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Hello and welcome to Vinton County, Ohio. My name is Michelle
Kennedy Byrd. It is my goal to post as much genealogy data online as possible and
to make it freely available to all.
We gratefully accept contributions such as census
transcriptions or indexes, marriage/birth/death records, obituaries, county histories,
biographies, old newspaper items, old photos - anything that would help someone
build their family tree!! If you have a news story that mentions Vinton County,
its residents, past or present of historical significance, please consider transcribing
the article and emailing it to me.
I do ask that any data submitted,
such as biographies, histories, news articles, etc. have a source. Feel free to
with your contributions
- every little bit helps. You can email with questions or comments on this site
as well, as long as it pertains to the site and is not a request for information
or personal research.
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History of Vinton County, Ohio
Named after U. S. Representative Samuel Finley Vinton, of Jackson County, Ohio, Vinton County was officially made a county on March 23, 1850 and formed from Gallia, Athens, Hocking, Ross and Jackson Counties. It's main source of water comes from branches of the Scioto and Hocking Rivers. Most of its wealth in the early years came from iron, coal and fire-clay. Vinton county was home to four of the many furnaces located in Ohio, Eagle, Hope, Vinton and Hamden.
Some of the earliest settlers came to Vinton County about 1805, with one of the earliest known being a Mr. Musselman. He settled in Elk which at that time was the pioneer township of the county. He was a miller by trade and a bit of a geologist as well. He discovered the first burr stone. He began quarrying the stone in 1806. Nothing else is found about him at the time of this writing.
The county seat, McArthur was laid out in 1815 and was originally called "McArthurstown" after then Governor McArthur. By an act of legislature it was given its current name of McArthur in 1851 and was at that time incorporated. In 1850, there were 450 residents living in McArthur.
The 2000 Census states that Vinton County has the smallest population in the state. |
