"The Supervisors, Trustees, Clerk, Treasurer, fence Viewers and Overseers of the poor Met on the 10th day of april and were severely sworn into there Respective offices a Cording to law.

"SAMUEL DILLON, Clk."

When Benjamin Borton emigrated to this township from New Jersey in 1804 and settled on the line of the old Wheeling Road, leading from Wheeling to Zanesville, said road having previously been marked out by Colonel Zane, he noticed that pennyroyal, for which this township is particularly noted, being of a spontaneous growth, soon made its appearance upon the newly cleared lands. Mr. Borton, having learned the art of distilling it in New Jersey, commenced the art here, and his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons have kept it up ever since.

Middletown was laid out in 1827 by Benjamin Masters, and was so named because it was midway between Wheeling and Zanesville. Benjamin Masters as early as 1805 built a horse-mill near where Middletown now stands, and in 1810 built a water-mill. About the same time salt-works were erected at Seneca. When Oxford Township was organized there were not enough men in it to fill the offices. It was soon settled by soldiers of the War of 1812. The Second Regiment of the War of 1812 was made up in this region, the Second Regiment in the War of 1846 was filled from here and the Second Regiment in the last war had many from this neighborhood.

Fairview was laid out in 1814. James Gilliland was the original proprietor. In 1845 it was incorporated. The first schoolhouse in the township was built on section 3, in 1814.

The first church was built in Fairview in 1816, and it was a union church.

John Kennon came here in 1806. His son James

Early settlers were:

John Kinnon and family, 1806; Benjamin Giffee, Sr., 1816; William Morton, Sr. 1816; William Smith and Joseph M. Morrill, 1818; Joseph Ferrell, 1815; Edward Morton, 1821; Andrew Scott, 1829; Moses Morton, 1825; Benjamin Penn, 1829; William Henderson, Sr.,1806; David Wherry, 1801 (the first settler in the township); Benjamin Borton and Benjamin Masters, 1804; Christian Wine, Ezekiel Vance, Thomas B. Kirkpatrick, John Burnett, Jacob Getchell, John Cranston, William Cochran, Samuel Marlow, James Gilliland, William Orr, James Hall, John Ables and Philip Rosemond.

The early elections in the township were held at the house of A. D. Taylor.

David Wherry named the township Oxford.

The village of Kimbolton was founded by John Gibson in 1829. The first settlers in Liberty Township were William Gibson, John Philipps and a Mr. Harper, who came to the county in 1806, via an Indian trail. Following is the language of William Gibson: " We began to keep house in a shanty at the upper end of Liberty. We soon got a cabin; that was better."

Naphthali Luccock settled in Liberty in 1831, and when the people petitioned for a postoffice they were notified that no more postoffices named Liberty, as the village was then called, would be allowed in the state of Ohio. Mr. Luccock therefore suggested the name Kimbolton (after his native Kimbolton in England), and by mutual consent it was adopted, and the postoffice was granted. The name of the village remained unchanged, however, until the advent of the Cleveland & Marietta Railroad, but is now known as Kimbolton.

The first merchant in the village was a Mr. Shannon, who was succeeded by N. Luccock, who continued the business until 1853, when he was succeeded by his son.