Judge David Henry
This early pioneer and settler of Shelby County was born in Pennsylvania in 1770. The first place we know of him living was in Kentucky; his next place of residence was Champaign County, Ohio. February, 1814, he moved to Perry Township, then in Miami County, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 28. He was the first white settler in Perry Township. At the time of his location there was not a settler within three miles of him. ln the spring of 1817 he was elected clerk of his township, and acted as such for a number of years. In the fall of the same year (1817) he was elected justice of the peace, and received his commission from Thomas Worthington, then Governor of Ohio. He was re-elected to the same oflice in 1821, 1824, 1826, 1829, and 1832. Also was the first commissioner’s clerk of the county, which position he filled from the organization of the county until the fall of 1820, when he was elected as commissioner of the county, but resigned the same in the fall of 1821. He was also appointed by the court as director for the survey and sale of lots of the town of Sidney. In the year 1826 he received a commission from Governor Jeremiah Morrow as Associate Judge for the Court of Common Pleas of Shelby County. To his papers, which have been kept on file, and preserved by his daughter, Mrs. Ried, we are indebted for much of our information in regard to the county as well as to Perry Township. Judge Henry was one of the prominent and leading citizens at the organization of the county, and filled some official position in both county and township from their organization to the time of his death, which occurred March 29, 1834. He raised a family of ten children, only two of whom are now living in the county, viz., David Henry, Jr., and Mrs. Wm. R. Ried, both of Perry Township. David Henry, Jr., was born February 17, 1815. He and a sister who were twins are said to be the first births in what is now Perry Township. David Henry is now the oldest settler in the township, having had his home in the township for over sixty-seven years. He has seen the woods of Perry become a fine, fertile, and well-improved portion of the county.
History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883