Meigsville Township, Morgan County

How Meigsville Township, Morgan County began

Meigsville Township lies in eastern Morgan County and is the only township of that name in Ohio. The 1886 county history calls it one of the earliest settled in the county but says its history has been quiet and uneventful, aside from the experiences of its pioneers. Settlers followed the creeks and the Marietta-Zanesville road: Henry Nichols, John Wilson, John Murray, Isaac Counsil and the Welshes were here before 1808, and Meigs Creek, which waters nearly all of the township, was named for Return J. Meigs Jr. The township's first recorded election, for two justices, was held October 12, 1819, with twenty-five voters. It has never held an incorporated village; its hamlets were Unionville, Mill Grove and Neelyville, and its churches the McKendrie Methodist society (about 1823) and the Pleasant Grove Presbyterians. Today it is home to the Morgan County Airport; the 2020 census recorded 921 residents across 31.4 square miles.

Settled before 1808 (Henry Nichols, John Wilson, John Murray, Isaac Counsil, Andrew and Robert Welsh); Robert McConnel camped on Four Mile Run in 1805, by no organization record survives; the earliest poll book is for the election of October 12, 1819, at which John D. Rutledge and William Horner were chosen justices.

Where the name comes from

The township shares its name with Meigs Creek, which runs through nearly all of it; the 1886 county history says the creek 'was so called in honor of Governor R. J. Meigs' (Return J. Meigs Jr.). The history does not say in so many words that the township took the creek's name.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound or trail specific to Meigsville Township was found. The 1886 county history's Meigsville chapter mentions no Native people, though it notes that the Marietta road and the creeks were the first routes and that the uplands were 'excellent hunting-ranges' for pioneers. The township lies in the Ohio Company and Congress lands of the Muskingum valley, ceded by the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

Timeline

1. 1805 — Robert McConnel, then 68, camps one night with a party of prospectors at Cave Rock on Four Mile Run, on John Harman's land, and writes his name on the smooth rock with a piece of red stone; wolves howl all night.
2. before 1808 — Henry Nichols, John Wilson (a wheelwright), John Murray, Isaac Counsil and Andrew and Robert Welsh are among the earliest settlers; until a mill is built they go to mill at Olive Green or at Luke Chute on the Muskingum, a trip taking two or three days.
3. 1814 — John D. Parmiter, who had planned to settle on the Scioto, leases an unimproved piece of section 3 on Meigs Creek, where about six families then live; he later moves into Bristol Township.
4. 1817 — John D. Rutledge, a Maryland native, brings his wife and nine children from Brooke County, Virginia by wagon; he becomes the township's first justice of the peace and holds the office twenty-one years.
5. 1819-10-12 — An election for two justices of the peace is held, twenty-five votes are cast, and John D. Rutledge and William Horner are chosen; the poll book is the earliest record of the township's government.
6. c. 1820 — John Taylor's combined gristmill and sawmill goes up near the site of Unionville, ending the long trips to Olive Green; the first store, Jeremiah Ford's at Unionville, and the first blacksmith, William Perry on Perry's Run, are also early.
7. c. 1823 — A Methodist class of sixteen is formed at the house of Philip Kahler, the beginning of McKendrie Methodist Church, 'one of the oldest Methodist societies in Morgan County'; a log meetinghouse (30 by 40 feet) follows in 1828 and a frame church in 1858.
8. 1825 — A log schoolhouse stands where McKendrie Church now is, with James Patterson as first teacher; the township's vote for justice of the peace has grown from 25 in 1819 to 46.
9. 1830 — George A. Vincent, an outspoken anti-slavery man and magistrate who builds a sawmill on his farm, settles in the township; J. P. Jett, a Virginian who had left Louisiana because he disliked slavery, comes to the county the same spring and becomes a prominent early abolitionist.
10. 1851 — Dye's Fork, on the township's eastern border and settled about 1798 by Thomas Dye, ceases to be Morgan County land this year (it is now Brookfield Township, Noble County).
11. 1868 — The Unionville Methodist class (formed about 1849) and the I.O.O.F. lodge jointly build a church costing about $1,500.
12. 1886 — Unionville has two general stores, Mill Grove has John O. Day's store, and Neelyville, laid out by Robert Neely and first called Newcastle until a post office was named for him, has one store.
13. 2020 — The census counts 921 residents in 31.4 square miles; the Morgan County Airport is in the township.

Stories

The name on Cave Rock

In 1805 Robert McConnel, 68 years old, was traveling through the woods of Meigsville with a party of prospectors when they camped at night on Four Mile Run at a prominent point called Cave Rock, on the land that later belonged to John Harman. Wolves were so numerous that the party spent the night listening to their unceasing howls. Before leaving in the morning McConnel wrote his name in 'a bold hand' on the smooth side of the rock with a piece of red stone he had picked up in the run. The inscription could still be seen by curious visitors a few years before 1886. The 1886 historian called the signature the 'sign-manual of the old pioneer,' and the story is the earliest dated event in the township's history.

What the Irishman said about the lawyer

John Duffy, an Irishman who settled in Meigsville before 1825, was known at every gathering and in many brawls, and he was a frequent figure at the county's early courts. Judge Gaylord's 'Historical Reminiscences' tells how Duffy was once on the witness stand being questioned by Gen. Goddard, then a young attorney, who tried to get him to contradict himself. Failing, Goddard asked, 'Well, Mr. Duffy, you have told us all about what he said about Taylor, Lupardis and others, will you please tell us what he said about me?' Duffy answered in his brogue that the man had said the general was 'the best rascal he had ever anything to do with, and I think he was about half right, do ye know.' The audience was convulsed with laughter, and the judges wore grim smiles.

Up a tree among the wolves

One Sunday afternoon sometime between 1829 and 1844, Mrs. Boden, wife of John Boden, who had come from Belmont County in 1829 and was working on the National Road that summer, walked to a religious meeting at the schoolhouse near the later McKendrie Church, some five miles from her cabin near Hooksburg. Rain kept her late, and when she started home it grew dark and she lost her way. The 'fearful, indescribable howl of wolves' warned her of worse danger in time for her to climb a tree, where she stayed until morning while the wolves 'their vigils kept.' Her small children were at home alone; her husband was away.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Mcconnelsville Village79% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Morgan Meigsville - Sr 37612% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Malta Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Morgan Meigsville Rural1% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2017: 5 of 5 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-08

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