Jung. About 1875 the latter was succeeded by Rev. M. Arnoldi, to whom is credited the building of the brick and stone church, begun in 1879 and completed in 1880 except the spire. In 1855 Martin Kingseed moved from Tiffin to Fostoria. Prior to this date Franz Dillery, Jr., Martin Schalk, Phillip Schalk, Jacob Bick, Hubert Bettinger, John Bettinger, Nicholas and George Emerine, John Lumberjack, John Persh, Phillip Burcher, George Zeigman, Michael Clancey, George Huth and Jacob Huth were early members.

Baptist Church. A close communion Baptist society was established at Risdon about 1852, and services were held in the Methodist Episcopal church building. Mr. Bement assisted the Methodists in Sunday School work, but after a time he and his class withdrew and established a Presbyterian Sunday School, which was continued until the founding of the present Presbyterian church.

Presbyterian Church. This was founded at Fostoria February 25, 1856, with the following named members: Rev. W. C. Turner, James Hill and wife, John Milligan and wife, Caleb Munger and wife, Edwin Bement and Mrs. Jane Reigel. The society was re-organized under the law of 1852, June 26, 1858, with Caleb Munger, president, and William M. Cake, clerk.

Norris Post, G. A. R., No. 27, was organized under charter May 5th, 1880, with the following named charter members. R. Alcot, W. J. Page, A. Cramer, H. Axt, A. G. Franklin, C. A. Doe, A. M. Dildine, C. W. Thomas, G. H. McDonald, C. L. Brooks, F. R. Stewart, A. Kaufmann, H. Bordner, M. Adams, S. A. Needham, O. J. DeWolfe, Wm. M. Cake, E. C. Tingle, Allen Hale, Fred Werner, A. Hiteshew, C. C. Jones, O. B. Burdett, H. Newcomer, M. II. Chance, G. W. Fritcher, S. II. Warring, G. W. Young, J. B. Lewis, Ed Preble, J. D. Harley, W. P. Thatcher, S. Drenning, John McCracken, John M. Linhart.

CHAPTER XX.

VILLAGES OF THE COUNTY

ATTICA-HOW IT WAS NAMED-ORIGINAL PLAT AND ADDITIONS -ATTICA STATION-THEODORE BAUGHMAN, THE SCOUT-ADRIAN— BASCOM-BETTSVILLE-BLOOMVILLE-PLATS AND INCORPORATION— GREEN SPRINGS-OLD GREEN SPRINGS ACADEMY-MELMORE-NEW RIEGEL-REPUBLIC-CHURCHES OF REPUBLIC AND SCIPIO TOWNSHIP -G. A. R. POST, REPUBLIC.

Seneca county has a number of pretty and growing villages, of which she is so justly proud that sketches of the most important ones are presented in the pages of this chapter. The smaller villages and settlements are noticed in the chapter on "Township Histories."

The

The village of Attica presents quite a business-like appearance. Main street is well built up and has some large business houses, which denote the enterprise of its citizens. North and south a boulevard extends, bordered by attractive cottages and substantial residences. This street in its extent and general appearance, compares very favorably with the residence streets of large cities. place is fast building up, and ere many years the village of Attica Station and the old Attica will be united by one well built-up thoroughfare. The churches, schools, the newspapers, secret and benevolent societies, literary and art societies, and all the evidences of an advanced state in culture and wealth are found here, conferring on this southeastern village of the county an impress of Seneca's growth in all that contributes to public good. The village of Attica is located in Venice township at the Tiffin and Sandusky roads. The site was selected in 1833, by William and Samuel Miller, and was surveyed for them by David Risdon.

Four years prior to this time Ezra Gilbert built a cabin in the center of what is now the village of Attica, where he kept a tavern and established a post office, winning for it from the department the name of his old home, Attica, New York. Thus the Millers had not to go to the trouble of selecting a name for their new town in the wilderness.

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Nathan Merriman's store was also established here, and within five years from the day of Gilbert's settlement the place grew from one log cabin to be a village of twenty dwellings and of a population bordering on 100. Johnson Ford erected his cabin in 1828. In 1831 the first frame house in the township was erected by Jacob Newkirk in the business center of the village.

