Colerain is one of the oldest townships. It is the creation of the court of general quarter sessions of the peace of 1794, when its boundaries were defined as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of the fractional township on the Big Miami, in the second entire range, thence up the Miami to the north line of said fractional township, according to SYMMES' plat; thence east to the meridian on the west side of the college township; thence south to the southern boundary of said fractional township thence west to the place of beginning.
This extensive boundary brought in a tract of five sections breadth in what is now Butler county, additional to the present limits of the township in that direction,
The cattle brand of the township was ordered to be the letter G.
In 1803 the boundaries of Colerain were so defined as to include townships one and two, in the first entire range, and the western tier in township three, same range, and sections eighteen, twelve and six, in township two, and section thirty-six in township three, second fractional range, and so much of the second entire range as lies north of and adjoining the said township of Colerain. This definition of boundaries gave the township all its present territory, together with the western tier of sections in the present Springfield, the three easternmost sections in the north tier of Green, and the northwestern-most section in Mill Creek. The provision for taking in a part of the second entire range gave the township only its present short line of sections on the north, as Butler county had just been erected, and the remainder of the range lies within its borders. The total area of Colerain is now twenty-six thousand seven hundred and forty-eight acres.
By the order of 1803 the voters of Colerain were directed to meet at the dwelling of John HARYMAN and choose two justices of the peace.
The following named were the first officers of the township(1794):
John DUNLAP, clerk; Samuel CAMPBELL, constable; John SHAW, overseer of the poor; Isaac GIBSON, Samuel CRESSWELL, John DAVIS, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of damages.
In 1809 Judah WILLEY was appointed by the governor of the State a justice of the peace for Colerain township, "to continue in office for three years from the third day of April, instant."
The following named citizens of Colerain are also known to have served the township as justices: 1819, Isaac SPARKS, John RUNYAN, James CARNAHAN, Joseph CILLEY; 1825, William H. MOORE, Jonathan CILLEY, Stewart MCGILL; 1829, Stewart MCGILL, Noah RUNYAN; 1865, John L. HAUKINS, George T. MARSH, George W. HAISCH; 1866, the same, with Martin BARNS, Jr.; 1867-8, same as 1866, except HAUKINS; 1869-70, BARNS, MARSH, J. H. WYCKOFF; 1871, BARNS, WYCKOFF, Thomas P. MCHENRY; 1872-3, MCHENRY., WYCKOFF, John LEIBROOK; 1874, LEIBROOK, WYCKOFF, Joseph JONES; 1875-6, Wyck-off, Jones, Barns; 1877, Wyckoff, Barns, William Arnold; 1878-9, Arnold, Wyckoff, John HAMKER; 1880, Arnold, WYCKOFF.
