WAYNE COUNTY OHIO - "Arise Wild Land" by Lindsey Williams [Page 1]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Beverly
bevwayne@gte.net
April 18, 1999
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This information is from a copy of "Arise Wild Land" by Lindsey Williams, 
as related to Rittman and Sterling.   Lindsey Williams was the newspaper 
editor/owner of the Rittman paper and he was President of the Historical 
Society there as well.  All proceeds from the book went to the Historical 
Society.  The publisher is Atkinson Printing in Wooster Oh.
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THE WHY AND WHEREFORE OF THIS BOOK

    This book is more than a history of one place.  A determined effort has 
been to include incidents and outlook typical of the beginning and growth of
small towns throughout the Midwest.
    It is presented in two parts because the various chapters originally were 
installments of two series written for the Rittman Press - - first, as 
chairman of the Rittman Bicentennial Commission, to commemorate our nation's 
special birthday; next, as president of the Rittman Historical Society, to 
entertain with some unusual railroad tales.
   In both instances, requests for reprints exhausted the supply of back 
copies set aside for that purpose.  Consequently I promised to expand the 
articles into a book as the final Bicentennial project.  The task proved to 
be more time conusming than anticipated.  Reserach of original sources 
undcovered a huge quantity of significant and fascinating information never 
known before.
   It is hoped that readers with additional facts and photos will contact me 
or some other officer of the Rittman Historical Society in case a second, 
revised printing becomes possible.  Much remains to be discovered.
   However, the tyranny of a deadline demands that I conclude my present 
labor.  This, then, is the fulfillment of my promise - - less complete than 
wished but sufficiently accurate that I am pleased to afix my signature with 
certain caveats.
   This account, shaped by newspaper assignment, emphasizes first things and 
ends arbitrarily with the closing of the railroad era.  It would have been a 
delight to apply historical selection to the events of my generation.  Yet, 
the test of time is crucial to good history.  Perhaps it is just as well, 
therefore, that I was unable to proceed beyond the limit imposed.
   The activities of Miltonians in the wars are sketchy, due to the lack of 
time to sift through mountains of  material in military archives at distant 
places.
   There are more dates sprinkled in than normal, but the absence of previous 
documentation places a burden of proof on this publication.  Future 
researchers can build on this foundation and concentrate on filling the gaps 
which plague all histories.  Dates are the rungs of a ladder by which 
scholars climb from legend to reality.  Casual readers may skip past them 
without danger to understanding or appreciation.
   Finally here is a report of how we got to where we are -- a true story 
often stranger than fiction.  It is a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors 
wherein we find that they shaped our lives, too.

Lindsey Williams
Rittman, Ohio
June 5, 1982


(the picture Forest and swamp along Chippewa Creek goes here if I sent it)