Pleasant Township, Madison County

How Pleasant Township, Madison County began

Pleasant Township, in the southeastern corner of Madison County, was settled along Deer Creek in the last years of the eighteenth century by families drawn to the rich bottomland and claiming tracts under the Virginia Military District survey. James Hewey, William Hewey, and David Martin built the first cabins in 1797, followed in 1799 by William Alkire's family and, over the next decade, the Bragg, Creath, Graham, Kious, Riddle, and Smith families. John Smith's 1828 purchase of a bluff overlooking Deer Creek led directly to the founding of Mount Sterling, the township's only village, and the crossroads hamlet of McClimansville grew up just north of it. Pleasant Township sent a company of men, Company D of the 113th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, into the Civil War.

Settled 1797, by James Hewey, William Hewey, and David Martin, the first to build cabins along Deer Creek.

Where the name comes from

Pleasant Township is one of fifteen townships of that name in Ohio; no explanation of why this particular township took the name 'Pleasant' is recorded.

Before the town

No village, camp or burial site specific to Pleasant Township is recorded. The 1883 county history says Robert Graham, who lived on his father's farm from the age of two for seventy-three years, remembered Indians in groups of as many as fifty coming to the family's farm to trade wild game and other articles for milk, corn meal and farm products in the early years, and that during the War of 1812 the army opened a military road through William Woods's land on Duff's Fork, called 'Langham's Trace', over which soldiers marched to join General Harrison's army in the Northwest. The township lay in the Virginia Military District, surveyed after the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1797 — James Hewey, William Hewey, and David Martin became the first permanent settlers in the area, claiming land and building cabins along Deer Creek.
2. 1799 — William Alkire and his family settled nearby, joining the Heweys and Martin.
3. 1800s (first decade) — Virginia Military District land claims brought further families to the township, including the Braggs, Creaths, Grahams, Kiouses, Riddles, and Smiths.
4. c. 1801 — William Woods, a Marylander by way of Greenbrier County, Virginia, settles on Duff's Fork and buys 600 acres.
5. 1805-06 — John J. Smith, of Kentucky, and his father-in-law John Alkire come to Ohio; Smith settles where A. R. Alkire later lived and Alkire on the east bank of Deer Creek.
6. 1807-02 — Forgus Graham of Virginia settles on the farm his son Robert still occupies, and becomes a Christian Church minister and a founder of the Antioch Church.
7. 1810 — Pleasant Township is organized; the first election is held at the house of Forgus Graham, and the township records before 1869 are later lost in a fire.
8. c. 1810 — John Alkire builds a log gristmill with raccoon buhrs on the west bank of Deer Creek, probably the first grist mill in the township; John J. Smith later rebuilds it.
9. c. 1812 — A log schoolhouse is built in the Alkire neighborhood with Adam Alkire as first teacher.
10. 1812 — During the War of 1812 the army opens a military road, Langham's Trace, through William Woods's farm on Duff's Fork.
11. 1828 — John Smith purchased a large tract on the bluff overlooking Deer Creek and platted the village that became Mount Sterling.
12. 1829-06-26 — John J. Smith's plat of Mount Sterling, named for his Kentucky hometown, is recorded at London; Jacob Alkire builds the first house.
13. 1830-06-08 — A post office is established at Mount Sterling with Rowland Wilson as first postmaster.
14. 1845-03-12 — Mount Sterling is incorporated; the first election is held August 15, 1845, with Lewis Timmons as mayor.
15. 1861-1865 — Company D of the 113th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised at Mount Sterling for Civil War service, one of several Madison County companies (also in the 17th, 26th, 40th, 95th, and 144th Ohio regiments).
16. 1880 — Mount Sterling has 482 residents, rising to 986 in 1900 and 1,945 in 2020.
17. 2020 — Census recorded 3,272 residents in the township (including Mount Sterling).

Stories

Land grants brought settlers before there was a town

Pleasant Township filled with farm families a full generation before Mount Sterling existed as a plotted village. The pull was the Virginia Military District, a huge swath of land Virginia had reserved to pay its Revolutionary War veterans in bounty warrants rather than cash. Veterans and their heirs could claim tracts here, and by the early 1800s names like Bragg, Creath, Graham, Kious, Riddle, and Smith were established along Deer Creek, farming land whose ownership traced straight back to a war fought a thousand miles away. John Smith was one of these claimants; his purchase of the bluff over Deer Creek in 1828 is what finally gave the township a town.

The first mill on Deer Creek

John Alkire and his son-in-law John J. Smith came from Kentucky about 1805-06; Alkire settled on the east bank of Deer Creek just inside Pickaway County and, about 1810 to 1812, built a grist mill on the west bank in Pleasant Township, opposite his land. The 1883 county history describes it as made of logs, with 'raccoon buhrs', turned by water, and with a bolting attachment worked by hand, probably the first grist mill in the township. Smith ran it for years, rebuilt it and added a sawmill, then sold it to Otho Williams and William Loach, from whom it passed to William P. Wood and to Elijah Atkins. Alkire later moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, and grew wealthy; Smith left for Iowa about 1838 and, the history says, died there at nearly a hundred years old. Smith is the same man who platted Mount Sterling a few years before leaving.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Mount Sterling Village96% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Sunset Mobile Home Park4% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (6)

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-11-06

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