In addition to these officers there were also among the early settlers:  Governeur Edwards, John Woollet, David Kemp, Jacob Cook, Andrew Moore, William McPherson, Johnson Ford, Philip Muck, James McKibben.  Mr. Ford and Mr. McPherson are living at this writing.
     In 1840 Venice had a population of 1,222; in 1870 it had increased to 1,781, and in 1880 to 2,231.
     Its soil is excellent, and it is now in the enjoyment of great agricultural wealth.  Of late years such farmers as George Ringle, Thomas Bennett, David Ringle, Samuel Shade, James D. Stevens, John McKibben, Henry Meyer, Z. Bretz, the Sourwines, the Labolts, the Steigmeyers and others added greatly towards its development.
     Venice has two towns - Attica and Caroline.  The former has, to a great extent, absorbed the latter, especially since the Baltimore & Ohio railroad has a station near Attica.  Both towns are situate on the old Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, which at one time promised to become macadamized, and be a general north and south thoroughfare. 

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Colonel Kilbourn, who has been often mentioned as one of the pioneer surveyors here, on the 28th day of February, 1828, surveyed and platted Caroline, on sections ten and eleven, and named it after a daughter of Cornelius Gilmore, the first settler in the town and one of the proprietors; Hector Kilbourn and Byron Kilbourn being the others. 
     Andrew Moore settled in this town in 1830, on the first day of April, and resided there to the time of his death, which occurred on the 6th of August, 1846.  (His widow died at this writing.)  He was county commissioner one time, and a most excellent citizen.  James McKibben located here on the 17th of June, 1830.  There were but fifteen families in Venice at that time.
     On the 1st day of May, 1833, William Miller and Samuel Miller two brothers, from Pennsylvania, laid out Attica.  David Risdon was the surveyor.  The name was derived from the postoffice by that name, which had been located there before the survey of the town.  Ezra Gilbert named the postoffice after the town in New York, where he  formerly resided.  Mr. Gilbert kept the first public house here, and Nathan Merriman kept the first store.  In 1836 Attica contained twenty dwellings already, and a population of one hundred.  In 1840 it had eighteen more.  It is now a very lively country town, and has a fine trade.  A lawyer, Mr. Lester Sutton, is located here, and some six physicians.  The Attica Journal is a very readable weekly newspaper, and very ably edited by my old friend Dr. J. C. Myers.  The rich farming community surrounding Attica will always make the town a good trading post.  The town had a splendid school house, a healthy situated and a good moral community of intelligent people.
     At the centennial 4th of July celebration in Attica (1876) my venerable old friend Mr. Johnson Ford, had read to the assembled multitude an abstract history of this township, which my friend Dr. Myers was so kind as to place at my disposal, and from which I quote.  It was ably prepared by his son.

ATTICA, December 29, 1879.               

Judge Lang:
     DEAR SIR:  I send you the history of Venice township and Attica, as prepared for the celebration of the 4th of July, 1876.  If you find any matter to help you in your history, I shall feel amply rewarded.  My best wishes for your success.

J. C. MYERS       

     N. B. - It should be mentioned here that the address as delivered was prepared by Mr. H. J. Ford, but I will insist that uncle Johnson Ford furnished much of the material. 

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A CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF VENICE TOWNSHIP AND THE VILLAGE OF ATTICA
Arranged and written by H. J. Ford, and delivered at the celebration in Attica July 4, 1876.

