USA > Iowa > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 17
USA > Illinois > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 17
USA > Missouri > Report of the organization and first reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, 1884 > Part 17
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
In anticipation of the meeting J. W. Murphy, of the Bur- lington (Iowa) Post, wrote: The old settlers are dying off at so rapid a rate that in a few years there will be none of the first generation of Iowans remaining. Missouri, which is much older as a state than we are, has even fewer of the settlers within her borders. But while southern and central Missouri were settled at comparatively an early day, the memory of the "wolf's long howl," as it echoed across her waving prairies of green wild grass, is yet distinet in the minds of many people still living in northeastern Missouri. Even the young men in that country now living there saw much of the primitive civilization of the state, and can remember when the government was selling the land to the settlers for a dollar and a quarter an acre. Fresher still is the memory of the wild game in that region, of the huge breaking plows pulled by ten yokes of oxen, of the little groves of red brush that dotted the prairies everywhere, where wolves and deer could lie by during the heat of summer and the cold of winter, of the long drives to mill, and the trips across coun- try in the deep snow to postoffice and grist mill. Then there are men in Missouri who came west as early as 1829. We remember an old man at Saint Francisville, named General Harrison, who anchored at the Yellow Banks that year and bartered with the Sae and Fox Indians in that neighborhood. He is still a resident of Clark county, or was a few months ago, and he ought to be present at this reunion. Some of his exper- iences dating back 60 years ago have value, and bear to be related in the presence of all the old settlers and new comers. We do not know that Mrs. Harriet Conway, of Alexandria, is still living, but if she is she ought to come and tell about an experience of hers when she gave a dinner to the great chief Black Hawk and 100 of his braves just after the closing
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of the war up on Rock River. The table was spread in the grove near the residence of Samuel Bartlett, at Saint Francis- ville. Mrs. Conway and Mrs. Louisa Biggs were the cooks at this interesting festival, assisted by a number of squaws, among whom was Keokuk's old wife-his new one, some thirty years younger, having the place of honor at the table. Then Major I. N. Lewis ought to come over from Peaksville and tell the . story of the old Boundary war, and James Jordan might add zest to the occasion by coming down from Iowaville and telling of the great battle between the Omahas and the Sacs, many years ago, when the former were surprised in their camp, and were everyone slain. Their graveyard is in sight of his front door. Indeed, there are enough of these items of the early settlement of the West to fill several good sized volumes, and in the future it will be eagerly sought by the local historian and antiquarian. Now is the time to gather up and preserve all of these facts and incidents and the old settler associations are doing a great work in that regard, and one that will be more generally appreciated and recognized later on.
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CONSTITUTION.
WHEREAS, Sociable and friendly relations are desirable amongst all men, but more especially with those who as neigh- bors and friends have shared the adversities and hardships. of a pioneer's life; therefore, in order to promote and maintain amongst the people of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa the most inti- mate and friendly relations, and for the purpose of keeping alive 'and perpetuating the record of the old settlers and pion- eers of these States, and to cultivate the heretofore existing social relations, we do adopt the following Constitution :
Article 1. The name and title of this organization shall be the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association.
Art. 2. All persons who were residents in either Iowa, Illi- nois or Missouri prior to 1860, or who shall have resided in any of these States for twenty-five years, or who having been born in either of them and remained until their majority, or who may be elected at any meeting an "honoray member," shall be elegible to membership and become members on signing this Constitution.
Art. 3. The affairs and business of the Association after its first meeting shall be managed by an Executive Committee of nine members, to be chosen at said first meeting, and annually thereafter at the yearly reunions; said committee to hold their office until their successors are elected and organized as here- after provided. Three members of said committee shall be selected from each of the three States represented in the Asso- ciation. From their number the Executive Committee shall select a President, and one Vice President from each of the three States, and from the members of the Association, select a Treas- urer, a Secretary, and such other officers and committees as may be necessary to promote the objects of this Association. The officers named above shall be deemed the officers of the Associa- tion, and perform the usual duties of such officers until their successors are electe l.
