PHYSICAL FEATURES:
     This township is bounded on the north by the township of Darby and Muhlenburg, south by Perry and Deer Creek, east by Muhlenburg and Jackson, and Deer Creek, east by Muhlenburg and Jackson, and west by Pheasant, Madison, and Marion townships, of Fayette county.  Its surface features are similar to those presented in the surrounding townships:  generally level, except along the streams.   The soil is varied.  It is for the most part clay, and well adapted to the growing of wheat and corn.  The township is traversed from north to south by several streams of water.  Clark's run, in the west part, heads near the north line of the township and flows in an almost due south direction.  Van Buskirk and Mud runs flow a southeasterly direction, and both empty into Deer creek.  These streams are not of importance, so far as water power is concerned.

SETTLEMENT:
     The following sketches of pioneer settlers are prepared from personal interviews.  The writer has been unable to ascertain to whom belongs the honor of having been the first, or pioneer, settler in Monroe township.

     The Hays family (for mention of whom see Perry township) were among the first settlers on Deer creek, in the southern part of the township.

     Peter Van Buskirk, who married Ruth Rhodes, removed from Maryland to Chillicothe, in 1799.  Then but a few straggling log cabins occupied the site of that now populous city, and the red man held almost undisputed possession of the soil.  After one year's residence in Ross county, Mr. Van Buskirk removed to what is now Pickaway county, locating on the bank of Deer creek, in Monroe township.  By some he is regarded as the pioneer settler in Monroe township.  The farm upon which he then made a commencement is now owned by Samuel Dunlap.  Here Mr. Van Buskirk died, April 9, 1836 and his wife died on the tenth of November, 1841.  Mr. Van Buskirk erected, in early times, a grist-mill and distillery.  At the time of his death he was an extensive land owner.  The family consisted of eight children Jacob Gayman, now lives in Delaware county, Indiana.  The names of the dead (some of whom became prominent in the affairs of the church or State) are:  Lewis, Isaac, Samuel, John, Daniel, Abigail and Sally.

     Charles Longberry came from Pennsylvania locating in Monroe township in 1800.  He was of English birth, and his wife was Mary Van Buskirk.  He died in 1837, and his wife in September, 1856.  The family consisted of twelve children, but two of whom are now living - Margaret, who married Seth Hatfield, and Anthony, who married Leah Littleton, all residents of Monroe township at this time.

     Christopher Cardiff came from Maryland to Deer Creek township in 1806.  His wifes name was M. Gordey.  He eventually located in Monroe township, where he passed the remaining years of his life.  There were several children in the family, two of whom (Noah and Christopher) now live in Monroe township.  Noah, who has been four times married, now occupies the old homestead.  Christopher has been twice married; his present wife was Anna Bolen.

     Benjamin Hill was a native of Maryland, and came from Carroll's Manor, in that State, to near Chillicothe,, in 1807.  There were numerous children in the family, but one of whom located in Pickaway county.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812.  He married Kitura Voadley, and, in 1822, settled some two miles southeast of New Holland village, in Perry township, where he died on September 6, 1842, and his wife in November 1855.  The children were: William, who died in the United States' army, in 1843; Sarah A., Elizabeth, Samuel, Mahala, and John F.  Samuel only lives in Monroe township.  He married Ally Ann Porter, has a grocery store, and is postmaster, having been appointed when the office was established, in 1855.

     Sebastian Southward came to Ohio from Winchester, Virginia, in the fall of 1808, and during the winter he remained in Ross county.  The subsequent spring he located permanently in Pike county, where he died in the year 1835.  The wife died in 1864.  Her maiden name was Mary Guy.  There were six children in the family, only two of whom are now living - Henry, who married Catharine Nickson, and lives in Wyandot county, Ohio, and Pleasant, who located in Pickaway county in 1823.  He has been thrice married.  His present wife was Abigail Adkins. 

     David Maddux married Elizabeth Lingo, and came from Maryland to Ohio in 1809, and located in Ross county.  Mrs. Maddux died in 1852, and her husband in 1859.  Of the ten children composing this family but three are now alive - William, who resides in Ross County, David M., who married Tomsy Ann Wilson, and lives in Illinois; and Collins, whose present wife was Miss Rachel Dunham; he lives in Monroe township, where he has served as justice of the peace for many years.

     John D. Hatfield lived on the north shore of Maryland, and came to Ross county in 1810, where he remained until 1829, when he settled permanently in Monroe township.  Mrs. Hatfield died December 14, 1825, and Mr. Hatfield married Maria Baker.  He died April 15, 1845, and his widow still survives.  Eight children were borne by his first wife, two of whom only are now living in Monroe township - Seth, who married Margaret Longberry; and John W., who married Susanna Frazier.  The children of the second marriage numbered nine, none of whom live in Pickaway county.

