Lewis Township, Brown County

How Lewis Township, Brown County began

Lewis Township was organized from Washington Township by the Commissioners of Clermont County on June 2, 1807, and is said to take its name from one of its earliest pioneers, who settled near its western boundary before moving to Batavia. Alexander Hamilton, an Irish immigrant, is believed to have taken the first squatter's claim in the township in the 1790s; Col. Robert Higgins crossed the Ohio River in the spring of 1799 and occupied a cabin on the site that became Higginsport, researched separately. It lies in the county's southwestern corner along the Ohio River, with the unincorporated community of Feesburg to the north.

Settled 1790s (Alexander Hamilton, squatter's claim), incorporated 1807-06-02, by Commissioners of Clermont County, from Washington Township.

Where the name comes from

The township is said to have received its name from one of its earliest pioneers, who settled near its western boundary but subsequently moved to Batavia, Clermont County; the 1883 county history does not give this pioneer's name.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound or trail specific to Lewis Township is recorded in the sources checked, though the 1883 county history notes pre-historic mounds within the township, including a conical mound roughly fifteen feet high and sixty-five to seventy feet in diameter on the farm of Lewis Bolender, some of which yielded stone implements when excavated. The township lies within the 1795 Treaty of Greenville cession and the Virginia Military District, and its Ohio River frontage places it in the same river corridor long used by Shawnee and Miami travelers.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

• Lewis Bolender mound (mound) — Farm of Lewis Bolender, Lewis Township, pre-historic (unspecified culture) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1790s — Alexander Hamilton, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, takes a squatter's claim about two miles from the river ferry, believed to be the first settlement in the township; he sells the claim to Joseph Clark, Sr. in 1795.
2. 1795 — Joseph Clark, Sr. emigrates from Pennsylvania with his wife and six children and builds a log cabin on the Hamilton claim, becoming the township's second known settler; part of the cabin still stood as part of his grandson's residence in 1883.
3. 1799 — Col. Robert Higgins crosses the Ohio River in the spring and occupies a rude cabin on the site that becomes Higginsport; his son John J. Higgins is born there in 1800, and his daughter Lydia later marries Gen. Thomas L. Hamer, for whom Hamersville in Clark Township is named.
4. 1800 — John Boude purchases 400 acres and opens a ferry from the present site of Augusta, Kentucky to the Ohio side, landing many pioneers on Brown County soil; he later serves as the first Sheriff of Clermont County.
5. 1800 — James Roney erects a mill on White Oak Creek about eight miles from its mouth, the first mill in Lewis Township and believed the first in the county; it runs until about 1860.
6. 1802 — A cabin for school purposes is said to be built near Boude's ferry landing, with Thomas Bonwell one of the early teachers.
7. 1807-06-02 — The township is organized from Washington Township by the Commissioners of Clermont County.
8. 1817 — John Boude, who opened a ferry from Augusta, Kentucky about 1800, builds the first brick house in the region; a tornado sweeps it away in February 1858 and it is rebuilt on the same spot with the same brick.
9. 1818 — Elder Matthew Gardner of the Christian Church organizes Union Church at the Shinkle's Ridge settlement, the township's first religious society; by 1819 it has grown to over two hundred members.
10. 1818 — William Davidson starts the fourth grist-mill enterprise in the township on White Oak Creek about three and a half miles from its mouth.
11. 1820 — John Rankin, the noted pioneer minister, organizes the first Presbyterian congregation in the township at John Clark's house, later known as Ebenezer Church; Zion Methodist begins as a class at Benjamin Sells's house the same year.
12. 1821 — The Union Church at Shinkle's Ridge builds a stone chapel, 44 by 64 feet, replaced in 1852 by a brick church costing about $1,500.
13. 1835 — Thomas J. Fee lays out Feesburg, in the north central part of the township; Joseph Barker teaches its first school about 1844, and a frame schoolhouse is built in 1846.
14. 1840 — Farmers in the township turn to tobacco growing about this year; by 1881 it has become the main crop.
15. 1841-07-24 — The Presbyterian church at Feesburg is founded, and its brick building, 40 by 50 feet, goes up within a short time under building committee Daniel Trout and William Bucher.
16. 1854-05-03 — The Christian Church at Feesburg, the second outgrowth of Union Church, is organized by Elder C. C. Phillips; its gothic brick church is finished in 1855 for $2,033.
17. 1881 — The township has fifteen schoolhouses worth $8,650 and counts 657 school-age children, 27 of them Black.
18. 2020 — The census counts 2,393 people in Lewis Township, which holds the village of Higginsport.

Stories

How Bullskin Creek got its name

An early settler named Richardson gave Bullskin Creek its name in pioneer times, after finding a bovine hide dangling from the branches of a tree near the stream's mouth. He supposed the body of the animal had lodged there and been stripped during a flood, leaving the hanging hide as a strange marker that gave the creek, and much of the township's central and western drainage, its lasting name.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Tate-monroe Water Association40% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (collector/vertical wells)
• Georgetown Village31% of residentsOhio River Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Felicity Village14% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Hamersville Village12% of residentsOhio River Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Brown County Rural Water2% of residentsOhio River Valley Aquifer (wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

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