Living in the County Archive: William C. Schenck

 

                2022 marks the 220th anniversary of the City of Newark. Newark is probably best known for the Earthworks and the ancient Moundbuilders, or the architecture of the Courthouse and Historic Jail, but for those who live and are from Newark the town means so much more. For the month of May, Living in the County Archive is a photocopy of a painted portrait of the man associated with establishing the City, William C. Schenck.

                    While Samuel Parr and Samuel Elliot are believed to be the first settlers in Newark, it was William Cortenus Schenck who helped establish the city in 1802. Named after his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, Schenck came to the area as a surveyor. He helped to lay the land of the town, and it was Schenck who placed the first courthouse. The original courthouse was a log structure that doubled as Newark’s first church. The location of the original square and courthouse was situated in the same spot it is today.

                    At the time Schenck came to Newark, there had been early surveys of the land done in 1797 by “John G. Jackson, deputy surveyor under Rufus Putnam, then Surveyor General of the United States” (Centennial History, Pg. 297). There were also a small group of settlers in the area. It was William Schenck who discovered through the early survey and plats that no one but John Van Buskirk was actually living on their own land. Technically, they we all squatters. It was the center of the area occupied by these early settlers that would become the town of Newark. (Ohio History Journal, Pg. 365)

                    While Schenck played a huge role in the founding of the town of Newark, naming it after his home, however he didn’t settle here. Schenck originally lived in the Cincinnati area when he first came to Ohio. He would eventually settle in an area which he himself helped to survey and open-up, much like he would go on to do with Newark. His family farm where he raised seven children with his wife, Elizabeth Rogers, was located on the Big Miami River in Franklin, in what is now Warren County. (Ohio History Journal, pg365-366).

                    Schenck was an officer in General Harrison’s army in the War of 1812. He was a part of the first council of the Northwest Territory in 1799, where he was chosen as secretary, and in 1803, Schenck was elected as a member of the first Senate of Ohio. In 1820 he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives of Ohio, but died during his term in January of 1828. (Centennial History, Pg. 299)

                    To learn more about William Cortenus Schenck, take a look at the sources used in the research for this blog found in the works cited below. You can also visit the County Administration Building to see various historical images of Newark in the display “Happy 220th Birthday Newark” found in the lobby display case. For county research, the Records and Archives department is open 8am-4:30pm M-F and can be reached by phone: 740-670-5121 or by email: archives@lcounty.com.

Works Cited:

Brister, Edwin M.P. Centennial History of the City Og Newark and Licking County, Ohio. vol. 1, The S.J. Clarke Publiching Co., 1909, Google, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Centennial_History_of_the_City_of_Newark/IxIVAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=schenck, Accessed 2 May 2022.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2014, December 17). Newark. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Newark-Ohio

Joyner, Fred B. “William Cortenus Schenck, Pioneer and Statesman of Ohio.” Ohio History Journal, https://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/browse/displaypages.php?display[]=0047&display[]=363&display[]=371. Accessed 2 May 2022.

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