Springfield Township

Springfield Township was formed from Muskingum County's first township, Newton, on June 21, 1803. Ohio had just been admitted to Statehood on March 1 of that year. However, white settlement had begun along the junction of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers as early as the late 1790's. Col. Ebeneezer Zane directed the creation of a primitive road from Wheeling, West Virginia to Maysville, Kentucky during 1796-1797 to encouragement white settlement in the Northwest Territory and in the new state of Kentucky. The settlement of Westbourne, which was renamed Zanesville, grew up as a waypoint along "Zane's Trace," which is also known as the Maysville Pike. Col. Zane received a land grant of 640 acres in return for building the road. Rufus Putnam, Increase Matthews, and Levi Whipple purchased land across the river from Zanesville in 1801, and laid out the settlement of Springfield, which was renamed Putnam in 1814. The two thriving river settlements drew large numbers of settlers to the area, and growth was rapid.

Some "facts" of Springfield Township's settlement from the Everhart publication, History of Muskingum County are:

• According to the Everhart book, David Stokely was the first white settler to build a cabin in the area that would become Springfield Township (1799). However, a more reliable source (Muskingum County Ohio USA) names Henry Crooks and William McCulloch, who operated ferries across the Muskingum River, as the original settlers.
• The first trustees were Dr. Increase Mathews, John Mathews, David Harvey, and Isaac Zane; other township offices established were overseer of the poor, fence viewer, appraiser of houses, lister of taxable property, supervisor of roads, and constable.
• Dr. Increase Mathews, clearly a jack-of-all-trades, was not only the first physician in the area, he also was the first merchant, and he raised fine-wooled sheep.
• Jacob Reagan was the first blacksmith. In addition to the usual blacksmithing work, Reagan did a brisk business making cowbells and horsebells, that enabled settlers to track their livestock when they wandered off into the woods.
• The only newspaper ever published in the township itself was The Methodist Recorder. Is part of its name preserved in the name of the current-day Times Recorder?
• The first Methodist congregation was organized in 1827, and the first church building in the township was erected in 1835
• A lot of horse-thieving apparently happened in the township: The Springfield Association for the Recovery of Stolen Horses was organized in 1833.

Ferry boat about 1800