USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 40
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around, we ne: see Newby's Second Addi- tion, August 29, 1871.
It is more definitely located than his first, beginning at the northwest corner of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 32, running north 140 feet, east 714 feet, south 492 feet, west 714 feet, and north 322 feet. All lies south of the shops, at the extreme south end of town. Then, Novem- ber 14, 1871, John Liebundgut lays out an addition, west of Winslow's, on ten acres north of the railroad, bought of Joel Pace. This addition lies on both sides of the south end of Washington street. It vas part of the northwest quarter of the nos awest quar- ter of Section 32, extending south 407 feet and west 633 feet. from the northeast cor. ner.
But there is still a demand i lots in the east; so, August 8, 1872, De 's Addition begins. John Yearwood had, February 18, 1865, sold thirty-one rods eight links off the south end of his five acres, eighteen rods wide. to Joe; the next October Joe sold it to Bob, and in June, 1868, Bob sold the west half of it to Russel Dewy. Dewy, then, April 20, 1870, bought fifty feet off the east side of Lot 4, Strattan's Addition, to give him an outlet to Main street. He then laid out his addition, as above stated. This addition, according to the recorded survey, has these impossible bound- aries: Beginning 255 feet south and nine rods west of the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 29, Town 2, Range 3. running south 361 feet, west 1984 feet, north 595 feet, east fifty feet, south 234 feet, east 18Sg feet, to beginning. There are nine lots, 1 and 2 reaching for Main street, the rest lying east and west. Then, April 22, 1873, Varnell lays out his Second Addition, covering the rest of his twenty-acre tract. There is one tier of lots in three blocks, reaching across the north-
7."
John Rculos
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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west quarter of the southeast quarter of Sec- tion 29. This and Dewey's were surveyed by B. C. Wells. With these additions the dis- position to go east seems to have been ex- hausted, and the movement has since been in the opposite direction.
May 14, 1874, Fry's Addition of twenty- two lots is surveyed. with First street on the east and Franklin street on the west. This street, of course, was named in honor of Franklin S. Casey, Z. A. Fry's father-in-law. This addition occupies the east part of the south half of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 31. April 26, 1875, John J. Casey's Addition was surveyed by S. C. Polk. John had inherited six acres west of S. K. Casey's First Addition and of Fifth street, extending from the Ashley road south to the south line of Section 30, and about six and one-third chains in width. This he laid out into five lots, one west of Edgewood street and four east of it. In a few years, Buck Casey bought the four east lots, and February 25, 1878, had them cut up into twenty-six lots, under the name of William B. Casey's Subdivision. December 1. 1876, Noah Johnston's Addition was sur- veyed. It differs from all other additions. It has no streats, no alleys, and each lot is totally unlike the rest in both shape and di- mensions. It is an irregular triangle, bounded by the section line between Sections 29 and 30 on the east and the Carlyle road on the southwest. There are four lots; No. 1 is a small wedge, while No. 4 has 600 feet front on the road and the same on its north or northwest line, and over 700 on the east. No. 4 is the Major's home, and liis " cabin" has been there fifty years. William T. Pace's Addition, January 20, 1877, is the last. "Harvey Pace's meadow." in the north- west quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 32, was a well-known field for many
a long year. When its owner died, his heirs, in making a division of his estate, found it convenient to convey this tract to William T. Pace, a grandson, and have him cut it up into lots and re-convey to each as might be agreeable. It contains six blocks, three on each side of Casey street, with two east and west avennes-the northern Pace avenue; the southern, Virginia.
As a result of all these surveys, Mount Vernon has about 500 acres now laid out into 875 lots, of which about 490 are im- proved and 385 unimproved.
Municipal Government. - The effort to in- corporate Mount Vernon was made in 1837. At that time the statute required a popula- tion of 150 to entitle towns to be incorpo- rated, so an act was passed to enable Mount Vernon, Monnt Salem and Carlyle to incor- porate without the requisite population un- der the general law. But the records of the town are now lost and few of its officers re- main. The government continned for nearly ten years before it faded out and had to be renewed. Then it ran on for nearly twenty years longer before it had to be sent to the renovator agam. See below. It generally appeared in feeble health, but in 1853, when Capt. Newby tried the experiment of starting a saloon on South Union street without its authority, he found it was still alive. At the end of six months, he had to move out. John Johnson, William Edwards, A. Melcher and D. Baugh were members of the old board for years; we understand there were not many third termers in the later board.
