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In April 1784, the Continental Congress adopted the Report of Government for the Western Territory, a broad plan drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson for organizing the United States’ new western lands that were ceded by the states and purchased from Native Americans. One of the most far-reaching legislative acts in American history, the resulting Land Ordinance of 1785, passed on May 20th, established the public land system by which all federal land was surveyed and distributed. The Ordinance established a rectilinear survey system that divided land into townships of six miles square aligned by north-south and east-west baselines, and set aside certain lands for Revolutionary War veterans and for public schools.
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Built circa 1840 by Henry Barnhisel Jr. in the Greek Revival architectural style, the Barnhisel home is one of the oldest remaining structures in Girard. Henry and Eve Anna Barnhisel purchased the land where the house stands in 1813 when they acquired 318 acres in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The couple moved onto the land with their eleven children, and the family lived among a large group of Pennsylvania Germans who settled in Liberty Township. Their son, Henry Jr., took over the farm after his father’s death in 1824. In 1833 he married Susan Townsend. Henry contributed to his community by playing a key role in the building of both the Methodist Church and the first brick school in Girard and Liberty Township. He fathered five daughters, some of whom married into other leading families of the Mahoning Valley, including William Tod, son of the governor. Two granddaughters married into the Wicks and Stambaughs.
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W.S. Rosecrans, soldier, engineer, architect and inventor, was born in Kingston Township in 1819. After graduation from West Point in 1842, he served in the Engineering Corps then taught at West Point. As a civilian, he engineered a river lock system and perfected lamp oil. During the Civil War, Rosecrans commanded Union Armies of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Missouri, and developed a popular war-time ambulance. “Old Rosy” led his troops to victory at Iuka, Corinth, Stones River and Tullahoma. He helped raise $789,000 for soldiers’ relief and designed St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Columbus. He later served as Minister to Mexico, Registrar to the U.S. Treasury and as a Congressman from California. He died in 1898 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. “Stand by your flag and country, my men!”- Rosecrans at the Battle of Stones River, October 4, 1862
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Helen Hooven Santmyer moved to Xenia at the age of five and graduated from Wellesley College in 1918. She attended Oxford University in England as one of the earliest female Rhodes Scholars. Returning to America with her first book published and a graduate degree in literature, she felt confident that she would gain literary fame. In 1935, Santmyer returned to Xenia, where she became Dean of Women and the head of the English Department at Cedarville College. Finally reaching ultimate success, her novel, And Ladies of the Club with its 1,344 pages became the best selling novel of 1984 and earned her critical acclaim and national recognition at the age of eighty-eight. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
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This area of western Hancock County is a part of the Maumee River Watershed known as “Indian Green.” Wyandot Indians chose this area for hunting and ceremonial grounds along the Blanchard River in the 1700s because it was next to the river, yet high enough to avoid frequent flooding. One-half mile east of this location is a Liberty Township cemetery. It is located upon a sand ridge once used as a burial ground by Indians, hence the name “Indian Green.”
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In 1798, Judge Samuel Hinckley of Northampton, Massachusetts, drew the 72nd draft in the land lottery held by the Connecticut Land Company and received 15,305 acres in Township 4, Range 1, for which he paid $12,903.23, less than one dollar per acre. The area had been inhabited for many years by trappers, missionaries, and Native Americans. One of the earliest settlers was James McMullen, who acquired the first 160-acre parcel from Hinckley in 1801. Brookfield Township became the crown jewel of Hinckley’s holdings. Hinckley named Brookfield after a city in England and set aside land for the village green and the cemetery stating that they were for public use forever. During the mid-1820s the Overland Stage Line had a run through Brookfield, linking it to Salem, Warren, and Youngstown in Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania and Dunkirk, New York. (Continued on other side)
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The Village of Genoa and Clay Township agreed to construct a joint township and village hall in Genoa in 1884. The firm Findley & Shively of Fremont designed the hall in the High Victorian Gothic architectural style and Woodville’s Fred Sandwisch was contracted to build the hall for $8,860. In 1890, the Sandusky Register declared that Genoa could “boast of having one of the finest town halls of any village of its size in Ohio.” As a seat of government and an auditorium (“opera house”), the hall hosted village and township meetings, Memorial Day services, school graduations, community events, and theatrical productions. The hall also had a jail and served as a municipal garage. By early 1970s, the auditorium had been condemned and the future of the structure was uncertain. (Continued on other side)
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In 1809-1811, Magdalene Strader Borror, widow of Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Borror Jr., moved to this area from Virginia with her seven children (Martin, Jacob, Myomi, Solomon, Christine, Issac, and Absalom). Originally clearing and settling 400 acres of land given to Magdalene by her father, Christopher Strader, the family eventually prospered throughout the entire township. After her death in 1838, Magdalene was buried in nearby Scioto Cemetery, the resting place of more than seventy of her descendants.
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