Tuscarawas-Carroll-Stark County OhArchives Biographies.....Deardorff, Christian August 10, 1781 - October 11, 1851
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sj meese sjm@tusco.net February 1, 2009, 11:39 pm

Author: Unknown

   CHRISTIAN DEARDORFF

Christian Deardorff, as one of the early planners in the wilderness of Ohio, 
deserves special notice;  born on the 10th of August, 1781 in York, now Adams 
County, Pennsylvania.  He left, at 25 years of age, a comfortable home in 1806 
and sought a new one in Muskingum County, now Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where 
thenceforth he lived.    

Christian, together with his brother-in-law, Jesse Slingluff of Baltimore, 
Maryland, had purchased a tract of land of 2,175 acres from Col. James Morrison 
of Lexington, Kentucky, for $4,622, cleaning it of its forests and wild aspect, 
and founded the town of Dover in 1807. They erecting dwellings, setting 
flouring mills in motion and establishing places of business with all things 
necessary for the use and comfort of an expected new community, thus, by 
encouragement, paving the way for others in search of new homes, to one of the 
most beautiful valleys in the State of Ohio.  Immediately upon his arrival on 
the land purchased with assisants, a crude log cabin was built, located on the 
site of the hill near the present "Sugarcreek Salt Works", where, about 1807, 
he built the first saw and grist mill, it being the only one within a radius of 
over thirty miles. 

C.H. Mitchener described Christian as "A man of the most sterling integrity in 
all the affairs of life, his name became a synonym of all that was honest and 
up-right."  Christian's accomplishments weren't limited to establishing Dover.  
In addition, he was a judge, a state legislator, he opened the first store at 
Dover and he helped to start the first bank in the county.

 In his log cabin, Christian continued to live in and kept "bachelor's hall" 
for a number of years.  Descended from a hardy, both physically and morally 
well-developed ancestry of German orgin, Christian carried with him into the 
then far West all the spirit of enterprise, industry and perseverance and not 
less the honesty and integrity known of that people, leaving to his followers 
an example of kindness of heart and of willingness to be useful in serving his 
neighbors.  

The town founded by him, with its beautiful surrounding country, proves now the 
judiciousness and correctness of his forsight in the selection of its 
location.  During the was of 1812, he volunteered and was a paymaster in the 
army.  In 1825, he entered as a member of the halls of legislation of the 
State; thereafter was an Associate Judge of the county, and when the Ohio Canal 
was ordained to be built, he devoted all his experience and energy toward the 
location and completion of that great State work.

In 1817, he married Margaret R. Butt, daughter of William Butt, one of the 
leading landowners in Dover Township.  The Deardorffs became the parents of 
eight children and of these are living now; Jesse S., Isaac N., George B., 
Upton C., Joseph B. and Mary C.  

Deardorff moved to Dover once he married, settling in a house he build at 
Walnut and Front Streets.  He opened the first store at Dover in that house and 
remained the town's only merchant until 1825.

In 1816, he and Judge Jacob Blickensderfer started the first bank at New 
Philadelphia.  In 1817, he secured a post office for Dover and became the first 
postmaster.  He also build two taverns, one at Cherry Alley and Front Street 
and a stone tavern at Sugar Creek Falls above Strasburg, known as the Falls 
House.  The Falls House was located on the main stagecoach route between Dover 
and Wooster and played host to three presidents - William Henry Harrison, James 
Monroe and James Garfield.

According to Mitchener, Deardorff was advised to send his oldest son, Jesse, 
away to college to make a professional man out of him.  He reluctantly agreed.  
When Jesse returned from Franklin College at New Athens in 1842, his father 
asked him what class he graduated in.  Jesse replied that he was the best 
ballplayer there.

Margaret also took a great interest in their children.  On May 30, 1846, she 
wrote a letter to her children, advising them on how they should conduct 
themselves in life:  "Let your general conversation be cheerful, but not 
lightsome or trifling," she wrote in part.  "Join freely in any conversation 
that is edifying.  Shun everything in word, thought or deed of which you may 
repent.  Then you may with confidence ask, and expect the blessing of God, and 
have testimony in your own mind that you please Him."

In 1837, Deardorff built his third and final residence on North Wooster 
Avenue.  It was said to have been the finest house in the region at that time.  
It is no longer standing.

Christian Deardorff lived in that house until he died on October 11, 1851 at 
the age of 70, of typhoid fever.  Margaret died in 1876.


Additional Comments:
This was published in the History of Tuscarawas County - 1887  Page 744

Margaret Rebecca Butt was the daughter of my husband's 5x removed great 
grandfather.  

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