Sandy Township, Tuscarawas County

How Sandy Township, Tuscarawas County began

Sandy Township, one of 22 townships in Tuscarawas County, was erected by the county commissioners on June 2, 1817, and sits in the county's northeastern corner bordering Stark and Carroll counties, taking its name from Sandy Creek, its principal stream. Godfrey Huff, a Bedford County, Pennsylvania-born Dunkard who drove hogs to Detroit to pay for his land, was the recognized first settler, arriving by 1801; Philip Farber, James Eakin and a cousin of President Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Jackson, followed within the next several years. Henry Laffer, a former county sheriff, founded Sandyville in 1815, and Alfred Davis and George Lechner laid out Mineral City in 1853 alongside the new railroad; Mineral City grew explosively with coal, iron-ore and fire-clay mining after 1869 and incorporated in 1882, while Sandyville stayed a quiet mill village. The township had 2,946 residents at the 2020 census. Two National Register sites sometimes linked to this township by ZIP code -- the Seven Ranges terminus and the Zoarville Bridge -- both belong to other townships and counties, not to Sandy Township, and are excluded here for that reason.

Settled by 1801 (Godfrey Huff), incorporated 1817-06-02, by erected by the Tuscarawas County Commissioners on June 2, 1817; electors directed to meet at the house of Moses Ayres in the town of Sandyville.

Where the name comes from

Named for Sandy Creek, the principal stream crossing the northern part of the township from east to west.

Before the town

The 1884 county history records one specific, dated event within the township: in 1816, an early settler named John Snelbaker killed a Native man called Beaver Hat following a dispute at a house-raising, after Beaver Hat, said to be intoxicated, boasted of the scalps he had taken. The same source states that the few settlers here before 1812 feared an "Indian massacre" but that none is known to have occurred; once, a false rumor that several hundred armed men were approaching from Bethlehem, Stark County sent settlers to gather defensively at a neighbor's cabin, but a scout found the rumor untrue. The source also describes Native people visiting pioneer cabins and a schoolroom peaceably, in groups of ten to twenty, before the War of 1812, after which they left the region; a few returned briefly afterward. No source names which nation these people belonged to, so none is asserted here. The wider region's record includes its Delaware (Lenape) history and the Treaty of Greenville (1795), which no source found ties to a specific site within this township.

Timeline

1. 1801 — Godfrey Huff, a Bedford County, Pennsylvania native and member of the Dunkard sect, is found to have been living on his tract in the southwest corner of the township, making him the recognized first settler (though old settlers had assigned the later date of 1803); he raised hogs, drove them to Detroit for sale, and used the proceeds to pay for his land.
2. 1806 — Philip Farber, from New York, becomes the second settler, in the extreme northeastern corner of the township; his son John later becomes an early advocate of temperance after operating a distillery.
3. 1806-1807 — James Eakin, the third settler, journeys from Beaver County, Pennsylvania in fall 1806 and brings his family the following spring; Benjamin Jackson, a Virginian and a cousin of President Andrew Jackson, arrives in spring 1807 and brings his grown children that autumn.
4. 1815 — Henry Laffer, a former county sheriff (1810-1813) who had purchased the northeast quarter of Section 8 from Joseph Eakin, founds Sandyville with an original plat of eighty-six lots; he opens the first store and becomes the first postmaster.
5. 1816 — John Snelbaker, a settler here since before 1812, is said to have shot and killed a Native man, Beaver Hat, after a dispute at a house-raising.
6. 1817 — Sandy Township is erected by the county commissioners on June 2; electors meet at Moses Ayres's house in Sandyville to elect the first township officers.
7. 1853 — Alfred Davis and George Lechner lay out Mineral City on Lot 15, at the junction of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad's Tuscarawas branch and the Valley road, with an original plat of forty lots; Davis builds the first house and keeps the first store, and a post office is established the following year.
8. 1869 — After sixteen years as a small, insignificant village, Mineral City begins rapid growth driven by coal, iron-ore and fire-clay mining in the vicinity; its population rises from 175 in 1870 to 642 in 1880 and nearly 900 by 1884.
9. 1872 — C. Edwards Holden builds fire-brick works at Mineral City, consuming locally mined clay and coal and employing about fifty men; by 1884 the village also has a furniture factory (built 1876), a saw mill, five churches' worth of congregations and three physicians.
10. 1882 — Mineral City incorporates on October 11, with J. F. Rice elected the first Mayor.

Stories

Beaver Hat and John Snelbaker

In 1816, according to the 1884 county history, a settler named John Snelbaker who had lived in the township since before 1812 shot and killed a Native man named Beaver Hat. The source states that Beaver Hat, said to be under the influence of alcohol, had boasted at a house-raising of the number of scalps he had taken, provoking Snelbaker, who then pursued and killed him. The same chapter records that despite the fear many early settlers felt before 1812, no organized attack on the township's settlers is known to have taken place, and describes generally peaceable visits by Native people to pioneer cabins and even a schoolroom in the years before the War of 1812, after which they left the region for good, save for a few who briefly returned to old hunting grounds.

Two villages, two fates: Sandyville and Mineral City

Sandyville came first, founded in 1815 by Henry Laffer, a former county sheriff and later a militia general and state senator, on land he bought from Joseph Eakin. It grew to 243 people by 1840 and has hovered near that size ever since, its old grist mill on Sandy Creek still running in 1884 under new owners. Mineral City came decades later, in 1853, laid out by Alfred Davis and George Lechner where a planned railroad station would go -- but for its first sixteen years it too stayed small and insignificant. Then, about 1869, coal and iron-ore mining took hold in earnest: by 1880 Mineral City's population had passed Sandyville's, reaching 642, and by 1884 it approached 900, with fire-brick works, a furniture factory, four churches and its own incorporated village government. The railroad that gave Mineral City its start had passed Sandyville by; two villages a few miles apart on the same creek ended up telling very different stories.

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

Every historic place in Tuscarawas County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Magnolia Village61% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Tcmsd-wilkshire Hills20% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bolivar Village13% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• East Sparta Village6% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Public schools (5)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 1 of 1 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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-09

Cite this page