{"id":129702,"date":"2020-03-25T07:15:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T12:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=129702"},"modified":"2020-03-29T12:36:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T17:36:26","slug":"paulding-county-started-out-more-square-than-it-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/03\/25\/paulding-county-started-out-more-square-than-it-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulding County started out more square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This is one of a series of articles related to the 200th anniversary of Paulding County, being celebrated in 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JANE NICE\/<\/strong>for the VW independent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAULDING — Have you ever wondered when viewing a map of Paulding County why it looks like a cake with a slice cut out of its northeast corner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The black lines on this map published in the Map Guide to the U. S. Federal Census, 1790-1920 show the original county boundary lines in northwest Ohio. The white ones reflect the changes that were made over time. Notice the original Ohio and Michigan state line had Toledo and its ports important to the canal system in Michigan territory. After a dispute known as the \u201cToledo War\u201d in 1836, the state boundary shifted in Ohio\u2019s favor, and as a concession, Michigan was awarded the Upper Peninsula.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It did not start that way. In 1820, when Paulding\nCounty was formed, it was surveyed into 12 townships in three rows of four\nneatly and nearly equally sized square portions. The new townships were not yet\nlabeled with the familiar names we know today, such as Crane, Carryall, and\nBrown. Those names would come later after settlers moved into the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the townships were numbered, based off the\nlongitude line to the south and latitude line to the west. The \u201cbottom row\u201d of\nthe county was labeled Township 1 North — that is, north of that longitude\nline. The townships that we today call Benton, Blue Creek, Latty, and\nWashington form the bottom grid of Paulding County, or \u201cRow 1\u201d of the Paulding\nCounty \u201ccake.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Township 2 North, or the middle row of the\nPaulding County \u201ccake\u201d, consists of Harrison, Paulding, Jackson, and Brown\ntownships. These southern two rows of Paulding County have maintained their\nsame boundaries, for the most part, for the past 200 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulding County\u2019s northernmost townships —\ntoday\u2019s Carryall, Crane, Emerald, and Auglaize — were laid out in the same\nmanner at that time, nice and square, in a row of four, but were altered in\nshape 25 years later. In order to understand how Paulding County lost a slice\nof its \u201ccake,\u201d people need to look beyond the map. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the surveys were made around 1820, there was\nno Defiance County. The northern border of Paulding County shared the southern\nborder of Williams County, and Williams County was a larger sized \u201ccake\u201d than\nPaulding County. Where Paulding County consisted of three rows of townships,\nWilliams County had more, beginning with Township 4 North and running up to the\nMichigan state line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, Williams County was, like Paulding County, sparsely populated and under a canopy of timber largely within the undrained Great Black Swamp. According to The History of the Maumee Valley, 1872<\/em>, the first federal census, which was taken in 1820, listed a population of 387 for the Williams County territory consisting of Williams, Paulding, part of Henry, and what is now Defiance counties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

From 1820-1824, both Williams and Paulding\ncounties were attached to Wood County for governmental purposes. For that\nreason, Paulding County records from that period are entwined with Wood\nCounty\u2019s. Then in 1824, Williams County was organized, and Paulding County, as\nwell as Henry and Putnam, were then attached to Williams County for civil\npurposes. After that date, Williams County recorded transactions for Paulding\nCounty for 15 more years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the county of Defiance did not yet exist\nin the 1820s, the town did. Defiance was situated at the confluence of the\nMaumee and Auglaize rivers. Because waterways were the main form of\ntransportation then, Defiance was the nucleus of activity of its home county,\nWilliams, and it was where its official business was conducted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the town of Defiance was located in the\nsoutheast corner of what was then Williams County, placing it too far from many\nof the county\u2019s potential settlements. Defiance\u2019s lack of centrality became\neven more of an issue in 1836 after the border war between Ohio and Michigan\nwas settled and about 150 square miles were added to northern Williams County,\nstretching its border even more northward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid to late 1830s, speculators who\nanticipated the construction of the Wabash & Erie and Miami & Erie\ncanals in northwest Ohio drove land sales in the Great Black Swamp. Reasonable\nland prices also attracted settlers to the area. In Paulding County, New\nRochester, which was situated on the south bank of the Maumee River, was platted\nin 1835. It was the first village in the county and would become the county\nseat four years later when Paulding County was organized in 1839. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is strange to think now that for a brief period\nof time in the late 1830s and early 1840s, the county seat of Paulding in New\nRochester existed just a few miles away from the county seat of Williams in\nDefiance, all along the Maumee River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-1840s, land speculators in Williams County began agitating the question of moving its county seat away from Defiance and more in the middle of the county. Despite a large number of villages being platted in Williams County by then and several aspiring to be its county seat, Bryan was chosen. According to The History of the Maumee Valley, 1872,<\/em> Bryan was then \u201ca native forest of immense trees\u201d and \u201cnot an inhabited dwelling\u201d existed there. (In a later Bicentennial article we will explore how Paulding became the seat of Paulding County under similar circumstances.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the town of Defiance was an older,\nwell-established community with manufacturing enterprises poised on the Miami\n& Erie Canal, which opened the door of commerce from Ohio to the Great\nLakes and beyond, to the ports of the Atlantic Ocean and Europe. Defiance\u2019s\ndissatisfaction with the move of the county seat away from their town led to a\npetition being drawn up in an effort to secure a new county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for that to happen, the proposed Defiance\nCounty would need to take property from a few of its neighbors. One can imagine\nthat this was not a popular idea with the surrounding counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petition calling for the establishment of\nDefiance County was circulated in Auglaize Township, Paulding County, in\nDecember 1844. It proposed that Williams County cede Townships 4 and 5 North\n(the two rows north of Paulding County, numbering eight townships total) and\nthat Henry County forfeit its four westernmost townships for the cause of the\nnew Defiance County. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the signature page of the Auglaize Township\npetition is written: \u201cWe the undersigned feel willing and think that it would\naccommodate a large portion of the citizens of Williams and Henry, but are not\nwilling to have any part of Paulding County to make said new county.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under that are five signatures: W.K. Daggett, F.\nLyon, and three others that are crossed out, making them illegible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a short struggle, the bill to establish\nDefiance County, with the town of Defiance as its county seat, was taken to the\nOhio State Legislature and passed by 12 votes in the House and two votes in the\nSenate on March 4, 1845.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentiment that the Auglaize Township men had\ncommunicated on the petition had made no difference. The new county of Defiance\nwas formed from the proposed eight southernmost townships in Williams County,\nthree townships in Henry County, and the northern half of Auglaize Township in\nPaulding County, comprising Sections 1-18. As a consolation, Auglaize Township\nwas awarded the bordering four sections of Emerald Township, making Paulding\nCounty no longer symmetrical. It is as if Defiance County reached over and took\na piece of Paulding County\u2019s \u201ccake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time: Rivers and Creeks in Paulding County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information on the bicentennial can be found\non Facebook at www.facebook.com\/PauldingCounty200<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This is one of a series of articles related to the 200th anniversary of Paulding County, being celebrated in 2020. JANE NICE\/for the VW independent PAULDING — Have you ever wondered when viewing a map of Paulding County why it looks like a cake with a slice cut out of its northeast corner? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 04:11:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}