PERRY TOWNSHIP.
Among the earliest settlers in Perry township who have attracted most attention were the following: Samuel Farquhar; came from Maryland with six sons and five daughters; lived to be over ninety years of age, and none of his children have died under eighty. They were Quakers in their religious views, farmers as to employment: John Pritchard, a Baptist preacher; Wm. Coulter, from Bedford, Pennsylvania, who did most of the surveying in the western part of the county, and, it is said, with "a grape-vine chain;" Joshua Cochran, originally from Dublin, Ireland, directly from Maryland, who had six sons and five daughters; also his sons-in-law, John and Solomon Smith, all coming in about 1814; Joseph W. Pigman, a famous Methodist Episcopal preacher, who was associate judge, and was also in the Legislature. He came from Cumberland, Maryland.
The first residents of the township to pay taxes on real estate were Andrew Billman, holding southwest quarter of section twenty, and Ann James, holding the northeast quarter of same section, and the southeast quarter of section twelve. That was in 1817. Several of those who at that time were non-resident tax-payers, as, for instance, John Berry, Samuel Farquhar, John Pritchard, and Peter Dillon, soon took possession of their lands.
William Dillon, father of Israel Dillon, the present clerk of the court, came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, to the township about 1815; entered and cleared a quarter section of land, continuing to occupy it until his death, in 1862, he being then sixty-eight years of age. He was a zealous Baptist.
Dr. E. G. Lee, the first physician in the township, came from Mount Vernon, and laid out a town called New Guilford. Calvin Hill, also from Mount Vernon, built a store- room on one of the lots, and kept the first store. The next year David McHenry opened a. hatter's shop.
Soon after New Guilford was laid out, John Conway, who owned the quarter section of land next east of that on which Guilford was located, started a town on his land, calling it Claysville. The rivalry between the towns was disastrous to both. After some years, they were consolidated under the Dame of East Union by act of the Legislature. The plat of New Guilford is now all used for farming purposes, having been practically vacated.

* 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