Washington Township, Defiance County

How Washington Township, Defiance County began

Washington Township, in the north-central part of Defiance County, was organized in 1838 and named for George Washington. It was heavily timbered and wet when settlers came: Jesse Donely built the first cabin about 1832 or 1833, and the Donelys, Samuel Ridenour (the first justice of the peace), Zachariah Hurt, James Craige and the hunter Andrew Finley were the early families. Linas Doud's wife Clarinda taught the first school in a log election house on Section 10, and Georgetown (now Ney) was laid out in 1846 by George Ridenour. By 1883 the township had four churches, steam sawmills and German settlers; its 2020 population was 1,528.

Settled c. 1832-33, platted 1846 (Georgetown/Ney), incorporated 1838, by Jesse Donely and family; township organized 1838.

Where the name comes from

Named for George Washington, first U.S. president; one of forty-three Washington Townships statewide. Its village, Ney, was originally platted as Georgetown in 1846 and later renamed for Michel Ney, a French officer.

Before the town

No Native village, trail or treaty site specific to Washington Township is recorded.

Timeline

1. 1833 — Jesse Donely builds the township's first cabin about this year (the date is remembered by George Ridenour's wife as 1832 or 1833); the Donely family, Samuel Ridenour and Andrew Finley are among the first settlers.
2. 1837 — John Bostater arrives with his family in the fall; at that time the settlers are Hugh, Jesse and John Donely, Samuel Ridenour, Peter Doud, Zachariah Hurt, James Finley, James Craige and Andrew Finley, a great hunter; William Pearce Sr. enters 100 acres in 1836 but dies within three weeks.
3. 1838 — Washington Township is organized.
4. 1840 — Linas Doud and his wife Clarinda, who came from Geauga County after marrying in 1834, settle on Section 22; Mrs. Doud teaches the first school in the township in a log cabin on Section 10 used for elections, rocking one of her children in a sugar trough.
5. 1842 — Zachariah Hurt serves as justice of the peace until 1845, following Samuel Ridenour, the first; Doud later serves as justice and clerk.
6. 1843-10 — Settler Joseph Ralston, having arrived by canal boat via Cleveland and Toledo, settles near what would become Georgetown in Washington Township before moving to land on Mud Creek in neighboring Tiffin Township.
7. 1843 — A second school is taught in the township by Mr. Doud, with the Elementary Spelling Book, Adams' Arithmetic and the New Testament as readers.
8. 1846 — The community of Georgetown, later renamed Ney, is platted by George Ridenour with 28 lots.
9. 1850 — A post office named Ney begins operating.
10. 1856 — William Ufer, born in Prussia in 1830, settles in the township in May and later becomes a justice of the peace and leader of the German population; Warner's history calls him a leading man among the township's German population.
11. 1883 — Warner's county history counts four churches in the township, among them a Methodist Episcopal and a Lutheran church, and notes steam sawmills at Georgetown and in the township's sections.
12. 2020 — The census counts 1,528 residents in Washington Township, whose only community is Ney.

Stories

A canal-boat journey to a log cabin at Georgetown

In October 1843, a settler named Joseph Ralston left Massillon with his wife and one-year-old son, riding a canal boat to Cleveland, an unlucky steamer voyage across Lake Erie to Toledo that turned back once in a gale before finally reaching port, and then another canal boat down to Defiance. There he ran into an old acquaintance, Samuel P. Cameron, who talked him into settling in Washington Township at the spot that would become Georgetown -- the village later renamed Ney -- where Ralston lived in a small log cabin on Cameron's land before claiming 80 acres of his own a few miles off on Mud Creek. His account is recorded in the 1883 county history.

A school in the election cabin

Washington Township was a wet, heavily timbered place in the 1830s, with a log cabin on Section 10 used for holding elections. In that same cabin Clarinda Doud, wife of Linas Doud, taught the first school in that part of the township. Linas and Clarinda had married in April 1834 in Geauga County, lived there six years, and then came to Defiance County and bought land on Section 22, where Doud built a cabin. There were then no schools in the neighborhood, and the roads were few and bad. While teaching, Clarinda rocked one of her children in a sugar trough in place of a cradle. A second school followed in 1843-44 with Doud as teacher, using the Elementary Spelling Book, Adams' Arithmetic and the New Testament as the reader. The couple raised eight children, all of whom in turn became teachers in the township, and Doud served as justice of the peace for two or three terms and as township clerk. Warner's county history, which records these facts, says he died April 5, 1872, aged about seventy.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Ney Village61% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bryan City37% of residentsMichindoh (Maumee) Glacial Aquifer, groundwater wells
• Aqua Ohio - Norlick1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Williams Co/hillside Country Living0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Oakwood MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Public schools (3)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

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 2026-05-07
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-09-24

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