     For the names, dates, and all facts pertaining to the earliest record of the then new township of Venice, I am indebted to the two veteran pioneers, Father McPherson and Father Ford, whose heads, whitened by the frosts of more than four score years, are permitted to sit today on this platform. (Still living at time of writing, May 28th, 1880.)
     All honor to them and the other pioneers, to whose perseverance, privations and self-denial we today are blessed with a home in as beautiful, productive and wealthy a township as any in the grand old state of Ohio.
     Looking over our rich rolling farms, it is hard to realize that only fifty years ago these same fields were an extended and unbroken forest.  In the memories of the few whose silvered heads appear among us today, those scenes are distinct and real still, while we, the younger generation, must resort to fancy to catch a view.
     I wish it were possible to portray the dark forest, the roving Indians, the howling wild beasts, the pioneer hardships met and endured by our fathers, and make the impression go with us through life, so that we might be taught thereby to respect with a proper degree of veneration the gray hairs of the few who remain.
     A fact in the history of this township should not be overlooked in reference to the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike.  Each alternate section of land was granted by the legislature of the state to a company as an inducement to undertake its construction.  Colonel James Kilbourn, of Worthington, Ohio, in 1827, was employed by the company to survey and locate the south bank of Honey creek, where the residence of O. J. McPherson now stands, and he was thus the first settler in Venice township.  Being a blacksmith by trade, his services were required by Customers far and near.  Ezra Gilbert settled here in 1829.  In August, 1828, Samuel Halsted build a cabin house on the present site of Rininger and Silcox's store.  In September of the same year Johnson Ford moved into his cabin, erected where the residence of Dr. Barber now stands.  In October, the same year, Thomas West built east of the pike, near Honey creek.  In November William McPherson built his house in the center of the township, and in December Elisha Fair settled on the site of L. O. Green's present residence.
     In the month of November, 1828, at the instance of Ezra Gilbert, a petition was presented to the commissioners of the county, asking for a road commencing at the township line road, two and one-half miles west of Attica, and running diagonally to the south of east, to intersect the road leading to New Haven, near the Huron county line, three and one-half miles east of Attica.  The petition was granted, and David Risdon, the county surveyor located the road, and immediately Samuel Halsted, Ezra Gilbert and Johnson Ford took their axes, and in six days they underbrushed the whole line, taking their dinners with them, and returning home at night to enjoy their frugal suppers of corn bread and crust coffee.  Thus these pioneers, looking

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ahead to the future, gave us these important cross-roads, which proved the nucleus of our fair village.
     Ezra Gilbert, early in the spring of 1829, erected a cabin on the corner where Ford and Strannler's hardware store now stands, and opened a public tavern.  Shortly thereafter, Nathan Merriman, from Bucyrus, opened out a small stock of dry goods and groceries in a log building on S. A. Ringle's corner.
     On the 19th of March, 1829, Esther, the wife of Johnson Ford, died leaving her husband alone to his sorrow.  A neighbor went to Republic to assist in the preparation of a cherry coffin.  At the funeral the remains were placed on a rude sled drawn by oxen.  Samuel Halsted drove the team and Ezra Gilbert walked by the side of the lone husband eight miles, to the cemetery in Scipio township.  It has been arranged that a funeral discourse should be preached at the house of Ethan Smith, near the place of burial, and the settlers gathered there, but no minister came, and without so much as a Christian prayer, the body was put to rest.  The pioneer returned to his lone cabin, and although nearly a half century has passed away, he is with us here today.
     The second death was a child of Samuel Halsted.  Mr. Ford donated an acre in the center of his farm for a burial place, and cleared the same.  The remains of a child of Philip Muck was the first interment there and the third death.
     During 1829 the following persons settled here:  Nathan Merriman, Governeur Edwards, Philip Muck, John Armatage, Jacob Cook, Henry Speaker, Jr., James Willoughby, David Roop, David Kemp, John Woolet, Samuel Wollet, Samuel Croxton and Jollier Billings.  Men were also employed on the turnpike.
     On the 1st day of June, 1829, this township was part of Bloom, and the three qualified voters residing here went to the polls of Bloom township to cast their votes for John Quincy Adams, opposing candidate to Andrew Jackson in the autumn of 1828.
     On the same day Ezra Gilbert presented a petition to the county commissioners for the organization of this township as originally surveyed.  The Cayuga county, N. Y., from whence he came.
     It is a fact worthy of note that up to 1840 no township officer made any charge for his services.  The postoffice at Caroline was taken away by Gilmore, and the government refused to make other appointments for Caroline.  Then the Attica postoffice was established.
     From this time forward the settlement of the township and village was rapid.  In 1830 or 1831 Jacob Newkirk, from the state of New York, erected the first frame house in the township, on the present site of F. H. Steigmeyer's store.  Many of us remember the old Huddleson house.  It was removed only six years sine, when it was the property of David Ayres.
     The first saw-mill in Venice township was erected by Henry Speaker, Sr., about the year 1831, on his farm, between Attica and Caroline.  The motive power was a yoke of oxen and an extra steer in a tread-wheel.  It was afterwards converted by the owner into a grist mill, with one run of small stone and a carding machine.

