The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-08-21
THE OLD SETTLERS PICNIC.

| th"u tue sunshine OF nappy IScee, ana Vue
beautiful scenery of the grove was made still
more beautiful by the presence Of so much
solid worth mingled with SO great degree Of
enjoyment.
Judge Cation showed himself the fine and
hospitable gentleman that we knew him to be
in offering the use of his noble park for the
purpose; and if he be frequently the entertainer
of the "great and mighty" he proved yester-
day that he was equally at home in entertain
ing the grand old pioneer, with his rugged
nature, his hard hands, his tough muscles and
determined will-the elements that have made
these western wilds "blossom a. the rose,'
and constituted the great west the granary Of
the world. IN
Long before noon the wagons, the buggies
and the teams from distance began to arrive
at the grove, and the preparations were soon
made for enjoying all the good things, and
listening to the speeches to be delivered on
the occasion; but probably there was nothing
finer than to see the meeting, hearty and cor
dial, that occurred between friends who had
not seen each other for years. Some there
were of the very first settlers and women
too who had known what it was to live in
daily fear and nightly dread of the stcalthy
step and murderous assault of the trcacherous
Indian. To those it must indeed have been
pleasant to meet the friends and acquaintance
of the stormy and insecure past, and to reflect
how beautiful is the present-how full Of pro
mise; and, as they introduce their children
and grand children to each other, how full of
thankfulness must their hearts be that their
hard toll and unremitting labor has been
crowned with such, glorious results.
The crowd that assembled probably num-
bered eight hundred to thousand. It would
have been much larger but for misappre-
hension on the part of the public. The picnic
was got up by the Old Settlers Society, and
the condition of membership in that Society
being 80 years residence in La Sale county,
most people seemed to think that none but
members were admissible to the grounds. This
was mistake-it was intended to have a
general picnic under the auspices of the
Society. uh1u EU-
Arrangements were made for supplying an
excellent dinner to Old Settlers from dis
lance and invited guests, and when we men,
ton that this part of the programme was left
entirely in the hands of the popular host of
the Clifton, and fully bore out the unsurpassed
reputation of that good hostelry, further praise
would be painting the lily" or doing any
other absurd work.
Bowman, the ubiquitous, was of course there,
and got every one to sit for photographs. In
one group the following were pictured, all Of
whom were settlers prior to 1923; David Penn
brook, jeremiah Pembroke and ]. E. Shaw,
who originally hailed from New York; then
John Green, Jesse Green, David Green, Bar
bara Green, Eliza Dunavan, Catherine Duna-
van, Nancy Dunavan, David Grove, Burton
Ayers, jeremiah Srawn, j. s. Armstrong, Mar
garet Armstrong, from Ohio: John s. Mitchell,
from Indiana, and A. W. Cavalry, from New
England.
The next group was OF settlers who arrived
between the years 1929 and 1892, and was
composed of the following persons; Joseph A.
Dunavan, Josiah Shaver, C. Shaver, ]. R.
Shaver, w. L. Dunavan, n. Trumbo, Sarah
Parr, Mrs. Millikin, Sarah Pitts, r. Debolt,
of Rutland; G. w. Armstrong, of Brookfeld
G. NJ. Dunavan of Dayton; A. M. Ebersol, c.
w. Eels, A. S. Alderney, II. L. Brush, Mrs.
Watts, Mrs. Gibson, David Strawn, Charles
Brown, N. Beaubien, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Libby,
OF Ottawa; Mrs. Munson, of Freedom; j. W.
Armstrong, of Deer Park; VIM. Pitzer, of
Rutland; IN. shepherd, L. E. skeel, Mrs.
Dake, Mrs. Smith, Henry X. Parr, of Serena;
A. Hogaboom, of Farm Ridge; Mrs. jackson,
of Milford; and Mrs. Ann Fitch, of Clinton,
Iowa.
Groups were also taken of those who had
arrived between 1882 and 1885, and between
1885 and 1S41.
After the dinner had been duly disposed of,
stand for speakers was constructed, and Mr..
Shaw made chairman. Judge Champlin, in
pursuance of previous appointment made the
first speech. 1t was inthc Judges happicst
vein, and was replete not only with many hui
morous thrusts, but with "reminiscences of the
olden times Of the deepest interest. The
speech closed with some beautiful lines of the
Judges own composition. Owing to the late
ness OF the hour at which we make up this re-
port, we are obliged to omit both in this issue,
IL e k1,o.,~ -. r..