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Art. 4. The place for holding the reunions shall be at Keo- kuk, Iowa, at such dates as my be fixed by the Executive Com- mittee. Until its first reunion, its affairs and business shall be managed by an Executive Committee of seven, consisting of J. M. Reid, J. B. Paul, D. F. Miller, Sr., Geo. F. Jenkins, S. E. Carey, J. II. Cole and J. O. Voorhies.
Art. 5. This Constitution may be amended, altered or changed in any way at any annual meeting.
Adopted at Keokuk, Iowa, July 31st, 1884.
Attest : SAM'L E. CAREY, President. J. II. COLE, Secretary.
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LIST OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES FOR THE YEAR 1886.
HIon. Edward Johnstone, President; Sam'l E. Carey, Treasurer; John IJ. Cole, Secretary. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. ILLINOIS.
Hon. S. R. Chittenden, Mendon; Col. Wm. L. Diston, Quincy; Dr. Geo. W. Foote, Galesburg.
MISSOURI.
Hon. E. O. Stanard, St. Louis; Hon. W. G. Downing, Memphis; IIon. I. N. Givin, Peaksville. IOWA.
IIon. Hoyt Sherman, Des Moines; Capt. J. W. Campbell, Ft. Madison; Hon. Wm. Bradley, Centerville.
PRESIDENT OF THE DAY. IIon. A. G. Adams, Iowa.
VICE-PRESIDENTS. Judge N. Givin, Missouri; Col. Barlow Granger, Iowa; Col. Clark E. Carr, Illinois.
MARSHAL, AND AIDS. Chief : Capt. Israel Anderson.
Col. Richard Root. Aids: W. S. Sample.
Capt. J. Q. A. DeIIuff. CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES.
Finance, J. F. Daugherty. Invitation, C. F. Davis.
Music, II. HI. Clark. Grounds, James B. Paul.
Ice Water, Hugh Copeland. Reception Rooms, P. Gibbons.
Transportation, G. Gerber, Guests, James C. Davis.
Decoration, Frank Starke. Reception, Samuel E. Carey.
Programme and Printing, J. M. Shaffer.
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, PROCEEDINGS.
Third Reunion, October 13th, 1886, Gibbons' Opera House, u a. m. ' .
Hon. Edward Johnstone, President of the Association, in calling the meeting to order, said :
Ladies and Gentlemen : The old settlers of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri have ever had a firm and implicit trust in the paternal care of the Divine Being; therefore, on this occasion, it would seem proper that the Divine blessing should be invoked on this assemblage. We will be led in prayer by the Reverend I. P. Teter, of Ottumwa.
Rev. Teter: "Our Father, who art in heaven, we bless Thee that Thou hast taught us to call Thee by this endearing name 'Our Father.' And we bless Thee that Thou hast been to us a father; that Thon hast so tenderly cared for us and that Thou hast said if we give good gifts unto our children, how much more wilt Thou give good gifts unto us. Thou hast been with us through years of toil and conflict, and hast graciously preserved us until this blessed hour, and we are glad that we have faith in Thee and in Thy infinite power; and we pray thy blessing upon us. We pray Thee that Thou would'st bless those men who have laid the foundations of government in these States; and we bless Thee for the prosperity that has come to us as members of this great Commonwealth. We have seen these states grow up from a few hundreds of people to millions; from weakness to power. We have seen the schools, the colleges and the universities grow up all over these States, and we thank Thee to-day for our high civilization and for the blessings we enjoy as a free people. We pray Thee to bless us who are growing gray; our lives are drawing to a close, and we pray Thee that Thon wilt help us to so live that we may be a part of the grand reunion of neighbors and friends, of husbands and wives and children in that great eternal future that is soon to come upon us. Hear us in these our supplications this
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morning. We thank Thee that we are permitted to come and take each other by the hand this morning in fraternal love; and while we shall be permitted to linger together, may the cords of friendship grow stronger between us as citizens of these sister states. We now commit ourselves and our country into . Thy hands. Thou hast wonderfully delivered us ; Thou hast preserved us as a great Republic, and we thank Thee for all Thy blessings. Hear us, forgive us our faults, and save us in Eternity, through Christ our Lord. Amen."
