The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-09-01
by Isaac II. Julian.)

settlers picnic near Centeryille, in
view Of which the present appears to
me a fitting occasion to give revised
synopsis of the history of old settlers
meetings in Wayne county, beginning
with full report of the first one,
which was held at Richmond on Fri
day, September Z, 1866, and which, as
the result of recent investigation, al
so appears to have been the first in the
state-a grand distinction, as it must
appear in her history in time TO come.
Having the documents, as newspaper
reporter and editor, to include this
first meeting, as also briefer notice of
subsequent ones, / deem it both a priv
ilege and a duty to do SO. Most of the
leading facts which / shall here set
forth were communicated four years
ago to the Sun-Telegram, then con-
Quoted by B. F. Wissler, and to the
Cambridge City Tribune, but did not
appear in the Palladium and hence will
be new to a goodly number of it's pres
| ent readers. The status of the ques-
ton as to the first meeting is as fol-
lows: In paper read by myself before
the Old Settlers at their reunion in
1896. / explicitly stated the fact that
the first old settlers meeting in the
county was held at Richmond, as above
mentioned. and that | was present and
reported its proceedings for a Rich
mond paper. / reiterated those state
ments through the press, but they
seemed to obtain no credence, and I
was led to infer were regarded as a
myth, or perchance dream. AS a
matter of policy there was an excuse
for this. | think it must be conceded
that it could not have been specially
agreeable to have to confess ignorance
OF SO interesting a passage in the pio-
neer history of the country, or to CON
| fess Judgement in favor of man who
| for nearly a quarter of century, had
been a resident of a quite remote por-
ton of Uncle Sans domain. So it was
deemed preferable to tacitly repudiate
my revelations by ignoring them.
Thus, in justice to myself, and to vim
dictate the truth of history, l felt it in
cumbent upon me to have said proceed
ings republished in full as above stated
They have not since appeared in print.
The Indiana Quarterly Magazine of
history made an abortive effort in that
direction last year, but left out some
significant and suggestive passages,
and made the perfectly gratuitous and
inexcusable blunder of fixing the date
of the next meeting at Centerville on
Sunday instead of Saturday.
My distinct recollection is that this
first old settlers meeting at Richmond
met upstairs in a building on Main
street, on the left hand side going east,
a short distance beyond the Citizens
bank corner, and that there was full
attendance. From the proceedings it
is apparent that there had been a prior
Organization, special mention being
made of the presence of the president
and vice president. This organization
was probably had at previous prelim-
mary meeting. l now give the pro-
ceedings word for word, as published
in the Jeffersonian. The matter began
with an explanatory paragraph by the
editor-the remainder is my report:
THE OLD SETTLERS MEETING"
Other engagements prevented our
presence at the first annual meeting
above named, which came off in this
city on Friday last, so that we can only
give such general outline of the pro-
ceedings as we have been able to OBJ
tain from persons who were in attend
ance.
The meeting, Notwithstanding a
rather imperfect notice, was respecta-
BILE in numbers and character. David
4 he
and John Peelle, the vice presidents,
were present. A committee to arrange
business for the meeting was appointed
and reported; when, after a very APP
propriate prayer by Elder Levi Purvi
ance. some interesting portions Of the
proceedings of the first board of COM
missioners of Wayne county, dating as
far back as 1917. were read. which
were illustrated by relations of divers
incidents of those early days, by
Messrs. Rariden, Test, Newman and
others.
John Beard of Milton was then-call-
ed on for his experience as an old
settler, which he proceeded to give in
a very graphic and interesting manner.
He gave an account of his removal TO
this region. of the qualification he felt
In exchanging the red soil, full of
flint stones. of his native Carolina, for
the black and fertile lands of Indiana,
though then overshadowed by the
mighty unbroken forest. In the vigor
of youth, however, he regarded not the
herculean labors and hardships which
then rose before him for, to use his
own words. he felt that he had a for
tune in his own bones:' and he ex-
pressed the hearty wish. in which we
emphatically join, that the young men
of the present day might more gener-
ally realize the same inspiring feeling
of self-independence. He declared !,
that. although, looking back from the |
present time. the lives of the pioneers I
might appear by no means enviable. |
yet they did not so seem TO those who /
experienced them; and that for his /
part, he would fain return to a SIM
liar mode of life Mr. BEARD added /