Wayne Township, Tuscarawas County

How Wayne Township, Tuscarawas County began

Wayne Township, one of 22 townships in Tuscarawas County, occupies the county's northwest corner, its own northern boundary being the Greenville Treaty line that General Anthony Wayne established with the Native nations he had defeated in 1795. It was set off from Lawrence Township on March 6, 1810, after a petition by thirty-one subscribers. Aaron Patterson, a New Jersey farmer who is recorded as having married five wives in succession over his lifetime, was the first settler, arriving in 1808 about a mile east of the future village of Dundee; Michael Wallick laid out Dundee itself in 1847 at a rural crossroads, and the village grew slowly to a population of 147 by 1880, helped along by a grist mill built about 1825 and, from 1883, a branch of the Connotton Railway. The unincorporated community of Dundee still sits near the township's center, and Dundee Falls is a notable natural landmark within its borders.

Settled 1808 (Aaron Patterson), incorporated 1810-03-06, by set off from Lawrence Township on March 6, 1810, the day after thirty-one subscribers of that township petitioned the county commissioners for the division.

Where the name comes from

Wayne Township is one of about 20 townships of that name in Ohio, most named for Revolutionary War general and later Northwest Indian War commander Anthony Wayne; the 1884 county history notes that the township's own northern boundary is the Greenville Indian treaty line that Wayne established in 1795 with the nations he had recently defeated in battle, a fitting namesake given the geography, though no source states the naming decision explicitly.

Before the town

No Native American village, trail, or treaty site specific to Wayne Township, Tuscarawas County, is documented in the sources we consulted, beyond the fact that the township's own northern boundary is the Greenville Treaty line of 1795, established by General Anthony Wayne with the nations he had defeated at Fallen Timbers. The township lies in the northwestern corner of the county, in the Tuscarawas River watershed's Delaware (Lenape) country of the 18th century. Note specifically that the town of Winesburg, Ohio, sometimes associated by ZIP code (44624) with this township, is actually located in Paint Township, Holmes County — a different township in a different county — and its history, including its 1829 founding as 'Weinsberg,' belongs to that place, not to this one.

Timeline

1. 1808 — Aaron Patterson, a New Jersey farmer, becomes the township's first known settler, entering the southeast quarter of Section 25 about a mile east of the future village of Dundee; he remains there through life and is recorded as having married five wives in succession.
2. 1810 — Following a petition by thirty-one subscribers of Lawrence Township on March 5, the county commissioners grant the division the next day, establishing Wayne Township (as first formed, it also included parts of Holmes County and all of present Franklin Township); electors are directed to meet at William Bacher's house to elect officers.
3. 1810-04 — The first Wayne Township election is held on the first Monday of April at the house of William Bacher, in what is now Franklin Township; as first formed the township included Wayne, Franklin and part of Dover and Holmes County.
4. c. 1810-20 — Connecticut Reserve School Lands in the township, granted by Congress in 1802, are leased to settlers who get 160 acres rent free for fifteen years in return for clearing fifteen acres and building a cabin; nearly all the school lots are leased by 1820.
5. 1814 — Jacob Steffe, a German Lutheran, settles on Lot 12 a mile south of Dundee, joining Elias Melone of Maryland (about 1814) and the Jennings, Amos, Lewis and Bayless families.
6. 1825 (or earlier) — Mr. Morgan builds a frame grist mill on Sugar Creek about a half mile west of the future village of Dundee; it is still in operation, under David Bradley, when the county history is written in 1884. The township's first schoolhouse is built about the same year on land donated by Aaron Patterson.
7. 1830-31 — The school lots are sold at public sale, with the land office at Millersburg in Holmes County, at prices from about $240 to $700 a lot; most buyers are the settlers on them.
8. 1847 — Michael Wallick lays out twelve lots at the crossing of the Shanesville & Navarre and Dover & Winesburg roads and names the place Dundee; Edward Jones adds eight more lots the same year on the opposite side of the road.
9. 1847 — Dundee post office is recorded from 1847, the year Michael Wallick lays out the village.
10. c. 1860 — The Christian or Disciples church is built at Dundee soon after the society is organized by Beriah and Caleb Jones, James and Richard Cotton and Samuel Bowers.
11. 1869 — Dundee builds a two-story frame schoolhouse with a public hall above.
12. 1872 — Caleb Jones adds a further four lots to Dundee.
13. 1880 — Dundee's population reaches 147, up from 106 in 1870; the village has two dry goods stores, a grocery, a stove and tin store, a millinery store, a blacksmith shop, three shoe shops, two wagon shops, two physicians, and two churches (Methodist and Christian/Disciple).
14. 1880 — The Dundee Methodist Church is rebuilt as a 48 by 32 foot frame building costing $2,200.
15. 1883 — The Coshocton branch of the Connotton Railway is built past Dundee, providing the village a material advantage.
16. 1990 — The township's population is recorded at 1,255.
17. 2020 — The township's population reaches 2,409, following steady growth each census since 1990.

Stories

A crossroads becomes Dundee

For nearly forty years after Aaron Patterson settled a mile to its east in 1808, the ground that became Dundee was just a crossroads where the Shanesville & Navarre road met the Dover & Winesburg road, a half mile from Mr. Morgan's grist mill on Sugar Creek. In 1847, Michael Wallick finally platted the spot itself, laying out twelve lots, and Edward Jones added eight more across the road the same year. The village grew unhurriedly -- Caleb Jones's four-lot addition in 1872 was the only other expansion recorded -- reaching a population of just 147 by 1880. The 1884 county history notes that a settlement of fifteen or more Black families had lived in the vicinity of Dundee for years, though most had since moved elsewhere, and that German immigration into the township was steadily increasing at the time of writing. What finally changed the village's fortunes was the railroad: the Coshocton branch of the Connotton Railway reached Dundee in 1883, giving the small crossroads town a real connection to the wider county for the first time.

Fifteen years rent free in the school lots

Most of Wayne Township was Connecticut Reserve School Land, which Congress granted in 1802 to the Western Reserve for schools. With no buyers about 1810, the Reserve leased the 160-acre lots on terms that made them a bargain: a settler who cleared fifteen acres and built a cabin had the lot rent free for fifteen years. By 1820 nearly every lot in Wayne was leased, mostly to people too poor to buy from the government, among them the genuine backwoodsmen the county historian describes as rough in manners, who kept moving deeper into the wilderness as neighbors arrived and spent their leases hunting and trapping. In 1830-31 the lots were sold at public sale at Millersburg for about $240 to $700, and only some of the lessees could buy theirs; most moved on, and the county history says the township's emigrants went most often to Indiana. A settlement of fifteen or more colored families near Dundee had likewise mostly left by 1884, and German immigrants gradually became its main population.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Beach City Village35% of residentsGlacial sand-and-gravel aquifer (3 well fields)
• Winesburg Area Development Corporation25% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Tcmsd-dundee12% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Sugarcreek Village10% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Strasburg Village10% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mount Eaton Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Walnut Creek Water Co.1% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Wilmot Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Private schools (4)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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