"LONG-AGO ATTICA"
Picture & Story of the Month
February 2003
 Submitted by 
Karen Golden-Dible
History of 
J. Frank McDermond 
(1867-1950)

J. Frank McDermond was born on April 14, 1867. His father, John W. McDermond, a native of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, moved to Attica in 1860 and established a dry goods store. Mary Hendricks, J. Frank's mother, was the first cousin of Thomas A. Hendricks, a former Governor of Indiana and later Vice President of the United States. In 1890, J. Frank's parents died within five months of each other. In the same year, Frank inherited his father's wholesale dry goods store, known as the Progressive Department Store, and he married Emma V. Trebing.

Emma Trebing was born on February 27, 1867 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was raised by her Aunt Anna Pixley, who lived in a house on the corner of Main and Council Streets. When Emma was five, her mother was killed in a runaway horse accident in Kalamazoo and sent to Attica to be raised by her Aunt.

By 1913, J. Frank was called the leading merchant in northern Indiana and quickly became one of the most prominent businessmen in Attica's history. He served as a Director of the Central National Bank and Trust Company for 27 years.

In 1897, Frank and Emma moved into their Queen Anne home on Washington Street and resided in the house until their deaths in 1950. The architect and builder of the Queen Anne home remains unknown.

Frank was eighty-four years old when he died of a mild stroke three days after he and his wife learned their youngest son, Ralph Emmerson, at age forty-seven, had died of a brain hemorrhage. Emma died a few months later. They are both buried in the Attica Cemetery. The McDermonds were survived by three of five children and by three grandchildren. The couple had five children: J. Frank, Jr., Charles T., Maraquita, Anna Marie and Ralph Emmerson.

In August 1931, J. Frank and Emma sold their Queen Anne home to their daughter Maraquita Van Landeghem for $2.00. Three months later, a local savings and loan company brought legal action to set aside the conveyance, but the action was settled and dismissed in 1932.

Maraquita married Charles de Weer Van Landeghem, of West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1925. The couple moved to Attica in 1949, where Charles became President of Attica Newspapers, Inc., publishers of the Ledger-Tribune and Fountain-Warren Democrat newspapers. Maraquita remained the legal owner of the house until her death from a massive coronary at the age of 60 in 1957. Her estate sold the house in 1958.

In October 1990, Jeff Dible and his wife Karen bought the McDermond home in Attica. They moved from Brooklyn, New York to Attica in May 1994. Jeff was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Iowa and the Lafayette area. Karen was born in Lafayette, Indiana and grew up in Battle Ground. Karen's ancestors, the Allens and Souers, came to Fountain County via covered wagon in the 1840s.

The above information was gathered from the following sources: Newspaper articles from the Attica Ledger-Tribune (on microfiche at the Attica Public Library), McDermond 50th Wedding Anniversary Announcement, book "Who's Who in Fountain and Warren Counties"(Circa 1913), and interview with J. Frank, Jr.'s daughter, Mary Jane.