White Eyes Township, Coshocton County

How White Eyes Township, Coshocton County began

White Eyes Township, organized in 1823 in the northeastern part of Coshocton County, is named for White Eyes (Koquethagechton), principal chief of the Lenape (Delaware) nation during the American Revolution, who kept his people neutral and allied with the Americans until his death in 1778. It is the only White Eyes Township in Ohio. The township's Native history reaches back to White Eyes' Town, the chief's own settlement near the Delaware capital of Goschachgunk (Coshocton), and, a generation earlier, to White Woman's village on the same river system, home of Mary Harris, who was taken captive as a child in the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts and lived the rest of her life as a Mohawk.

Incorporated 1823.

Where the name comes from

The township is named for White Eyes (Koquethagechton), a Lenape (Delaware) chief who lived and led in the Tuscarawas and Walhonding valley region in the 1770s. Wikipedia's township article states the name honors him 'as a tribute to his leadership and building an alliance with the revolutionaries.' It is the only township of this name in Ohio.

Before the town

This township carries a strong documented Native American connection. White Eyes (Koquethagechton, c. 1730-1778) was Speaker of the Delaware Head Council by 1773 and was named principal chief of the Lenape nation in 1774; he established his own settlement, called by colonists 'White Eyes' Town,' near the Lenape capital of Goschachgunk (Coshocton). He worked closely with Moravian missionary David Zeisberger and used his influence to keep the Lenape neutral during the American Revolution, allying with the fledgling United States. He died in November 1778 during a joint expedition with General Lachlan McIntosh; the army's official account attributed his death to smallpox, but U.S. Indian agent George Morgan later charged that militia had killed him and the killing was covered up. His son, George Morgan White Eyes, was later educated at Princeton with congressional funding. Separately, an earlier historic site on the same river system, 'White Woman's Village' (also called White Woman's Town), stood near present Warsaw; it was the home from about 1745 of Mary Harris, an English colonist taken captive by the Mohawks at age ten in the 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, who lived the rest of her life as a Mohawk, giving the Walhonding River its early name 'White Woman's River' or 'White Woman's Creek.' No mound, earthwork, or additional village site specific to present-day White Eyes Township itself (beyond the chief's town near its edge) was confirmed in the sources checked.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Mohawk.

• White Eyes' Town (village) — near the Lenape capital of Goschachgunk (Coshocton), Coshocton County, 1770s, until White Eyes' death in 1778 (en.wikipedia.org)
• White Woman's Village (White Woman's Town) (village) — on the Walhonding River near present Warsaw, Coshocton County, c. 1745-1777 (accessgenealogy.com)
• Oblong earthwork ('ancient fortification') near Chili (earthwork) — on a level bluff about a half mile south of Chili, overlooking the White Eyes Creek valley, northern White Eyes Township, prehistoric; undated (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1770s — Lenape chief White Eyes (Koquethagechton) establishes White Eyes' Town near Goschachgunk (Coshocton), within a few miles of what is now White Eyes Township.
2. 1774 — The Lenape Grand Council names White Eyes principal chief of the nation.
3. 1778 — White Eyes dies in November during an expedition with General Lachlan McIntosh; the army attributes it to smallpox, though Indian agent George Morgan later alleged he was killed by militia.
4. 1801-02-01 — Martin Baum of Cincinnati buys 250 acres of the northern military section, owned by David Lynn of Maryland, for $250.
5. 1803 — Ebenezer Buckingham surveys the western half of the township, congress land, into half sections of 320 acres.
6. 1812-05 — Joseph H. Larwill surveys the southeast military section, owned by Jacob Bowman of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, into twenty-five lots of 160 acres; Bowman holds most of it for years, which slows settlement.
7. c. 1813 — Robert Culbertson settles on the plains in the southwest quarter of section 25, one of the earliest settlers; he dies in the fall of 1815.
8. 1816 — John Henderson buys three lots, 480 acres, in the Bowman section.
9. 1818 — Michael Frock, later the township's first justice of the peace, settles on section 7, and Abner Kimball of New Hampshire takes up 500 acres of the Lynn section.
10. c. 1820 — James Ravenscraft surveys the northern military section into twenty-eight lots of about 125 acres; he and his brothers William and John come from Virginia and James later serves as county surveyor, commissioner and state senator.
11. 1823 — White Eyes Township is organized as a civil township of Coshocton County and named for the chief.
12. 1830 — White Eyes Township has 445 residents; the population grows to 997 in 1840 and peaks at 1,132 in 1850.
13. 1831 — William M. Boyd builds the oldest and best-known mill in the township at what becomes Avondale; it has two run of stone and works for nearly fifty years.
14. c. 1852 — The White Eyes Methodist Episcopal church is organized and its first frame house of worship is built on land donated by William R. Boyd.
15. 1865 — J. M. Ferrell opens a store at the settlement later called Avondale, and William J. Maley builds a blacksmith shop the next year.
16. 1875 — Villagers vote to rename the post office, then called Boyd's Mills and nicknamed Jacktown, Avondale.
17. 1880 — The township has 900 people, down from 998 in 1860.
18. 2020 — White Eyes Township has 1,222 residents.

Stories

The chief who chose the Americans

White Eyes, whose Lenape name was Koquethagechton, rose to become Speaker of the Delaware Head Council and, in 1774, principal chief of his nation. He built his own town near the Delaware capital at Coshocton and became a close ally of Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, supporting Christian missionary efforts among his people. Through the opening years of the American Revolution he worked to keep the Lenape neutral, then moved his people toward alliance with the United States rather than the British. In November 1778 he died while accompanying a joint American military expedition led by General Lachlan McIntosh; the army's official record blamed smallpox. Years later, U.S. Indian agent George Morgan charged that American militia had killed White Eyes and that the army covered it up to keep the rest of the Lenape from turning against the American cause. Whichever account is true, his death removed the strongest Native voice for alliance with the Americans at a pivotal moment in the Ohio Country. A Coshocton County township organized in 1823, some 45 years later, was named for him, and remains the only White Eyes Township in Ohio.

Jacktown votes to become Avondale

In the 1860s a cluster of twenty or more houses grew up where White Eyes Creek meets the Middle Fork. No town plat was ever made, and the houses were scattered, some on the hills and some in the meadows. J. M. Ferrell opened a store in 1865 and William Maley a blacksmith shop the next year, and the post office was named Boyd's Mills, for the mill nearby. The villagers called the place Jacktown, a nickname they did not care for. In 1875 they met in convention and settled the question at the ballot box, choosing Avondale; the post office name was changed by petition and the new name gradually replaced the old. The 1881 county history, which tells the story, adds that the village then had two dry goods stores, a grocery, two blacksmith shops, two shoe shops and a hotel.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · remarkableohio.org · accessgenealogy.com · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org · jhmuseum.org

No water-system data is linked to White Eyes Township, Coshocton County's ZIP codes yet.

Private schools (1)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Elections for office

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

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