Mifflin Township, Ashland County

• Charles Mill LakeBuilt 1936 · 1,350 acres

How Mifflin Township, Ashland County began

Mifflin Township, in the southwestern part of Ashland County, was cut from a larger territory about 1814 and took final shape in 1816, when the portion adjoining Madison Township was set off, six miles square, and kept the Mifflin name and organization. The village inside it, first called Petersburg, was founded in 1816 and renamed Mifflin in 1827 for settlers who had come from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The township is remembered locally for two very different figures who passed through it: Johnny Appleseed, who in 1812 ran through the area warning settlers of Native attacks on the Copus, Zimmer, and Ruffner families, and automotive inventor Charles F. Kettering, who taught school here in 1897 before going on to invent the automobile self-starter. It remains a farming township of just over a thousand people.

Platted 1816 (village of Petersburg/Mifflin), incorporated 1816 (township organized in its present bounds, after an 1814 division).

Where the name comes from

The village inside the township was first called Petersburg when founded in 1816; the name was changed to Mifflin in 1827 to honor settlers who had moved there from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The township itself carried the Mifflin name from about 1814, when the larger original territory was split and the western half was named Mifflin.

Before the town

No source found records a named Native village, mound, or treaty line specifically inside Mifflin Township. What the record does tie to this area is a single, well-documented episode of the War of 1812: in September 1812, Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) ran through this part of Ashland County warning settlers of Native attacks that had just killed members of the Copus, Zimmer, and Ruffner families nearby, and cemeteries bearing the Zimmer and Ruffner names still stand in the township, apparently linked to that same 1812 violence. Those killings themselves happened in the Black Fork valley near present-day Mifflin/Jeromesville, associated in most tellings with the destruction of the Delaware village of Greentown in adjoining Green Township, not with a Native settlement inside Mifflin Township itself.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

Timeline

1. 1814 — The larger original township territory is divided in two; the west half is named Mifflin.
2. 1816 — Mifflin Township is divided again; the six-mile-square portion east of and adjoining Madison Township keeps the Mifflin name and organization. The village of Petersburg is founded within it the same year.
3. September 1812 — Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) warns settlers in the area of Native attacks that killed members of the Copus, Zimmer, and Ruffner families.
4. 1827 — The village of Petersburg is renamed Mifflin, honoring settlers who had come from Mifflin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
5. March 1837 — The Church of Jesus Christ (Mormon) congregation at Seymour's Run organizes at Joseph Arnold's residence.
6. 1851 — The Presbyterian/Mifflin Church congregation organizes.
7. 1897 — Charles F. Kettering, later inventor of the automobile electric self-starter, serves as the Mifflin schoolmaster.
8. 1904 — Kettering helps organize the Mifflin-Widowville Telephone Company.

Stories

Johnny Appleseed's warning

In September 1812, with the War of 1812 underway and fear running high along the Black Fork settlements, John Chapman -- Johnny Appleseed -- moved through this part of Ashland County warning isolated families that Native raiders were in the area. The warning came too late for the Copus, Zimmer, and Ruffner families nearby, who were attacked and killed that month. The episode is remembered locally as one of the few documented moments when the wandering nurseryman's path crossed directly with the frontier violence of 1812, rather than with the orchards he is better known for planting. Cemeteries in Mifflin Township carrying the Zimmer and Ruffner names are among the burial grounds still recorded there today.

The schoolmaster who invented the self-starter

Before he became one of the most prolific inventors in American automotive history, Charles F. Kettering taught school in Mifflin Township. In 1897 he served as the township's schoolmaster, years before he would go on to invent the electric self-starter that ended hand-cranking automobiles and later lead research at General Motors. He did not leave the area right away: in 1904 he helped organize the Mifflin-Widowville Telephone Company, connecting this small farming township to the wider world by wire before he did it by engine.

Local history sources: ashland.ohgenweb.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Wells (14 listed as active in EPA SDWIS: Wells 1-7 and 10-15; Well 9 was deactivated 2025-11-17) in the Jerome Fork Basin sand-and-gravel aquifer, sited generally north of the treatment plant on Cleveland Road The water here

• Ashland City89% of residentsJerome Fork Basin sand-and-gravel aquifer (wells)
• Rural Lorain Co. Water A5% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
• Perrysville Village2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Lucas Village2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bailey Lakes Village2% of residentsLake Erie
• Hayesville Village1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mohican Young Star Academy0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

High-hazard dams (1)

Private schools (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-05-19

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