DARKE COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: PART 1 (Howe, Henry LL.D 1898) ******************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this elec- tronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ******************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Gina Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com April 29, 1999 ******************************************************** HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO by Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 DARKE COUNTY Darke County was formed from Miami county, January 3, 1809, and organized in March, 1817. The surface is generally level, and it has some prairie land. It is well timbered with oak, poplar, walnut, blue ask, sugar maple, hickory, elm. and beach, and the soil is exceedingly fertile. It is a granary of corn, oats, and wheat -the yield immense and the quality excellent -and it is a first-class agricultural county, a large proportion of the land being a deep black soil and apparently inexhaustible. Area unusually large -600 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 214,522; in pasture, 23,247; woodland, 72,333; lying waste, 7,207; produced in wheat, 996,331 bushels; oats 472,201; corn 3,066,476; broom brush, 36,545 pounds; tobacco, 3,152,425; butter, 867,560; flax, 91,457; potatoes, 215,809 bushels; sorghum, 49,559, largest in the State; eggs, 867,493 dozen; horses owned, 13,548; cattle, 25,517; hogs, 36,977. School census 1886, 13,881; teachers, 255. It has 158 miles of railroad. TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS 1840 1880 Adams 698 2,826 Allen 194 1,246 Brown 293 1,909 Butler 1,116 1,739 Franklin 291 1,871 German 1,173 1,809 Greenville 1,851 6,807 Harrison 1,666 2,174 Jackson 304 2,850 Mississinewa 124 1,506 Monroe 1,400 Neave 635 1,082 Patterson 1,280 Richland 589 1,252 Twin 1,047 2,724 Van Buren 421 1,512 Wabash 1,135 Washington 898 1,612 Wayne 727 2,762 York 371 1,000 Population in 1820 was 3,717; in 1840, 13,145; 1860, 26,009; 1880, 40,496; of whom 33,062 were Ohio-born, 1,846 Pennsylvanians, and 1,208 in Germany. Gen. William Darke, from whom this county derived its name, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1736, and removed at the age of five years with his parents to near Shepherdstown, Va. He was with the Virginia provincials at Braddock's defeat, taken prisoner in the Revolutionary war, at Germantown, commanded as colonel two Virginia regiments at the siege of York, was a member of the Virginia Convention of '88, and was repeatedly a member of the Legislature of that ancient commonwealth. He distinguished himself at St. Clair's defeat, and died Nov. 20, 1801. Gen. Darke was by profession a farmer. He possessed a herculean frame, rough manners, a strong but uncultivated mind, and a frank and fearless disposition. This county is of considerable historic interest. The defeat of St. Clair, November 4, 1791, took place just over its northwestern border, near the Indiana line, on the site of the village of Fort Recovery. Under the head of Mercer county, a very full account of this event is given, with individual narratives and incidents. On his march north from Cincinnati St. Clair built a fort five miles south of the present site of Greenville, which he named Fort Jefferson. His army left on the 24th of October, and continued their toilsome march northward through the wilderness, which in less than two weeks was brought to its disastrous close. In the summer of the next year a large body of Indians surrounded this fort. Before they were discovered, a party of them secreted themselves in some underbrush and behind some bogs near the fort. Knowing that Capt. Shaylor, the commandant, was passionately fond of hunting, they imitated the noise of turkeys. The captain, not dreaming of a decoy, hastened out with his son, fully expecting to return loaded with game. As they approached near the place the savages rose, fired, and his son, a promising lad, fell. The captain turning, fled to the garrison. The Indians pursued closely, calculating either to take him prisoner or enter the sally-gate with him in case it were opened for his admission. They were, however, disappointed, thought at his heels; he entered, and the gate was closed the instant he reached it. In his retreat he was badly wounded by an arrow in his back. ==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====