Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
Encyclopedia
Mesopotamia Township is one of the twenty-four townships
Civil township
A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States, subordinate to, and geographic divisions of, a county. Specific responsibilities and the degree of autonomy vary based on each state. Civil townships are distinct from survey townships, but in states that have both,...

 of Trumbull County
Trumbull County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 225,116 people, 89,020 households, and 61,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 365 people per square mile . There were 95,117 housing units at an average density of 154 per square mile...

, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

 found 3,051 people in the township.

Geography

Located in the northwestern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:
  • Windsor Township, Ashtabula County
    Windsor Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio
    Windsor Township is one of the twenty-seven townships of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,932 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the southwestern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:...

     - north
  • Orwell Township, Ashtabula County
    Orwell Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio
    Orwell Township is one of the twenty-seven townships of Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,830 people in the township, 1,311 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...

     - northeast corner
  • Bloomfield Township
    Bloomfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
    Bloomfield Township is one of the twenty-four townships of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,097 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northwestern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...

     - east
  • Bristol Township
    Bristol Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
    Bristol Township is one of the twenty-four townships of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,154 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northwestern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...

     - southeast corner
  • Farmington Township
    Farmington Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
    Farmington Township is one of the twenty-four townships of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 2,353 people in the township, 1,834 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...

     - south
  • Parkman Township, Geauga County
    Parkman Township, Geauga County, Ohio
    Parkman Township is one of the sixteen townships of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,546 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the southeastern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:...

     - southwest corner
  • Middlefield Township, Geauga County
    Middlefield Township, Geauga County, Ohio
    Middlefield Township is one of the sixteen townships of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 4,418 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the southeastern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...

     - west
  • Huntsburg Township, Geauga County
    Huntsburg Township, Geauga County, Ohio
    Huntsburg Township is one of the sixteen townships of Geauga County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,297 people in the township. The township is the home of the Indian Hill Observatory, owned by the Chagrin Valley Astronomical Society....

     - northwest corner


No municipalities are located in Mesopotamia Township.

History

In 1798 Pierpont Edwards
Pierpont Edwards
Pierpont Edwards was a delegate to the American Continental Congress, and later a United States federal judge. He has been described as "a brilliant but erratic member of the Connecticut bar, tolerant in religious matters and bitterly hated by stern Calvinists, a man whose personal morality...

 of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 paid $2500.00 for the 25 square miles (65 km²) of wilderness in modern-day Trumbull County
Trumbull County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 225,116 people, 89,020 households, and 61,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 365 people per square mile . There were 95,117 housing units at an average density of 154 per square mile...

, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 that today is Mesopotamia Township.

The following spring, John Stark Edwards, just out of college, journeyed alone on foot, carrying an ax and knapsack, across the Pennsylvania frontier into the tangled forest. Encouraged by the new lands that he saw, he decided to begin a settlement. He offered 100 acres (0.4 km²) of free land to the first five families to come and stay five years, and fifty acres (0.2 km²) to the first five single men. These men were Seth Tracey, Capt. Hezekiah Sperry, Joseph Noyles, Otis Guild, and Dr. Joseph Clark.

Beginning in 1809, mail was brought on foot from Warren and left in Seth Tracy's hat. Mesopotamia Township was then in the District of Troy, but mail mix-ups with the other two Troys in Ohio bothered residents. To resolve this, the name Mesopotamia, meaning "land between two rivers," was chosen in 1819. Like the Near Eastern land of that name
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

, it is located between two fertile streams: the Grand
Grand River (Ohio)
The Grand River is a tributary of Lake Erie, 102.7 miles long, in northeastern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean...

 and Cuyahoga River
Cuyahoga River
The Cuyahoga River is located in Northeast Ohio in the United States. Outside of Ohio, the river is most famous for being "the river that caught fire", helping to spur the environmental movement in the late 1960s...

s.

Government

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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