Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb

Dover Township

Dover Township, when originally surveyed, was known as Township 7 in Range 15 of the Connecticut New Western Reserve. The governmental body was formed in 1811. What was the township contains Bay (now the City of Bay Village), Dover (now called Westlake), and a small portion of North Olmsted. (Information from Wikipedia) and Township formation map from Cuyahoga West Genealogical Society

• Excerpt from Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve by Women's Committee of Western Reserve Historical Society, 1896, transcribed by Betty Ralph.
• Dover Township History from History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio compiled by Crisfield Johnson, 1879. (off site at Ohio AHGP)
• Images of History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Chrisfield Johnson, comp. 1879 (off site at Cuyahoga West Chapter OGS.)
• "History of Dover Township, Cuyahoga County, OH" from A History of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland by William R. Coates (off-site at Ray's Place)
• The following letter has circulated, and is posted here with permission of the author. It leads to images of the township minutes and lots of good things. It comes with an offer of assistance, especially with accessing the city's internal data, not yet posted on the site.

  Monday, March 25, 2019 2:47:50 PM
  Subject: Dover township records from the 1800s
  

  I am sharing this information with you, since it is very useful for family researchers and history buffs.

  I recently completed indexing four volumes of Dover township trustees records from 1831-1879 into our city document database which is accessible to the public through the city's website (instructions below). The originals are at the Western Reserve Historical Society, and the WRHS permitted me to digitize them at the Cleveland Public Library. I have also created replicas of these volumes in binders for viewing here at city hall during regular business hours. There are hundreds of names to be found as well as topics of interest, original lot numbers and election dates and results. I've attached a couple of interesting examples such as a bail bond from 1854 and a petition to form what is now called Bassett Road from 1868 (see map on the last page).

  Click on the link https://docs.cityofwestlake.org/
  Select "CNL - Legislation/Minutes - Web Access" in the top search field
  Scroll down to the Meeting Type field and enter: Dover Township Trustees
  Click Search to pull them all up. (It may take a few minutes to load.)

  There are other fields there that can narrow down a search, like a range of dates or a subject word or name bounded by asterisks. Through this same link, and not to be overlooked, one can access "more recent" history of Westlake, namely all Council and committee meeting minutes and legislation from 1910 to present.

  As I read through the 1800s records to index them, I created a spreadsheet of the key positions and those who filled them during these years. It's similar to the spreadsheet/booklet I compiled for the bicentennial project (see link below) but expanded to include treasurers, constables, highway supervisors, justices of the peace, fence viewers, assessors, overseers of the poor, jurors and school examiners in addition to clerks and trustees. I'm still verifying names, differences in spelling and a few discrepancies in that, but when finished, it will provide a quick snapshot of the who's who of 1831-1879 - another invaluable tool.

  The link below is a compilation of Dover township clerks and trustees and Westlake Councilmembers and Mayors from 1811-2011: https://www.cityofwestlake.org/DocumentCenter/View/2618/Government-Officials-List-1811-2011?bidId=

  I'm happy to assist anyone researching any of these documents, so please feel free to direct them to me at the contact information below. If you have any questions, let me know.

  Thank you,
  Denise L. Rosenbaum, CMC
  Clerk of Council
  City of Westlake
  27700 Hilliard Boulevard
  Westlake, OH 44145
  Ph: 440-617-4053
  Fax: 440-617-4089
  www.cityofwestlake.org