

Baptiste Jerome, the French-Canadian trader for whom the creek and the village are named, lived on the south bank of the stream in a cabin near the foot of what became Main Street, with thirty-five or forty acres of bottom land cleared and planted in corn. Surveyors found him there in 1806-07 with his Lenape wife and their daughter, and Captain Pipe's wigwam stood about a mile away. In 1812, as war came, Pipe and nearly all his people slipped away to the northwest. Pioneers gave differing accounts of what followed. Some said that when Captain Murray came to build the block-house, General Beall had Jerome arrested and held at Wooster, while Murray sent his wife and daughter to Urbana, where they died of exposure. The 1880 county historian accepted the other account, that Captain Douglas took them to Urbana with the Greentown Indians while Jerome stayed to look after his stock and cabin. Mother and daughter were both dead before the war ended, and the historian wrote that Jerome often reproached the military for enforcing so cruel an edict.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Jeromesville Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2025: 1 of 2 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 2.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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