Morgan Township, Knox County

How Morgan Township, Knox County began

Morgan Township, in southern Knox County, was one of the county's original four townships when Knox County was organized May 2, 1808 (alongside Wayne, Clinton and Union), and is named for Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan, one of six Ohio townships carrying his name. As first organized it also embraced present-day Miller, Hilliar, and Milford townships, plus parts of Clay, Pleasant, and Harrison, before being reduced to its present limits in the March 1825 county-wide reorganization. John Green, from Maryland, is recorded as probably the first white settler, arriving about 1805-06; Cornelius Bartalow Sr., who settled near Utica the same period (possibly just outside the township), found Native people 'numerous' and 'about all the neighbors he had for some years.' A mound on the farm of James Campbell, five feet high (six, by the 1912 account) and forty feet across, was opened by early settlers and found to contain ashes and charcoal, though no human remains. In 1825 the destructive 'Burlington storm' tornado swept across the township's southwest corner. It has no village fully within its own borders, though part of the village of Utica extends into its southern edge, shared with neighboring Licking County. The township has remained a modest farming community, recording 1,034 residents at the 2020 census.

Settled c. 1805-06 (John Green, probably the first white settler), incorporated 1808-05-02 (one of Knox County's original four townships); reduced to present limits March 1825.

Where the name comes from

Morgan Township is named for Daniel Morgan, a general in the Revolutionary War, one of six Morgan Townships in Ohio.

Before the town

The 1881 county history records a mound on the farm of James Campbell, about five feet high (the 1912 history says six) and forty feet in diameter, opened by early settlers and found to contain ashes and charcoal but no human remains; an unusually large number of Native arrowheads were found in the vicinity. Other mounds in the township were not yet explored as of 1881. Cornelius Bartalow Sr., who in 1806 took up forty acres of military land near Utica (the county history places that land in Licking County, so it may lie just outside the township), found Native people numerous and 'about all the neighbors he had for some years'; Azariah Davis, another early settler, is recorded as living peaceably among Native neighbors for several years. No source names a specific nation resident within the township itself; the broader area was Wyandot, Shawnee, and Delaware (Lenape) hunting and travel territory before treaty cessions.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware).

• Campbell farm mound (mound) — farm of James Campbell, Morgan Township; about five feet high and forty feet in diameter, unknown (Mound Builder) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1805 — John Green, from Maryland, settles in the township's northwestern part, probably the first white settler within present-day Morgan Township.
2. c. 1805 — The first road in what becomes Morgan Township, from Mount Vernon to Newark, is cut out about 1805 or 1806; a second, from Utica to Martinsburgh, follows about 1817.
3. 1806 — Cornelius Bartalow Sr. emigrates from Martinsburgh, Virginia, and locates military land near Utica, finding Native people 'about all the neighbors he had for some years.'
4. c. 1807 — The township's first church, a log building on the Mount Vernon and Newark road, is raised about 1807 or 1808 with the Presbyterian bachelor Benjamin Leonard as prime mover; its congregation later merges into the Martinsburgh Presbyterian church.
5. 1808 — Knox County is organized May 2 into four original townships, including Morgan Township, which then also embraced present-day Miller, Hilliar, and Milford townships and parts of Clay, Pleasant, and Harrison.
6. 1809 — The Owl Creek Baptist church is organized by Rev. Amos Mix, worshipping in a log building until 1842; it grows into one of the strongest Baptist congregations in the county.
7. 1809 — Only 13 voters appear at the October election in the original, much larger Morgan Township; by October 1813 there are 27 and by October 1816 there are 35.
8. 1815 — James Bell hauls his household goods from Greene County, Pennsylvania, in 16 to 17 days and settles in the east of the township; his son William Bell later becomes Ohio's secretary of state (1864).
9. 1816 — Caleb Pumphrey's tavern, the headquarters of the early Methodist itinerant preachers, is already famed in the township; Pumphrey dies in 1817.
10. 1824 — John Sellers, from Greene County, Pennsylvania, settles permanently on 250 acres in the north of the township, having entered it in 1823, and builds it up to 1,100 acres, the largest holding in Morgan by 1881.
11. 1825 — The county-wide March reorganization reduces Morgan Township to its present limits; on May 18 the destructive 'Burlington storm' tornado sweeps across the township's southwest corner, uprooting thousands of trees and killing livestock, though no one in the township is killed or seriously injured.
12. 1829 — The Bell Disciple church is organized with ten original members; a church building follows in 1834 on the farm of Benjamin Bell Sr. in the township's southeast corner.
13. 1842 — The Owl Creek Baptist congregation replaces its log church of 1809 with a frame meeting house costing $600; a brick church costing $4,200 is dedicated February 4, 1866.
14. 1872 — Jacob and Mary Sperry, long-time members of the Owl Creek Baptist church, are killed on August 2 when a Baltimore & Ohio train strikes their team at a crossing.
15. 1910 — Township population is recorded at 622, down from 650 in 1900 and 645 in 1890.
16. 2020 — Census records 1,034 residents in the township.

Stories

An ill wind that blew Mr. Sellers some good

On May 18, 1825, the tornado known as the Burlington storm tore across Morgan Township's southwest corner, uprooting thousands of forest trees, unroofing houses, and scattering fences for miles -- shingles from the village of Homer were found blown into the township, and a featherbed lifted from a house landed in a tree in Harrison Township, several miles away. James Honey lost five head of cattle and three horses to the storm, but farmer John Sellers found an unexpected silver lining: once his felled timber had dried out, he simply set it on fire rather than laboriously chopping and rolling the logs himself. The 1881 county history records the old adage confirmed in Sellers's case -- 'it is an ill wind that blows nobody good' -- and notes that, providentially, no one in the township was killed or seriously hurt, though the storm did claim lives elsewhere along its path through the Mohican hills.

School with no floor, windows of greased paper

Ziba Leonard Jr., still living at Martinsburgh when the county history was written, claimed to have taught the first school in Morgan Township. It met in a small log cabin on Benjamin Bell's farm with no floor, and greased paper served for window glass. He taught in summer, and neither teacher nor pupils wore anything on their feet for the whole term. His scholars included Luther and Eleazer Brown, Joseph Hunt, James and Asa Beam, Maria Spratt, Uriah Reece and John Hays. He charged a dollar and a half a head and told the county historian he 'never got half of that.' James Kirkland probably taught the second school.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Utica Village57% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mount Vernon City41% of residentsBuried Valley Aquifer (Kokosing River valley wells)
• Martinsburg Village2% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Colonial Terrace Mhc Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Westgate Mobile Home Community0% of residentsBuried Valley Aquifer (Kokosing River valley wells)
• Knox County Water and Wastewater0% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Grandview MHP A0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Shale and injection wells (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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