Notes
Note N928
Index
1900 Crane township, Paulding county Census gives birthdate as Feb 1862.
Notes
Note N929
Index
On farm.
Notes
Note N930
Index
Smith says the age at death was 42 y, 4m, 6days, and gives an Oct 3 date of death.
Notes
Note N931
Index
William and Jane were the first settlers in Emerald Township, Paulding County, in 1826. William was a farmer. He came to Paulding County with his brother, Samuel. They settled in Crane township . That spring, William built a small cabin on the banks of the Maumee River in the northwest corner of what is now Emerald Twp. They were the first settlers in this township. He moved his family into it, and they were joined the next year by three other families, including the George Platter family. William was the first treasurer of Paulding county. Gordon Creek in Crane township received it's name from the Gordon family. This latter info is from the 1882 Historical Atlas of Paulding county.
Paulding County Probate Journal, 1852-1862, Roll 9 shows appointment of George Gordon as administrator of William Gordon's will after (2nd) wife Sarah declined to do so. Lists George Gordon, Elizabeth and Gilbert Coffin, Caroline and Thomas C. Banks and Harriet and Richard S. Banks, and Charles Gordon. The first four are the first family of William and Jane. Charles is the child of the second marriage (to Sarah Moore).
The 1850 census shows William as age 64 and Sarah age 42 and three of the (Champion) boys. 1860 census shows Sarah as head of the household with Richard, Thomas and George Champion and Charles Gordon, age 8, added to the family.
Following is from http://www.pauldingcountylibrary.org/historysettlers.htm
The Early Settlers
As is the case with the first settlements of almost every country, the earliest settlers of Paulding county planted their homes along the banks of its streams. On the rich bottom farms that lie along the "dark Auglaize" are yet to be found the sites where were built the cabins of the Careys, the Hudsons, the Shirleys, the Romines and the Shroufes. Along the Maumee came the Banks and Reynolds families; also the Gordons the Runyans, the Murphys, the Applegates, and General H.N. Curtis. On the Little Auglaize the Harrells, the Mellingers, and the Curtises; on Blue Creek the Moss brothers, the Reeds, the Barnhills, and the family of Robert Hakes; while on Flat Rock or Crooked Creek, the Woodcocks, the Malotts, and the Wentworths, were the first to tread the forest paths, and to swing the "settlers' echoing ax."
The Treasurers of the county have been (first) William Gordon, Richard S. Banks, James M. Russell, Ezra J. Smith, Isaiah Richards, Lewis Gordon, Peter Hilty, Frederick Young and Samuel G. Robertson.
The settlements along the Maumee were begun in the year of 1825. Denison Hughes, William Banks, David Applegate, William Gordon, Reason V. Spurrier, and General H.N. Curtis came to the county about that year, and may be regarded as the first settlers of its northern part. Of these, the Banks and Gordon families came from Cincinnati; their route lay along the military roads that ran up the Miami to its head waters; then crossing over tot he head waters of the St. Mary's river, they loaded their household goods and wagons into piroques and came down that river to Ft. Wayne, thence down the Maumee to their respective places of landing, which will be fully described in the township histories of this work. Their horses were unharnessed and driven across the country along the winding Indian trailers that were not sufficiently wide to permit the passage of vehicles.
Same above text appears in 1892 "Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio" by Morrow and Bashore.
Following is from http://www.ohiogenealogyexpress.com/paulding/pauldingco_hist_indexes.htm, which has reprinted parts of this source: History of Maumee Valley: commencing with its occupation by the French in 1680, to which is added sketches of some of its moral and material resources as they exist in 1872. by H. S. Knapp - Publ. Toledo: Blade Mammoth Printing and Pub. House, 1872, 699 pgs
"The two first justices of the peace, were Oliver Crane and Montgomery Evans. The next township organized was Crane, which extended south and west from Delaware Township to the State line. The township derives its name from Oliver Crane. Among the first settlers of what is now Crane township, were Oliver Crane, William Gordon, Ephraim Seely and Samuel Reynolds, who settled in 1823-24. Samuel Gordon and Dennison Hughes moved to the township in the early part of 1825. The first marriage in what is now Crane, was solemnized by Oliver Crane, who joined in holy wedlock a Mr. Young to Miss Sherry. In a list of initial officers of Paulding County, we find that ANDREW CLEMMLER served the county as its premier auditor. The first man whose official duty it was to arrest the malefactors and preserve the peace as sheriff of the county was ANDREW J. SMITH, who was appointed to that position. MATTHEW FLEMMING was the first man elected to that important office. GEN. HORATIO N. CURITS had the honor of being the first county clerk, as well as the original recorder of the county. The first treasurer was WILLIAM GORDON, while EZRA J. SMITH was the first man to be elected probate judge of the county after that office was established by the Legislature. The original Board of County Commissioners consisted of CHRISTIAN SHROUFE, JOHN KINGERY, and THOMAS BANKS. All of these officers were representative men of the county during the time in which they served their constituents. When a county board of school examiners was established, the first board was composed of J. O. SHANNON, S. N. WEBB, and H. A. BROWN
"A History of Northwest Ohio-A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress and Development....1917"...Nathan Shirley came in 1823 and Thomas Romine two years later, both of them choosing farms along the Auglaize. In the latter year settlement on the Maumee began. In that year, or about that time, three came to the county Dennison Hughes, William Banks, David Applegate, William Gordon, Reason V Spurrier and H. M. Curtis. These pioneers established the first settlement in the northern part of the county......William Gordon build a small cabin along the Maumee in 1826, and preceded all other settlers in Emerald Township...
History of the Maumee River Basin" by Charles Elihu Slocum, published in 19905 by Bowen & Slocum of Indianapolis, pg526-7: In the year 1820 the Village of Defiance contained three stores and about one hundred people of the Aryan race; and in 1830 Defiance Township contained a population of 307. The Village of Defiance was platted in November, 1822, by Benjamin Leavell of Piqua and Horatio G/. Phillips of Dayton, the proprietors. The plat was acknowledged before Charles Gunn Justice of the Peace April 18, 1823, and the same date is was received for record by Thomas R. M'Knight Recorder of Wood Vounty to which Williams County (then including Defiance) was subject. The plat was recorded April 28th. It extended from the Auglaise River on the east to Jackson Street on the west; and from the Maumee River on the north to Fourth Street on the south, embracing one hundred and fifty lots. Fort Defiance point between the Maumee and Auglaise Rivers and Front and Jefferson Streets was donated for public use and is now known as Fort Defiance Park, and the Court House square was donated for county buildings. The affairs of the newly platted village were administered by Mr. Leavell as Mr. Phillips retained his residence at Dayton.
Robert Shirley removed his family from Ross County to Defiance in the spring of 1821, and was among the last to occupy a building of Fort Winchester. He became a prominent citizen. His sons James, Elias and Robert settled on farms up the Auglaise River, and a few of their descendants yet live in that direction. Among the early settlers by the Maumee were Samuel Kepler three miles east of Defiance in 1821; Joshua Hilton two miles west of Defiance in 1822; and farther up the river came that year Benjamin Mulligan, Henry, Dennison and Samuel Hughes, Oliver Crane, Widow Hill and family, Samuel and William Gordon. The next year came Richard, Thomas and William Banks, Frederick W Sperger, Gad Bellaire, James Shirley from the Auglaise, Horatio N. Curtis, William Snook and several sons, one of whom, Wilson N. is yet living near Antwerp..