Monroe Township, Coshocton County

How Monroe Township, Coshocton County began

Monroe Township, in the northern part of Coshocton County bordering Holmes County, was organized in 1824 out of hilly, hard-to-farm ground that was, by its own 1881 county history's account, probably the last township in the county settled. It was settled chiefly by emigrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia, with a later inflow of Germans. It has never held an incorporated village; its two small communities are New Princeton, built up around a grist mill from 1846, and Spring Mountain, founded in 1836 under the name Van Buren and renamed for its setting about twenty years later. The township remains rural farmland today, with a 2020 population of 427.

Settled c. 1822 (Jeremiah and Daniel Fetrow, William Griffith, James Parker), incorporated 1824, by emigrants chiefly from Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Where the name comes from

No source consulted, including the 1881 county history, states the specific origin of the name Monroe for this township; townships of this name are common across Ohio and are frequently named for President James Monroe, but that has not been confirmed for this particular township. The township's Beaver Run is documented: it was named for John Severns, an early settler on its banks who emigrated from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and was known locally as 'Beaver John' to distinguish him from another John Severns in the area.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, or documented event specific to Monroe Township was found in the sources checked, including the township's 1881 county history chapter. The township lies near the upper Walhonding/Killbuck corridor associated with Delaware (Lenape) settlement in the 1700s, including White Woman's Town at the Walhonding-Killbuck junction to the south; no source ties a specific site to Monroe Township's own ground.

Timeline

1. 1818 — Alexander Holmes surveys the southwest quarter of the township, military land, into forty 100-acre lots; the rest is Congress land surveyed in 1805 by Silas Bent Jr.
2. 1822 — The township's first documented resident taxpayers, Jeremiah and Daniel Fetrow, William Griffith and James Parker, hold land here (real estate was not taxable until five years after entry, placing their actual arrival about this year).
3. c. 1823 — Peter Rutledge of Maryland and Michael Stover of Rockingham County, Virginia, settle farms in sections 23 and 22.
4. 1824 — Monroe Township is organized, settled chiefly by emigrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia; James Parker becomes the first justice of the peace, serving fifteen years.
5. 1825 — David Groves arrives from Greene County, Pennsylvania, and settles eighty acres in section 13; Samuel Brillhart follows from Virginia in 1827 and sets up a blacksmith, wagon and cooper shop shipping barrels to Coshocton.
6. 1828 — Jacob Lutz of Greene County, Pennsylvania, is among the first on Big Run; as late as 1850 some land in the township is still unentered.
7. 1830 — The township's population is 120, against about 250 in neighboring townships; it reaches 557 in 1840 and 1,005 in 1880.
8. 1836 — Thomas Gillam founds the village of Van Buren, later renamed Spring Mountain, on lot 10 of the township's military section.
9. 1836 — About this time the Methodist Protestants form a class of thirteen under Rufus Richeson in the township's northwest quarter of section 10, the oldest religious organization in the township.
10. 1839-12 — Thomas Gillam adds a small northern addition to Van Buren; the first house, by his brother Samuel, is a tavern.
11. 1842 — Preaching begins at the house of John McCoy Sr. in Van Buren, forming the Methodist Episcopal class that builds the village's frame church in 1851.
12. 1846 — Benjamin Williams builds the mills at New Princeton, the start of that unincorporated community.
13. c. 1848 — The Big Run (Mount Pisgah) Methodist Protestant church builds a log meetinghouse paid for with farm produce and donated labor.
14. 1854-10-17 — Warsaw Masonic Lodge No. 255 is chartered; it is moved to Spring Mountain in 1877.
15. 1855 — An academy is built at Spring Mountain by individual subscription; George Conant, later superintendent of Coshocton's schools, serves as its first principal.
16. c. 1856 — Van Buren is renamed Spring Mountain, a name chosen by Mrs. George Conant, wife of the local academy's principal.
17. c. 1860 — The post office, called Ridge before Buchanan's term, is renamed Spring Mountain; New Princeton's tannery runs in 1858 under William Whinnery.
18. c. 1863 — The Evangelical Association's Pleasant Hill church builds its German-language church in section 10.
19. 1870 — The lower room of the Spring Mountain academy is sold to the school district; the Masons take the upper room in 1877.
20. 1880 — The census counts 1,005 residents, the township's peak; Spring Mountain has about seventy-five people, two blacksmith shops and a shoe shop.

Stories

From Presbyterian to Disciple, by way of a blacksmith shop

Darius Snow was, by the 1881 county history's account, probably the only settler in Monroe Township who hailed from Connecticut. In exchange for services rendered he secured a life lease on seven acres in section 23, where he planted an orchard and set up a blacksmith shop, farming and smithing through the summers and teaching the township's children in winter, the only schooling many of them received. Raised a strict Presbyterian, he later joined the Baptists and became one of their itinerant pioneer ministers, then turned to the teachings of Alexander Campbell and became one of the founders of the Disciple church in Coshocton County. Late in life he used a land warrant earned by his son's service in the Mexican War, in which the son was killed, to enter another lot in the township, where Snow himself lived out his days.

Beaver John

Beaver Run, in the southwest of Monroe Township, takes its name from John Severns of Jefferson Township, one of the earliest settlers on its banks. He had emigrated from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and because another man of the same name lived nearby, he was known to all as 'Beaver John.' His brothers Absolom, Joseph, Ezekiel and James, also from Beaver County, were among the earliest settlers; Joseph sold his small tract in 1829 and left for Illinois, while Absolom moved near Canal Lewisville. The family held the high ridge in the southern central part of the township, the best-watered land and the earliest settled.

The academy on the mountain

Spring Mountain was founded in August 1836 by Thomas Gillam under the name Van Buren, and in 1855 its citizens built an academy by individual subscription, a large two-story frame building on lot 10, with a boarding hall (later the Mountain House) the next year. George Conant, later superintendent of Coshocton's schools, was first principal; his wife chose the village's new name, Spring Mountain, 'with an eye to natural fitness.' Attendance averaged about sixty before 1861, when many students enlisted. The school passed to the Methodist Episcopal conference, was abandoned about 1867, and the lower room was sold to the school district in 1870; the Masonic lodge, moved from Warsaw in 1877, took the upper room as a hall. The 1881 historian counted about seventy-five people in the village.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Killbuck Village52% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Warsaw48% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

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, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-03

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