Jonathan Oldfield
AN OLD PIONEER -- Mr. Jonathan Oldfield is on a visit to relatives and friends in this place from Peoria, Ill., where he removed two years ago. He is about 86 years old, and he and Thos. McCluer came to the spot where Bellville now stands, commenced clearing, and with the help of the Indians raised a log cabin in the spring of 1808. This was the first improvement in Jefferson Township, and nearly the first in Richland County. Jonathan Oldfield and Elizabeth McCluer were married shortly after the McCluer family came out the following season. This marriage was the first marriage that took place in Richland County.
From The Bellville Dollar Weekly, October 25, 1872, Vol. 1, No. 35