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     In 1836 Ebenezer and George Metcalf, with some local aid, erected a stream saw-mill near the present site of the Heabler grist mill, in Attica.  In the month of March, 1840, this mill was destroyed by fire, entailing a heavy loss on both the owners and the community.
     John and Frederick Steigmeyer were the owners of the next team sawmill erected on this site.  In course of time a grist mill was connected therewith by them. and after a few changes in owners we now have our excellent flouring mill owned by J. Heabler & Bros.  Early in our history a steam saw mill and also a grist mill were built at Caroline by Peter Kinnaman, both of which were afterwards swept away by fire.
     [Note. - In 1857, one morning in the winter, a boy named Ephraim Groves, while standing in front of the boiler warming his feet, was scalded to death by the bursting of the boiler of this mill.  He lived a few days after the accident, but never spoke from the time he was hurt.]
     After the completion of the school house an invitation was sent to the Rev. Mr. Robinson, a Presbyterian minister living at Melmore, who came and preached to the people, it being the first sermon delivered in the township.  After this his services were secured for one year, he preaching every third week on a week day.
     In the spring of 1833 a union Sabbath school was organized by Rev. Mr. Patty, an agent of the American Sabbath School Union, and Mr. Martain was chosen superintendent for one year, but he moving away before the expiration of that time, Johnson Ford succeeded him, and his services were retained in that capacity for twenty-five consecutive years, when he resigned on account of defective hearing.
     A Presbyterian church was organized in October, 1833, with thirteen members, by Revs. E. Conger and E. Judson, of Huron Presbytery, and John Holmes and J. Ford were ordained elders thereof.
     The Episcopal Methodists organized a small class in 1835, and in 1838 the English Lutherans formed a church, and in 1840 or 1841, with the help of the community at large, erected the church now owned by the United Brethren.  This house they were unable to finish, and the writer well remembers the rude slab benches without backs, which, for a number of years, furnished the sittings.
     This society, failing to pay for their building, were compelled to sell it, and fearing it might be devoted to other uses and the community be deprived of a place for public worship, Johnson Ford shouldered the burden of its purchase, and obtained a clear title thereto.  In a short time thereafter it was reseated and improved, and for a number of years the three above mentioned denominations worshiped therein, and in harmony conducted Sabbath school and church services.  This is the history of the first religious denominations and church building in our township.
     About the year 1840 a one story brick school house was built on the spot where the one in present use now stands.  The interior was arranged with desks running along the side walls and seated with slab benches.  In the year 1841 the Attica Baptist church was organized with nine members, and on the 2d day of April, 1842, Rev. S. M. Mack became its first regular pastor.  In the year 1852 this denomination built its present house of worship.  In the winter of 1849 and 1850, as nearly as can be conveniently ascertained, the

