York Township, Sandusky County

How York Township, Sandusky County began

York Township occupies the county's southeastern corner, bordering both the city of Bellevue and the city of Clyde without containing either within its own limits as an incorporated place. It is one of ten townships named York in Ohio. Three parallel ancient lake-beach ridges (North, South and Butternut ridges) run across it, and these dry, sandy rises drew squatters from 1819 and settlers from 1822, years before the surrounding Black Swamp was filled. Its best-known native son is George W. Norris, born in the township in 1861 and later a U.S. senator from Nebraska for thirty years.

Settled 1822 (settlement of York proper; squatters from 1819), by Jeremiah Smith (arrived October 15, 1822).

Where the name comes from

One of ten townships in Ohio named York; no source found gives the specific reason for this township's naming.

Before the town

No source found records a Native village, trail, mound, or treaty event specific to York Township, but the 1882 county history records that Indians still hunted the woodlands of York in the 1820s. It tells of a party of Indians who rescued Mrs. Joseph George after her horse threw her near Rollin Benson's store on the turnpike, carried her to Amsden's Corners and summoned a physician; the nation is not named. The township borders Bellevue and Clyde, both of which sit on ground the Wyandot inhabited into the early 1800s.

Timeline

1. 1819 — Joseph George, a Vermont native, comes to Ohio and first stops at the frontier tavern kept by his cousin Elnathan George where Bellevue now is; York is by this date a squatter community, which the county history dates 1819 to 1822.
2. 1822-10-15 — Jeremiah Smith of Fultonville, New York, arrives at Bellevue and enters land near the center of York; the 1882 history dates the settlement of York 'proper' from this year. The same October a party of four men from Ontario County, New York (William McPherson, Norton Russel, Lyman Babcock and James Birdseye) walk from Ashtabula to the Sandusky country and enter quarter sections, all but McPherson in York.
3. 1822 — Elder John Mugg, a devout Baptist, settles on South Ridge; the church he planned is organized in 1825.
4. 1824-1825 — Sickly years in York: Mr. and Mrs. Longwell die in 1824 and Seth M. Murray in 1825; the physician Dr. L. Harkness says he would give his horse for a bottle of quinine.
5. 1826 — The turnpike lands, a strip a mile wide on each side of the state road through the Black Swamp, are offered for sale at the land office at Perrysburg; the 1882 history says buyers rode horses at full speed to the office to claim their turn.
6. 1840 — The last of the Congress lands in York are sold; entries recorded in 1840 close out the balance.
7. 1850 — York Township has 1,811 people; it is 1,619 in 1860, 2,094 in 1870 and 2,319 in 1880 (these figures include the villages).
8. 1861-07-11 — George W. Norris, later a five-term U.S. senator from Nebraska known for the Twentieth Amendment and rural electrification advocacy, is born in York Township, the eleventh child of poor farmers.
9. 1881 — The county history records a limestone outcrop near Bellevue supplying large quantities of building stone and lime, and says land commands a higher price per acre in York than anywhere else in the county.
10. 1913-03-04 — Norris takes his seat in the U.S. Senate, where he serves until January 3, 1943.
11. 1933 — The Tennessee Valley Authority Act, which Norris sponsored, becomes law; he is also the principal author of the Twentieth ('Lame Duck') Amendment.

Stories

The scramble for York's ridge land

The 1882 county history describes how the improvement of the neighboring Firelands before the War of 1812 drove up real-estate prices there once peace returned, pushing emigrants to camp on the unsurveyed Congress lands of York township while waiting for the government to offer them for sale. The dry sand ridges of York were favorite squatting ground, where settlers put up temporary cabins and small clearings, hoping to buy the same land once it reached market and so keep the value of their own improvements. But when the land finally was offered, buyers raced on horseback to the land office to secure a place in line, and it was common for a squatter who had cleared and cultivated a tract for years to lose it to a rival who reached the office first. The county history records that the resulting bitterness lasted for years and caused neighborly feuds, the scramble for land conducted, in its words, with as much self-interest as any scramble for office in later times.

Four men on foot from Ashtabula

In October 1822 four men from Ontario County, New York, William McPherson, his brother-in-law Norton Russel, Lyman Babcock and James Birdseye, set out to find new homes in the West. All but Russel were married and left their families behind until land could be chosen. At Buffalo they booked passage on a packet, but at Ashtabula harbor they decided that they would rather walk than risk robbery by the crew, and went on to the Sandusky country on foot. After two or three weary days Birdseye, the oldest, threw himself down by the road and insisted his hips had been driven two inches into his body. They arrived anyway, and each entered a quarter section, all in York except McPherson, who settled in Green Creek. All but Russel went back for their wives; he married Sibyl McMillen in 1825 and raised seven children on the North Ridge, and in 1881 his family held a reunion in Clyde for his eightieth birthday.

Thrown from her horse, carried in by passers-by

Joseph George, born in Vermont in 1795, had marched with the New York militia when the British burned Buffalo, and in 1819 came to Ohio and stopped at his cousin's frontier tavern where Bellevue now is. After a few years in Thompson township he bought turnpike land near the center of York and lived on it nine years. Soon after the move, his wife started on horseback toward Rollin Benson's little store on the pike; within sight of it her horse took fright and threw her to the ground, stunning and bruising her badly. A party of Indians who were loafing nearby promptly came to her aid, carried her to Amsden's Corners and summoned a doctor. George later moved to Townsend, where he lived thirty-three years, and then to Clyde; the county historian offered the incident as an example of the friendly disposition of the Indians who roamed the woodlands to hunt.

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

Frink Run and Berry Creek, pumped into four upground reservoirs before treatment (per the 2025 CCR). The city's Water Treatment Plant page separately says the supply is held in 5 reservoirs storing about 1 billion gallons, so the city's own two documents differ on the reservoir count. The city also makes a regular daily purchase of about 200,000 gallons or more from Erie County, pumped into the North Industrial Park water tower. The water here

• Bellevue City58% of residentsFrink Run & Berry Creek/Big Ditch runoff (own reservoirs); backup Lake Erie via Erie Co.
• Clyde City42% of residentsRaccoon Creek & Beaver Creek Reservoirs (upground, off Sandusky River basin)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-01-24: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2022: 2 of 2 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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-15

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