May 2, 1864, a meeting of the citizens was held to decide whether or not they would be incorporated under the general law. R. W. Lyon was President and A. N. Pace Secre- tary of the meeting. A vote was taken and was unanimously in favor of the proposition -82 to 0. On the 17th of the same month,
14
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
an election for Trustees was held, and among nearly twenty candidates, the five who re- ceived the highest votes were T. B. Tanner, 83; Thomas H. Hobbs, 64; Harvey T. Pace, 64; J. J. Holloman, 62; J. R. Satterfield, 61. John H. Pace received 60 votes for Police Magistrate, D. C. Warren, with 24. being the next highest man. The Trustees were sworn in by J. S. Bogan June 13, 1864, and the board was ready for business. Most of this, however, was routine business, and not much to note, except the annual struggle on the license question, which we may consider under the head of temperance movements.
In 1872, Mount Vernon became a city un- der the general law respecting cities and vil- lages. The last Board of Trustees was Wal- ter E. Carlin, President; John N. Satter- field, Clerk; and James D. Johnson, Russell Dewy, Newton C. Pace and William E. Jackson, Trustees. The following is a list of the Mayors and Aldermen under the city government:
1872-J. M. Pace, Mayor; T. Hansacker, T. H. Hobbs, A. Smart, J. J. Bambrook, Al- dermen. W. D. Watson succeeded Smart in the fall. Four wards and four Aldermen.
1873-N. C. Pace, Mayor; H. W. Seimer, R. Dewey, C. A. Loomis, J. R. Allen, S. S. Porter and J. J. Bambrook, Aldermen. Three wards and six Aldermen.
1874-N. C. Pace, Mayor; James Guthrie, H. W. Seimer, J. Taylor, C. A. Loomis, Silas Downer and H. Davisson, Aldermen. J. Ban- brook succeeded Downer, moved out of city.
1875 -- G. H. Varnell, Mayor; J. Taylor. James Guthrie, C. A. Loomis, J. A. Clinton, J. J. Bambrook and H. A. Baker, Aldermen.
1876-G. H. Varnell, Mayor: H. A. Baker, J. J. Bambrook, J. A. Clinton, D. B. Good- rich, C. A. Loomis and N. C. Pace, Alder- men. In September, R. L. Strattan ap- peared as successor to Baker.
1877-G. H. Varnell, Mayor; J. J. Bam- brook, J. A. Clinton, J. B. Crowder, D. B. Goodrich, N. C. Pace and R L. Strattan, Aldermen.
1878-G. H. Varnell, Mayor; J. J. Bam- brook, J. A. Clinton, J. B. Crowder, D. B. Goodrich, Alexander Smart and R. L. Strat- tan, Aldermen.
1879 -- G. H. Varnell, Mayor; D. B. Good- rich, J. D. Johnson, J. A. Clinton, A. Smart, H. W. Preston, G. W. Yost, Aldermen. Johnson soon moved out of his ward and was succeeded by M. M. Goodale; then Goodrich moved out and was succeeded by C. D. Ham.
1880-G. H. Varnell, Mavor; M. M. Good- ale, C. D. Ham, W. A. Keller, H. W. Preston, S. T. Strattan and G. W. Yost, Aldermen.
1881-G. H. Varnell, Mayor; J. R. Allen, R. Dewy, C. D. Ham, John Gibson, S. T. Strattan and W. Barg Casey, Aldermen.
1882-G. H. Varnell, Mayor; J. R. Al- len, R. Dewey, John Gibson, M. M. Goodale, A. W. Plummer and A. M. Strattan, Aldermen.
1883 -- H. S. Plummer, Mayor; M. M. Goodale, W. T. Goodrich, R. Dewy, A. W. Plummer, A. M. Strattan and G. F. M. Ward, Aldermen.
Peter Brown has been City Clerk ever since 1873.
