Lykens Township, Crawford County

How Lykens Township, Crawford County began

Lykens Township, in the northwestern part of Crawford County, was among the last-settled townships in the county owing to its wet, alluvial soil; settlement came from two directions at once, from Seneca County in the north beginning about 1825 and from the east and south about five years later. Organized in 1831 or 1832, it was named for Lykens, Pennsylvania, at the suggestion of German settler Jacob Lintner after his own preferred choice (which lost to a rival candidate's suggestion, 'Fayette') failed to gain support. Christopher Keggy, a squatter-hunter who arrived in 1825, is remembered as its probable first settler; Jacob Foy, the first permanent settler, hosted the township's founding election at his own cabin in 1832. No incorporated municipality lies within the township; the village of Lykens was laid out in 1870.

Settled 1825 (Christopher Keggy, probable first settler, a squatter-hunter), platted 1870 (village of Lykens), incorporated 1831 or 1832, by German immigrant settler Jacob Lintner suggested the name Lykens, for the Pennsylvania town he and fellow German settlers near Portersville had come from, after a rival petition for 'Fayette' failed; Jacob Foy, first permanent settler, hosted the township's first election at his cabin.

Where the name comes from

Named for Lykens, Pennsylvania, the hometown of German settler Jacob Lintner and several countrymen who had just settled near Portersville; Lintner's suggestion won out over a rival petition from Jacob Foy, who had wanted the township named 'Fayette' but could not command sufficient support.

Before the town

No site-specific Native villages, trails, or treaty lines within Lykens Township itself were found in the sources checked, though a portion of the township (parts of Sections 31, 32 and 33) belonged to the Wyandot Reservation until it was annexed to Lykens in 1835. Christopher Keggy, the township's probable first settler, arrived before the War of 1812 and lived a life the 1881 county history describes as 'a succession of adventures with wild animals and with Indians,' though no specific incident is preserved.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1825 — Christopher Keggy, a squatter and noted hunter who had come to Ohio before the War of 1812, builds a small log cabin in the township's northwestern corner; he sells his claim and leaves in 1830.
2. 1828 — Jacob Foy, John Elliott, Jacob Lintner, Joseph Trask, Gottlieb Hoss, Christopher Keggy, Joseph Hall, Jacob Miller and others are established in rude log cabins in the township.
3. 1831-1832 — Lykens Township is formally organized, named for Lykens, Pennsylvania; officers are elected that spring at Jacob Foy's cabin, including Benjamin Huddle as Justice of the Peace and Jacob Foy among the township's first Trustees.
4. 1832 — A large body of German immigrants arrives directly from Germany and takes up nearly all the remaining land in the township's southern part within three or four years, many having entered land sight-unseen only to find it flooded.
5. 1835 — The portion of the township that had belonged to the Wyandot Reservation (parts of Sections 31, 32 and 33) is formally annexed to Lykens.
6. 1870 — The village of Lykens is laid out near the township's center.
7. 1878 — The Lykens neighborhood is made an appointment (preaching stop) of the Melmore Circuit.
8. 1893 — After the Northern Ohio Railroad builds near the Buljo church south of the village, the congregation moves its building into Lykens itself.

Stories

Three days lost in the woods

One summer evening, Mrs. Ferguson, wife of early settler James Ferguson, went with her ten-year-old son to bring home the family's cows, which had wandered about a mile from their cabin near Sycamore Creek. The cows, contrary to what she believed, were actually heading straight home through the deep woods, but Mrs. Ferguson mistook their direction and left them to try to find her own way back, only to discover she was hopelessly lost. She called out until her voice gave out, heard only her own echoes and the howl of wolves as darkness fell, and made the wise decision to lie down beside a large log rather than wander further. The ordeal stretched to nearly three full days and two nights, mother and child surviving on a handful of wild berries while search parties combed the woods for them, until on the afternoon of the third day a neighbor's rifle shot finally led a searching party to the exhausted pair.

The hanging that wasn't

For years, Lykens Township settlers lost hogs to a persistent thief, and when a man named Pratt, already fined repeatedly for the same offense, was finally caught in the act of killing a neighbor's hog, the settlers decided fines alone would not solve the problem. Constable and 'Squire' Mays staged an elaborate scare: after hearing the evidence, the justice gravely sentenced Pratt to be hanged from a tree in his own cabin yard, and a rope was produced while the terrified prisoner was deliberately left alone near an open window. Pratt seized the obvious opportunity, leaping through the window and fleeing into the woods while the officers fired their guns and shouted curses after him purely for show, having no intention of actually pursuing him. The ruse worked far better than any court sentence could have: Pratt was never seen in the township again.

A church that followed the railroad

Religious life in Lykens Township grew up around a circuit rather than a single settled congregation. In 1878 the Lykens neighborhood became a preaching appointment on the Melmore Circuit, served by a traveling minister rather than a resident pastor. Two years later the congregation built a frame church a half mile south of the village, known locally as Buljo. The building stayed there for over a decade until 1893, when the Northern Ohio Railroad laid track near the church; rather than let the rail line pass the congregation by, the church itself was moved into the village of Lykens, tying the township's religious center to its new transportation link.

Local history sources: archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · kingarthur.com · heritagepursuit.com · en.wikipedia.org

Every historic place in Seneca County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Bucyrus City45% of residentsSandusky River (via Outhwaite & Riley up-ground reservoirs)
• Bloomville Village43% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Sycamore Village12% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Cite this page