     In about 1811, three brothers, Jeremiah, Josiah and John Thomas, came from near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, to Ohio, and located near Chillicothe.  In 1815 they settled in Monroe township.  Jeremiah married Eleanor Norris.  His farm was on Deer Creek, and is still owned by his heirs.  The children were:  William, who married Elizabeth Norris (two sons, Jackson and William H., live in Monroe); John, Leonard, and Richard.  (For a more extended sketch of the Thomas family see the history of Perry Township.)  Benjamin Norris and family came from the same point and at the same period as the above.  They located eventually in Monroe township.

     John Merrell married Milly Short in Delaware, and came to Ohio early in the settlement of the central counties.  He first located in Fayette county, and after a time removed to near Dayton, Ohio, where he died of cholera in 1831; age, fifty-five years.  The wife died soon after; age, fifty-two.  There were five sons and two daughters of the family; these but one lives in Monroe township, Jacob, whose present wife was Sarah Adkins, and who has ten children living.

     Samuel R. Dawson was born in Virginia, but removed to Kentucky with his parents when but a lad.  His father was killed, it is thought, by the Indians.  Samuel R. married Dorotha Alkire, and in 1814 located in Monroe township, on land now owned by Isaac Collins and John McCafferty.  Here he died June 12, 1846.  His widow died March 31, 1876.  The children numbered nine, five of whom are now living.  James and Perry (the latter of whom married Mary M. Humphry,) live in Monroe township; Mary, who married B. F. Parker, and Caroline, who married Major C. Long, live in Nebraska.  Olivid, who married E. S. McClintock lives in Kansas.

     Stanton Adkins, a single man, came from Wycomico county, Maryland, to Ross county, in 1816.  He married Anna Timmons, by whom fourteen children were born.  After some eighteen years' residence in Ross county a removal was made and a permanent settlement effected in Darby township, Pickaway county.  Here the wife died, and Mr. Adkins married Rachel Ann Grindle, who is still living.  The date of Mr. Adkins' decease was June 5, 1879.  Eight children by the first and four by the second marriage are now living: George, who married Louisa Walston; Sarah, who married Jacob Merrill; Miranda, who married Jacob Williams; Theodocia, Roxana, Ezra and Mahala who live in Monroe township; Rodney, who married Lovena Eskridge; Stanton, who married Lucy Glewer; and Elizabeth, who married Henry Bailey, and live in Illinois; Mary A., who married Van Cressup, and lives in Wyandot county, Ohio.  David was a soldier in the forth-fifth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry.  He was prisoner for thirteen months in Libby, Danville, and the Court of Death, at Andersonville.  He returned home at the close of the war, broken in health, and soon died.

     George Rowe was a soldier of the war in 1812, and in 1816 came to the then wilderness of Pickaway county.  He purchased nearly one thousand acres of land in Monroe and Muhlenburg townships.  His wife was Nancy Coleman.  Mr. Rowe died July 20, 1850.  Mrs. Row died December 8, 1868.  The children born prior to coming to Ohio were: Silas A., Absolom, and John, who are deceased; and Lydia, who married Joseph Ingland and lives near Pontiac, Michigan.  Of the children born subsequent to removing to Ohio.  Mahala, married William Francis and lives a widow on the old farm; and Matilda is deceased.

     John Porter, George Richey and John Foster, with families, came from Pennsylvania to Monroe  township in about 1817.  They located in the southwest part of the township.  Of the Porter family but one child remains:  Aly, now the wife of Samuel Hill.  The Richey family are represented by a son: Andrew, who lives near the old homestead.  None of the Foster family now reside in the township.

     Milburn Smith was an early settler.  John R. Robison, a native of South Carolina, came to Clark county, married there, Mariette Edmiston, and in 1828, settled in Madison county, Ohio, where he died, December 26, 1876.  Mrs. Robison died,. April 22, 1848.  Of the nine children composing the family, one only lives in Pickaway county - Thomas P., who married Ellen Sawyer, and resides in Monroe township.  He is the owner of a large amount of real estate, and is one of the public men of the township.  William Brooks, of Jefferson county, Virginia, settled in Deer Creek township, in 1830, and died there.  One of the children lives in Monroe township - Absalom, who married Margha J. Francis.

