Middlebury Township, Knox County

How Middlebury Township, Knox County began

Middlebury Township, in the northwestern corner of Knox County against the Richland and Morrow county lines, was erected by the county commissioners December 3, 1823, its bounds straddling the Greenville treaty line, and named at settler Luther Bateman's suggestion for Middlebury, Vermont, home of many settlers -- not for the Maryland Quakers who were, separately, its first permanent settlers, arriving from Frederick County starting in 1806. Two settlements grew up along Owl Creek: Batemantown, founded by the Bateman brothers around 1815, which never became more than a half-dozen houses despite the founders' hopes, and Waterford, laid out in 1841, which became the township's real commercial center with mills, stores, and churches. The township produced two men of national note: William Windom, raised on a farm east of Waterford, who became a U.S. Senator and twice U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Columbus Delano, raised near Batemantown, who became U.S. Secretary of the Interior. It has no incorporated village fully within its own borders today, though a small portion of Fredericktown village reaches into its southeastern corner. The township grew steadily in the late twentieth century, its population rising from 849 in 1990 to 1,406 by 2020.

Settled 1806 (William W. Farquhar, Quaker settler from Frederick County, Maryland, first in the area; family settled within present Middlebury Township by 1808), platted 1841 (Waterford, on land of Josiah Fawcett and Noah L. Levering, surveyed by Merritt M. Beam), incorporated 1823-12-03 (township erected by the county commissioners); boundaries revised 1825-03-09, by Named at the suggestion of settler Luther Bateman.

Where the name comes from

Middlebury was named by the Knox County commissioners at the suggestion of settler Luther Bateman, to perpetuate the memory of Middlebury, Vermont, the hometown of many of the township's settlers, including the Bateman and Strong families -- a separate fact from the township's first permanent settlers, who were Quaker 'Friends' from Frederick County, Maryland.

Before the town

No source found documents a Native village, mound, or specific encounter within Middlebury Township's present boundaries. The 1881 county history notes only that the township straddles the Greenville treaty line of 1795, with about twelve and a half square miles lying south of the line in the United States Military District and about seven and a half square miles lying north of it on Congress land; Daniel Levering built a block-house on his farm near Waterford in 1813, during the War of 1812, as protection against Indians, though no specific attack or encounter there is recorded. The area had passed out of Native title by the time Quaker settlers arrived beginning in 1806.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee.

• Levering's block-house (other) — Daniel Levering's farm near Waterford, Middlebury Township, built 1813 as a defensive structure during the War of 1812, 1813 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1806 — William W. Farquhar, a Quaker from Frederick County, Maryland, arrives in Knox County and settles temporarily in Fredericktown before moving into Middlebury Township by 1808; he becomes one of the county's first associate judges in 1808.
2. 1809 — The Friends' (Quaker) society of Owl Creek is organized, meeting first in private houses and later in a log meeting-house.
3. 1809 — Settlers petition on June 5 for a road from Fredericktown by way of Cook's and Wilson's to Mansfield; the county commissioners confirm it September 5.
4. 1813 — Daniel Levering, from Bedford County, Pennsylvania, moves his family to a farm near Waterford and builds a block-house for protection during the War of 1812; he later opens the township's first blacksmith shop and builds its first grist-mill.
5. 1815 — Luther and Alvin Bateman, from Vermont, settle in the area that becomes Batemantown, which never grows beyond a small hamlet.
6. 1816 — William and Basil Murphy, who settled a mile north of Batemantown in 1815, begin the tanning business they carry on until 1863.
7. 1822 — The Friends' society builds a brick meeting-house, 25 by 40 feet, on the Fredericktown and Mansfield road; it later splits between Hicksite and orthodox Quakers following the teachings of Elias Hicks.
8. 1823 — Middlebury Township is erected by the county commissioners on December 3, named for Middlebury, Vermont at Luther Bateman's suggestion; boundaries are revised March 9, 1825.
9. 1824 — The first township election is held at Luther Bateman's house, and a saw-mill, fulling-mill and carding machine run briefly at Batemantown; elections stay there until a turkey dinner given by John Levering once draws the polls to Waterford.
10. 1830 — Middlebury Township has 705 inhabitants and 13,000 acres returned for taxation; by 1840 it has 1,002.
11. 1831 — A Methodist class is organized at the house of Mrs. Sarah Murphy, a mile north of Batemantown, with Alvin Bateman as leader; a frame church is raised in 1832.
12. 1836 — The township's first post office opens at Waterford on October 25, named 'Levering' for John and Noah Levering.
13. 1841 — Waterford is surveyed and laid out on Congress land north of the Greenville treaty line, on land owned by Josiah Fawcett and Noah L. Levering.
14. 1844 — The Methodist Episcopal church of Waterford is organized formally and builds a frame church, 40 by 60 feet; Charles Wagner opens Waterford's first tavern the same year.
15. 1849 — A Presbyterian congregation is organized at Waterford under Rev. J. M. Paris and builds a frame church at the west end of the village.
16. 1852 — William Windom, raised on a farm near Waterford after his Hicksite Quaker parents settled there, is elected prosecuting attorney of Knox County; he later becomes a U.S. Senator from Minnesota and twice U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
17. 1860 — Township population is recorded at 1,040 (1,092 in 1850).
18. 1990 — Census records 849 residents in the township.
19. 2020 — Census records 1,406 residents, a 10.0% increase over 2010.

Stories

The old brick meeting-house

The Owl Creek Friends' society, organized in 1809 by Quaker settlers from Frederick County, Maryland, built a log meeting-house and then, in 1822, a substantial brick building 25 by 40 feet with large fireplaces at each end, on the Fredericktown and Mansfield road. For years the Friends gathered there on the first and fourth days of the week, until the reform teachings of Elias Hicks split the congregation into Hicksite and orthodox factions, formalized by a sliding partition installed down the middle of the meeting-house. By 1881 the society had all but died out, with only a couple of elderly survivors remaining, and the brick building stood empty and weather-beaten in its beech and maple grove -- a hollow landmark of a once-thriving community, slowly yielding, in the county historian's words, 'to the disintegrating tooth of time.'

The tailor who became a senator

William Windom's parents were Hicksite Quakers who settled on a farm a mile and a half east of Waterford, and as a young man Windom, disliking farm work, apprenticed to a Waterford tailor. His first finished coat, made for a customer named John Walters, fit so poorly that Windom concluded he had, in the county historian's phrase, 'a soul above buttons,' and left for Mount Vernon to study law instead. He was admitted to the bar, elected Knox County prosecuting attorney in 1852, and while still a young lawyer delivered temperance lectures around the region -- on one occasion in Morrow County, he faced down a threatened mob by laying a pistol on the lectern and continuing his speech unmolested. He later moved to Minnesota, was elected to the U.S. Senate, and eventually served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

A sycamore twelve feet through

When Munson Pond, a Massachusetts-born settler who had married at Middlebury, Vermont, in 1796 and in 1800 took a second wife, Ruth Bateman, came to the township in 1815, he settled on lot six, later known as the Elizabeth Ladd farm. On that tract stood a hollow sycamore twelve feet in diameter. Pond had it cut down, and the 1881 county history says a Fourth of July celebration was held inside a section of the trunk before it was turned into a bedroom. He farmed the lot until 1830, when he moved to Huron County. The same chapter records that Luther and Alvin Bateman, who came from Vermont about 1815, tried to make a town of Batemantown 'to emulate Romulus and Remus' but never got past about half a dozen houses.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Fredericktown Village74% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Del-co Water Company, Inc.26% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells

High-hazard dams (1)

Private schools (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2022: 1 of 1 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-08-18
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-07-16

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