The history of Darke County, Ohio

In presenting this volume to the residents of Darke County, we have reason to believe that it will be in the hands of our friends. A friendly disposition was manifested toward our representatives during its compilation, and we trust the result of our labors may be in no sense a disappointment.

In this history, we have endeavored to record only facts, gleaned from the most authentic sources, and have been aided by efficient historians and those associated with the earlier rise and progress of the county to the present time. We have labored to introduce the reader to the wigwam of the red man, seat him by the hearthstone of the pioneers, to trace a history of the county's organization, and to faithfully represent the present condition of Darke County while entering the last decade but one of the nineteenth century. Ten years more would have made the record of many facts and incidents, which we present herewith, an impossibility. Memory is one of the faculties that first shows signs of decay, and, even among those of the "old guard" still living, another decade would have found many a link rusted out from their chain of recollections.

 

Table of Contents

HISTORY NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

History Northwest Territory 19
History of Ohio 93

ILLUSTRATIONS.

HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.

Indian History - Organization and Early Settlements of the County, and Early History of Greenville - Township and City 207
Darke County 243

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.

MISCELLANEOUS.

 

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The history of Darke County is a record of military strife and civil progress. It presents, in striking contrast, the terrible cruelties of savage warfare with the happy and harmonious developments of peace. It builds the forts which sheltered armies and, later, founds cities upon their sites. It shows to us a wild waste of forest and swamp, broken by stretches of prairie, and irrigated by bridgeless streams, transformed to fields productive, pastures pleasant, homes comfortable and cities growing, populous and flourishing. It presents to view the dwellers of the wood, the Shawnee, Miami and other tribes at home. The energy of France, the power of England and the dominant persistence of Americans found here full play. It conducts from beyond the Alleghanies and beyond the ocean to find the fatherland of the race now dwelling in its townships.