At the close of the prayer, Judge Johnstone said : Under the instruction of the executive committee I take pleasure in presenting as President of the Day, Hon. A. G. Adams, of Bur- lington, Iowa, a gentleman without reproach and so well known to the old settlers of this region, that it is needless to say a word of introduction in his behalf.
ADDRESS OF HON. A. G. ADAMS.
Pioneers, Old Settlers and Young Settlers.
The first duty of a presiding officer is to state the object for which a meeting is called. As I understand from the invita- tion everybody is invited to participate in all the enjoyments that they can discover.
At first it is expected that all the Old Pioneers shall be looked np and looked over; if they seem to be "stuck up" a little, don't be afraid of them, for while they are justifiably proud of their position, they can be interviewed without dan- ger.
The Old Settlers will next be the most attractive display. They can tell you all that the old pioneers have forgotten. After surveying these wonderful productions you are at liberty to join the festive throng and enjoy the programme to the best of your ability.
I am more than pleased to be one of your number to-day. I recognize before me many famliar countenances, some of whom I have known for nearly fifty years .. In looking over the many smiling faces in this great assemblage, I conclude that you have left behind you all care and sorrow and have come to this hospitable city for purely one motive, and that is-enjoy-
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ment to the fullest extent, even to eating and drinking every- thing that generous Keokuk throws in sight. These are happy occasions when we Old Settlers come together and renew old friendships and strengthen newer ones; rejoice in each other's joys and sympathize with each other in sorrow and affliction -; banter each other about politics; exchange personal experiences of cyclones, earthquakes, crops and prohibition; compare the present with the days when the old settlers struck out from their comfortable homes and endured the privations and hard- ships incident to the making of a new home in the Black Hawk Purchase. Each had his log cabin to raise, which was always adorned with a latch string outside, his pre-emption to protect until the government, by charging him one dollar and a quarter per acre relieved him of his anxiety.
Pioneers remember the days when Tippecanoe, and Tyler too, ruled this great nation. A few of the old girls and boys remember Little Van, and a precious few were in these wilds when Old Hickory doled out his "by the eternals." The government has happily survived the mistakes of these rulers and their successors, and we, the representatives of these great and growing States are permitted to sit under Keokuk's big fig tree and tell of the escapes "by field and flood" that finally landed us on this territory of beauty and promise. Look back with me only a little over fifty years when the Indians inhabited' this beautiful country.
Justice was not meted out for a consideration. Schools did not educate lawyers to defeat the ends of justice. They did not have to play sick to get a little fire-water. For a dance a little house paint served as good a purpose for adorument as diamonds, sapphires or rubies; they did not require a hundred dollar orchestra with refreshments, or work on a salary and spend their last five dollars to take their best girl; they could stimulate their heels with essence of sod corn at a cost of twenty-five cents a gallon with more satisfactory results than can be obtained How with fizzing Jersey cider at five dollars a vial. Then life was full of enjoyment; when hungry they could sharpen their teeth upon venison, turkey and quail; when sleepy, having their bed clothes with them, could select the best room and use it without having to interview an awe-inspiring hotel clerk or make salaams
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to the gorgeous head-light on his manly bosom. I have seen them give a good dance, war or peace, take your choice for a quarter, and with that money judiciously expended in whiskey, lay out half a dozen of their bravest. Sometimes they adopted a novel way of making an equal distribution: Selecting one of their numher who was known to be a good honest "Injun" they made him commissary guard. Seated on the ground in a circle this select "Injun" would fill his mouth with whiskey and then squirt it into the mouth of each member of the corporation in turns. The little that leaked down his throat between the squirts paid him well. You can see, my friends, that an honest reputation even among Indians is not to be despised. The I- dians and Henry George and his followers would have pulled well together at that time. The land was held in common and would have remained in "commons" up to this year of our Lord if some old settlers had not bought it with the title guaranteed from the government. The pioneers then built their homes, planted vines and made everything blossom with beauty, relying on the strong arm of government for their protection. We can hardly realize the fact that this beautiful city was once the home of the half-breeds. Its present inhabitants show but few of the characteristics of their noble ancestors, yet I have detected among a few of my friends some traits that prove that conchi- sively that there is still a little Indian blood coursing through their veins. By a careful examination of some of these you will notice that they have either high cheek bones, straight black hair, or a non-prohibition smell. In some cases the latter peenliarity is about the only evidence left of their ancestry. 1 thought when Keokuk, in her ambition to excel all other places in the old settler business, first orignated the Tri-State Old Settlers' Association, that the project was too big, and that it would be like Burlington's three days' Fourth of July that it originated two years ago. There were too few people whose physical constitutions were capable of so long a patriotie pull. The first day proved a success, everybody very patriotic and enthusiastic. The second administration of patriotism, with some headache. The third and last day, but little Fourth of July sentiment and increase of headaches, everybody disgusted, and if it had not been for the assistance of a eyelone which closed
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up the third day and leveled several houses with the ground, it would have been a fizzle. This ended Burlington's ambition to excel in that direction. But I must acknowledged my mistake- Keokuk has demonstrated the fact that it can not only originate a big thing, but it has the inherent strength and energy to make it successful.
