Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/560

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��HISTORY OF EICHLAND COUNTY.

��September 3, 1816, Perry Township was organ- ized and named Leipsic, and embraced the territory of the present Perr}- and a part of Congress Township, now in Morrow County — two townships six miles square. The first officers of the new township were sworn in September 28, 1816, their names and offices being as follows : Trustees — John Cook, James Huntsman and John Coon ; Clerk, Jonathan Huntsman ; Supervisors. Benjamin Hart and Philip Stealts ; Overseers of the Poor, Greorge Goss and Lawrence Lamb ; Fence Viewers, Caleb Selby and Henry Sams. For some reason, now unknown, the name of the township was changed from Leipsic to Perry, October 11, 1816. and the next day, the Trustees of Jefferson and Perry held a meeting for the •purpose of making a final settlement ; the Trustees of the latter township to make prep- arations to collect their share of the taxes levied by the Trustees of Jefferson August 24, 1816. Perry assumed one-half of the indebted- ness of Jefferson, which amounted to $27.47, the whole being $54.94 ; .and received one- half of a bond given by William Spears and John Zent for a stray horse, the former pur- chased of Philip Stealts June 29, 1816. The bond called for $17. Philip Stealts was Super- visor of the part of the township now in Eich- land County, and presented a bill of $4.50 for services. Mr. Hart operated in the Morrow Count}' half, and his l)ill was 75 cents.

Perry retained the boundary given it in 1816 until June 6, 1825, when it was reduced to six miles square, or to the original survey, and the western thirty-six sections received the name of Congress.

February 24, 1848, the G-eneral Assembl}- of the State created Morrow County, and Perr}' Township was divided, and since then, the east- ern eighteen sections have exercised all the privileges of an independent township, and to the western half, a tier of half-sections were added from Congress Township, which has exer-

��cised the same privileges. Four sections of land, of the eastern twent3--four sections, form a school subdistrict, and when the town was di- vided, one-half of the three districts was thrown into Morrow Count}-. The schoolhouses are located at the count}' line, and in them children of two counties are instructed.

The first election, after the division, was held April 3, 1848 ; and. after the new officers were installed, those of each township, whose pres- ence was necessary, met at Groodbury and effected the settlement the division necessitated. The officers of Perry, in Richland, kept the old furniture and books at a cost of $5.67, and the funds in the hands of the old Treasurer were divided according to the amount of taxable property in the respective townships, and the clerks were ordered to examine the tax dupli- cates. Perry, in Morrow, received $56.09. After the division, the half in Richland County spontaneously received the name of East Perry, and the other half. West Perry. The more important officers of the two townships after the creation of Morrow County were as follows : East Perry — Trustees, John G. Amos. John Haniwalt and Josiah Moore ; Clerk, T. J. Da- vis ; Treasurer, Jacob Grarver. West Perry — Trustees, Levi Hart, Abraham Hetrick and George Tringer ; Clerk, John Bruce ; Treas- urer, John Walker. The persons elected to office in East Perry in 1879, were, for Trustees, Jacob Shively, John Steel, J. S. Graham ; Clerk, W. C. Black ; Treasurer, John Zimmerla.

Tlie first actual settlement in Perry Town- ship was made by John Frederick Herron, near the site of the Haniwalt mill, in 1809. In 1811. Peter Weirick located a short distance east on Section 12, and John Cook opened a homestead in the southwest corner of the township, in the Lavering settlement. The next year, John Coon came from Belmont County, and pitched his tent on the southwest quarter of Section 12, and the Same year George Ruhl, a native of York County, Penn., came to Bellville, and

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