Long, long before European settlers arrived in what is now Hancock County, this land was home to Native American peoples who lived here for thousands of years. They farmed the swampy forest and the flood plains and called it home. The Wyandot and Ottawa tribes settled along the Blanchard River, which runs through the heart of what is now Hancock County and Findlay, and Shawnee peoples were known to live in the Van Buren area. As American settlement pushed west into this area, Native peoples were forced from their homelands through a series of treaties, and in many cases, violent force. Their history is part of this county's story, visible in the rivers and landscapes they knew long before anyone else.