The City Marshals were E. J. Watson in 1872: S. D. Cooper in 1873; J. R Guthrie, 1877; I. F. Hamlin, 1878; F. W. Fry, 1878; T. J. Casey, 1879; R. A. Smith. 1880; and " C. C. Satterfield, 1882.
The Police Magistrates were John H. Pace, 1872; James M. Pace, 1874; J. W. Baugh, 1876; Wesley Yost, 1880.
The City Attorneys were T. T. Wilson. 1872; E. V. Satterfield, 1875: T. T. Wilson, 1877; S. Laird, 1879; Albert Watson, 1881; and W. H. Green, 1881.
The Street Commissioners were W. D. Edgington in 1874; John Maloney, in 1878; and in 1882, G. W. Johnson.
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
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CHAPTER VII .*
MOUNT VERNON-TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS-THEIR GOOD WORK IN THE COMMUNITY-VILLAGE
OF EAST MOUNT VERNON-MYSTIC ORDERS-MASONS, ODD FELLOWS, ETC .- MISCEL-
LANEOUS-WHICHI COMPRISES FIRES, FIRE DEPARTMENT AND MANY
OTHER LOCAL ITEMS-BIRTHS, DEATHS, ETC., ETC.
"Finis coronat opus."-Shakespeare.
S the temperance movement has been
A one of the most important factors in our public life, it will not be amiss to give it considerable space in these pages.
The first temperance organization in the county was the " Mount Vernon Temperance Society," organized in March, 1832. The basis of their action was this preliminary resolution:
" Resolved, That the meeting proceed to form a temperance society, provided they can form a constitution that shall be free from all sectarian taint and shall be liberal in all its provisions."
The pledge was couched in Article II of the Constitution, as follows: "The members of this society mutually agree to abstain from the use of ardent spirits only in cases of necessity, and they further agree to use their influence in every mild and prudent way with others for the same purpose." It will be seen that this language is very ambiguous, but everybody understood that signing the pledge meant temperance.
Their annual meetings were to be held in September, with other meetings at the call of the President or two Managers. As they were all akin to us, I have a mind to give the whole outfit: John Baugh was President; Samuel E. Goodrich, Vice President; Joel
Pace. Secretary; Joseph Pace, Abraham T. Casey, Samuel Cummins and William Cris- well, Managers. The members gathered from the whole country during the year were Zadok Casey, Joel Pace, Abraham M. Knapp, Lewis Johnson, John Baugh, Jos- eph Pace, William Criswell, Samuel Cum- mins, Edward Maxey, John Maxey, John Milburn. James Overbay, Abraham Buffing- ton, Spencer Pace, Isaac Casey. James G. Bruce. Edward King, Abraham T. Casey, Bennett N. Maxey, Charles H. Maxey, Thomas M. Casey, Samuel E Goodrich, Abel Overbay, Harvey T. Pace, Nathan Good- rich, James Tally, David Little, Polly Baugh. John Parker, Margaret Buffington, Jane Buffington, Susan Buffington, Jonathan Wells, Rhodam Allen, James A. Brown, John Hudlow, John C. Casey, James Dodds, H. J. Scott, Nathaniel Parker, Philip Buffington, Ann Anderson, Margaret Ander- son, Martha Anderson, Caroline Anderson, Pamela Pace, Asahel Bateman, Sofronia Scott, Jerusha Wells, Keziah Scott, Sarah Scott, Seynthia Scott, Mary Knapp, Rebecca Wilkerson, Littleman Wells, Phebe Pace, Mary Wilkerson, Mary Atwood, Patsy Goodrich, Calendar Goodrich, Robert Goodrich, Mar- anda Goodrich, Elgelina Goodrich, Armilda Goodrich, Henry Goodrich, Mary Goodrich, Jehu Scott, Downing Baugh, Milly Baugh, Mary Pace, Elihn Maxey, Loyd Buffington,
* By Dr. A. Clark Johnson.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
William Maxey, Wallace Caldwell, Samuel W. Carpenter, George Johnston, Goodman Elkins, Ananias Elkins, Henry B. Maxey, Jehu G. D. Maxey, Robert Maxwell, Will- iam M. A. Maxey, Henry Tyler, James John- son. Lewis Johnson, Jr., John N. Johnson, William F. Johnson, Matthew M. Taylor, William Wells, Reuben S. Crosno, Green B. Wells, John Tyler, Russell Tyler, Benja- min Patterson, Azariah Bruce, John Baugh, Jr .. Allen Hunt, Marcus Bruce, John Bruce. Sarah Maxwell, Sarah Tyler, Rhoda Casey, Hannah Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Roland, Delia Hunt. Polly A. Maxey, Vy- linda Casey. Milla Carpenter, Elizabeth Bruce. Eddy Maxey. Theodore Maxey, Har- riet Casey, Rhoda Overbay, Elizabeth Casey, Catharine Tyler, Clarissa Johnson, Patsy Johnson, Emily Johnson, Elizabeth Johnson, Susan Maxey. Catherine Masey, Lucinda Allen, Polly Crosno, Rachel Crosno, Sally Crosno, Mary Maxey, Elizabeth Wells. Lucinda Overbay, Patsy Bruce, Elizabeth Baugh. Emily Baugh, Sarah Maxey, Jarvis Pierce, Peter Bingaman. John M. Pace, Joab Peterson, Nancy Pace, E. H. Ridgway, Sarah Maxey. Nancy Johnson. Ransom Moss, Su- sannah Johnson. H. Bingaman, William Bingaman, John E. McBryan. Margaret E. Black, Joel Harlow, James Carroll, Green Depriest, Robert Elkins, Daniel G. Anderson, John M Lane, William Hicks, Solomon God- dard. Gazaway Elkins and Robert Yearwood.
