Guernsey County
Founded January 31, 1810
Its county seat is Cambridge and is named for the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel, from which many of the county's early settlers came.
Guernsey County, located in the Appalachian foothills, was first formed and organized in 1810 from portions of Muskingum and Belmont counties. It lost some land area during the formation of neighboring counties until it reached its present size and boundaries in 1851.
The county name originated with one Thomas Ogier, of Les Duvaux, Guernsey. During the Napoleonic Wars, six thousand Russian troops were garrisoned in Guernsey. There was considerable friction between the local population and the Russians, who were poorly rationed and often resorted to theft. Ogier was fowling in his fields one afternoon, when he surprised a Russian soldier stealing apples from his orchard. He shot at the soldier with his fowling piece, who dropped the apples and ran away. Ogier noted some blood upon the wall over which the soldier had escaped, but thought nothing of it. Later that day, he learned that the soldier had died in barracks and had reported Ogier to his commander.
Ogier, afraid of retribution, fled first to Jersey and then to France, where he took a boat to the USA. After some time on the Eastern Seaboard, he migrated west in 1808, to present-day Ohio. After having made some success for himself in that state, he wrote home to Guernsey, encouraging others to settle. He joined an earlier group of Guernsey settlers in the town of Cambridge. Throughout his travels, Ogier kept with him his family cradle, which is now in the possession of the Cambridge branch of the American Legion.
Guernsey County Court House (about 1911)