Attica was platted April 7, 1833. Miller & Schuyler's addition of Hugh M. Ellis' lands was surveyed in January, 1848, by H. B. Cain for John Miller and Marcus Schuyler. An addition to this was made at the same time for John L. LaMareaux, H. Chandler, Joseph Baughman, John Heckman, John Shuriff and D. K. Burg,

The following named additions were made in 1873-74 and 1875: George Ringle's, October, 1873; David Ringle's, October, 1873; William King's, February, 1875; Finley Ringle's, December, 1874; Boyle & Bemenderfer's, March, 1875. The additions to the village in sections 3 and 10 were authorized by the commissioners, October 1, 1875. A petition to extend the limits of Attica corporation was presented to the county board by Lester Sutton, agent, May 26, 1880. The contest which ensued is of record.

Bemenderfer & Gates' addition was surveyed in March, 1882, and Ringle & Lemmon's addition in April, 1882.

The first officers of Attica village, elected April 6, 1850, were: John L. LaMoreaux, mayor; Samuel Miller, clerk; William Rininger, treasurer; S. E. Martin, marshal; Samuel Crobaugh, D. K. Burg, Benjamin Kelly, John Heckman and John Ringle, councilmen; Samuel Miller, M. R. Moltz, John Lay, Eben. Metcalf, Orlando Miller and James H. Brisco, members of board of education.

Henry Speaker's saw mill was erected between Caroline and Attica in 1831. The power was supplied by oxen. The first grist mill and carding mill was established in 1832. This was simply a conversion of Speaker's old saw mill. The Metcalf steam saw mill was erected in 1836 by Ebenezer and George Metcalf, close to the spot on which the Heabler Mill was afterward built. The fire of March, 1840, destroyed this building. The Kinnaman Steam Saw and Grist Mills were erected at Caroline by Peter Kinnaman.

The first post office at Attica was opened in 1832, with Ezra Gilbert, postmaster, the owner of the first tavern there. In 1833, Nathan Merriman, of Bucyrus, opened the first store. W. M. Miller was postmaster at this point for years.

The old buildings which occupied the site of the William Rininger building, were destroyed by fire in 1853. In 1856 another fire swept away the old William Miller Hotel, northwest corner of Main and Tiffin streets, then conducted by H. M. Chandler. Subsequently the Chandler block was erected on the spot.

The town of Attica is on the Sandusky division of the Pennsylvania lines.

Attica Station is at the crossing of the B. & O. railroad and the Sandusky division of the Pennsylvania railroad. What is now Attica Station was surveyed in 1875, and was given the name of Detroit. Later when a post office was established, it was known as Siam. When the railroad company built a depot here, it was called Attica Station, and the former names were dropped. This gives promise of sometime forming a part of the town of Attica, for already pleasant homes and beautiful residences extend along the main street of Attica, south from the station and north from the town, leaving less than a mile of vacant space.

One of the most noted scouts of the west and southwest, Theodore Baughman, was a Seneca county boy. He was born in Attica in 1845. Later he removed with his parents to Michigan. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion and the call for troops, he went to Coldwater to enlist, but was refused on account of his age. In 1863 he enlisted in the Nineteenth Michigan Infantry, and served throughout the war. Then he entered the government service as a scout. He was later noted in literature as a graphic writer, one of his productions being "The Oklahoma Scout." In speaking of himself, he wrote: "I will not dwell upon my boyhood in Seneca county, which in its details did not differ materially from that of thousands of other hard-working lads. I always had a longing after an adventurous life. The humdrum experiences of the farm didn't at all suit my notions. I had plenty of hard work to do and it went against my grain. much time as I could hunting and fishing along the Sandusky and in roaming all over Seneca county. But there came a time in my after life when I would have given all I possessed to have been back on that farm. During my three years' service in the army, I underwent many hardships, which, as I look back upon, seems almost impossible that I should have stood them. The time I spent there was precious at my period of life. I ought to have been at school, and had I been, my life might have been different. and better. I was in every battle that the grand old Nineteenth Michigan was engaged in, from Resaca to Averysboro.

I spent as

"My conclusion from a long experience is that a man is his own best friend, and that the help of relatives and friends can never serve as a substitute for a sturdy self-reliance.

"To boys whose imaginations have drawn brilliant pictures of the life of a scout and frontiersman, I would give the same advice Artemus Ward did to the young man who sought Artemus' opinion as to the advisibility of entering the marriage state, viz: 'Don't you would soon become disenchanted. It is a pleasant