Edward Phelps, Sr.

Two First Settlers

The two first settlers in Blendon were Edward Phelps and Isaac Griswold, natives of Windsor, Connecticut, who came into Franklin County in 1806, to make preparations for the coming of their families. It is related that Mr. Phelps was the first white man to chop down a tree in the township. He was well advanced in years when he came to the new country, having been born in 1759, and participated in the war of the Revolution when a young man. He died in 1840 in his eighty-first year. His comrade, Isaac Griswold, lived until about the beginning of the Civil war.

http://www.fcghs-oh.org/cpage.php?pt=34

Blendon: BLENDON TOWNSHIP

Blendon Township was first named Harrison but later changed to Blendon, as explained further along. The original Harrison township hitherto described having most largely been stricken off Franklin County in the formation of Pickaway, in 1810, the remaining part of it was included in the townships of Hamilton and Madison. In 1825, however, the county commissioner changed the name of Harrison to Blendon responsive to the generally expressed desire of the inhabitants to have the change made. The township, as set off consisted of one originally surveyed five mile square township and designated as township number 2, range 17, United States military lands. The section of the county embracing this township, for some reason, which at this instance is not exactly clear, was not opened to settlement as early as most of the other townships and localities.

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS AND FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO - WILLIAM ALEXANDER TAYLOR. ILLUSTRATED - VOL. I. Chicago-Columbus: THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO. 1909

_________________________________