Knox Township, Holmes County

How Knox Township, Holmes County began

Knox Township, in the western part of Holmes County, was one of fourteen townships whose number and boundaries the county commissioners fixed in December 1825, and its boundaries have not changed since. Settlement began about 1816, with the DeWitt, Harris and Mackey families among the first, and in 1833 the nearby crossroads of Nashville had six houses, one tavern and a post office called Drake's. Nashville's Presbyterian congregation split from Hopewell in 1845, met in a small Lutheran log church for nine years and built its own in 1854. Today the township has 1,144 residents (2020), and the northern part of the village of Nashville lies inside it.

Settled c. 1816 (DeWitts, Harrises and Mackeys among the first families), incorporated December 1825 (township No. 5 of 14; boundaries fixed by the county commissioners and unchanged since).

Where the name comes from

Not found in the sources checked; Knox is one of five Ohio townships of that name. G. F. Newton's 1876 history shows David H. Knox among the 1810 settlers of Martin's Creek (elected the county's first justice of the peace in April 1811), but no source ties him or any person to the township's name.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or trail within Knox Township is recorded in the sources consulted. Newton's 1876 history reports an Indian boundary line running diagonally across Holmes County and the Delaware (Lenape) towns of Killbuck's Town and White Woman's Town on the Killbuck, east and south of the township. Howe's 1888 Ohio history places the nearer Delaware village of Helltown, which sheltered chiefs including Thomas Armstrong and, occasionally, Captain Pipe, on the Clear Fork of the Mohican in Green Township, Ashland County, and says its people founded Greentown near Perrysville in 1783. A Holmes County library township page states that Knox Township itself contained villages called Hell Town and Pipe Town and that the Greenville Treaty line crosses it, but we could not confirm that claim, and Howe's location of Helltown conflicts with it.

• Helltown (Delaware village) (village) — Clear Fork of the Mohican, south line of Green Township, Ashland County, northwest of Knox Township and not within it, 1700s, abandoned by 1783 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. c. 1816 — Settlements began in Richland and Knox townships; the DeWitts, Harrises and Mackeys were among the first families.
2. 1825 — At their December session the county commissioners fixed the number and boundaries of Holmes County's townships, Knox being No. 5 of fourteen; the boundaries have not changed.
3. 1833 — Nashville, then reckoned in Washington Township, was a small post village with six houses and one tavern; its post office was called Drake's.
4. 1840 — The census counted 1,178 people in Knox Township.
5. 1845 — In spring, 64 members of the Hopewell Presbyterian church formed the Nashville church, with David T. Finney Sr., Washington Finney and Samuel McGuire as elders and Rev. S. Diefendorf as pastor.
6. 1854 — The Nashville Presbyterian congregation, which had worshipped nine years in a small log church belonging to the Lutherans, built its own church edifice.
7. 1863 — In June the 'Holmes County Rebellion' against the draft broke out in neighboring Richland Township; 420 soldiers under Colonel Wallace landed at Lake Station on June 17 and left after a few days.
8. 1871 — The church at Black Creek was organized with twelve members transferred from the Nashville church.
9. 1880 — Knox Township had 1,005 people, down from 1,178 in 1840, unusual among the county's townships; Nashville had 217.
10. 1888 — Nashville, eleven miles northwest of Millersburg, had about 300 people and Black Creek, twelve miles west on the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad, about 250.
11. 1910 — The village of Nashville counted 268 people, up from 208 in 1870.
12. 1990 — Knox Township had 972 residents, rising to 1,095 in 2000 and 1,117 in 2010.
13. 2020 — Knox Township had 1,144 residents on 27.9 square miles; Nashville, part of which lies in the township, had 183.

Stories

The congregation that outgrew Hopewell

In the spring of 1845 sixty-four members of the Hopewell Presbyterian church, the oldest organized church in Holmes County, withdrew to form a church at Nashville. They elected David T. Finney Sr., Washington Finney and Samuel McGuire elders, and Rev. S. Diefendorf, who had served Hopewell since 1844, became pastor of both. For nine years the new congregation met in a small log church belonging to the Lutherans, and in 1854 it built its own. In 1871 twelve of its members left to organize the church at Black Creek. Rev. E. B. Caldwell, who preached the history of both churches on July 9, 1876, counted thirty-one years of Nashville history, fourteen ruling elders, and four pastors.

The rebellion in the hills next door

Knox Township sits beside Richland, the southwestern corner township where the Holmes County Rebellion took place. It began in June 1863 when the enrolling officer met resistance preparing a draft for the army. Rumor told Governor Tod of a fortified camp with pickets, entrenchments and cannon, and he proclaimed that the malcontents must disperse and sent 420 soldiers, mainly from Camp Chase, with a section of a battery under Colonel Wallace. They landed at Lake Station in the western part of the county on June 17, stayed a few days and returned. A few men were arrested and indicted, but all the indictments except one were dropped. Henry Howe wrote in 1888 that the accounts were so contradictory that further inquiry would yield no satisfaction.

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

Groundwater wells (2 wells) The water here

• Nashville Village37% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Loudonville Village31% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Glenmont Village25% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Big Prairie Community Water Company7% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Shale and injection wells (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2017: 2 of 2 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 2025-06-03

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