Wayne Township, Monroe County

How Wayne Township, Monroe County began

Wayne Township, organized December 30, 1823 in the same commissioners' session that created neighboring Perry Township, saw little settlement before about 1815. Early families included Henry Kirkbride, who married Catherine Williams in Belmont County in 1805 before moving into the township, and John Gray, whose 1805 marriage to Anna Okey is recorded in the same Belmont County records. Unusually for Monroe County, no incorporated town ever grew up inside Wayne Township's own boundaries; residents relied on the small post office at Edwia or traveled to Woodsfield, Graysville and Lewisville (Louisville) for mail and trade.

Settled c. 1815, incorporated 1823-12-30 (township organized).

Where the name comes from

The origin of the township name 'Wayne' is not recorded.

Before the town

No Native American village, camp or mound is recorded for Wayne Township. The area lay within the broader hunting and travel range of the Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware) and Mingo peoples before the Treaty of Greenville (1795), but no named site is tied to the township.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

Timeline

1. 1805-01-08 — John Gray married Anna Okey in Belmont County; the couple later settled in what became Wayne Township.
2. 1805-03-25 — Henry Kirkbride married Catherine Williams in Belmont County; the couple later settled in the township.
3. 1815 — Settlement of the township began in earnest; earlier settlement had been sparse.
4. 1823-12-30 — Wayne Township was formally organized, in the same commissioners' session that created Perry Township.
5. 1829-02-02 — Order No. 1 on the Wayne Township treasury, signed by clerk Michael Chonin, directed that Joseph Martin Sr. be paid $3, a paper the 1882 county historian kept among his relics.
6. 1840 — Wayne Township had 684 residents.
7. 1880-1881 — For the school year ending August 1881 the township had 316 enrolled school pupils and teachers paid about $27 a month.
8. 1880 — The township counted 1,284 residents; its only post office was Edwia, in section 8 near the mouth of Town Fork, and Woodsfield, Graysville and Louisville served most inhabitants.
9. 2020 — The census counted 336 residents in the 22.4-square-mile township with no municipalities.

Stories

A township with no town

Wayne Township was organized on December 30, 1823, from parts of four surveyed townships, and its early settlements were made little if at all before 1815. Henry Kirkbride, John Gray, Jeremiah Willison and others had married in Belmont County in 1805 before moving in; the Croains, Martins, Bakers, Noffsingers, Daughertys, Farnswirths, Howells, Congers and Dearths followed. The first church was Roman Catholic, in the Daugherty settlement, but it fell into decay once Woodsfield built its church. There was never a town within the limits and the only post office, Edwia, stood in section 8; most people drew their mail from Woodsfield, Graysville or Louisville. By 1880 the township had 1,284 people, six schoolhouses and 316 pupils, and the county historian marveled at how much the comforts of life had changed since the first order on its treasury was written in 1829 for three dollars.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Woodsfield Village98% of residentsVillage-owned reservoirs (incl. Rubel Lake)
• Monroe Water Systems2% of residentsGroundwater wells (5 wells)

Public schools (1)

Shale and injection wells (6)

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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-05-26

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