Superior Township, Williams County

How Superior Township, Williams County began

Superior Township, in the center of Williams County, was organized on June 3, 1839, on the petition of George Bible and others. It has kept its original boundaries ever since, reaching north to the old Fulton line, and it is the only Superior Township in Ohio. The St. Joseph River crosses it, and the county histories say the river valley was a favorite Native camping ground: a large camp stood on the site of Montpelier for years after white settlers arrived. The first cabins went up from about 1834, among them that of George Bible, a noted deer hunter. Montpelier was laid out in 1845 in the northeast of the township. The Wabash railroad reached it in 1881, and by 1905 Montpelier's growth had given Superior what the county history called the most cosmopolitan population of any township in the county.

Settled c. 1834 (George Bible's cabin, per the 1905 county history; other accounts say 1836) and October 12, 1836 (George Wisman; Joseph Pew), incorporated Organized June 3, 1839; first election June 22, 1839, at the house of Jacob Sholl, by George Bible and others (petitioners).

Where the name comes from

No source checked explains the name; the only Superior Township in Ohio. The 1839 commissioners' order says only that the new township was 'to be known and distinguished by the name of Superior.'

Before the town

The 1905 county history says Superior Township 'was a favorite location of the Indians' long before white settlement, and that even in the early years of settlement Native people kept a large camp on the St. Joseph River within the present limits of Montpelier. The 1920 history repeats this, calling the locality a favorite gathering place and saying the camp remained 'for many years after there were white men in the community.' Neither history names the nation, so none is assigned here. The 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids had carried Indian title to this land to the United States. Joseph valley, the treaties and removal.

• Native camp on the St. Joseph River (camp) — Within the present corporation limits of Montpelier, Superior Township, before and during early white settlement (1830s) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1817 — The Treaty of the Maumee Rapids carries Indian title to this part of northwestern Ohio, including the future Superior Township, to the United States.
2. c. 1834 — George Bible builds the township's first cabin, about two and a half miles southeast of the future Montpelier. The 1920 history notes that other accounts date it to 1836.
3. 1836 — George Wisman, from Maryland by way of Massillon, arrives on October 12 and settles on 320 acres. Joseph Pew builds and moves into his cabin the same day.
4. 1839 — On June 3, on the petition of George Bible and others, the county commissioners at Defiance create Superior Township from Town 7 North, Range 2 East, and the fractional township to the north.
5. 1839 — At the township's first election, Clark Burgoyne and George Wisman are elected trustees, George Bible clerk and Robert Ogle treasurer.
6. 1840 — In the October election, Superior casts twenty-eight votes for governor: twelve for Wilson Shannon and sixteen for the Whig Thomas Corwin.
7. 1841 — On February 4, Robert Ogle receives a commission as justice of the peace, the earliest on the 1882 history's list of Superior Township justices.
8. 1843 — On August 30, an Eagle Creek post office is established with Robert Ogle as postmaster. By 1882 it has been discontinued.
9. 1845 — Jesse Tucker and I. K. Briner lay out Montpelier on land owned by William S. Miller in the northeast of the township. The sale was never recorded, and the land reverted to Miller.
10. 1846 — On December 28, the Montpelier post office is established with Conroy W. Mallory as postmaster.
11. 1849 — William S. Miller sells the town site to John Miller, who begins selling lots.
12. 1870-1880 — The township's election records for these years are lost, probably destroyed in one of several fires at Montpelier.
13. 1875 — Montpelier is incorporated as a village.
14. 1881 — In August, the Detroit Division of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway opens through Montpelier for passengers and freight.
15. 1894 — Superior Township (Town 7 and 8 North, Range 2 East), with the St. Joseph River and landowners' names, appears on sheet 19 of the Atlas of Williams County.
16. 1908 — The Wabash moves its railroad shops from Ashley, Indiana, to Montpelier, bringing the largest influx of people the town had seen.

Stories

Ninety-nine deer

George Bible, who built the first cabin in Superior Township about 1834, was known as a marksman who seldom missed. One year he and Frederick Miser of Center Township held a contest to see who could kill more deer in two months. Bible killed ninety-nine and Miser sixty-five. The 1905 county history says Bible was disappointed to fall one short of the hundred he had set himself. In 1920 the contest was still remembered on a tire company's roadside sign on the road into Bryan from the northeast, advertising the 164 deer the two men killed together.

Arvilla McDaniels, one hundred terms

Robert McDaniels, from Licking County, built the second cabin in Superior Township. His daughter Arvilla had begun teaching at thirteen in Licking County. After the family moved to Williams County she taught in Bryan and many other places for more than forty years, one hundred terms in all, and the 1905 county history calls her perhaps the best-known teacher of the county's early days. When her own health and her parents' age ended her teaching, she built a small brick house in Pioneer, where she died in 1873. The doctor who attended her in her last illness, Richard Gaudern, had been one of her first pupils nearly forty years earlier.

Photographs

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

Groundwater wells (4 wells) The water here

• Montpelier Village75% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Bryan City10% of residentsMichindoh (Maumee) Glacial Aquifer, groundwater wells
• Aqua Ohio - Seneca9% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Edon Village3% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Williams Co/hillside Country Living2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Norlick0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Oakwood MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (8)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-07-06: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2025: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-26

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