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village of Attica was duly incorporated, and on the 6th day of April, 1850, the first election of city officers was held, resulting as follows:
Mayor - John L. LaMeraux
Clerk - Samuel Miller
Councilmen - Samuel Crobaugh, David K. Burg, Benjamin Kelley, John Heckman, John Ringle
Board of Education - Samuel Miller, M. R. Moltz, John Lay, Ebenezer Metcalf, Orlando Miller, James H. Brisco.
     At the first council meeting on the 15th of the same month, S. E. Martin was appointed marshall, and William Rininger treasurer.
     Thus was our village launched forth to rank among the small cities of our land.
     In the winter of 1853 the buildings then occupying the southeast corner of Main and Tiffin Streets were consumed by fire.  William Rininger then bought the vacant lot and erected thereon his present storeroom.
     Two or three years later a conflagration occurred on the northwest corner of said streets, and the large frame hotel building erected then by William Miller, early in Attica's history, and then owned by H. M. Chandler, was swept away.  Chandler then caused to be erected the brick block we see here today.  Attica has been visited by several smaller fires, of which we have not time to speak.
     In the year 1856 and 1857 the school house still in use in our town was built, the contract having been let to Levi Rice, for which he received $1,328.42.
     The Universalist society erected their house of worship in the year 1860. 
     Attica has not been without her sensations, prominent among which are the great fraudulent failures of Higley, Chandler, Schuyler  and others in 1856 or 1857, and the discovery of the den of counterfeiters, and the subsequent conviction of one of our citizens for the crime.
     Perhaps it would not be out of place, as we draw our history to a close, to give the names of those, and the years in which they served, who have had the honor to serve the village as chief.
    John L. LaMeraux served as mayor in 1850; William Miller in 1851; Wm. Rininger in the years 1852, 1853, 1854, 1858, 1860 and 1865; P. Kinnaman in 1855 and 1859; R. H. Blodget in 1856, 1857, part of 1861 and all of 1862; J. R. Buckingham was elected in 1861, but resigning, R. H. Blodget was appointed to fill his place.  The record of 1863 and 1864 does not show who served as mayor during those years.  William M. Miller was elected in 1866, April 2d, and resigned May 14th, when H. M. Chandler was appointed to fill the unexpired term.  Chandler was elected in 1867, and again in 1868, and during the latter year the burden of the purchase of the town hall was imposed upon the people.  H. J. Ford served in 1869; J. C. Meyers was elected in 1870 for two years, and re-elected in 1872 for the same time.  J. W. Simpson was elected in 1874, but failing health incapacitated him for the service, and his death occurred in the following winter.  Our present honorable mayor, James L. Couch, was appointed to act during the unexpired term.
     The peoples' voice at the ballot-box a short time since proclaimed James L. Couch mayor for 1876 and 1877.
     In conclusion, we have only to add the number of public buildings in township and village, and the population, as nearly as it can be ascertained

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in this centennial year of our nation and semi-centennial of our township.
   In the township we have eight churches and thirteen school houses, and a population, including Attica, estimated at 2,300.
     Attica, within her corporate limits, contains three churches, one school house, three dry good stores, tow hotels, two hardware stores, two tinshops, two drug stores, two provision stores, two furniture stores, one cabinet shop, two undertakers, one clothing store, one marble shop, two harness shops, two blacksmith and carriage shops, two carriage painters, one gunsmith, one flouring mill, sash and blind factory, one foundry and machine shop, one shoe factory, two boot and shoe shops, three millinery stores, one photograph gallery, two cooper shops, one grist mill, one ashery, one carding machine, one confectionery and ice cream room, two billiard and drinking saloons, three village groceries, three tailor shops, one livery stable, one jewelry store, one printing office, one express office, two meat markets, one attorney, four practicing physicians, one dentist, one barber shop, one Odd Fellows lodge, one Masonic lodge, one Grange lodge, one weekly newspaper.
     Our village has increased materially in population, and the number of dwellings since the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and the establishment of a station bearing the name of Attica, which occurred on the 1st of January, 1874.
     This centennial year finds us in the midst of prosperity and healthy growth, with a bright business future before us, and our corporate limits extended, giving ample room for those who desire to purchase building lots, and locate among us.  We will not attempt to scan the future with prophetic eye and declare what our township and village will be fifty or one hundred years hence, but we may safely say the historian of the second centennial of our nation's life will record as great changes as any we can chronicle to today.
     We must not overlook the part of our aged mothers took in this war-fare of pioneer life.  Side by side they stood with husbands, enduring dangers and privations like heroes, as they really were.  Many of them left homes of comfort and even luxury, at the east, to follow the fortunes of the one to whom they had given their heart and hand.
     All unused to the solitude of the western forests, and its attendant dangers, they faltered not, but putting their trust in their father's God, and leaning on the strong arm of their husbands, they came, and we today have reason to bless their coming.
    Let us respect and love them while they live, and when they are gone, may our recollections of them be as sweet incense to their memory.
     With uncovered head, and bated breath, let us always speak the sacred name of "Mother."
     And now, friends and fellow citizens, while we are called upon today to review the past and to celebrate the words and deeds of those who, one hundred years ago, declared us a nation of freemen, and whose blood brought the precious boon, let us remember also those who saved our country when rebels sought its life.  Some we have laid to rest, and their graves are honored year by year.
     Let us cherish the gift of freedom while we live, and transmit it unimpaired to coming generations.

