Vernon Township, Crawford County

How Vernon Township, Crawford County began

Vernon Township, in the eastern part of Crawford County, was surveyed in 1807 by Maxfield Ludlow and created March 9, 1825; part of Richland County until February 3, 1845, when its western four tiers of sections were annexed to Crawford. The 1881 county history names hunter-trapper George Byers, who built a cabin around 1818-1820, as 'the first settler in the township, so far as known.' The township holds the unincorporated communities of DeKalb and West Liberty, the latter platted in 1835 and briefly home to an ambitious but short-lived coeducational 'Boys and Girls' Seminary' in the 1830s.

Settled c. 1818-1820 (George Byers, per the 1881 county history), incorporated 1825-03-09, by Surveyed 1807 by Maxfield Ludlow; township created March 9, 1825; George Byers named by the 1881 county history as first settler, a hunter and trapper who built a cabin on Section 17.

Where the name comes from

No source we consulted explains the specific choice of 'Vernon' for this township; two other Ohio townships (Clinton and Trumbull counties) carry the same name, and it was a common patriotic/place name (echoing Mount Vernon) used across the state in the early nineteenth century.

Before the town

No named native village, mound or treaty site specific to Vernon Township is recorded, but the 1881 county history describes the township as crossed by numerous Indian trails when it was surveyed in 1807, with the Columbus and Sandusky road later laid out on the path of one such trail; early settler George Byers is described as sometimes joining 'the circular hunts of the Indians.' The township's land, part of Richland County until 1845, was ceded in the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry. The disputed traditional capture site of Colonel William Crawford, which the National Register lists in neighboring Jefferson Township, is not here.

Timeline

1. 1807 — The township's land is surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow.
2. c. 1818-1820 — George Byers, a hunter and trapper, builds a cabin on Section 17; the 1881 county history names him the first known settler.
3. 1821 — James Richards arrives as the township's second settler and first blacksmith, and plants the township's first orchard in 1825.
4. 1825-03-09 — Vernon Township is formally created, at the time six miles square and still part of Richland County.
5. 1830-1835 — About twenty German immigrant families settle the swampy southern part of the township, clearing and draining land that had previously supported only frogs, snakes and ague.
6. 1835-05-28 — The village of West Liberty is platted on Section 17 by Surveyor John Stewart for proprietor Thomas Dean, twenty-eight lots selling originally for $25 each.
7. 1845-02-03 — Four tiers of sections on the west are annexed from Richland to Crawford County, fixing Vernon Township's present boundaries.

Stories

The Boys and Girls' Seminary

In the 1830s, when the village of DeKalb was still ambitious and growing, its citizens raised subscription funds to build a seminary, elected a board of trustees, and hired the Rev. Mr. Thompson, a United Presbyterian minister, as president. More than sixty students enrolled at the opening, an impressive figure the 1881 county history noted would have been the envy of many established colleges of the day, and because the school accepted both boys and girls it earned the joking local name of the 'Boys and Girls' Seminary.' The arrangement did not survive its own success: a dispute soon arose over whether the institution had been founded for both sexes or for girls alone, and over when subscribed funds were due, splitting its backers into opposing camps that no amount of negotiation could reunite. Rather than let one side simply prevail, the trustees chose to quietly close the school within two or three years of its founding, and by 1881 the whole episode had faded so completely from memory that the county historian described himself as recovering its dates from 'the dusty records of forgotten years.'

The rattlesnake den

In the wet, snake-filled marshes of southern Vernon Township that German immigrant families began draining after 1830, a small knob of dry ground about twenty feet across became known as a den where large numbers of rattlesnakes gathered to sun themselves. One day several of the German settlers watched two rattlesnakes, each about six feet long, emerge from the den and coil three feet apart, swaying and watching for an opening, until one struck the other on the neck; the two snakes lashed and writhed together on the ground until one broke free and darted back into the den, leaving its opponent behind. Large numbers of rattlesnakes were killed at the den in the years that followed as the settlers cleared and drained the surrounding swampland.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Crestline Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-08

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