At the first meetings of this society Gov. Casey was the chief speaker. Dr. J. S. Moore came in the fall of 1833 and took a very active hand. as did Rev. John Johnson, who came in from Kentucky in the fall of 1834. The impulse was sustained by the ar- rival of Rev. John Van Cleve as Presiding Elder the next year. But it was such a sweeping revival that a Jull followed; yet a new constitution was drawn up, and under
the name of the Jefferson County Temper ance Society, met on the 4th of July, and sometimes oftener. Among the Presidents were John Baugh, Sr., Edward Maxey, Jos- eph Pace, Downing Baugh, Arba Andrews and John Johnson. The record of this so- ciety, preserved in the archives of the Pio- neer Association, extends to 1840.
Another record in the same archives begins the story of a new society, January 25, 1842, under the old name, Jefferson County Tem- perance Society. Judge ,Scates was one of the leading spirits. James Kirby was Chair- man and H. T. Pace Secretary of the first meeting. The pledge was simply an agree- ment not to use intoxicating liquors as a bev- erage, nor traffic in them, nor provide them for others, etc. The record runs over four years, to June, 1846, and contains over 300 names of persons subscribing the pledge. During this period. the Presidents were James Kirby, John Johnson, W. J. Stephen- son and Joel F. Watson: the Secretaries were H. T. Pace and J. R. Satterfield. During the existence of the society, it brought out some good speakers, as Johnson Pierson, Samuel D. Marshall, John Moore (afterward Governor), Rev. R. H. Moffit, Dr. J. C. Gray and S. S. Hayes-all in 1842; Edward Jones, W. B. Scates, R. F. Wingate, Mr. Kittinger, of Alton, Dr. Roe, of Shawneetown, in 1843; John Dougherty in 1844. In 1843, the speakers at their 4th of July meeting, all selected from the academy, were James M. Pace, Wesley Johnson, Charles T. Pace and Thomas S. Casey. I have half a mind to give the names of a few of those who appear as signers on the later lists-up to 1846: but perhaps it would only make some of us ashamed of ourselves-of ourselves in con- trast with our fathers and mothers, or of ourselves now in contrast with what we were then, so we forbear.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
For several years after 1846, the temper- ance societies were short-lived, and tem- perance meetings were held at irregular in- tervals. But about the year 1855, and large- ly through the influence of Judge Scates and Prof. Leaton, a division of the Sons of Tem- perance was organized and a section of the Cadets. These flourished a few years with the usual routine of initiations and expul- sions, installations, public meetings and pro- cessions, till the novelty wore off and inter- est began to fail; then the whole machine went to pieces. But it soon revived again under a different form-the Good Templars -- and in this form subsisted till after the war. The war which destroyed slavery and at the same time nearly everything of any value in our social fabric, sowed the seeds of de- struction in the Good Templars' organization. It was agreed that every member should be "good on the books" as long as he was in the army, whether he paid dues or not. After the war, some complained of not having been treated properly, a division arose, and a part of the lodge seceded. It culminated thus in the winter of 1868-69. McClure and Williamson, with Hill-a new man, but for temperance all over-started the Sons of Temperance again in that modified form which admitted both sexes, and the Good Templars, having lost this distinguishing ad- vantage, went under-no, come to think, most that went anywhere, went over to the new organization. This went on till some of the most zealous got married, when it be- gan to wane, and finally weut out.