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     May our love for God and our own kindred alone, take deeper root in our hearts, than our love of country and our country's flag.
     On the 4th of March, 1851, an act was passed by the general assembly of Ohio authorizing the establishment of a grammar school in Attica, and which providing for the levying of a tax for that purpose, not to exceed twenty cents on the $100 valuation in the district.
     Philip Bollinger, who this day, June 1st, 1880, is ninety-two years old and perhaps the oldest inhabitant of this township, was born in Homburg, in the Palatinate of Bavaria, and came to this country in 1843.  He is healthy and vigorous, and can walk fifteen or twenty miles a day.  He is lively and cheerful, and has an excellent memory.  He enjoys the comforts of the home of his son, Louis Bollinger, a respected citizen of Venice township.

JOHNSON FORD

Was born in Rensselaer county, New York, June 9th, 1796.  His father died when he was but eight years old; his father was poor and had a large family, and consequently the most of the children had to be bound out.  Young Johnson was one of them, but fortunately he found a good home, where he remained until he was twenty-one years old, getting all his education while he was yet bound.  After he became of age he worked with his brother on a farm they  had bought, in the same county, for eight years, when he sold his interest in the farm and married, and immediately removed to Venice township, Seneca county, Ohio, he being the first settler in the township.  He entered a quarter section of land, upon a part of the which the village of Attica now stands, and built one of the first log cabins, in the year 1828, fifty-two years ago this June, 1880.
     He helped to clear off the land and lay out the village of Attica, giving it its name, having come from Attica, New York.  For several years he was engaged in clearing up his farm, and assisting in building the Sandusky and Columbus turnpike, which was being built at that time to develop the resources of the unbroken forest.  He cleared the first land, ploughed the first furrow, and raised the first wheat in Venice township.  He is in reality the pioneer of this township.  His wife died during the first year of his pioneer life from over exertion and exposure, to which her constitution had not been accustomed, and she failed from the trials incident to early life in the woods.
     He returned to the state of New York and married again, and returned to his new home, where he has lived to see the forest melt away like the morning dew, and the ground to be cleared from all traces of 

