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The Methodist Episcopal Church has maintained organizations in the township from the earliest time to the present. Appointments have changed somewhat, and some have been abandoned, but the voice of the itinerant minister has always been heard in the township. In the days of Thompson, Allbright, Lindsay and others, they would hold services on week days. Then it was that ministers were traveling the circuit in reality. Farmers and their hands, their wives and children, would leave their harvest fields, and, in the garb of toil, go to the schoolhouses, the then houses of the Lord.

About the first organization of a Congregational Church in the township was at the schoolhouse three miles north of Edgerton. This was as early as 1856. Rev. Worts, then of Ligonier, Ind., was the first minister. At one time, there was quite a flourishing organization there. It has been abandoned for many years, the congregation having been re-organized at Edgerton. Mr. Worts was present at or about the time of the hanging of the famous horse-thief McDougal, by the regulators of Noble and La Grange Counties, Ind. He seems to have held some religious services with the doomed man. In his sermons of that time, he made frequent reference to the terrible scene and its lessons.

The Reformed Church also had an appointment at the same schoolhouse for a number of years. Indeed, it appears that for awhile every religious denomination known to the Christian world held services in that schoolhouse. Rev. Weaver held services for the Baptists in a log schoolhouse standing on the same site. This was as early as 1854. It was about the time the Air Line Railroad was being built. He was holding services there one Sabbath afternoon. Something like a dozen or more of the employes on the road came to the meeting, and began to disturb the minister. He remonstrated with them, but to no purpose. Having come for a row, they proposed to have one. They continued their disorderly behavior beyond the endurance of the citizens then present. The meeting stopped, and the fight began-Alexander and Tobias Wright, John Gnagy, John W. and David Bowersox, John Skelton and Benjamin F. Cornell and others on the part of the preacher, the railroad hands on their own behalf. The struggle was terrific. Finally, the friends of good order and the Gospel prevailed. The railroad men were completely routed, and most of them fearfully battered. They threatened to return in great force, but never put in an appearance.

The Catholics first organized in Edgerton. They have a good church building and parsonage there. They have their priests, and are in a flourishing condition.

The Disciples were once stronger in Edgerton than they are now. At

one time they built a very neat little church, wherein they still hold services, as they are able to employ a minister.

The German Lutherans have a church building and organization in Edgerton. Their numbers are not great, but they are in a growing condition under the ministration of their popular pastor, Rev. Staehling.

Within the last fifteen years, the Evangelical Association has done a good work near the central part of the township. Services were formerly held in a schoolhouse, about a mile and a quarter north of Edgerton. The membership has grown rapidly. Recently they have completed an excellent church building near the site of the schoolhouse. They have among their members many of the substantial citizens of the township.

The Universalists occasionally held services in Edgerton. They have had no distinct organizations at any time.

There have been services held from time to time in the township by ministers of other denominations than those named, but no distinct organizations have been effected. Probably the first church building erected in the township was on the Bryan road, near the east line of the township. It was built of hewed logs, and, as nearly as can be ascertained, was controlled by the Lutherans. It is torn away now, and was abandoned for many years theretofore. A little graveyard, heretofore referred to, was

in connection with it. It stood there, almost in the woods, for many years, and had a sort of ghostly appearance. A better selection for a spectral story could not have been found. There is now scarcely a trace of it left.

The next was the Methodist Church in Edgerton. This was built in the early days of the war, and by the contributions of all the people. It is still in a good state of preservation. A parsonage has been added lately. The other churches were built in or about the order named here: Disciple, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Evangelical. The Presbyterians have recently built a very neat little church in Edgerton. The organization is formed in part of former members of the Congregational Church. It is in a flourishing condition, and increasing in membership. They were helped by the church erection fund of the Presbyterian Church.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Sunday schools had much of the same history as the churches. They began at Denmark, and extended over the township as the population increased. Held first in private houses, then schoolhouses, and then in church houses in the communities where such houses are. Among the earliest was one organized in the old log schoolhouse, commonly known as the Wilson Schoolhouse, in the northwestern part of the township. It was managed largely by Mr. Wilson, who now resides in Bryan. There

