township. The next move was made by Joseph M. Cellar, who opened a little store at Liberty Church. A post office was established at the same place about 1848-49, called Union, and for a time it was quite a lively place, consisting of a store, post office, church, schoolhouse, and a cemetery. But after a few years, both store and post office were discontinued, thus leaving the township without these useful additions to civilization, until a little store was opened at "Hall Corners," or Middlebury," by Thomas R. Hall. This was a small affair, and the date of its establishment is not remembered, but it was a number of years ago. This store at "the corners led to an application for a post office, which, through the influence of Judge Powell, of Delaware, was obtained, and named for him in compliment for his exertions in procuring it. Joshua Pennell was appointed Postmaster. With the building of the Columbus & Toledo Railroad, Powell Post Office made some pretensions toward becoming a town. It was surveyed and laid out as a village in February, and the plat recorded March 29, 1876, for A. G. Hall, the owner of the land upon which it is located. Joshua Pennell was the first merchant, except Hall, as well as the first Postmaster, and opened a store long before the place was laid out. The first house in the place was built by Mr. Hall. Since the laying-out of the village, it has contained as many as three stores at one time, but recently they have been consolidated, and the mercantile business proper is controlled by one house-that of C. W. Mason. In addition to his establishment, there are two drug stores, by Dr. Ingersoll and John Kidwell respectively; two wagon and blacksmith shops, by William Gardner and William Baninger; one boot and shoe shop, by David Shaw. Quite a handsome little schoolhouse adorns the town. There is no church within the corporate limits, but Emery Chapel stands just outside of the village, and a little beyond the church is the sawmill of Mr. Hall, which does a large business in its way. A few years ago a lodge of Odd Fellows was organized in the village, and is to-day one of the most flourishing lodges in the county. A halfdozen or so members of the order, who were somewhat isolated and distant from lodges, conceived the idea of having a lodge of their own, bought a lot and put up a substantial building thereon; the lower story was made into a storeroom, and the upper into a hall. Upon the completion of the building, they applied for and received a charter as Powell Lodge, No. 465, I. O. O. F., with the fol

lowing charter members: B. B. Nafzger, J. T. Gardner, Ralph Case, William P. Fuller, M. S. Case, J. N. Kidwell, M. G. Staggers, Arthur Dougherty, G. N. Warner, A. S. Goodrich and S. P. Andrews. It was instituted September 29, 1870, by Hiram J. Beebe, G. M., and W. C. Earl, Grand Secretary. The first officers were A. S. Goodrich, N. G.; J. T. Gardner, V. G.; M. S. Case, R. S.; B. B. Nafzger, P. S.; William P. Fuller, Treasurer. The Trustees of the building are Ralph Case, M. G. Staggers and S. P. Andrews. The present officers are Ralph Case, N. G.; T. W. Case, V. G.; Jacob Stietz, R. S., and M. S. Case, P. S., with fortyseven members at last report. As remarked, the lodge owns the building, which cost $1,600; has a fund at interest of $2,000, and promptly pays every demand made upon it by the Grand Lodge, or by others. The village cemetery is a well-chosen spot, and is kept with good taste. It was laid out long before the village, and contains the moldering remains of many of the early settlers in this part of the township. The village of Powell, for a new place, and a railroad village, too, contains some very handsome residences. The houses are mostly well built, and upon the whole are much above the standard of towns of its size.

The village of Hyattsville was laid out February 6, 1876, by Henry A. Hyatt. Ed Nalz opened the first store. Henry Cook bought him out, when Nalz opened a store in the depot building. A post office was established in 1877, with H. A. Hyatt as Postmaster. Hyatt originally kept a few goods, but makes no pretensions in mercantile business at present. He keeps a grain warehouse and does considerable shipping. The business may be thus summarized: In addition to the stores of Cook and Nalz, there is a blacksmith-shop by B. Poole, cooper-shop by English, shoe-shop by James Wallace, saw-mill by Henry Oller. One of the best schoolhouses in the township is located here. There is one saloon, which adds little to the morals of the place.