But still the friends of temperance were moderately active. Many of them were bus- iness men, and afraid of offending good cus- tomers; some were hoping one day to get office, and, of course, had to be cautious; and some were weak-kneed on general prin- ciples. Yet every winter, or just before the
city election in spring, at the latest, they got lecturers from a distance and got up more or less rousement. G. W. Hughey, Col. Campbell and Miss Frances E. Willard were chief among them. In the winter of 1878 79, Col. Campbell carried the town away, and the blue ribbons met the eye everywhere. Everybody wore them, whether they quit drinking or not; in one ward, a new convert beat the most staid old temperance man in town for Alderman. But all that goes up has to come down, and in due time down came the blue ribbon.
Soon after the spring election, however, Miss Willard and Mrs. Anderson came and began work in a different way. Miss Willard lectured and left the same night; but Mrs. Anderson remained to organize a branch of the Ladies Christian Temperance Union. This was done May 22. 1879. The original officers were: President, Mrs. Sarah A. Gray : Vice Presidents, Mrs. Sue A. Pace and Mrs. Louisa Bogan; Recording Secretary, Mrs. (G. W.) Morgan; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Mary S. Pace; Treasurer, Mrs. Marga- ret A. Johnson. This organization proved to have the requisite amount of vitality, and is still vigorously at work. They circulate temperance documents, sometimes hold jubi- lee meetings, and every week have some- thing sound and sensible to say in their own special column in each one of our county papers.
To other temperance societies, reference is made elsewhere. We must not omit to men- tion, however, the time when the city fa- thers agreed to license salonns for $1,000 each, if a majority of all persons of twenty- one years said so. The women voted, and about 530 said no, while only about sixty said yes. By such and various efforts, Mount Vernon was made for ten years a temperance town. But last spring, by the help of St.
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Louis, Belleville and East Mount Vernon, the whisky element prevailed and elected a Mayor and a majority of the Aldermen. It is but due to the reputation of our town, as well as to the truth of history, to say that only about ten per cent of the whisky party were per- manent residents, owning their homes and interested in the real welfare of the town. Nine-tenths of the solid men of the town were opposed to saloons, and seeing the amount of drunkenness increased twofold by the saloons has made them more so.
The Village of East Mount Vernon .- This settlement or village grew out of the whisky contest. In 1859, as before stated, Dr. Green sold five acres, being a strip eighteen rods wide and about forty-four rods long, off the east side of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 29, to John Yearwood. John started a grocery on his purchase and sold lots to Joe and others, and thus sprang up what was called Yearwood Town. John sold his gro- cery to some one else and started a gunshop, and this added to its importance. At length, tired of getting along without any saloons in town, as above stated, it occurred to some admirers of the institution that if they had a village organization, they might have a sa- loon there, even though it were within the interdicted distance of the city. Of course, many went into the project with no thought but of the advantages of a separate govern ment in the way of internal improvements.