were no lesson leaves nor Bible teachers as now. He carried the whole library, testaments, question books, and Sunday school books, in a small hand basket. Even in that poorly equipped school impressions were made in childhood, that have not been forgotten in maturer years. Barefoot, with nothing on but chip hat, shirt and denim pants, men, now well known in the county, in childhood attended that Sabbath school, in the old log schoolhouse by the wayside. Sunday schools were less sectarian then than now. They were generally called and managed as Union Sunday Schools. Revival meetings were conducted with much zeal in that early time. Night meetings were attended mostly on foot. At least one member of each family would come bearing a torch unlit, made from the bark of the hickory tree, and even a rifle was no uncommon thing to be seen in meeting. When dismissed, they would light their torches, and start for home. A number of families living in the same direction would form quite a procession. As they move along, there is something wild and weird in the scene. The glare of their torches light up the dense forest, and the fitful shadows dance and quiver on either side like spectral creatures. Ever and anon the wild woods ring with hymns of rejoicing or songs of awful warning, exhorting sinners to repentance. There is nothing like these pioneer meetings in modern times.

RETROSPECTIVE.

No important event has occurred in the township during its history. Among the people general good feeling and harmony has prevailed. The few old settlers often talk about the hard winter, as they call it, of 183738. They say a heavy snow fell on the 1st of November, and lay until well into the following April. In going to the spring election they crossed the streams on the ice. Stock subsisted for weeks on browse. When a farmer wanted to feed his stock, he took his ax on his shoulder and started for the woods, his stock following him. He would cut down trees, mostly basswood, upon the young shoots of which cattle fed. Much stock perished from cold, exposure and lack of food. The early settlers tell to this day how, during the days of that awful winter, in the afternoon, in the southwestern heavens, a cloud would appear, white and having the shape of a cow's horn. The few pioneers regarded it as an omen of evil.

It has been about half a century since the first white man began a settlement on Fish Creek in this township. He is gone. The dam he threw across the stream, the mills he built upon its banks, the dwelling house in which he lived, all are gone. Scarcely a thing is left to mark his works. More than a generation has passed on the swift flight of years. Scarce a few of those who began the struggle of the wilderness with him are left.

But four of these are years of hardest toil. cares and trammels of

in the township now to tell the history of those Another decade will sweep the last one from the earth. At their death, the last living monument of their works and history will have perished. It is hoped that this history will properly preserve the record of their early toils.

SUPERIOR TOWNSHIP.

BY HORACE S. KNAPP.

ORGANIZATION.

At a session of the Commissioners of Williams County, held at Defiance June 3, 1839, the following proceedings were had: "Upon the petition of George Bible and others, the board order that there be a new township formed composed of the following-described territory, viz. : All of original surveyed Township 7 north, of Range 2 east, and Fractional Township 8 north, of Range 2 east, to be known and distinguished by the name of Superior, and order the Auditor to give notice to the electors. in said township to meet at the house of Jacob Sholl in said township on Saturday, June 22, 1839, and proceed according to law to choose the necessary officers to organize said township."

TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT.

Election April 1, 1844-Trustees, Adam Bechtol, James Allman and Daniel Scholl; Clerk, Thomas Miller; Constables, Henry Ferguson and Charles Duvall; Assessor, George Bible; Treasurer, George W. Bible. In 1846, David Scholl, James Allman and William Dunlap were elected Trustees; Thomas Miller, Clerk; George Bible, Treasurer, and Robert Ogle, Assessor. 1847-Trustees, Daniel Scholl, William Dunlap and Levi Colby; Clerk, Thomas Miller; Treasurer, George Bible; Assessor, Robert Ogle. 1848-Trustees, Daniel Scholl, William Dunlap and James Anspaugh; Clerk, Thomas Miller; Treasurer, George Bible, Assessor, Edgar Hubbard. 1849-Trustees, William Dunlap, John Cameron and John Barcelow; Clerk, Levi Colby; Treasurer, George Bible; Assessor, Adam Bechtol. 1850-Trustees, William Dunlap, John Barcelow and John W. Brannon; Clerk, Levi Colby; Treasurer, George Bible; Assessor, Adam Bechtol. 1851-Trustees, William Dunlap, John Barcelow and John W. Brannon; Clerk, Levi Colby; Treasurer, George Bible; Assessor, William Dunlap. 1852Trustees, William Dunlap, George W. Bible and George W. Brannon; Clerk, Levi Colby; Treasurer, George Bible. 1853-Same as preceding

