Morgan Township

Morgan Township was organized June 7, 1825 and was formerly part of Seal Township and then of Union. It lies on the Scioto River; is rather of an oblong shape, with a surface hilly, rough and broken.

Morgan Township was first settled about 1804, although a portion of the valley bottoms undoubtedly found tenants a year or two earlier. Hezekiah Merritt settled on the east side as early as 1796, just above Lucasville, but he was a pioneer and claims to have raised the first crop of corn in the county.

However, definite knowledge is had that Morgan Township had more than one settler in 1804 and that it grew in population along the Scioto River which skirts its easstern boundary for some seven miles.

Among the first settlers were the Shelpmans, the Deavers, the Murphys, Noels, Corbleys, Glazes, Walls and Nices, the first four being known to have come as early as 1801-1805, if not earlier. The Deavers sold property in 1806 and the Noels are among the early pioneers before the organization of the county in 1803, or about that time. Some of the old settlers who are now dead are remembered well. Of these were A. Noel, Thomas Morgan, Abraham Glaze, Isaac Glaze, David Shelpman, Spicer Shelpman, Joshua Cutler and Pliney Cutler.

The oldest settlers now living in the township are Abraham Shively, Elias Simpson, William Shelpman and David Glaze. There are also a few more nearly as aged as those above mentioned.

The first Justice of the Peace after its organization was William Deaver, as near as we can learn, the township records being missing.

The above information abstracted from the Newsletter of SCCOGS and from the publication "History of the Lower Scioto Valley: both of which contains more information on the above township and individuals. See our books and publications page to order.

 

Search This Site The Web for Get a Free Search Engine for Your Web Site