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the old monarchs that formerly stood thickly over the face of the country, the pride of all Americans.
     Twelve years ago he sold his farm and retired from active work, and now his means are invested in a large hardware store in Attica, in the firm of Ford and Strandler, a son and son-in-law, from which he derives his support at present.
     He has always been an active, hard working, industrious man.  He has always been religiously inclined, having united with the Presbyterians in his youth.  For twenty-five years he conducted a Sabbath school in Attica, the first and for many years the only one in the township.  He raised three children by his second wife - two daughters and a son.  One daughter is now living in Great Bend, Kansas.
     The wife of James W. Brown is the other daughter.
     Young Ford and Brown are partners in the hardware store.  Mr. Johnson Ford is wonderfully preserved, having been born June 9th, 1796, which at present, July 22d, 1880, makes him eighty-four years, one month and thirteen days, and from present prospects, he is good for another decade.  For the last ten years he has received a second sight, being able at present to read fine print without his glasses, a thing he was unable to do for thirty years.
     The following sketches were kindly furnished by Prof. S. McKetrick, of College Hill, Tiffin, Ohio:
     History and literature are practically useful only so far, and to such a degree, as they inspire those who read their pages to aspire to the noble example they portray, whether it be in mental discipline or physical execution.  History should be nothing but truthful facts, and therein differ from fiction.  History is the truth of the past.  Fiction is fancy, and belongs neither to time or place.  The one is healthful and invigorating, the other weak and debasing.
     The page we present here shall be history.  We present this page not to relieve memory of its burden, but to recall deeds and their actors, as we all love to do; to live again a few moments with friends of the past; to be enlivened again by their association, though they come but from memory, and from it I draw, the most hallowed associations of my life, which were acted in Venice township.
     The men who first impressed upon my mind the realities of living, lived and toiled upon its soil.  The one who ranks first there was James D. Stevenson.  I know little of his early life.  He was born in the state of Vermont; served as a soldier in the latter part of the last war with Great Britain.  A part of his life was spent as a sailor upon our northern lakes.  About the year 1838 he left a wife and five children and came to Ohio.  He traveled over the greater part of the state in search of a spot where he might make a home in the new country.
     He found, and entered into a contract with Mr. Zachariah Betts for the farm, he owned until 1863.  The contract between the parties was that he should chop and clear one hundred acres of land, and for this service he was to receive the full and free title for the one hundred acres which he owned.  All in the world he possessed was a strong body and a willing heart.  He earned his living by threshing out grain with a flail by the light of a lantern.  His board bill was not extravagant, for he told me of many days of hard toil with nothing to eat but batter, baked upon an iron griddle, and maple syrup.
     After such hard life for several years, he received the title for his land, and has a few acres cleared and a log house upon it.  He then returned and removed his family (who knew nothing of his whereabouts all these years of toil) to their new home in the west.
     A few years of such severe toil and the deepest privation and he has changed his forest to a beautiful farm, producing abundance.  But in those few years death has visited their circle and taken his wife, and soon after, fire consumes his house and its contents, save himself and children, but soon  upon the ashes of that house is built a better one, and his second wife makes cheerful its hearth.  Another farm is added to the first, and prosperity smiles on every effort.
     About the year 1850 he commenced to shake with the palsy.  That strong frame was wrecked.  It grew weaker and still less able to battle with the realities it had known so well in life, and fell to its last resting place in Ionia county, Michigan, in the spring of 1865.
     In politics my subject was an Abolitionist, a Republican and a true Union man during the dark days of the rebellion.
     In religion he was a member of the Baptist church.
     The hard circumstances through which he had past made him a close dealer, though in money, weights and measures, strictly honest.  He was naturally noble, kind-hearted and true.

MAURICE MOORE

was born in Germantown, Huntington county, New Jersey, July 15, 1798, and is therefore eighty-two years old.  He has raised on a farm, and when twenty-five years of age, he was married and then moved to Harrison county, Ohio, where he located near the county line of Tuscarawas in 1823.  Here he lived three years, and being dissatisfied with this hilly country, he left it in the spring of 1834, and packing his household into a covered wagon, he arrived in Venice township with his wife and two children early in June, the same year.  Here he immediately entered a quarter section of land in the east part of the township, where he pitched his tent.  On the 19th of June he moved into his cabin, and on the following night a heavy thunderstorm drove the rain through the clap-boards and the open spaces between the logs, drenching the family in their beds, spoiling their goods and making them wish to be back on the sand lots of New Jersey.  On the next morning the woods were a lake.  Intercourse with neighbors was completely cut off, and there were none nearer than three miles.  During this summer one of the children died of billions fever, then very common among the new settlers.  They raised twelve children, six boys and six girls, who, together with grand and great-grand children, number about seventy at present.  Among this number are some of the most valued of the citizens of the township and their interests in business affairs are so much interwoven with the progress of the township, that to separate them now from Venice township, would be a great and serious loss to the community.
     Mr. Moore and his wife are still in the enjoyment of good health, and promise fair to remain with us many years yet to come.

WILLIAM M'PHERSON

This venerable pioneer came from the highlands of Scotand, where he was born at Vernesshire, on the 6th day of Feb., 1793.  He is a descendant of the family of William Wallace, who were so justly celebrated for their love of country and liberty, and for their bravery.  His family being educated people and of the nobility, young William had the advantage of refinement in education, morals and religion.
     Mr. McPherson became dissatisfied with both country and government, despising England's rule, and being of an adventurous turn of mind, at the age of twenty-three years, he followed his inclinations to visit America.  In the year 1816, in company with a young friend of about his age, they set sail and arrived at Halifax on the 11th of September of that year.  Finding no suitable employment here, they went to Baltimore, where they arrived in October and engaged in the mercantile business, which they conducted several years with success, but Mr. McPherson becoming tired of the confinement of a store, sold out and started for the west with a view of speculating in land.  The Indians had sold their reservations and the new purchase had come into market.  Mr. McPherson arrived in Tiffin in October, 1828, and by the advice of Abel Rawson and Joseph Howard, the land agents, he followed up Honey creek and selected a tract on the south bank and where the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike was then being built, and where the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike was then being built, and purchased it. It contained 800 acres and embraced the present village of Caroline.
     Fearing the effects of miasma along the creek, he built his cabin one mile farther south.  The cabin, however, was a very large house built of hewed logs, intended for a tavern and was the third house in the township.  There was one shanty in Attica and one in Caroline, built by John Gilmore, for the purpose of boarding the hands that worked on the pike.  After the turnpike was finished, the company put a tollgate in front of McPherson's hotel and arranged with him to keep it' which he did until the time when it was destroyed by a mob that cleaned out the gates all along the road.  The traffic on railroads had now supplanted travel on the public roads and hotel keeping in the country becoming slow business, Mr. McPherson removed to Caroline, and again engaged in the mercantile business.  Here he practiced that strict honesty and correctness in dealing that have characterized his whole life.  He bought for cash and sold for ready pay only.  He was so careful in giving proper measure that it was said of him, "he would bite a grain of coffee in two to balance the scale."  He never changed the price of his goods, and sold them as they were marked, often holding them until they were out of fashion.
     His old tavern is still standing and was used as a residence in 1879, but Mr. Ph. Schimp, its present owner, has built a fine residence near to it, and the old house is destined to go into decay.  It is now used as a shop and tool house.  It should be preserved as the first house built in Venice township, being erected in 1828.
     After he kept store in Caroline eight years, he sold his stock of goods and moved about five miles further south, to near the edge of Crawford county, where he owned large tracts of land and which he wished to bring into market.  He lived here eight years and until he had sold all his land, when he again returned to Caroline and took his old storeroom.
     The Seneca County Academy was then in a prosperous condition, and the children of Mr. McPherson being of such an age that required attention to their education, he moved to Republic and placed them under the tutorship of Professor Aaron Schuyler, whose name has become celebrated among educators since.
     He resided in Republic until about 1860, when he again returned to Caroline, where he had built for himself a new house.  Here he still resides (July 29, 1880) and will stay until called to go higher.  He is quite feeble now, but for a man of 88 years, his mind is still vigorous and clear.  He divided his handsome fortune among his children, reserving enough to retire into a warm corner while the shades of evening chill the atmosphere around.
     My friend, McKitrick, was so kind as to furnish the author with the following additional statement pertaining to Venice township in relation to the war of the rebellion and matters pertaining to the general charity of the people:  CLICK HERE

--------------------------------

VENICE TOWNSHIP IN THE WAR

     It was half past four o'clock, Friday morning, April 12, 1861, when the first roar of cannon broke the quiet in which our nation had rested many years.  We had enjoyed peace and prosperity and were unused to war, and its first sound aroused the nation like an electric shock.  Strong men left their quiet homes to join the ranks of war, and every worthy citizen bore a common share in the sacrifices, toils and cares required to preserve the integrity of the Union.
   Vince township born her part manfully, and many of her sons were killed upon the battlefield, died of wounds received in the defence of their country or in rebel prison pens.
     And the women of Vince were as patriotic as the men.  They started aid societies for the relief of the sic and wounded soldiers, and for that purpose met at the Baptist church in Attica, on the evening of the 22d of Oct., 1861, when the organization was completed, a constitution adopted, Mrs. Sarah Blodgett elected president, Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, secretary and Mrs. Mary Bennett, treasurer.
     Nearly every family in the community is mentioned in the secretary's report as having contributed something to the society.  Great quantities of clothing, provisions, hospital stores, etc., were sent forward form time to time to aid and relieve.  The last meeting of the society took place May 29, 1867, when all the money yet remaining on hand, was donated to the order of Good Templars.
     The following is an incomplete list of the volunteers from this township for the Union Army.

7TH REGIMENT O.V.I.

     Stephen Rice, Joshua Creglough ( who were both killed at Strassburg, Virginia), Jacob Hines, Lon Jones, Ira Grimes, James Smith, J. Haarbaugh.

COMPANY H, 14TH REGIMENT O. V. I.

     Sergeant John Brown, Frank bartholomew (wounded Sept. 19, 1863), Lyman Carpenter, Ambrose C. Croxton, John Goodman, R. J. Jamison, George Metcalf, William H. Miller (who were also wounded on the same day), Henry D. Cain, T. B. Carson, Philip Carothers, W. Deitrich, John Holmes, William Kemp, Maurice Kemp, Henry McDonald, James D. Stevenson, Jonathan S. Philo, George Ringle, Samuel Spencer, Joseph Wheaton and George H. Rice (who was wounded Sept. 1, 1864).

COMPANY B, 49TH REGIMENT O.V.I.

     M. B. Todd, V. J. Miller, John Bennington, W. H. Miller, John Todd, Mark Shade, George Bennington, Jehu Weaver, H. B. Courtright, D. M. Miller, James Courtright.

55TH REGIMENT O. V. I.

     Otto Hull, Frank Smeltz and Stephen Howland

66TH REGIMENT O. V. I.

     Samuel Croxton, August Tanner (wounded at Kennesaw Mountain, June 19, 1863), Lafayette Parmenter and Henry Ames (wounded at Peach Tree creek and died in consequence in July, 1863).

COMPANY I, 123D REGIMENT O. V. I.

     William Bartholomew (wounded at Farmville, Virginia, April 6, 1865), A. W. Hoffman, Joseph Hoffman, Sylvester Ostmer, Joseph Spencer, John Spencer, M. B. Todd, M. W. Mitchner (died from wounds, Sept. 3, 1864), William B. Henry (died from wounds received June 15, 1864, at Winchester, Virginia), J. L. Henry, W. Sheely, Samuel Carpenter, Wright McKibben, John Hillis, David Hillis, James Hillis, Wison W. English, L. Gibson, Isaac Funk (killed July 18, 1864), Henry Ebersole (killed June 15, 1864, a Winchester, Virginia), John Fink, Isaac Seavault, John W. Rogers, John B. Shaffer, David Thompson (wounded June 15, 1763), S. S. Carson, Hugh M. Cory, John H. Carpenter and J. F. Schuyler, lieutenant.  This company was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 15, 1865.
     Quite a number of men served under Captain W. M. Miller  in the O. N. G.
     Anson and Harvey Bartholomew, F. M. Seed, E. Crow, Joseph Harbaugh, Mr. Shade and W. B. Olds were stationed on Johnson's Island (Sandusky Bay) guarding rebel prisoners.

FIRST OHIO HEAVY ARTILLERY

     Clarkson Betts, James Courtright, H. Courtright, S. Grove, Isaac Seppard, Silas McDougal, Alex, McKitrick, W. Shoup, and James Pangborn.
     In November, 1874, the people of Venice sent to the sufferers by grasshoppers in Kansas, in cash, clothing and provisions, $387.72, all raised in Attica and vicinity.  Mrs. Moltz was secretary of the association.
     A similar society in the town of Attica and vicinity sent to the sufferers by fire in Chicago, in 1871, $975.99.

- END OF CHAPTER XLIII - VENICE TOWNSHIP -