Both Hyattsville and Powell are the result of the building of the Columbus & Toledo Railroad through the township. There was a store and post office at Powell previous to the building of the road; but for the road, however, it doubtless would never have been anything more than merely "Powell Post Office," as it had been known for years before. Hyattsville, it is quite evident, owes its existence to the road. But it was not in the birth of these thriving little villages that the great benefit to the township of this road

was set off to the township of Harlem, which then included the whole of Genoa. September 3, 1816, the east half of Orange Township was set off to form that township, and on the 8th of January, 1820, the east half of Berlin was set off to form that township. These subtractions left Berkshire in the form of an L, consisting of Sections 2 and 3 of the present Berkshire Township, with Section 3 of Kingston and 4 of Brown. When Delaware County was set off from Franklin, the eastern part of this county was set off, at the first session of the Commissioners' Court, into a separate township, with its boundaries as follows: "Beginning at the northeast corner of Section No. 2 of Township 5 (Kingston), Range 17, of the United States Military Survey; thence south with said line to the south line of county; thence with the south line of county to the east line of said county; thence north with said county line to the Indian boundary line; thence westerly with said boundary line to the east boundary of Marlborough Township; thence south with said boundary line to the southeast corner of said township; thence east to the place of beginning." By taking a map of the county and tracing the lines, it will be observed that the present townships of Harlem, Trenton and Porter, with the east half of the townships of Kingston, Berkshire and Genoa, were included in this township, besides the townships of Bennington, Harmony, Peru and Lincoln, now in Morrow County. This geographical "what-not," was called Sunbury, and has succeeded in handing down its title to the thriving village of that name, in Berkshire Township. By the erection of successive townships its territory was gradually diminished, until in 1821 it only included the east half of Berkshire and Trenton Townships. When Berkshire's loss of the sections in Kingston and Brown was compensated by the addition of Sections 1 and 4 from Sunbury Township, the absence of the record renders doubtful, but probably about the time of the erection of Trenton into a separate township. The surface is a fine, rolling country, lying high and in admirable shape for tilling, and, with the exception of a small prairie, a little northeast of Berkshire Corners, was originally covered with a dense forest. This prairie was a low piece of ground, about half a mile long, of irregular shape, reaching upward of a half-mile in the widest. part. It was a noted deer lick in the early time and the resort of immense flocks of pigeons. Various opinions were entertained by the early settlers as to the origin of the spot, the preponder

ance being in favor of the theory that at a very early period the place was submerged by water held there by a beaver dam, or natural obstruction of fallen timber, and thus the natural growth of the forest prevented. The first settlers found the timber skirting the lower part of this spot made impassable by the number of fallen trees. There was a small spring here which still exists, and in the wet season the accumulated waters, obstructed by the fallen timber, backed up so that frequently they nearly found an outlet over the river banks into the Little Walnut, which flows across this plat. This stream, coming from the north, takes a southwest course at this point, but, changing its direction below the Sunbury road, it flows to the southeast, and joins the Big Walnut just below Galena. The latter river intersects the township just east of Sunbury Village, and, taking a southwesterly course, passes Galena and reaches the Scioto River in the southern part of Franklin County. This river was known by the early settlers near it, as Gehenna, but without any obvious reason, and lower down is still known by the local name of Big Belly. These streams afford Berkshire ample drainage, and at an early day afforded by canoes a means of communication with the older settlements. The high divide between these two streams constitutes nearly one-half of the township, and was formerly covered almost exclusively with oak. This timber is evidently of a second growth, giving ground for the opinion that at an early period the timber along this elevation was entirely prostrated by a devastating tornado. Across the Little Walnut, on the rise of ground beyond, is found the same quality of oak of immense size, evidently a part of the original forest growth. Here is found also a generous variety of timber, including maple, hickory, walnut, butternut, elm, etc. casional elm swamps were found on the west side and in the northern part, but they dried up by a natural process when freed from timber and exposed to the influence of the sun. The general character of the soil is that of a light yellow clay, admirably adapted to grass and corn. The prairie and the elm swamps are the exceptions to the general rule of clay. In these is found a rich, black soil, highly prized by the farming community. Grain raising and feeding stock for market receive the principal attention of the farmers. Four places have at different times aspired to metropolitan honors in the township: Berkshire, in the northwest; Rome, near the middle; Galena, in the southern, and Sunbury, in the eastern middle part.

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The two latter are thriving villages about the same size.

