The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-06-16
Thirty-hfth Annual Meeting of the
Pioneer ASSOCIATION.

The 55th annual meeting of the Van
Buren, County Pioneer association
held at Lawrence last Wednesday was
one of the most successful meetings
held for years. The meeting was
called to order by the president, Hon.
]. J. Woodman, at the appointed hour
and was opened with prayer by Rev.
a. Il. Subway of Lawrence. The
minutes of the last annual meeting
were read by Secretary Bates and
duly approved. The remainder of the
morning session was taken up with
the reports of the several township
vice-presidents and the election of
officers for the ensuing year. The re-
ports showed the decease of a large
number of the pioneers since the last
meeting. The following officers were
elected J. J. Woodman of Antwerp,
| president; @. w. Rowland of Paw Paw,
vice-president; l. u. Bates of Ant
werp, secretary; n. ). HaslSin of Law
renee, treasurer; II. Fl. Howard of
Bloomingdale, y. L. Barnes of Law
renee and Erastus Osborn of Hamil-
/ ton, executive committee.
The several township vice-presi-
dents elected are as follows:
J. c. McFellin, Pine Grove; J. T.
| Zielie, Almena; c. d. Lawton, Ant
: werp; John Marshall, Porter; James
! Ellis, Decatur; O. W. Rowland, Paw
Paw; George Wilson, Waverly; II. II.
! Howard, Bloomingdale; II. J. Scrinl-
ger, Columbia; Frank Martin Airing
ton; a. :. HasSin, Lawrence Erastus
! Osborn, Hamilton; Amos Irish, Keeler
Jesse Thomas, Hartford; Burse Mer-
riman, Bangor; n. 5. Taylor, Geneva
George Myhan, South Haven; d. B.
! Allen, Covert
The meeting then adjourned to par
take of a basket picnic dinner in the
grove on the public square where the
exercises were held.
The afternoon session was opened
with prayer by Rev. Quinton Walker
of Lawrence, who also delivered the
address of welcome. He introduced
his address by relating little story
of a Methodist, a Congregationalist
and a Baptist clergyman, each of
whom in alienation preached for the
same rural congregation. The Meth
odist had the largest attendance, al
though he was not as we'll educated
and qualified and no better speaker
than either of the other two. One
good brother could not understand
this and so sought information. The
explanation was that the Baptist and
the Congregationalist each prepared
their discourses and wrote them out
at length. While they were doing this
the Devil was at their elbows watch
ing what they wrote, and then he pro-
ceeded to harden the hearts of the
people against that particular mes
sage. Not so with the Methodist, he
did not prepare his sermons before
hand, and the Devil himself could not
tell what he was going to say. The
reverend gentleman made a personal
application of the story to himself.
n. B.-Rev. Quinton is Methodist.
This address was responded to by
Hon. c. J. Monroe of South Haven in
a very interesting and happy manner.
He closed by reciting a few stanzas
Of rhyme about the schoolmaster when
he was boarding round.
Congressman Hamilton not being
present, his place on the program as
principal speaker was very accept
ably filled by Rev. E. II. Harvey of
Antwerp, who gave an instructive and
interesting address. The reverend
| gentleman enlivened his talk with
several pat stories told in his droll,
inimitable way.
He was followed by Mrs. Olivia ].
Woodman, who spoke eloquently as is
her custom. Her address was exceed
ingly we'll delivered and we'll received
Within the space at our command it
would be useless to attempt a resume
of either of these, the two principal
addresses of the day.
y. L. Barnes read an interesting
paper on Lawrence and Its Vicinity,
It's Environments and Its Prospects"
This paper was historical in its char
acter and will appear in our next
weeks issue.
The reading of the Star Spangled
Banner by ]. NJ. Brown was we'll re-
ceived by those present, and our sister
village is to be congratulated on hav-
ing in their midst a gentleman who
can present a reading in so pleasing
a manner.
This was followed by several five
minute speeches. Among those re-
spending was Judge Phinney of South
Haven, and a Mr.. Reynolds, who
asserted that he was the first white
man to fell tree west of Van Buren,
county's line.
Miss Cora Barrows, assisted by the
girls drill corps, sang Columbia, the
Gem of the Ocean" The Lawrence
quartette also presented fine selec-
ton, and the audience was anxious to
hear more, but owing to the length of
the program the president was obliged