Mercer County Genealogy

Places Salem Township     

Salem township, from being one of the four large divisions, of the county in 1801, has been divided and subdivided until it is now one of the smallest townships. In 1802 Salem township was made to consist of about the territory now included in Salem, Otter Creek, Hempfield, Sugar Grove, Greene, and West Salem. Then in 1805 Salem was divided into Salem and West Salem, and the former, in 1856, gave the west portion of its territory to make the townships of Sugar Grove and Hempfield, and in 1857 Otter Creek was detached from the south part.

The pioneers of this region were the party that came from Westmoreland county in the spring of 1796, consisting of John Caughev, William McLean, Robert Roberts and James Hubanks. Robert Roberts was afterwards a bishop of the Methodist church, and for this reason his settlement here has been an important event in pioneer history. About a year later the Roberts colony made their settlement permanent, their homes being along the line dividing the present townships of Salem and Sugar Grove and north of the Little Shenango.

In the western part of the township is an old graveyard [Stevenson Cemetery] where some of the pioneers of the township were buried, among them Elizabeth Lindsay, the devoted sister of Robert Roberts, who accompanied him to the wilderness and later married one of his fellow pioneers. What have long been known as the Bishop Roberts Spring now [1909] furnishes water for the Grand View Stock Farm of William M. Chess.

Salem township has never developed any villages. Its life has been rural, as befits its situation in one of the most picturesque parts of the state. A community of homes at the cross-roads near the center of the township has long been known as Salem Center, but trade and other activities of towns have not pervaded this township. The postoffice at this point was called Osborn, established in May, 1882, and discontinued by rural delivery. Samuel R. Turner was the first postmaster.

Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, pages 171-172