year, except James Kollar was elected Trustee in place of William Dunlap, and John G. De Wolf, Clerk, in place of Levi Colby. 1854-Trustees, Hiram Opdyke, George W. Bible and Richard Pew; Clerk, Richard Sisson; Treasurer, George Bible. 1855-Trustees, Hiram Opdyke, Joshua Schall and James Anspaugh; Clerk, Richard Sisson; Treasurer, George Bible. 1856-Trustees, Hiram Opdyke, James Anspaugh and John C. Kollar; Clerk, Reason Spake; Treasurer, George Bible. 1856Trustees, Hiram Opdyke, James Anspaugh and John C. Kollar; Clerk, Reason Spake; Treasurer, George Bible. 1857-All township officers re-elected. 1858-Trustees, James Anspaugh, Levi Canaga and Jacob Knepper; Clerk, Amos Briner: Treasurer, Amos Kint. 1859-Trustees, Jacob Knepper, William H. Scholl and William E. Page; Clerk, John W. Brannon. 1860-Trustees, Jacob Knepper, J. S. Beard and William H. Scholl; Clerk, Amos Briner. 1861-Same officers reelected. 1862-Trustees, William H. Scholl, I. L. Beard and C. Brannon; Clerk, B. L. Griffith. 1863-Trustees, William H. Scholl, B. Allman and H. J. Rhees; Clerk, Richard Sisson. 1864-Trustees, William H. Scholl, H. J. Rhees and Alfred Riley; Clerk, B. L. Griffith; Treasurer, Daniel Kint. 1865-Trustees, Christopher Brannon, George W. Bible and N. E. Fry; Clerk, B. L. Griffith. 1866-Trustees, G. W. Bible, D. M. Reeder and W. J. Reas; Clerk, B. F. Cannan; Treasurer, John C. Kollar. 1867-Trustees, G. W. Bible, D. M. Reeder and H. J. Reese, Clerk, B. L. Griffith; Treasurer, George Bible; Assessor, Robert Ogle. At the election April 6, 1868, the following township officers were elected, namely: Trustees, William Teats, George W. Bible and Jacob Knepper; Clerk, William H. Knepper; Treasurer, John C. Kollar; Assessor, John C. Brannon; Constables, John Clum, T. S. Brown. At the election of 1869, the township made choice of, for Trustees: Robert Ogle, H. J. Reese and G. W. Bible; for Clerk, A. M. Knepper, and for Treasurer, John C. Kollar. 1870-Trustees, Solomon Myers, J. B. Grim and Elias Kine; Clerk, J. D. Kreibel; Treasurer, J. C. Kollar. And from the last date forward until that which follows, no record exists. The books are supposed to have been destroyed in some of several fires that visited Montpelier. 1881Trustees, G. W. Bible, Robert Ogle and William Knepper; Clerk, Judson Foust; Treasurer, John Allen. 1882-Trustees, G. W. Bible, Solomon Myers and J. D. Williams; Clerk, George Allen; Treasurer, John Allen.

Names of those who voted in Superior Township at an election held November 18, 1840: George Wisman, Wesley Burgoyne and Asa U. Smith, Judges, and George Bible and Joseph H. White, Clerks.

Names of electors-Henry Ferguson, Thomas Ogle, Joseph H.

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