Monroe Township, Ashtabula County

How Monroe Township, Ashtabula County began

Monroe Township, the county's largest at seven miles by five, was first settled in 1799 by Colonel Stephen Moulton (the 1878 county history, as we read it, calls him Samuel) of Whitestown, New York, who built a log cabin near present-day Kelloggsville. It organized formally in 1818 and took its name from President James Monroe. Through the township's early decades, Seneca and other Native families -- described in the local histories as "always friendly" and led locally by a man remembered as Captain Philip, with predecessors named Bigson and Nickashaw -- continued to live in and hunt elk through the area, remaining present through the War of 1812 period. Kelloggsville, the township's namesake village, grew from brothers Martin and Amos Kellogg's arrival in 1813-1814, while entrepreneur Caleb Blodgett built mills, distilleries, and a fifteen-mile turnpike after his own 1809-1810 arrival.

Settled 1799 (Colonel Stephen Moulton, first settler; the 1878 county history, as we read it, calls him Samuel), incorporated 1818 (organized), by Colonel Stephen Moulton, of Whitestown, New York.

Where the name comes from

The township was named for President James Monroe.

Before the town

Monroe Township has one of the more specific Native-history records in the county's local histories. Remnants of Seneca and, per one source, Massasauga families lived in the township through the War of 1812 era, remembered by settlers as consistently friendly; the local band was led, at the time settlers arrived, by a man remembered as "Old Captain Philip," described in the 1878 county history as "a large, powerful man" with "a noble heart for one of his race" -- a settler-authored characterization to be read as period-typical rather than neutral. Predecessor leaders are remembered by the names Bigson and Nickashaw. Elk hunting in the township's woods drew seasonal Native visitors even as settlement proceeded. No specific village site or treaty event tied to the township is named in the sources consulted.

Nations recorded here: Seneca.

Timeline

1. 1799 — Colonel Stephen Moulton arrives from Whitestown, New York and builds the township's first log house, near present-day Kelloggsville.
2. 1801 — Jonathan Harrington, from Pennsylvania, becomes the second settler.
3. 1803 — William Hardy arrives with his family, settling in a house the Ferguson family had vacated; his livestock suffers heavily from predators -- "the bears ate up his hogs and the wolves killed his sheep."
4. 1804 — Rev. Joseph Badger organizes the township's first religious meetings.
5. winter 1805-1806 — The township's first school opens in Colonel Moulton's cabin, taught by Miss Laura Ford to about ten or twelve pupils.
6. 1807 — Jacob Paden builds the township's first sawmill and gristmill; a state road through the township is completed the same year.
7. 1808 — George Ferguson and Maria Harrington marry, the township's first wedding.
8. 1809-1810 — Caleb Blodgett arrives and goes on to build mills and distilleries, invest in stagecoach lines between Buffalo and Cleveland and between Erie and Pittsburgh, and construct a 15-mile turnpike known as Blodgett's turnpike.
9. 1813 — Martin Kellogg arrives; his brother Amos follows in 1814, and the family gives its name to the village of Kelloggsville.
10. 1814 — The township's first schoolhouse (as a dedicated building) is constructed.
11. 1818 — Monroe Township formally organizes, its area expanded from the standard five-mile square to seven by five miles, the largest in the county.
12. 1829 — A Congregational church organizes in the township under Rev. Ephraim Woodruff.

Stories

Mrs. Moulton's wolf trap

Among the dangers Monroe Township's first settlers faced, wolves preying on livestock ranked high enough that the 1878 county history singled it out: William Hardy, who arrived in 1803, lost his hogs to bears and his sheep to wolves in short order. It was Mrs. Moulton -- wife of Colonel Stephen Moulton, the township's very first settler -- who took matters into her own hands. With no particular experience handling firearms, she built a wolf trap on her own initiative and used it to catch and kill two wolves, a concrete, unglamorous act of frontier self-reliance that the county history thought worth recording alongside the men's mill-building and road-cutting. It is one of the few stories from the township's earliest years centered on a woman acting alone, and it underlines how much of frontier survival -- protecting the animals a family's food supply depended on -- fell to whoever was on hand and willing to solve the problem, regardless of prior experience.

Local history sources: ohiogenealogyexpress.com · conneautohio.us · en.wikipedia.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Conneaut93% of residentsLake Erie
• Aqua Ohio - Ashtabula7% of residentsLake Erie

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Private schools (1)

Bridges rated poor (3)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Shale and injection wells (3)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-06-02

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