Shelby County History

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Van Buren Township  Location & Features | First Families | Other firsts | Churches (for a larger view of the map, click here)     Van Buren Township is bounded on the north by Auglaize County, on the east by Dinsmore and Franklin  townships, on south by Turtle Creek and McLean townships, and on the west by McLean township & Auglaize County.
    Van Buren Township is located on the watershed and has a drainage in both the north and south.  The surface is level and unbroken.  The fertility of the soil is perhaps equal to any other part of the county when put under a proper state of cultivation with ample drainage.    
 

First Families of Van Buren Twp. 
(this list is by no means complete - others were settled in the area that I do not have listed)

1832	The first settlement was probably made in 1832.  A man by the name of Cory is known to have been in living in Van Buren township.  He settled on land owned by Judge Marshall, near Molike, but only remained on this farm for 1 year.  He then bought a 40 acre lot where McCartyville is now located.  Andrew McCullum and ____ Mulholland also were here the same year.  About the same time, several colored families moved into the neiborhood.  Among them were: Moses Reman, George Goins, Humphry Clinton, & Blake Reynolds.  Elias Spray may also have settled in this township as early as 1832.
1833	Moses E. Baker, Richard Elliott, Mrs. Philip J. Maurer, Adam Paul, Adam Braun, John McCullough, Jackson Traverse, Morris Jackson, Andrew Sanders, Robert Reed, & Henry Van Brarigan.
Prior to January 1, 1835 or very soon afterward	Victor Schnelle, Christian Brockhoff, Frederick Abler, Victor Lanfersieck, and ____  Baker.

  top     Other Firsts  

• 1st birth of a white child was Charles Maurer born in the fall of 1833
• 1st marriage was Allen Lupton & Sarah Rush.  They were married by Moses E. Baker, Esq.
• 1st hewed log house was built at Rumley by Co. Evans.  It was used as a store and a dwelling.
• 1st brick house was erected by Joel Goins about 1841.  He also made the 1st brick.
• 1st frame house was built by Adam Paul.
• 1st grist mill was a horse mill owned by Spray & Goins at Rumley.
• 1st saw-mill was owned by R. Elliott.
• 1st school house was built on the land of George Speaker.

top   Churches    

The German Evangelical Lutheran Church

Organized in the spring of 1882.

There are six churches in the township: One Methodist Episcopal, Two German Lutheran, One Evangelical, One Catholic, and One Colored Church.   top Information was gathered from the following sources: "History of Shelby County, Ohio" by R. Sutton & Co. 1883    Back to Shelby County OHGenWeb ©1999 by Tina Hursh