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Welcome to the Lowell, Ohio History website. This website covers the history and genealogy of Lowell and Adams Township in Washington County, Ohio. Our purpose is to educate and assist our visitors about our community and preserve our local history.
Overview of Adams Township
Adams Township was established in 1793 and incorporated by the Court of Quarter Sessions in March 1797. The Township originally included parts of Salem and Muskingum Townships. In 1877, part of Union Township was annexed into it. The Township was likely named after President John Adams.
The earliest settlers in Adams Township included the Coburns, Allisons, Dodges, Davises, Fryes, Kinneys, Owens, Masons, Devols, Spragues, Stephen Frost, Joseph and David Wells, Gilbert Semon, George Fox, Alfred Hall, John J. Wood, David M. Reed, Albert Chandler, Philip Mattern, Jacob Schneider, and Frank Buell.
Located in the northern part of the county, it is bordered by Waterford, Watertown, Muskingum, and Salem Townships in Washington County; and Jackson Township in Noble County.
The population was 1,830 on the 2000 Census. The current trustees of the township are Jeff Anthony, Wayne Isner, and Josh Harris. The clerk is Carrie Tullius.
Communities and Post Offices:
Buell’s Lowell/Lowell (1851-)
“Adams” > Carroll (1830-1837) > Lowell/Upper Lowell (1837-?)
Cats Creek Mills (1813-1817)
Fair Play/Equity (1888-1902)
Settlements (Ridges, Hills, and Hollows): Lang Ridge, Lynch Hill, Olloch Hill
Streams, Creeks, Rivers, Runs: Big Run, Cats Creek, Congress Run, Straight Run, Bear Run,
Right & South branches of Wolf Creek, Rainbow Creek, Muskingum River, Coal Run, Cairns Run
Dams: Lowell Dam (Lock #3)
Islands: Buell’s
State Routes: 60, 530
County Roads: 56, 60, 76, 79
Introduction to Lowell, Ohio
The first settlement in Adams Township was made under the direction of the Ohio Company of Associates. This organization was formed by officers of the Revolutionary Army to settle in the area north of the Ohio River. They sent Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to persuade the Continental Congress to accept their military certificates as payment for land in the West. Before carrying out this task, Rev. Cutler cooperated with Congress in the writing of the Ordinance of 1787 for the government of lands northwest of the Ohio River. He then succeeded in securing 1.5 million acres of land along the Muskingum and Ohio rivers in exchange for the military certificates. As soon as this tract was purchased, the Ohio Company appointed Rufus Putnam to be the superintendent of their migration. On April 7, 1788, 48 pioneer settlers arrived at Marietta.
The Marietta Pioneers saw the site of Lowell for the first time when an exploring party came up the Muskingum River on June 27, 1788. Col. John May recorded their opinion: “Some of our gentlemen went up the Muskingum ten miles, and came back highly pleased. They say the lands are abundantly better than where we are clearing.”
In 1791 the Natives started warfare against the white settlers throughout the Ohio valley with the killing of 12 people at Big Bottom, near the present village of Stockport. As a result of the killings, the arrival of new settlers to the Ohio Company Purchase stopped nearly completely. To increase the number of defenders and to establish outposts against attacks, the Ohio Company adopted the plan of donating land to new settlers. For this purpose, Congress turned over to the Directors of the Ohio Company a Donation Tract 21 miles long by 8 miles wide, containing 100,000 acres in the northern part of the purchase. Each settler received 100 acres on the condition that they build a house within five years, plant 70 fruit trees and clear 20 acres of land within three years, and provide for defense against the Natives.
When a group of people wanted to settle together in the Donation Tract, the Ohio Company assigned them an allotment of land surveyed into lots of various sizes. Each settler received lots totaling 100 acres. Lowell stands in the Cats Creek and Bear Creek allotments of the Donation Tract. The first allotments to be settled in Adams Township were the Rainbow Allotment and the Allotment Northwest of Wolf Creek Mills across the river from Lowell. Donation lots were drawn in 1789, but the first settlement was made by four families and four single men who moved into a fortified settlement centrally located to their lots, near the south end of the Muskingum River bridge in April 1795.
These pioneer settlers of Adams Township lived in four cabins on the land of Nathan Kinney, a native of Nova Scotia, Canada, whose family included his wife, Margy, and their children, William and Sally. Nathan came to Marietta in 1789 and resided during the Indian War at Fort Frye. He drew lot number 23 in the Cats Creek allotment. Joseph Simons, who drew lot number 10 in the same allotment, lived in the Kinney cabin. Nicholas Coburn, his wife Rosamund, and his brother Asa, occupied another cabin. Nicholas Coburn arrived in 1788 and lived at Fort Frye until he moved to the Kinney lot. He drew lot number 27 in the Cats Creek allotment and his brother drew number 25. William and Drusilla Davis shared their cabin with William’s brother Daniel. The brothers owned lot numbers 8 and 12 in the Bear Creek allotment. Robert Allison and his wife Betsy occupied the fourth cabin with their children - Charles, Nancy, William, Mary, Josiah, and Stephen - and a single man by the name of Oliver Dodge, one of the 48 pioneers of Marietta.