- Now, my friends, I think that I have fully stated to you the object of this meeting; if I have not I will arrange with the able gentlemen who follow me to do so.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY HON. J. M. LOVE.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- A grateful task has been assigned me for this occasion. I am instructed to extend a cordial greeting and welcome to our friends assembled here to-day from the three states, which may be seen at a glance from these surrounding hills. It gives me great and sincere pleasure to discharge this duty. I bid you one and all a cor- dial welcome to this the third Tri-State Reunion of Old Settlers of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. I welcome you here, not as strangers, not as aliens to the soil, but as fellow-citizens and fellow-countrymen-as men and brethren, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We to-day are not Missourians, we are not Illinoins, we are not Iowans; we are Americans, one and all ! There is nothing to divide us but a geographical line. But what signifies a boundary line to men of the same race, speak- ing the same tongue, cherishing the same patriotic traditions, worshiping at the same altars and tracing their blood and lin- eage to the same glorious ancestry ? What significance ought there to be in geographical divisions to men whose brave fathers marched shoulder to shoulder through the revolution and mingled their blood together on many a glorious day to make us what we are; a free and independent people ?
By God's law and by man's law we are one and indivisible. Nature has herself by the very physical conformation of the land stamped unity upon this great empire of co-equal states. It is God's work, and what God has united let not men ever attempt to put asunder !
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It has often happened in the course of time that people of the same race but of diverse nationalties have been drawn together and united by great achievements and glorious mem- ories common to them all. Thus the hostile and warring states of Greece were for a time at least united by the grand achieve- ments of the Persian war. German unity was cemented by - German blood upon the great day of Sedan.
Our own widely separated and somewhat discordant states were after the revolution held together by the hallowed memo- ries of their common sacrifices and common sufferings in the great cause of independence. How, indeed, could they have severed and divorced Bunker Hill from King's mountain and Saratoga from Yorktown ? And who will say that the people of these states have not a common ground of sympathy and fraternal union in one of the grandest civic achievements of all time-their conquest over the stubborn forces of nature in the settlement and civilization of this valley. Never was there in the "tide of time" a nobler work of peace! Never has the mighty energies of man been displayed more signally or upon a grander scale ! To future ages it will seem incredible that such marvelous results as we behold should have been achieved within the memory of a single generation.
I know of no achievement in recorded time more memora- ble and more important to the human race than the settlement of the Mississippi valley. It presents, indeed, to any thonght- ful mind a truly grand and wonderful spectacle ! What was the aspect, what were the conditions of this great valley at the advent of the settlers about one hundred years ago ? It was one vast solitude ; indeed, to a very great extent a howling wilderness !
The Indians who roamed over its great plains or Inrked in its boundless forests were indeed but as a few drops of water in a great ocean. They were, however, sufficiently minnerous to make the settlement by white men a deadly peril. How could the stout-hearted emigrant, when he raised his humble habita- tion on the frontier or on the wild prairie, know that the smoke that rose above his cabin to greet the morning sun would not prove a signal to bring the deadly tomahawk gleaming at the door ?
