550 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. and sash and blind factory and several stores and shops. The large brick steam flouring mill is doing a good business. Since the location of the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern railroad the business of the town has improved very materially and is constantly on the increase. Fine brick residences have been erected and the town has assumed a very businesslike appearance, and the warehouse of Flumerfelt & Titus has greatly added to its trade. Abraham Ash, guardian of Jacob Ash, on the 9th day of March, 1855, laid out the town of Kansas, near the northwest corner of the township. It is on the line of the Lake Erie & Louisville railroad. It is fourteen miles from Tiffin and thirteen miles from Fremont. The town has one dry goods store and. a store of general variety, one grocery and provision store, one cooper shop, one blacksmith 'shop, one wagon shop, one stove factory, one steam saw mill and one steam grist mill. There are about fifty dwellings, occupied by over two hundred inhabitants. The soil of the township is rich and very productive. James Grimes, Jacob Null, Daniel Lynch, the Brickners, Gassman, Lendelbachs, Smiths, Zimmer, Jacob Zeis, the Robertsons, John Michaels, Joseph Cessna, David Brown, Reuben Lott, John Powell, John Baughman, George Feasel, Orrin Betts, Barney Zimmerman and others are among the earliest and most prosperous farmers. Daniel Reinbolt settled here in 1828. On Saturday morning, the 7th day of August, 1880, a fire broke out in the back end of A. W. Day's building, and destroyed nine rooms in Bettsville, and other property, estimated over $11,000. Mr. Betts, Schubert, John Cook, C. Norton, Joe Massony, George Schuster and John Perong were the principal sufferers. MRS. RACHAEL K. TURNER. This lady is one of the veteran pioneers of the county, spending the evening of her long, eventful life in the shades of Liberty township. She was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July, 1797. In 1817 she came to Perry county, Ohio, where she remained one year with friends and in the following year she went to Fairfield county,, where, in January, 1818, she was married to Benjamin Turner. In 1829 they removed to this county and located one mile west of Sandusky street, in Tiffin. McNeal's store and Smith's tavern were then the principal buildings in town. Their neighbors were the Ogles, Creegers, Cadwalladers, Millers, Jennings, Gordons, Arbogasts, Adelspergers and Graffs. She was well acquainted with Mr McNeal and Mr. Crissey, and knew LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - 551 Joseph Jenay, the colored cabinet maker. Crissey was the blacksmith. In the summer of 1830, when the Senecas prepared for their departure to the west, they came to Fort Ball, where they camped out some two or three weeks and made sale of their ponies and other personal property. General Brish and Mr. Hart went with them to the west. Mrs. Turner also recollects the excitement occasioned by the accidental drowning of Robert Burns and Batholomew Kinney, who attempted to cross the river to the Tiffin side for the purpose of buying a yoke of cattle. In the year 1834 the Turner family removed to the northeast corner of Liberty township, where she still resides. She says: When we came to Fort Ball, we bought 19 acres from Smith, the tavern keeper. We paid him $94 in cash and the other $6 he was to take in game, paying 60 cents for a hind-quarter of deer. To Mr. C. W. Harris my thanks are due for this statement. CHAPTER XXXVII LOUDON. TOWNSHIP AND FOSTORIA—THE FOSTERS—MARTIN KINGSEED. T. 2, N. R. 13 E. THE commissioners of Seneca county, on the 5th day of March, 1832, organized township 2, N. R. 13, into a legal township, to be known by the name of Loudon. The first election was held at the house of Benjamin Hartley, on the 2d day of April thereafter, and the following named persons were elected to their respective offices, as follows: Justice of the Peace—Abner Wade. Clerk—John Tennis. Trustees—Benjamin Stevens, Peter T. King, John Rickets. Constable—Samuel Carbaugh. Supervisor—Benjamin Hartley. Overseers of the Poor—Abner Wade, Nathan Shippy. Treasurer—Benjamin Stevens. Fence Viewers—Nathan Shippy, John Reese, John Shiller. In 1840 the population of Loudon numbered 763; in 1870 it was 1,400; in 1880 it is 