The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-09-10
THE PIONEERS.
second Annual Picnic and Re- Union Of
the Hancock county Pioneer and His
tOTieal Association.
AZ NTEfEsTl6G MEETING.

The Association was called to order b.
Alien Wi-eley. Esq, President Rev
George Van Ernan opened the. exercise.
with prayer. Mr.. Van Eman prelaceC
the prayer with few fitting and appro
pirate remarks.
Abel f. Parker, Esq, was called upor
and made few remarks appropriate t.
the occasion.
At the close Of Mr.. Parker's r-nark,
the Association adjourned for dinner
After dinner, Edison Colt, Esq, oi
Bowling Green, pioneer Of this county,
was introduced and delivered an inter
esting but some what rambling address.
He spoke for an hour and was listened
TO with attention throughout, AMI re-
lated many interesting "reminiscences Of
pioneer life
At the close of Mr. Colts address, j..
B. Beardsley, Esq, read the following
sketch ofthe early history of the county
On the 18th day of February, 1920.
the General Assembly of Ohio, with Allen
| Trimble as President of the Senate, and
Joseph Richardson, Speaker of the
House, passed Fan act for the erection
| OF certain counties named therein In
! that act we find the following reference
to Hancock county:
g. fifth, TO include townships one
and two south, and one and two north,
iii the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth
ranges, and to be known by the name of
Hancock county"
SECTIoN 2 of the same act provides:
"That the counties of Hancock, Henry,
Putnam, Paulding and Williams, shall
DE attached to the county of Wood"
Hancock county remained part of
Wood for municipal purposes for eight
years. The road from Ft. Meigs, or foot
of the Rapids of the Maumee, to Belle
fontaine was opened in December, 1920
The following order was made by the
Commissioners of Wood on the 4th of
March, 1922:
"Ordered by the Board that the town
ship of Waynesiield, within the jurisdic-
tion of the county of Wood, be co-exten-
sive with the boundaries of Wood aud
Hancock, and to include the same
The territory thus included in one
township, is now divided into two coun-
Which townships has perhaps as great
population to-day as had the two coun-
ties of Wood and Hancock half "A cen
tury ago. The Commissioners of Wood
county on the 2Sth day of May, 1928,
made this record:
"Ordered further, that so much of the
township of Waynestield, as is included
in the unorganized county of Hancock,
be set off and organized, and the same is
hereby organized into n township 10y the
name of Findlay, and that the election
for township officers be held on the first
day of July, A. ID. 1923, at the house of
Wilson Vance, in the said township"
At that election Job Chamberlain,
WIN. Moreland and Benjamin Chandler
were Judges, and Wilson Vance and
Mathew Reighley Clerks, and the number
of voters was thirteen, and it was certi
fed that Robert NJ. Kinnis and Wilson
Vance were elected Justices of the Peace.
The first record we have of a township
election i'm the county is OH the 5th day
of April, 1924, at which election Job
Chamberlain, William MoreIand and
Jacob Poe were Judges, and Matthew
Reiglley and Wilson Vance, Clerks, who
certify that there were eighteen votes
cast, and that job Chamberlain, Wilson
Vance and Jacob Poe were elected Trus
tees, Mathew ReigEley, Clerk, Wilson
Vance, Lister, Philip N. Kinnis, Con
stable, John Hunter and John Gardner,
Fence Viewers; Robert NJ. Kinnis and
William Moreland, Overseers of the Poor,
and Job Chamberlain, Treasurer. The
two important offices OF Overseers of the
Poor and Fence Viewers, with all s,lla-
ries and emoluments, have been abol-
ished.
! have looked in vain amongst the rec
or,ls of Wood county for n duplicate of
the taxable property of Hancock county
prior to 1926, but none could DE iunnd.
la the year 1896 there were twenty six
tax payers in the county, and the vaiue
of taxable personal property was about
81, 600. The total tax was S5G12. In
1927 there were fourteen tax payers, the
largest of whom was EInathan Corey,
and total tax S5029. Not much labor
in auditing that duplicate, and no very
fat salary for collecting it. Whilst an
Assessor might have some trouble in
finding the property, he certainly wonld
have but little trouble in making report
to the Auditor.
The taxable property of Hancock
county to-day stands on the duplicate nj
Sl2, 32S, 921, but it would, perhaps, be
no exaggeratiOn to say that its real value
is not less than 500, 900, ,000. Against n
tax duplicate IN 1926 of $50 90, we now
have one of S1S9, 35S 50. With, our i'll
crease in wealth has come, of course, an
increase in costs OF running our county
government
On the 21st day of January, 1898, the
General Assembly of Ohio passed an act
entitled "An act to organize the county
Of Hancock - OF which the following are
some of IFS provisions:
''SRCTION /. That the county of Han
cock, as heretofore laid off, shall be, and
the same is, hereby organized into a
separate and distinct county, and suits
aud prosecutions which shall he pending,
and all crimes which shall have been
committed within said county of Han
cock previous to IFS organization, shall
be prosecuted to final Judgment and
execution within the county of Wood,
i'm the same manner they would nave
been had the county of Hancock not
been organized; and the Sheriff, Coro-
her and Cunstables of Wood county
shall execute within the county of Han
cock such process as shall be necessary
to carry into effect such suits, prosecu
tionS md judgments; and the ,reasnrer
of the county of Wood shall collect all
such taxes aS shall have been levied and
imposed within the county of Hancock
previous "a the taking eTeet OF this act. "
SEC. 3. That all Justices OF the Peace
and COhsiables within the county of
Hancock shall continu to exercise the
duties of their respective offices in the
same manner as if the county of Han
cock had remained attached to the coun
ty of Wood
SEC. 3. That on the first Monday of
April next, the legal voters within
the county of Hancock shall assemble
within their respective townships Mt the
place of holding elections, and elect their
several county officers, who shall hold
their offices until the next annual cleo
tiun. This act ShaiT take effect and be
ia force from and after the first cay of
March, next
In aeeordanee with the provisions of
this apt the voters oil Hancock County
met in Findlay (there being but one
township in the county,) and proceeded
to hold an election.
Abraham HUFF, Wilson Vance aud
Mordeeai Hammond We're the Judges,
and John q. Wiekham and Edward s.
Jones, the Clerks, who certified that
there had been seventy-fOur votes cast.
The tally sheet shows the result as fol
lows.
County Assessor William Hackney