Champaign County, Ohio U.S. Census TIGER/Line map

Champaign County (pop. 25,000 in 1950; 39,000 in 2000), Ohio, organized in 1805, lies in the fertile agricultural section in the west-central part of the state. The county seat is Urbana. An Amish Mennonite settlement founded on the northern border of the county about 1846 by settlers from Wayne and Fairfield counties, Ohio, and Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, is now the Oak Grove congregation with a membership of 269 in Salem Township in the north central part of the county. An earlier Mennonite settlement, now extinct, left in Salem Township families bearing the names Herr, Weidman, Gehman, Funk, and Mast, whose ancestors founded the first Methodist church in the county. With Logan County (pop. 30,000) on the north, containing the South Union and Bethel congregations, Champaign has been an important Amish Mennonite center for more than a century. The combined membership of the three congregations (Ohio and Eastern Conference), all near West Liberty, in 1953 was 731.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 548. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

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