Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-06-24
TENNESSEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Meeting at the opera House Yester.
day Evening.
Some Interesting FactS-EIection Of
New Members. Etc.

eve, 18th, Immediately after the adj
iournment of the State Teachers AS
ISOLATION.
/ The Society was called To order 10y
/ the President, Dr.. j. Il. VI. Ramsey,
who called for the reading Of the min
/ utes of last meeting.
/ Mr.. Arson Nelson, Secretary of the
/ Society, announced that the reading of
the minutes would not likely prove
very interesting to those present, and
as they had been published very full
| in the Nashville papers, lie moved that
they suspend the reading of the min
utes. Carried.
Under the head OF election of new
members, Mr.. Nelson nominated Col.
John VI. Fleming, ChaS. y. Gibbs,
| ESD, and Prof. J. II. Nicholson, and
Dr. Ramsey nominated Rev. Thos. w.
Humes, Col. j. II. CrO2ier and VIM.
a. Henderson, Esq, all of whom
were duly elected.
| Mr.. Nelson stated that some persons
might desire 10 know what the yearly
dues were, but up TO the present the
amount had Rot been permanently
| settled upon. He thought, however
| that the members would he required
! to pay in annually about So each to de-
, fray the expenses of the Society. He
/ further stated that 10y the laws of the
| Society, should at any time the Society
cease to exist from any cause, all the
property of the Society, such as relics,
ancient books, parchments, papers,
| letters, &c, would go into the hands of
the State of Tennessee.
Mr. Nelson then displayed to the
! Society some valuable donations made
since the last meeting of the Society,
as follows:
a parchment commission, making
Israel Putnam, Esq. a Major General.
1t was signed in Philadelphia, June
! 10Th, 1775, by John Hancock President,
and Chas. Thomson, Secretary. 1t was
donated to the Society by Miss Julia
| &. Putnam, the daughter of the grand
son of the General, who is now a Tesi-
dent of this State. The thanks of the
Society were rendered the lady for this
valuable gift.
He also presented the original man
uscrip agreement of form of govern
ment adopted by the pioneer settlers
of the Cumberland Valley, which was
adopted by them and signed at place
they called Marlborough, on the 18th
of May, 1850, by psi persons. These
pioneer settlers were in country with
no government, without even know
ing whether they were in territory
belonging to Virginia or North Carroll
ma, and concluded to have govern
ment of their own on small scale. A
striking feature of this document is
that out of psi persons signing this
document, all, with the exception Of
one or two, could write their own
names. The document was copied into
! Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee.
Other interesting papers werr pre-
sented and received by the Society.
! Mr.. Nelson here stated that at the
last meeting of the Society committee
was appointed to prepare "A circular to
| the people OF the State, urging them to
! preserve the early history of the State,
and asked the President, as he was
| chairman of that committee, to make
report.
| The chairman stated that the COM
mittee had prepared a circular, and re-
quested Col. Fleming to read it, with
which request he complied. The cir.
cular was a strong appeal to the pride
of the citizens of the State Of Tennessee,
/ urging them 10 assist the Society in
/ getting up all the facts possible in re-
gard 10 the early history of their State,
that il might be handed down to future
| pOsterity. IL was signed by J. G.. NJ.
Ramsey, chairman, Robert c. Foster
and John Mica.
| Mr.. Nelson, in behalf of the Society,
returned thanks TO the State Teachers
Association for the invitation to par
ticipate in their proceedings, and to
| Mayor Staub, for the use of the hall.
| Tb President stated that Mr.. p.
1 Il ial- in !, t..l IA
der to the Society an invitation to re-
| pair 10 his residence on Main street
Immediately after the conclusion Of
the commencement exercises of the
East Tennessee University, and par
take of his hospitality.
On motion, the invitation was ac-
cepted with thanks.
On motion, it WAS ordered that ] 200
copies of the circulars he printed, and
that the papers of the State be request
ed to publish il.
A clause in the circular was referred
to DR.. J. b. Lindsey, John NJ. Lea
and J. NJ. Fleming.
The President requested Col. Flem-
! ing 10 read report of donations about
to Oe made, which he did as follows:
present to the Historical Society of
! Tennessee perhaps the oldest book in
the State, viz: 1.-THE Institutes of John
Calvin, together with his life, published
at Geneva, August !, 1859" making
the book in 1874 three hundred and fiji
teen years Old.
Before my house, and Office contain
! ing my library, were burnt up in 1868,
soon after the invasion of East Tennes-
see by Gen. Burnside's u. 5. Army,
| this old valuable volume had been
loaned by me to Mr.. Andrew Mccall,
south OF the river, in Knox county,
and thus escaped the fate of many Of
my other books and property. After
my return from an exile Of seven or
eight years i'm the South, Mr.. Mccall
returned the volume, and said he had
read it through several times. 1t is a
quartO Of more than 7Sj pages. Mr..
Mccall belongs to the Associate Church,
known generally as the "Seceder
Church." and is now a very old man.
am also authorized TO say that Hon.
r. Il. Reynolds, of this county, will
present 70 the Society series of the