1,277, exclusive of Fostoria. Besides the officers above named there were also Samuel Bear, Jacob Rumple, Martin Adams, Philip Hennessy, Robert Rainey, Jacob Fruth, George Heming, Peter Ebersole, Henry Sheller, David Young, Conrad Rumple, Jacob Kaiser, John Good; John Reinbolt, Jacob Dillon, Thos. Dillon, the Peter families, Jacob Mergenthaler, the Fishers, and others scattered over the township. On the 31st of August, 1832, Roswell Crocker caused to be surveyed on section six, of this township, a town that he called Rome. David Risdon was the surveyor. In 1840 it had a population of 80; in 1850 about 300. It is located on the Fort Findlay and Lower Sandusky state road, and upon the Defiance and Tiffin state road, where it crosses with the Bucyrus and Perrysburg road. It is twenty-two miles from Fremont, fourteen and one-half miles from Findlay, fourteen miles from LOUDON TOWNSHIP - 553 Tiffin, thirty-six miles from Bucyrus, twenty-five miles from Upper Sandusky, and close to the Hancock county line. A few days after the platting of Rome, on the 6th day of September, 1832, J. Gorsuch caused to be surveyed on section one, T. 2, N. R. 12, in Hancock county, and on section six, in Loudon, another town, which he named after the old surveyor, and called it Risdon. Mr. Risdon was a distinguished pioneer, and it is to be regretted that some spot in Seneca county could not have been selected to perpetuate his honored name. This town was intended to accomplish this, but failed, as we shall soon see. Mr. Risdon was a surveyor by profession, but otherwise useful in life. He was a tall, slender man, had a bushy head of gray hair, a large blue eye, well proportioned features; stood about six feet high; spoke slow, with a deep, sonorous voice. With his pants in his high top boots, in his Indian hunting shirt, fringed all around, he was the very picture of a pioneer surveyor. Mr. Risdon, however, did not survey this town alone; he was assisted by William L. Henderson, of Hancock county. Henry Welch, Jeremiah Mickey and John P. Gordon Were the first settlers here. In 1848 it contained thirty dwellings, one church, one tavern, three stores, one carding machine propelled by steam, one foundry, one tannery, one steam saw-mill, one cabinet shop, one wagon shop, two shoe shops. two saddle' shops and three blacksmith shops. In 1850 its population was about z00. It was a post town also, William Thomas being postmaster. Dr. Marcus Dana and Dr. R. C. Caples were among its inhabitants. The town was platted on the east branch of Portage river. These two towns of Rome and Risdon, thus adjoining, became rival towns, and it was wise when, in 1854, they became consolidated into one town, and named in honor of one of its most distinguished early settlers—Charles W. Foster, the merchant—and called Fostoria. The country surrounding; Fostoria is rich in agricultural resources, but withal, it is astonishing how this town has sprung up into its present magnificent condition. Fostoria is rapidly becoming the rival of all its neighboring towns. Its large and numerous business blocks, its splendid school buildings and churches; its beautiful and numerous private dwellings, exhibiting both taste and comfort, its railroads and other general improvements, denote a most remarkable degree of business life, and prove the energy, industry and the mental and financial capacity of its citizens. Numerous additions have been made to Fostoria from time to time, so that now the corporate limits embrace 554 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. nearly all of section six, extend into section seven,, into section thirty-one in Jackson township, and into Hancock county, covering about one thousand acres of land. The manufacturing enterprises are constantly increasing, and Fostoria is decidedly the best railroad center in northwestern Ohio, except Toledo. The Baltimore & Ohio road, the Lake Erie & Louisville road, the Columbus & Toledo road, and the Ohio Central, formerly called the Atlantic & Lake Erie railroad, pass through Fostoria. The Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan railroad had been finished to this place also, but for some reason the iron was taken up again and the track abandoned. The town of Rome was incorporated by an act of the legislature passed February 19th, 1851. John F. Morse was then speaker of the house of representatives, and Charles C. Converse speaker of the senate. On the d day of September, 1853, a petition was signed by William Braden, Thomas Brian, H. I. Vosburgh, W. Weaver, A. S. Bement, E. F. Robinson, Ch. Bonnell, John 0. Albert, Reuben Brian, I. M. Coe, John Wilson, George Gear, Lyman Kittel, Daniel Free, Abr. Metz, 'Robert Doke, E. Bement, E. W. Thomas, D. D. Miller, H. W. Cole, James Lewis, Umphrey England and John M. Stewart, who appointed William Braden to act in their behalf, directed' to the commissioners of Seneca county, praying that the west half of the northwest quarter of section six, in Loudon township, may be attached to Rome. The order was granted on the 2d day of January, 1854, and Rome and Risdon thereby became one town. Mr. Stewart, in his atlas of Seneca county, speaking of Rome, says the consolidation took place in 1856, and in his biographical sketch of Mr. C. W. Foster, says it took place in 1852. If he had guessed half way between the two dates he would have been nearer right. The act of incorporation of Rome by the legislature had twenty-nine long sections, and gave the town all sorts of municipal power. The town would have been ruined by taxation had these powers all been exercised. Joel W. Wilson was then in the senate, and Jacob Decker in the house of representatives. The early settlers in Loudon were men of great sagacity. They saw in the near future the wealth that this township must necessarily develop from the richness of its soil, being well watered and timbered. In 1840 the population of the township was 763; in 1850 it was 1,781; LOUDON TOWNSHIP - 555 in 1860 it had increased to 2,465; in 1870 it was 3,133, out of which 2,736 were native born; in 1880 it is 1,277, exclusive of Fostoria. Fostoria proper, in 1870, had a population of 1,733. My old friend Jacob C. Millhime, Esq., who has just finished his work as census enumerator of Fostoria, makes the population of Fostoria for 1880 to number 3,045, exclusive of the portion in Jackson township and Hancock county, which, being added, makes Fostoria proper number 4,111. CHARLES W. FOSTER. It is not only a remarkable fact that here in America the best men are the self-made men, but the fact seems to be the result of our peculiar form of government and the fruit of her free institutions. It requires no hereditary title here to become distinguished among men. A goodly share of common sense, good health, proper deportment, industry, energy, integrity, all well combined and backed by a reasonable quantity of will power, have enabled thousands of men in all avenues of human life to outstrip their fellows and reach the goal of both fame and fortune. Our beautiful school system and our higher institutions of learning are truly the pride of our state; but for success in life, an ounce of sound, mother wit is worth more than a pound of book learning. The great contributors to the sciences; the plotting calculators and thinkers and searchers, generally die poor. The subject of this sketch belongs to that class of men who, when they know that their plans are right, depend upon perseverance for success. He was born in Brookfield, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 21st of November, 1800. His father moved with his family to western New York, then sparsely settled, and located near Rochester, in 1820. A gentleman by the name of John Crocker moved to Seneca township, in this county of Seneca, in 1824. Two years thereafter, in 1826, Mr. Foster also came to Seneca township to see Mr. Crocker's family, and especially his beautiful daughter, Laura. It seems that there had been some understanding between the young people before Mr. Crocker left New York. When Mr. Foster arrived here, he found Miss Laura in bad health and took her to the Saratoga Springs, in New York, where she remained some time and was restored to good health. She then visited her uncle, James Richardson, who lived some thirty miles from the springs, and here the young people were married on the 7th of June, 1827. They then came to Seneca and lived with the Crocker family. Here Mr. Foster worked on the farm of his father--in-law two years, when he 556 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. moved to the Wolf creek, three miles north of Tiffin, where he had 16160cres in section eleven, in Hopewell, and which he afterwards sold to George Shedenhelm, by whose name it is known to this day. It was then all in the woods and required work to clear it and found a home. Mr. Foster had also another eighty-acre lot at that time. He sold all his land, and with the proceeds of these sales, he and his father-in-law, who had more means, opened a stock of goods in a cabin in Rome, on the same spot where the Foster block now stands. This was in 1832. The business of the firm was carried on in the firm name of Foster & Crocker. Ten years thereafter, when the concern had already assumed large proportions, Mr. Crocker withdrew from it, taking away merely the amount he had put in, and leaving Mr Foster alone in the possession and control of the constantly increasing business. Thus he continued until his son, Charles, had grown up to nearly man's estate, and who, in his youth, developed a remarkable faculty for business. This feature in the nature, of young Charles was inherited and then improved by education, experience and practice. It sustained him in his successes when he became ambitious and turned politician, for in the management of a political campaign, from a business standpoint, Governor Foster has no superior anywhere. In 1848, when his son was about twenty years of age, Mr. Foster took him as a partner in business, and the firm of Foster & Son increased the growing fame of the house which continued thus six years, when another accession was made, and Mr. Olmsted became a partner. It was then Foster, Olmsted & Co., and continues so still as a grain firm. The store proper is conducted in the firm name of Foster & Snyder Brothers. Mrs. Crocker died in 1850,nd John Crocker in 1854. They lie buried in the Fostoria cemetery. Roswell Crocker, a brother of Mrs. C. W. Foster, is still living in Fostoria, as is also his wife, Sarah Ann, who is a daughter of John Cooper, Esq. Mr. and Mrs. Foster were the parents of five children, of whom their son, Charles, is the only one living. When Mr. Foster started here in the woods, forty-eight years ago, his and Mr. Crocker's combined capital in trade did not exceed $2,000, and their annual sales not $3,000. The trade was principally barter for skins and furs. The house now has a stock of about $8$80,000,nd their annual sales reach near $150,000. Including the outside business of the firm in wool, grain, lumber, etc., they handle over a million of cash annually. Mr. Foster's manner of business was of that pleasant and manly LOUDON TOWNSHIP - 557 character that won him friends who constantly increased in number. He kept out of litigation and lived up promptly to his contracts. All this tended to secure him the confidence of the community. Any person who was able to secure Mr. Foster's good opinion, could get credit with him, and at times men owed him more money than they were worth. He could have sold out hundreds of them for debts they owed him at the time, had he so willed, and utterly ruined them; very many of them are now among the substantial men in the country. The house of Foster has contributed largely to every enterprise that was calculated to build up the town and country. Their sagacity, foresight and promptitude in business have not only stamped their own individualities upon the community, but have also inspired others to enterprise and, practical business life, so that now, while the Foster house enjoys its great wealth, the community at large is greatly benefited and in about the same proportions to its constant increase in wealth and business. Mr. Foster, now nearly four score years, is still enjoying the society of his wife and a host of friends. His health is good and he promises fair to become a centenarian. It is a pleasure to see him on the street every day engaged in familiar, friendly conversation, cracking his old jokes and having a kind word for everybody. And it is still more pleasant to notice the kind, friendly and almost filial affection the people of Fostoria, young and old, seem to entertain for him. There is something besides wealth that creates happiness. A man who has nothing but money is poor, indeed. CHARLES FOSTER Was born on the old Crocker place, at his grandfather's house, in Seneca township, on the 12th day of April, 1828. In 1854 he was married to Annie, a daugter of Judge Olmsted, of Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio. Their union was blessed with two daughters, Jessie and Annie. He entered into business with his father when he was but a boy, and is still associated with, and is the new life of, the concern. In 1870 Mr. Foster was elected a member of the 42d congress, from the l0th district. He was re-elected in 1872. His attack upon thE Sanborn contract and his conflict with General Butler in debate, brought him very popularly before the country. He was re-elected in 1874 and again in 1876. He was nominated again in 1878, but the district having been changed and made so overwhelmingly Democratic, tha he was defeated. In October, 1879, he was elected governor of the state. If, at the Chicago convention that nominated General Garfield 558 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. for the presidency, Mr. Blaine had been nominated, Mr. Foster would, undoubtedly, have been nominated for vice-president. The Republican party would thus have put into the field a ticket more formidable than that of Garfield and Arthur, to say the least of it. It is a fact worth recording that while the city of Tiffin is named after the first governor of Ohio, the city of Fostoria is named after the last governor of Ohio, and a native of old Seneca. Excellent likenesses in fine steel engravings of both these illustrious gentlemen adorn the pages of this book. Let me say, without vanity, that I am proud of the coincident. The like of this fact will never be written again. Tiffin is the only county seat in Ohio named after its first governor, and while this history of Seneca county is being written, a native of Seneca and one of Its most honored sons is the chief executive of the state; presiding over three millions of freemen, forming a state whose resources for wealth and human happiness are inexhaustible; whose climate is unsurpassable; whose intelligence and system of education are the admiration of the age in which we live. MARTIN KINGSEED. Among the distinguished business men of Fostoria is also my esteemed old friend, Martin, the subject of this sketch, and I am only conferring a great pleasure upon myself when writing a short story of his life. We were boys, frequently meeting each other in Germany, and before we had grown up to be men, found ourselves in the woods of Seneca county, where we have fought the battles of life, each his own way, as best we could. ,Here we have spent the morning, noon-tide and afternoon of our manhood days in friendship and mutual regard that grows warmer as the evening begins to draw long shadows on the wayside. Martin was about seventeen years old when his father settled in the woods of Seneca in 1834. He took hold of the work necessary to open up a clearing and starting a home in the woods, with a will. Being endowed by nature with a strong, healthy body and a head of his own, he soon made himself useful all around and worked at home until he was 25 years old. After the death of his mother he started to work for Henry St. John, at a saw mill on the river. Here he remained six years in succession. In 1847 he came very near losing his life: a large log was being rolled into the mill; he fell in front of it, when the log rolled onto him from his feet to his breast and back again. He was carried out of the mill, apparently lifeless, by John Kerr and Mr. McAllister, who happened to be near. Mr. Kerr was a Thompsonian physician at that time, and applying his skill, restored his patient in a short time. LOUDON TOWNSHIP - 559 This was on the 2d of January, and on the 6th of May following, he was found under another log at 1 o'clock A. M., which laid him up for some time; and the effects of which he feels to this day. He quit the saw mill and looked for lighter work, being now disqualified to do hard work; he assisted in the survey of the railroad from Bellefontaine to Union City for nine months. On September 17, 1850, he was married to Elmira Emily Noel (who was born June 19, 1826, in Frederick county, Maryland), and located in Tiffin, where he bought a house near the railroad, on Clay street. Here he entered the store of John G. Gross as clerk, selling hardware and studying the laws of trade in that line for six years. Then he traded his property in Tiffin to Mr. Gross for a stock of hardware he then had in Rome, and moved there in October, 1855. His is now the oldest unchanged mercantile establishment in Fostoria. Martin was born November 19, 1817. He is the father of eight children, four sons and four daughters, seven of whom are living. Charles Edwin is traveling for Messrs. McIntosh, Good & Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Francis Dorwin is clerk in his father's store. Some of the daughters are keeping house for their father, and the younger children are going to school. Mr. Kingseed lived very happily with his family until on the 7th day of February, 1877, when Mrs. Kingseed died after a short illness of a few days. The oldest daughters are young ladies now and seek to make the life of their honored father as happy as it is in their power to do, but there is that vacant chair, and the absence of that mother's smile, which always cheered the whole household. During the twenty-five years that Mr. Kingseed has prosecuted his business here, Fostoria has made a great change and made more rapid progress than any other inland town in Ohio. Michael Noel, the father of Mrs. Kingseed, died April 11, 1870, and. Mrs. Noel April 17, 1878. In conclusion, I wish to add, that no citizen in Fostoria is more generally esteemed than Martin Kingseed. RESIDENT LAWYERS IN FOSTORIA, BEING MEMBERS OF THE TIFFIN BAR. JUNIUS V. JONES Was born January 23, 1823, in Gallia county, Ohio. His father moved with his family to Wood county, Ohio, in 1832, where Junius was raised to manhood. In 1846 he came to Fostoria, where he held the office of justice of the peace fifteen years. He read law and was admitted to 560 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. practice in 1868 in Tiffin, and opened an office in Fostoria. He was also admitted to practice in the courts of the United States in 1878. He was married in 1846, and had seven children, six boys and one girl; all living. It seems that sometimes the muses take possession of the thoughts of the Squire, and in one of these spells the following poetical effusion of an Indian legend on the Maumee was produced. I give it here with friend Jones' note: FOSTORIA, OHIO, March 4, 1880. DEAR JUDGE : In reading this week's installment of your History of Seneca County, I found you had got General Wayne to Defiance, where, in fancy, I suggested the theme for my poem, written some years ago, entitled THE INDIAN MAIDEN. A LEGEND. By J. V. Jones. I In days long ago, in the depths of the wild, When the woods rang with shouts of the joyous and free, An Indian maid, with the voice of a child, Fondly played on the banks of the pleasant Maumee. II. 'Twas far in the past, in the long, long ago, In the days of her mirth and youthful glee, This Indian maiden was oft seen to row, On the moonlit waters of the pleasant Maumee. III. One pale, moonlight night, near the smooth flowing river, She stole from her wigwam, with heart light and free, To meet her dark lover, with arrows and quiver,  To rove on the banks of the pleasant Maumee. IV Her bark moved in silence on the dark, flowing river, In search of, her lover so anxious to see; No thought for a moment that he would deceive her, As she stole near the banks of the pleasant Maumee. V. But hark ! what is that ? the pale face is coining; She thought of her lover; could she warn him to flee ? But the conflict was sharp, and the camp-fires were burning, Where her lover was slain, near the pleasant Maumee. VI. Each year, just at autumn, when the green leaves are fading, When the soft winds are sighing o'er woodland and lea, The pale phantom ghost of this Indian maiden, Is seen near the banks of the pleasant Maumee. LOUDON TOWNSHIP - 561 Squire Jones (as he is familiarly called) once said to the writer: "All the schooling I ever had was attending the school taught by the Hon. Warren P. Noble." WILLIAM J. SCHAUFELBERGER Was born January 29, 1853, at Fostoria, Ohio; graduated from Heidelberg college in the class of 1875; studied law in the office of Judge Seney; was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1877 and located here in January, 1878. ALEXANDER BROWN (Brown & Guernsey) was born in Perry county, Ohio, May 27, 1832; admitted to the bar in 864, located first at Perrysburg, Wood, county, Ohio, and then in Fostoria in the fall of 1872. WILLIAM J. RIGBY (Rigby & Bever) was born at Fairfield county, Ohio, May 22, 1815; was admitted to the bar in 1860; located in Fostoria in 1867 and is at present the mayor of the city. CHARLES GUERNSEY (Brown & Guernsey) was born in. Wood county, "Ohio, January 31, 1858; admitted to the bar July 11, 1879; located at Fostoria immediately thereafter. Oh the 31st of January, 1880, he was married to Miss Mina G. Brown, of Fostoria. J. M. BEVER (Rigby & Bever) was born December 9, 1853, in Eden township, in this county; graduated at Otterbin University of Westerville, Ohio; he was admitted to practice law April 11, 1878, and immediately located in Fostoria. He was married July 10, 1878, to Miss S. J. Rugg. DAVID H. EVERITT Was born in Franklin county, Ohio, February 6, 1849; was admitted to the bar in October, 1871; located first in Kenton, Ohio, then in Fostoria in 1874. He was elected justice of the peace in 1878. JOHN B. BARNES Was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, June 20, 1846; admitted to the bar May 3, 1870; located first at Letonia, Columbiana county, Ohio, December 1, 1870 and in Fostoria October 18, 1877 JOHN A. BRADNER Was born at Niagara Falls, New York,. August 13, 1833. He came to Ohio in 1849, and located in Fostoria in 1863. He was admitted to the bar in 1879. During the past twelve years he held the office of justice of the peace. - 36 - 562 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. DAVID HAYS Was born December 19, 1819, in Beaver county, Pennsylvania; admitted to the bar in 1860 and located in Fostoria in 1837. FOSTORIA ACADEMY. This institution is in charge of the conference of the United Brethren in Christ, in northwestern Ohio. At their conference, held in 1878, the subject of locating an academy somewhere in northwestern Ohio was suggested, and the Rev. Isaac Crouse, a minister of the order, residing in Fostoria, urged the propriety of, and succeeded in having the Academy located at this place, on condition that Fostoria will subscribe and pay $20,000, or furnish suitable buildings and grounds for such purposes to the value of $20,000. The people subscribed the required sum, Governor Foster assuming one-fifth of the whole subscription.. Thereupon the conference met and appointed the following boards, viz: TRUSTEES. President—Rev. L. Moore. Vice-President—Rev. D. R. Miller, Secretary—Rev. Isaac Crouse. Rev. A. Rose, Rev. A. Powell, Rev. S. J. Harbaugh, Governor Foster, M. Saltzman, J. M. Bever, R. C. Bennett, Jesse Bower and J. G. Oberholtzer. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Rev. A. Rose, Captain F. R. Stewart, M Saltzman, J. M. Bever and Jesse Bower. BUILDING COMMITTEE Rev. A. Rose, Captain F. R. Stewart, Rev. R. French, N. Saltzman and J. M. Bever. The architectural design of the academy is very creditable, in fact, beautiful, and a great accession to Fostoria, indeed. The board of trustees, at their late meeting, commended the executive and building committees for their good management and economy. The school was begun in the fall of 1879, with about sixty students. Pending the completion of the academy building, the executive committee rented the old Union school house, where their school was continued for one year. The next session will open in the academy August 31, 880, and promises to be well attended. FACULTY. Principal—Rev. W. T. Jackson, Ph.D. Language and Higher Mathematics. History and English—E. L. Shuey, A. B.. Science and Mathematics—Mrs. L. A. Macklin, B. S. Principal Commercial Department—Rev. I. Crouse. Vocal and Instrumental Music—A. W. Kelley, M. A. Librarian—E. L. Shuey, A. B. THE UNION SCHOOL BUILDING - 563 Is a beauty in its appearance outside, situated on most eligible and delightful grounds, and the inside arrangement is said to be one of the .best of any school house in northern Ohio. The Union schools of Fostoria are under the care of an efficient board of directors and the superintendent is one of the distinguished educators of Ohio. Number of children enumerated - 1,011  “ ” enrolled -694 in average monthly attendance - 563    “ ” in “ daily - 489    “ ” in the Catholic school - 70 The school grounds embrace five acres on the north side of High street, and were purchased at a cost of $7,500. The building was put up at an expense of $21,500. The heating apparatus and furniture cost about $5,000—$35,000 in all. The following gentlemen constitute the present school board: President—R. C. Caples. Secretary—Simpson Jones. Treasurer—John E. Wilkison. William H. Grapes, A. S. Williams and J. F. Richart. INSTRUCTORS.