The pioneer of Berkshire was Col. Moses Byxbe, of Lenox, Berkshire County, Mass. He was a man of wealth and standing in his native town: a man of shrewd business ability and of great decision of character. He united the business of "keeping hotel" with that of storekeeper, and in this way had come into possession of a large number of soldiers' land warrants, and located them in Section 2 of what is now Berkshire, and in Section 1 of the present township of Berlin, 8,000 acres in all. He afterward bought large tracts of land in Brown and Genoa, and was the largest landholder ever in the county. In June, 1804, he fitted out a four-horse team, in charge of Orlando Barker, a three-horse team, with Witter Stewart as driver, and a single-horse wagon, driven by Solomon Smith, and, loading with goods from his store and his household effects, started them for the West. Mr. Byxbe led the way with his family in a two horse carriage, in that day an indisputable evidence of his wealth. He persuaded Azariah Root, a surveyor and resident of Pittsfield, Mass., to accompany him, promising to give him employment to pay for his land. He also brought his nephew, Edward Potter, then a boy of thirteen years of age, to act as clerk in the store he proposed to start. Taking up their line of march, the little colony started on their journey in the track of the Scioto colony, which had gone out the year before. Their course was to Fishkill, thence across the river through Newburgh to Easton, Harrisburg, Carlisle, and Shippenburg. Here the little caravan held council as to the rest of their course, whether to go to Chambersburg or to cross the Three Brothers to Strawsburg and thence on to Bedford. The latter course was decided upon, Root taking the lead some distance in advance on the road to ward Somerset. When near Bedford, Byxbe concluded to go to the left of the usual route, and struck the river at Redstone, now Brownsville. Here he found a Mr. Hutchinson and family bound for Cincinnati, and stayed five days. Deciding to take the river, a flat-boat was built capable of carrying fourteen horses, with wagons, baggage, and the united families. Thus provided, they started down the river to Pittsburgh. Here Byxbe made considerable purchases of iron goods, and, to lighten the boat, which found it difficult to navigate the river in its shallow state of water, sent the horses across the "pan-handle" to Wheeling. On arriving at Wheeling, learning that he was as near

Worthington there as he would be at the mouth of the Scioto, he prepared to start overland to his destination from that point. He unloaded only a part of his goods and arranged that Hutchinson should land the balance at Portsmouth. From Wheeling, Mr. Byxbe came to Zanesville, thence to Lancaster, Franklinton, and Worthington, arriving at the last-mentioned place in the latter part of August. They overtook Root and his family at Franklinton, where they had been waiting some two or three days. At Worthington they found the colony in a woful condition. The season had been extraordinarily wet, and there was water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink." The freshets had made the river unfit to use, and the colonists had dug holes a few feet in the ground and used the surface water as it filtered in. The consequence was that the whole community were sick, shaking with the ague. Their crops had largely failed, and many had nothing but green corn to eat. Here Mr. Byxbe stayed nearly three months and built a two-story frame house. He sent men in canoes down the river to Chillicothe for flour and bacon, and bought a steer. This was killed, and, it is said, was eaten up before the meat lost its natural heat. While here he went to his land in Berkshire, and, choosing a building site on the banks of the Little Walnut, in the prairie, built cabins for his home, and stables. He also built a cabin for Mr. Root about a halfmile south of where the "Corners now are, on the Berkshire road. Meanwhile he had got his effects from Portsmouth and sold all his store goods to Nathaniel Little, before opening the packages. Early in November, the first load of household goods were sent forward to Berkshire from Worthington. It took a whole day to go and another to return, although the road had been chopped out by Col. Byxbe's direction after reaching Worthington. Load succeeded load until both families were established in their new homes. After making the cabins comfortable, Mr. Byxbe began to lay plans for settling up his purchase. Berkshire street was surveyed out through his land, and farms laid out abutting on it, the surveying being done by Mr. Root. Early in January, 1805, Mr. Curtis, a shoemaker, came to the settlement, followed by John Kilbourn, Ralph Slack, Elem Vining, Sr., a Mr. Harper, and Adonijah Rice. These came in singly, in close succession, during the winter. Close after these came some negroes, Sarah Brandy and Polly Noko, who went to Berlin afterward. Polly Noko's husband was detained