At the May term, 1877, May 24, "the peti- tion of Robert A. Yearwood, John Liebund. gut and Samuel Laird for the organization," etc., came into the County Court in due form. The village was to be eighty rods wide along the east line of the city limits, one mile north and south, including part of the west half of the northeast quarter, part of the west half of the southeast quarter, part of
the east half of the northeast quarter, and part of the east half of the southeast quarter of Sec- tion 29, and part of the west half of the northeast quarter,and part of the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 32, 160 acres. The petition was sigued by thirty-three per- sons. An election was ordered for June 12, 1877; W. H. Newcum, Robert A. Yearwood and William Hall were appointed Judges, and G. B. Leonard and Thomas H. Goodwin Clerks. The result was twenty-six for vil- lage organization. one against. From the re- turns it appears that the Judges who actually held the election were James Webber, George Beagle and John Yearwood, and the Clerks W. H. Hinman and Peter Brown-not exact- ly the Board that Judge Foster appointed. At the June term of the County Court, the case was docketed "No. 11," but the whole page is blank. At the July term, it is again docketed "No. 17," and the case stated as "canvass of election return," and all is blank again-no order or semblance of one -- not one word. But au election for officers was held July 10, 1877, when T. H. Goodwin was elected Police Magistrate, and J. William Leonard, William Randall, William Hall, William B. Wright, William H. Newcum and John Yearwood, Trustees; and William Goodwin, Clerk. July 17, the Williams-we mean the Trustees-met, organized and adopted thirty-three ordinances. Everything went nicely for awhile, the best elements controlling the business; a street was opened east of Strattan's Addition, walks were built and all seemed orderly and in good shape.
But the saloons produced their legitimate fruit. Hinman & Hutchison kept as good a house as can be of the kind, honestly trying to keep from violating the law; but those on the south side seemed to go on from bad to worse, till at length, in 1880, Mr. Thomas Caborn concluded that he would endure them
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
no longer. So, at the May term of the Circuit Court, Keller & Carpenter commenced a suit-People ex rel. Caborn vs. Satterfield, County Clerk and the Village of East Mount Vernon-in an action of certiorari. This suit was dismissed at the cost of the peti- tioner. Before court adjourned, however, the suit was revived as an action quo war- ranto, a change of venue asked and cause continued till it could be tried before a Judge not objected to-Judge Jones. At the December term, a trial was had and judgment of ouster obtained, Conger, Presiding Judge, and an appeal granted. In the Appellate Court, the defendants got a continuance, and at next term dismissed their appeal. It then came up in the Circuit Court under " Motion to Amend and Correct Record of Judgment," before Judge Jones. At this time the court declared they had assumed to act and had acted as Trustees without legal authoriza- tion, and ordered a writ of ouster against, the defendants and their successors. Au ap- peal was again allowed and bond filed; but it went no further, the village had money enough to pay its lawyers, did this, and quit. So people often do in divorce suits-pay no body but their lawyer. It may be well to state that the grounds for ouster were that the village never had 300 inhabitants, that some of the petitioners were non-residents, that one was a woman, that the first election was illegal and that the record showed no canvass of the vote.
The fall of East Mount Vernon brought all the whisky forces into the city election last spring and helped to carry the whisky ticket through.
Mystic Orders .- Marion Lodge, No. 13, I. O. O. F., was organized April 30, 1845. The charter members were John W. Greet- ham, James B. Tolle, Thomas Metsler, Hen- ry Wood and William White. Besides other
accessions, Dr. W. D. Green came in the fol lowing year and contributed much to give the order character, vim and success. Never was a better worker than Mr. Tolle, but he was less eminent than the Doctor, who rap- idly rose to the position of presiding officer of the Grand Lodge of the State. Daniel Baltzell was another important accession, a man of rugged mold, but kind and gener- ous, one of nature's noblemen. But we can- not now mention other names in our limited space. In 1849, May 21, Gov. Casey do nated a lot-No. 28 of his addition-for a hall, conveying it to Daniel Baltzell, Lewis F. Casey, John N. Johnson, Hezekiah B. Newby and William B. Thorn, Trustees, and their successors in office. Here the lodge at once proceeded to erect a building, now known as the " old Odd Fellowa Hall." Here they celebrated their mystic rites and devised their works of charity for nearly thirty years without accumulating much wealth in their treasury. But at length, -- , they bought a lot off the south end of Lot 28, Block 17, and proceeded to erect their present splendid hall, at a cost of over $6,000. It proved a good investment, as the buliding is already paid for, the lodge is out of debt and has about $500 in the treas- ury, with about 100 members.
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