     John G. Grindle, of Maryland, located in Monroe township in 1831.  His wife was Ellen Wheeler.  After a residence of several years in Pickaway county, the family removed to Union county, Ohio, where the mother died in 1858.  Mr. Grindle died August 22, 1862.  The children, who were all born prior to locating in Ohio, numbered ten; but two now live in Pickaway county - Louisa, who married Benjamin Henman, and lives in Muhlenburgh; and Rachel Ann, the widow of Stanton Adkins, who lives in Monroe.

     William Riggin located in Monroe township, on the farm now occupied by Joseph Hays, in 1832.  He was from Delaware.  His wife was Esther Ann Lowe.  She died in the fall of 1834 and Mr. Riggin returned east, and again married.  He eventually removed to Illinois where he died in 1874.  Of the eight children which composed this family, four are now alive - Isaac, whose present wife was Corlinda Maddux, lives in Columbus; Jeremiah J., who has been twice married, lives in Madison township, Fayette county, Ohio (present wife, Mary J. Davis); Charles and Emeline are both married, and now live in Illinois.

     Wilson Murphy and family, then consisting of a wife (Nancy) and seven children, came from Maryland, about 1830, and settled on Paint creek, in Ross county, where he resided until 1835, when he located, permanently, in Monroe township, where he died November 15, 1872.

[INSERT PICTURES OF STANTON ADKINS & MRS. STANTON ADKINS]

(It appears that a part of this article is missing but starts with the following:)

was born January 24, 1789, in Wyconico county, Maryland, from whence he emigrated to Ohio in 1816.  He first settled in Ross county, where he was married, June 10, 1819, to Anna Timmons.  She was born June 3, 1804.  Soon after marriage they moved into Darby township, where Mrs. Adkins died, leaving children as follows:  Elijah born August 25, 1820; Garrison, born April 14, 1822; Elizabeth, born October 6, 1823; Rhodney, born August 24, 1825; Sarah, born February 17, 1827; Mary Ann, born November 19, 1828; Stanton, born June 8, 1830; Charlotte, born March 5, 1832; Miranda P., born January 13, 1834; George W., born October 31, 1835; David C., born January 21, 1839.

     After the death of his first wife, Mr. Adkins married Rachel Ann Grindle, in 1847.  They had: Noah W., born August 6, 1847; Cannon, born January 19, 1849; Harriet, born November 9, 1850; Youdoshe, born December 13, 1852; Roxanna, born July 16, 1855; Mahala, born April 17, 1859; Ezra, born April 1, 1861.

     Mr. Adkins was the father of twenty-one children, of whom, at this time, eight by his first wife, and four by his second are living.  Four of his sons served as soldiers during the war of the Rebellion - David in the Forty-fifth Ohio infantry; he was taken prisoner and confined at Danville and Andersonville, where he was finally exchanged in 1864, and died at Annapolis, Maryland, when on his way home.  Noah was also in the Forty-fifth infantry, where he served three years.  He enlisted before he was fifteen years of age, and during his term of service contracted disease from which he died March 5, 1869, at the age of twenty-two years.  Stanton and Rhodney enlisted in Illinois regiments, and both lived to return to their families, after three years of hard service, in which Rhodney received honorable scars.

     When Stanton Adkins came to Ohio he was a poor man, but by dint of hard labor and judicious management he accumulated a considerable property, owning, at his death, over seven hundred acres of land in Darby and Monroe townships.  He was a worthy member of the Methodist church in Darby township, as is his wife, who survives him, and several other members of his family.  He was always true to his pledged word, no matter what sacrifice might be required.  For the last ten years of his life he had very poor health.  His death occurred June 5, 1879, at the age of ninety years, four months and ten days.  Of the children, we learn that James, William, Wilson jr., and J. W., now reside in Illinois; Thomas lives in Monroe township; Rachel A., died soon after settlement in Monroe; and Mary (Mrs. Timmons) resides in Kansas; Martha J. (Mrs. Justice), who was born in Ohio, now lives in the State of Indiana.

     William C. Williams, whose father was one of the pioneers of Ross county, located in Monroe township, in 1836 and still resides there.  His wife was Hetty Davis, by whom three children were born.  The eldest, Mary, is deceased; Andrew G. and Cornelius W., now live in Monroe township.

     Rev. James Marshall, who was a native of Virginia, came from Pennsylvania to Muhlenburg township, in 1843.  Five years later he came to Monroe township, where he died, April 9, 1871.  Mrs. Marshall died on Mar. 3, 1879.  There were eight children, three only of whom are now living in the county - E. M., who is married, and lives in Darby township; as does Mary (Mrs. John Mitchell); David H., who married Margaret Busick, and lives in Monroe township.