at Chillicothe, and sent fourteen cows by a negro boy, Jack, to the Salt Reservation, in the present township of Brown, where he was to cut browse for them, but the boy, becoming infatuated with a girl in the settlement, let them go in the woods, and went to work for Col. Byxbe. In the meantime, Maj. Thomas Brown, who had gone to Detroit looking for land to locate upon, came back by way of the Byxbe settlement. He was persuaded to cast in his lot with this community, and remained with them until June. Meanwhile the boy Jack, after asking Col. Byxbe to marry him to the girl of his heart (who explained his legal inability to accommodate him), applied to Maj. Brown, who possessed the title of Squire as well. Here the difficulty was not less insurmountable, as he had no jurisdiction. How the poor fellow inade out is not known, but the cows starved to death for lack of attention.

In June of 1805, by Mr. Byxbe's directions, Mr. Root surveyed a road out to the present site of Granville, and as soon as this was completed, the Byxbe family, in their carriage, accompanied with a wagon in which rode Potter, Brown, and another man who furnished one of the two horses, started for Lenox, Mass.; Brown for his family, and Byxbe for more settlers. The whole male portion of the settlement escorted them, cutting out the road as far as surveyed, taking three days to accomplish the distance. Each night they built substantial camps of elm bark, which they left standing for those who might pass over the road subsequently. On their journey out they met the colony which settled at Granville, within two days' travel of their destination. In the following year, Maj. Brown returned with his family, accompanied by David Prince and John Patterson with their families, Col. Byxbe remaining behind to spread the news of his new-found El Dorado and to sell it. Joseph Prince followed early the next spring. On arriving at the frontier, Maj. Brown found a wagon-track leading toward his destination, the first track to Berkshire over that route. It was subsequently found to be the track of Nathaniel Hall, who afterward built the mill on Alum Creek. About this time came the family of James Gregory-a family of high social position and mental attainments. The names of Solomon Jones, a Mr. Helt, and George Fisher also appear, and, further south, those of John B. Grist, Joseph Patrick, David Armstrong, Samuel and David Landon, and Gideon and William Oosterhaus. In 1806, steps were undertaken by

Maj. Brown to have the township organized, and it was set off with the name of Berkshire. It was not long before Mr. Byxbe returned and occupied a double log-cabin, which he had built on the "street" just before he went East.

In 1807, Ichabod Plumb, with his family, and Dr. Reuben Lamb, with his wife and child, came to Berkshire Corners. Some years before, Dr. Lamb, then an unmarried man, had started for the Mississippi Valley, but, meeting Col. Byxbe at Pittsburgh, was persuaded to come to Berkshire. He was disappointed with the place, however, and, thinking that Worthington promised to be a prosperous place, he left Berkshire after remaining a few months and settled in the former place. Here he married his wife and became intimate with Mr. Plumb, who was one of the original members of the Scioto colony, which went out from New Haven County to Worthington in 1803. A little previous to the time of which we write, Messrs. Plumb and Lamb had sold out their property in Worthington, and, on horseback, had made a tour of inspection through the country toward the Wabash River. On their return journey they passed through Urbana, and, attracted by the place, they decided to locate there. Soon after their return to Worthington, some member of Col. Byxbe's family falling sick, Dr. Lamb was summoned. Mr. Byxbe, finding, in this interview, that the doctor had not bought land elsewhere, set about securing so valuable a member for his colony at the Corners. This point, though considerably improved since Dr. Lamb's first visit, was even then not so promising as many other points, but the Colonel made him large inducements in the way of land donations, and, in view of subsequent events, doubtless gave him an insight to his plans which won him over to Mr. Byxbe's project. Nevertheless, he had given his word to join Maj. Plumb, and he did not feel disposed to break his pledge to his friend, but he set about bringing Maj. Plumb over to the new plan. When these two old friends met, and Dr. Lamb broached the subject, there was a warm discussion which lasted nearly all day. The result was that they both moved into the settlement, with the understanding that when the county of Delaware should be formed, the county seat should be located at the Corners. In the same year came John B. Grist, a native of Luzerne County, Penn. Mr. Grist depended upon his labor for the support of his family, and had spent the previous winter logging in the woods. He had thus secured considerable lumber, and, deciding to go West, he sought