Perry Township, Coshocton County

How Perry Township, Coshocton County began

Perry Township, in the far western part of Coshocton County, was established in 1817 and named for Oliver Hazard Perry, the naval commander of the War of 1812, one of twenty-six Perry Townships in Ohio. Its earliest settlers, arriving from about 1810, found a Wyandot camp still active near the township's center, and one settler's dispute with the Wyandots over a stolen, corn-eating horse drove him from the township around the outbreak of the War of 1812. It has no incorporated village; its one settlement, East Union, formed in the 1820s from the merger of two rival plats, New Guilford and Claysville.

Settled c. 1810-1811 (Henry Hull, John Neldon, Henry Grim), incorporated 1817.

Where the name comes from

Named for Oliver Hazard Perry, the U.S. Navy commander who won the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813, one of twenty-six Ohio townships bearing his name; the 1881 county history notes the township was organized in 1817, while his naval victory was still fresh in the public mind.

Before the town

A Wyandot camp stood near the center of section 20, in the southern part of Perry Township, and remained active into the settlement period. The 1881 county history records that the Wyandots there let their horses roam free at night, and one animal, previously stolen from white settlers, kept returning to eat the green corn that settler Henry Grim was trying to raise nearby; after repeated warnings went unheeded, Grim shot the horse, and fearing retaliation as war with Britain approached, left the area for the eastern United States around 1812. Another early settler, Henry Hull, recalled friendlier terms with the same camp, including being invited to share a meal of mush cooked in a kettle previously used for tanning deer skins.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

• Wyandot camp, section 20 (camp) — near the center of section 20, southern part of Perry Township, to c. 1812 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. c. 1810 — Henry Hull, John Neldon and Henry Grim become the township's first three settlers, arriving one or two years before Elias James.
2. 1812 — Henry Grim, in conflict with the local Wyandots over a horse he shot for raiding his cornfield, sells his claim to Elias James and leaves for the eastern states as war approaches.
3. 1817 — Perry Township is established as a civil township of Coshocton County, named for Oliver Hazard Perry; it originally includes what later becomes Bedford Township.
4. 1823 — Teacher John L. Meredith signs a subscription contract to open a three-month school near William Coulter's, payment due in wheat, rye, corn, pork, butter and other farm goods at fixed rates rather than cash.
5. 1825 — Dr. Elisha Guilford Lee plats the village of New Guilford, the township's first, on March 30.
6. 1826 — John Conaway, in a rivalry with Dr. Lee, plats a competing village, Claysville, facing New Guilford across a small valley.
7. 1831 — New Guilford and Claysville, having reconciled, are joined by a fifty-lot addition and, by act of the legislature, take the combined name East Union.

Stories

A stolen horse, a cornfield, and a hasty departure

Henry Grim, one of Perry Township's first three settlers, was trying to raise a crop of corn on a small cleared patch when a horse belonging to the local Wyandots, itself stolen earlier from white settlers, kept breaking in at night to eat the green corn it remembered from its old owners. Grim repeatedly warned the Wyandots to keep the horse away or he would shoot it; when his warnings went unheeded, he did. Fearing he had earned the lasting anger of his neighbors just as war clouds gathered in the West, Grim judged it wiser to leave than to risk what might follow, and sold his claim to the newly arrived Elias James before departing for the eastern states. James took possession of the claim and, along with Henry Hull and John Neldon, who had arrived a year or two before him, is remembered as one of Perry Township's three genuine first settlers.

Two rival villages that shook hands and merged

Dr. Elisha Guilford Lee, the township's first physician, laid out New Guilford in March 1825, fifty lots on a ridge in the township's western part. His neighbor John Conaway, who owned the quarter section just east of it, took offense and reasoned that if Lee could found a town, so could he; in April 1826 he platted a rival village on the facing ridge, naming it Claysville. The two villages competed fiercely for a few years, Conaway holding the advantage of his trade as a carpenter, which he traded for settlers' loyalty by helping build their cabins. Eventually the two founders reconciled, an addition connecting the two plats was laid out in 1831, and the Ohio legislature recognized the merged village under a new name, East Union, which by 1833 held forty-one dwellings, five stores and two physicians.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Warsaw100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-05-26
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-11-07

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