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I have often thought of it as a most strange and inscruta- ble providence that this magnificent valley, with its teeming natural fertility, should have lain for countless centuries a dis- mal waste, wholly unknown to civilized men. Here was a region of prodigious extent and boundless resources laid open to man by the finest river system under the sun, yet lying wholly un- productive through all the ages of the unknown past, while civilized men were toiling and striving to extort from the un- willing earth; from the stony and ice bound soils of many comparatively sterile lands the needful bread of life.
Until the coming of the settlers no voice or footstep of civilized man; scarcely a sound of human industry, had been heard within the immense region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries and fenced on either side by the two great monn- tain walls of this continent. A dismal silence had brooded for unknown ages over this vast territory. A solemn and deathlike stillness had reigned over its hills and valleys, its plains and mountain sides, its beautiful lakes and its far flowing rivers.
That sun which hangs over us to-day came day after day in his eternal round offering his genial heat to fructify the soil, but civilized man was not here with his implements of husbandry and the cold earth was unfruitful under the sun's life-giving beams.
The same starry canopy of the night which we behold with wonder and intelligent curiosity had been through all the cen- turies spread out nightly like a seroll all over the great valley, but never had there been within its vast extent a living sonl with competent intelligence to read that scroll and interpret its cabalistic characters to human reason. The wild Indian, sitting at the door of his wigwam, had doubtless gazed from age to age with vacant wonder and superstitious awe at the glory of the night without the least intelligent comprehension of the grand panoramie march of the "starry host."
Our great river, the Father of Waters, winding like a huge serpent through the valley, and collecting in his course number- less tributary streams, had all through the immemorial past poured down his rythmic waters to the all-embracing sca, and not a sound had been heard through the ages to disturb the
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silent solemnity of his far curving shores and voiceless hills save only the dissonant cries of wild animals and the wilder orgies of the red men celebrating their barbaric rites.
Such was this great valley a hundred years ago. Such doubtless it had been through all the centuries of the antecedent past.
To me I confess that there is something awful in the thought of this mighty desolation; this utter solitude; this silence of ages pervading so vast a region.
Biit at length the settler came. He came to break the silence of ages. He came to disturb the solitude of centuries with the glad sights and sounds of human industry. He came to convert the wilderness into a cultivated land. He came, in short, to put civilization in the place of barbarism. He brought with him the ax and the plow, and "lo, the desert smiled."
And how wonderful is the change which has been wrought here within the memory of living men by peaceful human labor. How marvelous the transition from savagery to the humanities; from the tomahawk and the scalping-knife to the implements of husbandry; from pagan darkness to the light of christianity; from brutal barbarism to schools, colleges and public charities; from the slavery and utter abasement of woman to the opotheo- sis of the mother, wife and daughter; from tribal violence and cruelty to regular goverment and social order; from the code of revenge and blood to the "gladsome light" of a merciful jurisprudence; from a pathless wilderness to a enltivated land; from the wigwam to the farmer's homestead; from the Indian village of reeds and mud to the great commercial city; from the canoe to the steam vessel; from the Indian trail to the railway; from the dog stew to turtle soup; from the simple vestment of the Indian maiden to the gorgeous toggery of the full-rigged and much painted city belle.
In short, from the dull, listless, brutal life of the savage to all the amenities and activities and all the knaveries and vani ties of our social state; to commerce and manufactures; to law and government; to art, science and literature; to steam and electricity; to gas-lit cities and gas-lit men; to great monied corporations and sublime stealing.
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But let us not flatter ourselves by this reprospection that civilization is an unmitigated blessing. It is no such thing. Its balance of good is no doubt enormous; indeed incalculable, but after all it is only a great balance since there are many great evils inseparable from civilization that must be placed on the other side of the ledger. Good and evil are indeed cnr- iously blended in the whole scheme of human things. There is rarely any human good without some incidental evil, and not often any evil without some slight compensating good. It is the nature of civilization to increase both the good and evil of human life. It augments and diversifies almost indefinitely the passions and appetites, virtues and vices, desires and wants of men.
There is, therefore, infinitely more happiness, and more misery, more pleasure and more pain, more enjoyment and more suffering, better government and higher taxes in civilized than in savage life.
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