Rutland Township is one of the twelve townships of Meigs County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,137 people in the township.
Geography Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships: Scipio Township - north Bedford Township - northeast corner Salisbury Township - east Cheshire Township, Gallia County - south Morgan Township, Gallia County - southwest Salem Township - west Columbia Township - northwest corner
Two populated places are located in Rutland Township: the village of Rutland, the smallest village in Meigs County, in the center; and the unincorporated community of Langsville, in the center, a short distance west of Rutland.
Name and history Rutland Township was partitioned from Salisbury Township and organized in 1812 as part of Gallia County, prior to the formation of Meigs County in 1819. It is the only Rutland Township statewide.
The formation of Rutland Township was due to local population growth rather than the onset of the War of 1812. However, Rutland Township and its parent county were heavily connected to the war effort in several ways. After the failure of a military draft,The War of 1812. Chapter XXV. History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens by Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J, page 551. Accessed 1 September 2026. General Edward W. Tupper of Gallia County raised a brigade of 1,000 volunteers from Gallia, Jackson, and Lawrence counties to fight in the Northwest campaign against the British and their Native American allies.Gen. Edward W. Tupper. Biographical Sketches of Officers. History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens by Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J, page 561. Accessed 1 September 2026. Prominent local settlers and pioneers from Rutland Township actively enlisted or were drafted into the conflict, serving on the frontier and near Lake Erie. Only two surviving veterans of the Army of the Northwest resided in Rutland Township in 1876:[https://meigs.ohgenweb.org/news_by_year/1876.html Meigs County News For The Year 1876. Accessed 1 September 2026. John Woodard (a Virginian who joined Capt. James Paxton's Co., 12th Infantry and later settled in Ohio)John Woodard. War of 1812 Discharge Certificates: Soldiers by Unit. National Archives. Accessed 1 September 2026. and Elihu Higley (26 Nov 1788 – 23 April 1877; a local man with extended familial ties to the township and region).The Pioneer History of Meigs County. by Stillman Carter Larkin. One Volume with Illustrations. Columbus, Ohio: The Berlin Printing Company, 1908. Page 30. Accessed 1 September 2026.
Government The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer,§503.24, §505.01, and §507.01 of the Ohio Revised Code. Accessed 4/30/2009. who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
References
External links County website