Perry Township

 

Perry Township, according to The Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio, was organized in 1812 from United States Military Lands. The Military Lands tract contained 2,539,111 acres in the central part of Ohio, set aside by Congress to compensate men who served in the regular army (not the militia) during the Revolutionary War. The north half of Muskingum County lies within this tract of land. 

It's said that the township is named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who led American forces to a resounding victory over the British at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 13, 1813. However, Commodore Perry, a Navy veteran with an honorable but undistinguished career until the Battle of Lake Erie, would have been unknown to the township's residents in 1812. Since there is almost information regarding the township's organization (no exact date of formation, no mention of the township's first officers), it's possible that the 1812 date is incorrect, or that the area was originally known by a different name, or that Perry was named for an early but forgotten resident. 

Romanticized painting of Commodore Perry
at the Battle of Lake Erie

James (aka Luke) Brown, Sr., considered to be Perry's first settler, opened the township's first tavern along Zane's Trace, which ran through the township, in 1802. Not long after, Isaac Prior established a second tavern on the Trace west of Brown's. In 1812, Brown's land on which his tavern was located, was platted as the town of Sonora.

A number of settlers came to the area between 1801-1812, many from western Pennsylvania. Within 10 years of Brown building his tavern, the area that would become Perry Township boasted a cemetery; a schoolhouse and teacher, Simon Merwin; a blacksmith, Jacob Wisecarver; and at least two sawmills and two gristmills along the Salt Creek built by Jacob Livingood and John Wartenbee. The Wesley Methodist Episcopal church was founded in 1808 and met in parishoners' home, but no church structure was built until 1823. A second Methodist church (Ebenezer) was formed in 1827. 

The village of Sonora grew large enough (about 200 residents) to gain its own post office in 1855. The post office remained in operation until 1988. Sonora was a stop along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.