Township Evolution of Knox County, Ohio

Diana, Goddess of the Hunt — for Ancestors!

The Township Evolution of Knox County, Ohio

This information was compiled in part by Melissa Drain, Reference Assistant, Public Library of Mt. Vernon and Knox County, Mt. Vernon, OH (7 May 2001) — thank you, Melissa! Her source was:

Norman Newell Hill. 1881. History of Knox County Ohio. A.A. Graham & Co. (Press of W.W. Williams), Mt. Vernon, Ohio (available as microfiche from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, LH6227; full text online at Heritage Pursuit).

"In 1812, all of Knox county was considered 'Military Lands' except portions of what are now Middlebury, Berlin and Pike townships. These lands were set aside for soldiers from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812… Also note that all townships were formed (without names) by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787; subsequent changes were written in reference to the already numbered and plotted townships, rather than to the later named townships." [MD]

The webmaster (DGM) reformatted this information into chronological order, also consulting Hill(1881) and these two additional sources:

Anon. 1880. The History of Morrow County and Ohio. O.L. Baskin & Co., Chicago, IL (online at Heritage Pursuit).

A. Banning Norton. 1862. A History of Knox County, Ohio, from 1779 to 1862. Richard Nevins, Printer, Columbus, Ohio (available as microfiche from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, LH6222; preface and first four chapters online in the USGenWeb Archives). According to Norton, the original four townships formed in 1808 each comprised :

Wayne	Franklin and Chester in Morrow Co., plus Wayne, Middlebury, Berlin, and the northern half of Morris.
Clinton	Bloomfield in Morrow Co., plus Clinton, Liberty, Monroe, Pike, the northern half of Pleasant, and the southern half of Morris.
Union	Union, Brown, Jefferson, Howard, Butler, Jackson*, three-quarters of Harrison, and the eastern half of Clay.
Morgan	Morgan, Miller, Milford, Hilliar, plus the western half of Clay, the southwestern quarter of Harrison, and the southern half of Pleasant.

*According to Hill (1881), Jackson was formed from Morgan, but I'm inclined to believe Norton is correct.

Esther Weygandt Powell. 1971. Early Ohio Tax Records. Ohio Genealogy Society, Akron, OH (reprinted in 1983 by Genealogical Publ. Co., Baltimore, MD; Broderbund CD-651). On p. 219 (punctuation edited slightly):

Knox County was formed in 1808 from Fairfield County. The county seat is at Mt. Vernon. In 1813, Richland county was formed from part of Knox county; and, in 1848, part of Morrow county was formed from part of Knox county. In May, 1808, Knox county was divided into four townships. These townships were Wayne, Clinton, Morgan, and Union. Wayne township embraced all of Franklin and Chester -- and they are now in Morrow County -- and Middlebury, Berlin, Wayne and the north half of Morris. Clinton township included Bloomfield, now in Morrow county, Liberty, the north half of Pleasant, Monroe, Pike, and the south half of Morris. Union township embraced Brown, Jefferson, Union, Howard, Butler, Jackson*, three-fourths of Harrison and east half of Clay. Morgan township embraced the west half of Clay, southwest quarter of Harrison, south half of Pleasant, and all of Morgan, Miller, Milford, and Hilliar.

*Powell appears to be following Norton (1882), also.

Because I altered and reorganized the data in Melissa Drain's email to me and added to it, I take full responsibility for any error(s) contained herein. Below, green shading indicates townships that became part of Morrow Co. when it was formed from Knox Co. in 1848.

Diagrammatic Maps of Knox County, Ohio, in the Census Years from 1810 to 1850

1805	the town of Mt. Vernon is laid out
30 Jan 1808	Knox County formed from Fairfield County
2 May 1808	First four townships formed: Wayne, Clinton, Morgan, and Union
2 Mar 1812	Morris formed from Wayne and Clinton
1812	Chester formed from Wayne
4 Sep 1815	Jackson formed from Union (Norton, 1862) or Morgan (Hill, 1881)
4 Sep 1815	Miller (initially named Sycamore) formed from Morgan
1817	Bloomfield formed from Clinton
8 Jun 1819	Pike formed from Wayne and Clinton
4 Jun 1822	Berlin formed from Pike
4 Jun 1822	Liberty formed from Clinton
3 Mar 1823	Milford formed from Miller
3 Dec 1823	Middlebury formed from Wayne and Military Dist.
3 Dec 1823	Franklin formed from Chester
9 Mar 1825	Butler formed from Jackson
	Clay formed from Morgan
	Harrison formed from Union, Morgan, and Jackson
	Howard formed from Union
	Hilliar formed from Miller — the date cannot be correct because Hilliar was in existence in the 1820 Census
	Liberty gained, probably from Clinton
	Middlebury boundary adjustment
	Monroe formed from Morris
	Pleasant formed from Morgan and Clinton
6 Mar 1826	Brown formed from Jefferson
Mar 1829	Jefferson formed from Union, according to Hill (1881) — the date cannot be correct because Jefferson had to have been formed before Brown
21 Dec 1838	College formed from Pleasant
24 Feb 1848	part of Morrow Co. formed from part of Knox Co.

1820 Census of Knox County, Ohio

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