Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County, Ohio

Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County, Ohio
—  Civil township  —
Municipalities and townships of Trumbull County.
Coordinates: 41°27′46″N 80°56′43″W / 41.46278°N 80.94528°W / 41.46278; -80.94528Coordinates: 41°27′46″N 80°56′43″W / 41.46278°N 80.94528°W / 41.46278; -80.94528
Country	United States
State	Ohio
County	Trumbull
Area
– Total	27.1 sq mi (70.1 km2)
– Land	27.1 sq mi (70.1 km2)
– Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation[1]	850 ft (259 m)
Population (2000)
– Total	3,051
– Density	112.7/sq mi (43.5/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
– Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	44439
Area code(s)	440
FIPS code	39-49210[2]
GNIS feature ID	1087040[1]

Mesopotamia Township is one of the twenty-four townships of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,051 people in the township.^[3]

Geography

Located in the northwestern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:

• Windsor Township, Ashtabula County - north
• Orwell Township, Ashtabula County - northeast corner
• Bloomfield Township - east
• Bristol Township - southeast corner
• Farmington Township - south
• Parkman Township, Geauga County - southwest corner
• Middlefield Township, Geauga County - west
• Huntsburg Township, Geauga County - northwest corner

No municipalities are located in Mesopotamia Township.

Name

It is the only Mesopotamia Township statewide.^[4]

History

In 1798 Pierpont Edwards of Connecticut paid $2500.00 for the 25 square miles (65 km²) of wilderness in modern-day Trumbull County, Ohio 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, it is located between two fertile streams: the Grand and Cuyahoga Rivers.

Notable people

• Leander F. Frisby, Wisconsin Attorney General^[5]

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,^[6] 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.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
2. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
3. ^ Trumbull County, Ohio — Population by Places Estimates Ohio State University, 2007. Accessed 15 May 2007.
4. ^ "Detailed map of Ohio" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000. http://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/general_ref/cousub_outline/cen2k_pgsz/oh_cosub.pdf. Retrieved 2007-02-16. 
5. ^ Leander Frisby, Wisconsin Historical Society
6. ^ §503.24, §505.01, and §507.01 of the Ohio Revised Code. Accessed 4/30/2009.

External links

• County website
• www.endofthecommons.com