Marion Township, Hancock County

How Marion Township, Hancock County began

Marion Township was organized December 6, 1830, when Hancock County commissioners divided Findlay and Amanda townships, and was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, the 'Swamp Fox' of South Carolina. The earliest land claim in the township was Elnathan Cory's, entered in November 1822; settlement proper began soon after with Asher Wickham, Joseph Sargeant, and Othniel Wells in the township's western portion. The township held its first election in April 1831 with thirteen voters, built its first schoolhouse in 1836, and got a post office at Daniel Opp's tavern in 1837, first named 'Crow.' Today it borders the city of Findlay on the township's west side and remains a rural, agricultural township in the center of the county.

Settled 1822 (first land claim, Elnathan Cory, November 1822), incorporated township organized December 6, 1830, by Hancock County commissioners, dividing Findlay and Amanda townships.

Where the name comes from

The township was 'named in honor of the dashing South Carolina Ranger, Francis Marion, of Revolutionary notoriety' according to the 1881 county history.

Before the town

The 1886 county history records that deer licks on the Blanchard, on Allen Wisely's farm in Section 23, were a great resort for Indian and white hunters, and that when Wisely settled there in the fall of 1830 there were seats in several nearby trees which he supposed the Indians had built. That is the only Native-related record found for the township. No village, mound or trail is recorded here in the 1881 or 1886 histories; Spayth's 1903 list of Hancock County mounds names other townships but not Marion. The land was ceded by the Treaty of the Maumee Rapids (1817).

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

• Deer licks and hunters' tree seats on Allen Wisely's farm (other) — Section 23, on the Blanchard River, Marion Township, before 1830 (ohiogenealogyexpress.com)

Timeline

1. 1822 — Elnathan Cory makes the first recorded land entry in what would become Marion Township, in November.
2. 1827 — Joseph A. Sargent builds the first cabin in Marion's forest on Section 21; the 1886 history says no opening had been made before.
3. 1828 — Joshua Powell and family build a cabin on Section 22 about three miles above Findlay; in December 1829 John Trout's family stops overnight there on its way to Van Buren.
4. 1830 — Hancock County commissioners organize Marion Township on December 6, dividing it from Findlay and Amanda townships and naming it for Francis Marion.
5. 1830 — Allen Wisely settles in the fall near the deer licks on the Blanchard in Section 23 and enters his land on December 28; seats built in the nearby trees, which he supposed the Indians had made, were still standing.
6. 1831 — The township holds its first election in April, with thirteen votes cast.
7. 1832 — Barnabas De Witt dies in August of a malignant fever then raging through the settlement; his widow and three children return to the Ohio River.
8. 1833 — Cass Township is cut off Marion on March 4, leaving Marion with 24 sections.
9. 1836 — The first schoolhouse in the township is built on William Marvin's farm.
10. 1837 — A post office named 'Crow' is established at Daniel Opp's tavern in the township.
11. 1839 — Daniel Opp dies about two years after opening his tavern and Crow post office, and the office expires with him; Marion has no post office after that.
12. 1880 — The population is 987, below the 1,064 of 1860 (707 in 1840, 904 in 1850 and 990 in 1870).
13. 1881 — Marion has six school buildings enrolling 322 youths, a Union Bethel church that replaced the township's first church, a Baptist one on William Davis's farm, and besides it three United Brethren churches and one Methodist Episcopal.
14. 2020 — The census counts 3,097 people in Marion Township, which borders Findlay.

Stories

A post office named Crow

When Marion Township's first post office opened in 1837, it was not named for the township or for any local family but 'Crow'. According to the 1881 county history, Daniel Opp put up a frame building on the farm later owned by Edward Wiseley, began keeping tavern there, and had the post office established at his place under the name Crow, with himself as postmaster. The history gives no reason for the name. About two years later Opp died, and the post office expired with him; the 1881 historian adds that there had been no post office in the township since. The tavern post office had tied a scattered farming township, only seven years after its organization, into the county's mail.

Deer licks on the Blanchard

Along the Blanchard on the farm of Allen Wisely in Section 23, Marion Township has sulphur springs that the county histories call deer licks, and that were a great resort for both Indian and white hunters in the pioneer days. Wisely told the 1886 historian that when he settled there in the fall of 1830 there were seats in several of the trees close to the licks, which he supposed the Indians had built. A hunter seated comfortably in a tree could shoot the unsuspecting deer without much exertion. Wisely lived long enough, the 1881 historian notes, to see the township change from unbroken wilderness to fruitful fields, and he was elected justice of the peace five times between 1838 and 1868. His land entry is dated December 28, 1830.

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

Blanchard River, pumped into the two Findlay upground reservoirs east of the city in Marion Township (with a direct river intake as backup) The water here

• Findlay City100% of residentsFindlay's two upground reservoirs, filled by pumping from the Blanchard River

Power plants (1)

High-hazard dams (2)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026 edition (Directory of Officials): county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-07-28

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