BEDFORD TOWNSHIP
Thompson has been a prominent name in the heraldry of Bedford township from the start. The name, familiar and in good repute in all that region, was among the first, if not the first, heard in the township as that of a settler. James Thompson, a native of New Jersey and a soldier in the Revolutionary War, settled near West Bedford, in 1808. Henry Haines and his bachelor brother, John, came in about the same time. They were from Bedford county, Pennsylvania; as also was Michael Heaton, who laid out the town of West Bedford. Heaton set up the first loom in the township, and for many years his own and his wife's fame was good in connection with "the fine linen," which was quite a thing in that day. Thomas and Edward Smith came in about the close of the war of 1812. The story was long current that the latter accompanied some American soldiers on their return home from Canada, where he had been in the British army.
The first resident land tax-payers were Ezra and Thomas Horton. They had some blooded-stock, and were well up in" the horse talk" of their day. Elias James still lives on the place in the township where he settled at a day giving him rank among "the earliest settlers," paying taxes on it since 1822, but occupying it at a still earlier day. The family was from Virginia. John McNabb entered, before much land was taken up in the township, the place now occupied by his son. So, likewise, did Thomas Norris, Sr. Daniel and James McCurdy, long known in the township, were among the pioneers. So, too, were Bennett Browner, Nathan Evans, Edward McCoy, Henry Rine, Wm. Rich.ards, and Hugh Barrett.
The township got its name through the influence of the settlers who had come from Bedford, Pennsylvania.

* See" Biographical Sketches."

Historical Collections of Coshocton County Ohio 1764-1876 

William E Hunt, 1876

CHAPTER IV  NOT'ICES OF SOME OF THE EARLIEST SETTLER8, AND OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST PERTAINING TO EACH TOWNSHIP.

Transcribed by: Sandy Payne 

© copyright 2004 Sandy Payne