A stream that passes through Bluffton celebrates a bicentennial of its name on Friday.  Darrell Groman provides the Icon with information about how the creek was named. He also provides lots of details of its namesake.

The Bicentennial of the Naming of
Riley Creek, July 17, 2020
Information provided by Darrell Groman

Darrell Groman, local historian, resident of upstream Riley Creek, Bluffton since 1956 and an optometrist in downstream Riley Creek, Pandora since 1986, reports plans had been underway to celebrate the Bicentennial of Riley Creek.

"Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, the events have been cancelled."  

Groman has portrayed Sea Captain Riley on several occasions, offering historical discussions about the little-known facts about Captain Riley and how the Creek was named. 

In 1964, Groman was inspired to learn about local history from his third-grade teacher, Miss Minerva Hilty, at Bluffton Elementary School.

"Only three years after Bluffton's big centennial celebration in 1961, Miss Hilty took our class on walking field trips to learn about our town's early history. We studied the centennial book entitled "Town at the Fork of the Rileys," which portrays the village which arose in the area where Big Riley Creek and the Little Riley Creek meet in town."

Bluffton's history books, published during the 100th, 125th and 150th celebration years in 1961, 1986 and 2011, respectively, all report the same wording about Riley Creek: "The final survey was completed July 17, 1820, by one, James Riley. It is supposed that Riley Township may have been named for him, and perhaps Riley Creek." The only information in our Bluffton history books note that James Riley was a surveyor.

Downstream Riley Creek, the history books from Pandora and Putnam County portray a broader rendering of the naming of Riley Creek. Judge J. Y. Sackett wrote brief vignettes in his historical books, published in 1878 and 1887: 

"James Watson Riley (at age 16) came to Ohio ... His father, Captain James Riley, had been contracted to survey the NW section of Ohio. The surveyors gave Putnam County ... laid out in 1820. This stream was called by the Indians "Big Tawa" or Deer Creek. Its present name was given it by Riley and his (surveying) company, who were here to survey the Indian Reservation. He (James Watson Riley) was the son of old Captain Riley, of whom history gives some striking narratives. When they were surveying ..., he (James Watson Riley) attempted to cross the stream, fell in and lost his Jacob's staff and could not find it. From this incident, the company called the stream Riley Creek." (Judge J. Y. Sackett, Putnam County Pioneer Reminiscences No. 1 and No. 2.) 

The headwaters of Riley Creek begins near the Lincoln Highway bridge just west of New Stark and meanders 26 miles through three counties from Hancock, on downstream through Allen and into Putnam, where it merges into the Blanchard River.

Groman mentions, "The residents from upstream Riley Creek in Hancock County have not known about the happenings downstream Riley Creek and the residents from upstream Riley Creek have not been aware of the happenings upstream Riley Creek.

Unknown by most residents along the creek, Riley Creek begins a few miles upstream from Riley Creek Baptist Church and ends a few miles downstream from Riley Creek United Methodist Church. Riley Creek is 'anchored' by two churches on each end, both named as Riley Creek churches."

"Residents in Bluffton, Pandora and the surrounding farmlands along the Banks of Riley Creek have thought we are land-lubbers.

But, the Creek has been the location of many water activities. One day in June 2020, my older son Misha and his school classmate Jack, on an adventurous afternoon, each took a kayak down Riley Creek from Bluffton to Pandora.

Many, as I, have waded in Riley Creek to explore and 'hunt for treasures'. As youngsters in the mid-1960s, (the late) Gordon Diller and his brother John had waded in Riley Creek in their hometown of Pandora 'to look for Riley's Jacob's staff.'

A few years ago, I had mentioned to Gordy that they would have never found Riley's staff as they were 8 to 9 miles upstream from where James Watson Riley had fallen into the creek. Others have swam in the creek, taken kayaks, boats or canoes down the creek or ice-skated on The Riley during the cold winter.

A little-known fact is that Riley Creek had been 'named' after a near-drowning incident, the 'honor' bestowed on the teenager who had accidentally fallen into the creek, who had been a son 'of old Captain Riley, of whom history gives some striking narratives'." 

However, there is much, much more to learn about the life of Captain James Riley than what is written in the Bluffton and Putnam County history books.

A copy of Joyce Alig's 1997 book, entitled "Ohio's Last Frontiersman , Connecticut Mariner Captain James Riley," can be found at Bluffton University's Musselman Library and other libraries in the region.

Alig's book documents Riley's colorful life as a sea-faring captain of merchant ships, the shipwreck of The Commerce, his national best-selling 'narratives' book which described, first-hand, his experiences of being on the Sahara Desert for 36 days after being ship-wrecked and being captured by the African Moor Hamet brothers, being appointed by the Northwest Territories' Surveyor General Edward Tiffin as Deputy Surveyor and in charge of the surveying company in NW Ohio, how his 'narratives' had influenced Abraham Lincoln as a teenager and as one of the most signifcant books antebellum regarding slavery, surveying the land and platting several cities and towns of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, serving as a representative to the Ohio House of Representatives, and one who had returned to the sea as a merchant ship's captain, where he had died at sea.

The plans, now cancelled, were for Groman, as "Captain Riley" to present "History Comes Alive! when Captain Riley Shows Up," to visit various sites along Riley Creek for historical discussions on these and other little-known facts about Captain Riley and How the Creek was Named.

Plans are now underway for the discussions to be delayed for a year as The Bicentennial Plus One in 2021 for Captain Riley to visit Riley Creek United Methodist Church, the historic Bridenbaugh one-room School House, the Schumacher / Swiss Historical Home, the Bluffton Town Hall / the Buckeye shelter house or Village Park and Riley Creek Baptist Church. 

For more information contact Groman at 419-234-3176.