The Creation of Cass Township

A People Divided

At a special election, held 1 Apr 1852, it was voted by the tax-payers of Jefferson Township, to issue to the Steubenville & Indiana Railway Company, township bonds to the amount of $100,000, to aid in the construction of this road. These bonds were to bear seven percent interest payable semi-annually, on the first day of January and July, and to mature 1 Jan 1862. This first issue of bonds was soon taken up and burned by the Township Trustees, because the County Auditor refused to register and officially sign them. On 22 Jul 1852 the Trustees re-issued these bonds, as set forth in the extract of the official record, given below:

“After due consideration, the Trustees took up, and destroyed by fire, the said $100,000 of bonds, and executed and delivered to said railway company, in lieu thereof, one hundred bonds of one thousand dollars ($1000) each, and numbered one to one thousand, consecutively, and dated them the same as the former issue, to-wit: April 1st 1852.”

Out of the issue of these bonds grew the trouble which, in October, 1853, resulted in the division of the township.