The Portland daily press., 1869-09-01
The Aged brotherhood.


nation of society composed of the Oldest cit
liens of Portland, eliminated yesterday in
permanent organization and a trip to the is
lands. At o'clock precisely the steamer Ga
zelle left Custom House wharf with over one
hundred of the Brethren on board, while
large crowd of citizens stood upon the wharf
to gaze upon the unusual spectacle. And un-
usual it may we'll be called, for we doubt if
there is recorded in the annals of any city the
existence of a society composed of men rang
ing from 81 to 65 years of age and furthermore
of their INDUCING in regular gander party.
The 'Old boys evinced no signs of age, so far
as their minds were concerned, for they joked
and laughed and threw themselves into the
spirit of the thing with gusto that showed
how much they re]ished the whole affair
Among those who participated in the excur-
sion was the venerable Jonathan Morgan, in
his 92d year. By a curious coincidence the
day appointed for the excursion was the 10th
birthday of the historian of Portland the
Hon. William Willis, who occupied seat on
the capstan of the steamer and related to us
how he remembered when Peaks Island the
destination of the party, which is now a -four
ishing village, could boast of only one house,
and at that time it was customary for the cti-
zens to picnic at House Island because it was
nearest to the city and the trips had to be made
in small sailing vessels Close by Mr.. Willis
stood Mr.. Lemuel Bryant, pensioner of the
war of 1S12-15, who was present at the taking
of Little York in April 1873 and at the land
ing OF Gen. Pike, and received bullet in each
while n shot fba cl,;,
ach and tore away part of the right side, in
dieting severe wound. Little York is now
called Toronto Mr.. Osgood, who is paralytic
in the lower limbs, was carried in chair. John
Neal, the centre of another group, was full of
life, and told story after story, causing great
merriment among his listeners. But it would
be impossible to enumerate all the good things
said in detail; all were so much interested that
they were perfectly oblivious to the clear cold
wind from the mountains which blew with
such force as to cause the waves to put on their
white caps, supposed compliment from King
Neptune to the venerable men who were visit
ing his dominions.
Arrived at the island the whole party group
ed themselves upon the lawn, on the right side
of the Union House, where Harris the photo
grapher, took several excellent views. and it is
here suggested that the Society should have
one of these views framed and presented to
the Portland Institute and Public Library as a
valuable memento of the men who are identi-
fed with the history and growth of the city.
After the views were taken the committee, who
were appointed to report an organization at a
previous meeting, made the following report
the Society having been called to order for that
purpose:
President-Oliver Gerrish.
Vice Presidents Zone from each Ward)-R
Dresser, j. f. Weeks w. Duran, Osgood
Bradbury, Eli Webb, John Neal, Nehemiah
Rice.
Treasurer-Elisha Trowbridge.
Secretary Baker.
The report was unanimously accepted MIR.
Gerrish upon assuming the Presidency said:
BRoTHERs:-I must thank you for this un-
expected honor 1 believe have never vet
fiinched from any duty was called upon to
perform, and will endeavor to serve YOU to the
best of my ability.
1t was voted that this Society be called the
Gagged Brotherhood
1t was also voted that there should be a con-
stitution and bylaws formed, to be reported at
future meeting, and it was also voted that
the anniversary of the formation of the Socie-
ty should be annually observed by trip to the
island.
The business meeting then adjourned and
the members amused themselves in various
ways, mostly in conversation Neal hu-
morously suggesting game of leap frog
while all were called upon to sign their names,
places of birth and date of birth, in book pro-
vided for the purpose. We give the list below.
and we believe that taking the age as about TO-
the sum total would amount to about eight
thousand years: