Kinderhook Township
The township of Kinderhook is what is known as a fractional
township, comprising but twenty-four sections, and lying on the southern border of the
county on the Indiana line. It is known as township 8 south, range 6 west, and was
originally a part of Ovid, but the residents of the township being ambitious to form an
individual organization, the portion now embraced in Kinderhook was set apart as a
distinct township, with a separate civil government, in 1842. There are various
speculations as to the origin of the name. The correct facts having been given by one of
the older residents, who held an official position at the time, can be vouched for. The Van
Buren presidential campaign was then at its height. A bill was presented to the Legislature
praying that the portion of Ovid Township set apart as a new township be granted a name.
Several names, some of them more or less absurd, were proposed and voted upon, when
one of the members facetiously suggested Kinderhook, the birthplace of Martin Van
Buren, as not only appropriate, but as a happy compromise. Viewing the matter in a
humorous light, the name was voted upon and unanimously adopted, and has since been
borne by the township, though the result of the merest accident. The impression, which
has obtained some degree of popularity, that it was called by some of the early residents
after their native village in New York State is, therefore, an erroneous one.
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