Plain City in Union County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Joshua Ewing

1765 - 1821

— Ewing Memorial Rock —

Joshua Ewing Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., October 21, 2008

1. Joshua Ewing Marker

Inscription. First White settler in Union County, owned and cleared this land.

Erected 1934 by Hannah Emerson Dustin Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Settlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the Daughters of the American Revolution series list.

Location. 40° 6.857′ N, 83° 16.269′ W. Marker is in Plain City, Ohio, in Union County. Marker is on Pastime Street just west of North Chillicothe Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 370 N Chillicothe St, Plain City OH 43064, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Plain City Town Clock (approx. half a mile away); Old Indian Trail (approx. 0.9 miles away); Jerome Township Soldiers' Monument (approx. 3.4 miles away); Jerome Township Civil War Memorial (approx. 3.4 miles away); New California Church (approx. 3.4 miles away); Unionville Center (approx. 4 miles away); Vice President Charles Warren Fairbanks / Charles Warren Fairbanks Birthplace (approx. 4 miles away); Darby Township Veterans Memorial (approx. 4.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Plain City.

More about

Paid Advertisement

Click on the ad for more information.
Please report objectionable advertising to the Editor.

Click or scan to see
this page online

this marker. When the plaque was cast, bolted to the boulder, and erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter in 1934, the marker was placed on the original alignment of U.S. 42 near where it entered Plain City from the north, perhaps somewhere near this map coordinate, 40° 7' 5.73'' N, 83° 16' 16.83'' W. Today that location is no longer on U.S. 42, as the highway now bypasses the center of the village.

Sometime later, likely around the time U.S. 42 was realigned, it was moved to 40° 7' 27.519" N, 83° 16' 19.434" W, the intersection of U.S. 42 and Ohio Route 736, visible on the right when traveling south on U.S. 42. At that location the monument was next to the U.S. 42 bridge over Big Darby River, at the edge of the township wayside park, facing the highway.

Recently, the Ohio Department of Transportation added a concrete barrier on the approach to the bridge that hid the monument from view and provided opportunities for vandalism. Furthermore, the concrete base visible in photograph No. 4 was crumbling and the monument was in danger of falling into the river. Township and village authorities agreed to move it to its present location at the Pastime Park in the village, where it can be more widely seen and better protected. The boulder was reported to weigh 6700 pounds.

Regarding Joshua Ewing.

Ewing Memorial Rock Monument image. Click for full size.

Photographed By J. J. Prats, August 30, 2023

2. Ewing Memorial Rock Monument

This photo shows it in front of the Pastime Park Campground office, inside the park entrance. You'll see it as soon as you turn in.

Brothers James and Joshua Ewing were the first permanent settlers, but Jonathan Alder is credited with being the first settler to set foot in Jerome Township, though he was not a willing resident. As a young child this Virginia pioneer was a captive of the Shawnee. He arrived in the area prior to 1795. In 1805 he was reunited with his mother in Virginia, and he settled in Madison County upon his return to Ohio.

Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. A marker for Jonathan Alder, mentioned above.

Also see . . . History of Union County - Early Settlements. 1883 book The History of Union County, Chapter 4, Published by W. H. Beer & Co., Chicago. Excerpt:

To Joshua and James Ewing, two brothers, belong the honor of making the first settlement in what is now Union County and in Jerome Township. Accounts all agree that they settled permanently on Big Darby in the year 1798, but it is also said that two or three years prior to this date, these two young men, then both unmarried, had been West, probably in the Indian service, and having determined on settling in this wild and unoccupied country, cast their eyes about for a favorable location. They traveled with one horse and a small, two-wheeled cart, cutting their way through the tangled brushwood and sleeping in a tent, which they carried with them.

They encamped on a spot in southeastern
Photographed By J. J. Prats, August 30, 2023

3. At the Memorial’s Rededication, August 30, 2023
Left to right: Karen Walls, Historian for the Hannah Emerson Dustin Chapter of DAR, Marysville • Linda Granger, Director of Parks & Recreation, Village of Plain City • Denton Kitts, Parks & Recreation Assistant, Village of Plain City • Barry Thomas, the Village of Plain City resident who got the project started and completed • Barry Adler, Jerome Township Trustee • Jody Carney, Mayor of the Village of Plain City
Jerome, which afterward became the James Ewing homestead, there cleared a small patch of ground and planted it in corn, chopping holes in the ground with an ax and then covering the hill with the fork of a stick. Peace with the Indians had just been declared, and the smoke of war had scarcely yet risen from the land. Surrounded on all sides by the Indians, who had scarcely yet washed the war-paint from their faces, the youthful adventurers felt the solitude and dangers of their position, and without waiting for their little patch of corn to ripen, they packed their few goods and turned their faces eastward, concluding to wait several years before returning.

The two boys were the sons of Mascol Ewing, whose home was in New Jersey. They were cousins to Gen. Thomas Ewing, formerly of Lancaster, Ohio. They possessed great force of character, and in point of intelligence and education, they ranked among the highest class of pioneers.

In 1798, when they made the permanent settlement, each brought his household effects by team the entire distance from New Jersey. Joshua, the elder, had recently married Margaret Scott, and he brought his young wife with him. James was accompanied by his aged mother, Cynthia, and his two sisters, Betsy and Mrs. Eunice Donaldson. The latter was a widow, and her only child, Ewing Donaldson, came with her.

(Submitted on October 23, 2008, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia.)

Ewing Memorial Rock at its Second Location image. Click for full size.

Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., October 21, 2008

4. Ewing Memorial Rock at its Second Location

This photo of the monument shows where it was located at the township wayside park, facing U.S. 42. It was moved to the present location in and rededicated in 2023.

Credits. This page was last revised on August 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 22, 2008, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 1,431 times since then and 56 times this year. Last updated on June 8, 2023, by Mark Moxley-Knapp of Columbus, Ohio. Photos: 1. submitted on October 22, 2008, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. 2, 3. submitted on August 31, 2023, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. 4. submitted on October 22, 2008, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.