Somerford Township, Madison County

How Somerford Township, Madison County began

Somerford Township, in the western part of Madison County, was organized in 1839 and settled from about 1802 by Virginians and Kentuckians who came for the county's fertile, slavery-free soil, clustering first near Deer Creek. The village of Somerford (now called Summerford) was surveyed and platted in 1836 by Joseph Chrisman on the newly built National Road, which drove the township's growth; Tradersville grew as a smaller hamlet five miles north. It remains an almost entirely rural township of farms, with no incorporated municipality, and since 1972 has been the only township in Madison County with its own zoning code.

Settled 1802-1805, platted 1836 (Somerford village), incorporated 1839 (township organized), by Robert and John Scott, Tobias Shields and sons (early settlers); Joseph Chrisman (platted the village).

Where the name comes from

The township and its village take the name Somerford; the 1883 county history and modern sources do not explain the origin of the name (whether a personal name, an English place name, or a description of a ford on a local stream). The post-1900 spelling 'Summerford' is used for the present unincorporated community, while 'Somerford' remains the official township name.

Before the town

No site-specific record of Native American villages, trails, or mounds within Somerford Township itself was found in the sources searched (Ohio History Central, the 1883 county history chapter, Wikipedia, and Remarkable Ohio). The 1883 county history's account of the township's settlement mentions only in passing that pioneers 'braved all dangers of Indians and wild beasts,' with no names, locations, or dates attached. Madison County as a whole lay within land ceded by the Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Ottawa, and other nations at the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, and Jonathan Alder, adopted by a Mingo family after his 1782 capture, is documented living a few miles north in what became Canaan Township rather than in Somerford. This gap should be read as 'not yet found,' not as evidence of absence.

Timeline

1. 1802-1805 — First permanent settlers arrive in the eastern part of the township near Deer Creek, including brothers Robert and John Scott and Tobias Shields with his sons, all from Kentucky.
2. 1810 — John Wilson of Greenbrier County, Virginia settles in the township and, with John Arbuckle, builds a double log house they share.
3. 1816 — Valentine Wilson arrives and over time accumulates nearly 10,000 acres, becoming the wealthiest man in Madison County.
4. 1836-1837 — The National Road is built through the township; Joseph Chrisman surveys and lays out the village of Somerford on the route the same year and opens its first tavern and store.
5. 1839 — Somerford Township is formally organized.
6. 1873 — The Summerford United Methodist Church, a brick church with a bell tower, is built on what is now Old U.S. Route 40.
7. 1972 — Somerford becomes the only township in Madison County to adopt its own zoning regulations.

Stories

A National Road village

Somerford village owed its existence to the National Road. When the federal highway was pushed through Madison County in 1836-37, Joseph Chrisman saw the opportunity and platted a village on the route the same year, opening the first tavern and store to catch travelers. William Eaton served as first postmaster. By 1882 the village had grown to two churches and a brick schoolhouse, modest but stable, and it never grew larger than the road that made it: it was never incorporated, and today it survives as the unincorporated community of Summerford inside the township that carries its older spelling.

The wealthiest man in the county

Valentine Wilson settled in Somerford Township in 1816 and, through decades of land purchases, assembled a holding of nearly 10,000 acres, making him by the account of the 1883 county history the wealthiest man in Madison County. His fortune was built the same way most fortunes in the township were built more modestly: buying up the flat, fertile farmland that drew settlers here in the first place. His house, the Valentine Wilson House in Somerford Township, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and has since been destroyed.

Photographs

Local history sources: ohiogenealogyexpress.com · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Every historic place in Madison County on the full map

Local glacial sand-and-gravel wells (Madison County) The water here

• Mid-ohio WSD - Chrisman Avenue WTP83% of residentsLocal glacial sand-and-gravel wells (Madison County)
• Choctaw Utilities, Inc.14% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Green Meadows Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mechanicsburg Village1% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• South Vienna Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Brookside Village MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Catawba Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

High-hazard dams (1)

Bridges rated poor (3)

Spills reported since 2021 (5)

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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-12-18
• Financial Audit, 2021 to 2022, released 2025-04-08

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