The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-06-29

In MemOrlam s
Mrs. Sue Veazie Wakeman, Oak Park
Deceased members Of Glass Of 1861
Chauncey Baldwin, Serene Fisk.
Tie Glass of '61
..... Mrs. Rebecca Jones Apologize
Historical Sketch of the Kenosha
School System and of it's Honored
Founders VIM. Edwin Smith, Chicago
Address ....
Judge JAS. P. Nixon, Springfield, Mo,
Glass of 1911 ..................
....... Response by Ben Buckmaster
Treasurer 5 Report. -. Conrad Shearer
1mpromptu Speeches.
Report of Nominating Committee and
Election of Officers.
"AMERICA.
With the exception of the memorials
presented by Mrs. Harriet Wattles
Saunders and Mrs Flora Parish Tobin
all the addresses on the program were
given by members of the class of
1861. In the annual memorial address
moro than twenty names were men
toned and many of them were leaders
in the work Of the association.
The feature address Of the day was
a historical sketch of the Kenosha
school system given by William Ed
win Smith of Chicago. Mr. Smith
said in part:
am asked by your committee to
speak of the time when we were boys
and girls; of the early settlement of
the city; the pioneers who first locat-
ed here; the men and women who fol
lowed them and established this first
free school; of incidents, historical
and otherwise, of which I had per-
sonal knowledge; the life and expert
ence of sixty years ago, and possibly
draw lesson from them.
Those were the days Of the tallow
candle and whale oil lamp.
While / must refer to those grand
old men and women, the first colonists,
the time of which we know most was
from 1850 to 1861, when we were
pupils in this school. [ trust you will
excuse the personal note in these lines,
as [ must speak from my own observa-
ton and knowledge, and the part
borne by my own family in the events
which | 1elate-I judge also that that
personal experience and training will
be so much like that of others as to
make us kin.
The men and women of whom I speak
were all workers, all producers-they
had to be! People Of character, i'm
bued with one common purpose; that
their children should have the advant-
ages, educational and social, of which
many of them were by fate in youth
deprived.
In 1888, Alfred Foster, veteran of
the war of 1912, and John Bullen, Jr.,
came from Oswego county, N. Y, and
explored this coast from the little vii
lage of Chicago to Milwaukee then
an Indian trading post. Returning the
same fall, they, with neighbors, organ
lied the Western Emigration society,
to COLOMBO on the banks Of Lake
Michigan. The record shows that
John Bullen, Jr., Jason Lothrop, War
tiers Towslee; Hudson Bacon, Orlando
Foster, William Bullen, George Ben
net, and G. W. Turner of that society
were on the ground in 1884.
My knowledge is from tradition in
my mothers family and the stories
heard at my mothers and grandmoth-
err IS knees.
1t is recorded that in August. 1885,
a young man of low stature and light
frame was seen approaching the new
settlement walking across the prairie
from the southwest. 1t proved to be
Nathan R. Allen. He had walked from
chicago, but how he got to Chicago
the record does not say. [ remember
him as a modest, retiring man, genial,
courteous and generous, man of
strictest integrity, honored and re.
spected by all who knew him; living in
this, his adopted home until his death.
probably the last of those old settlers
to pass to better world. Most of
these first corners had left their fami-
lies behind to come with the main
colony in the winter of 1856. The
first religious meeting was held in
Warters Towslee s house in 1885, and
the same year Jason Lothrop opened a
private school. These facts indicate
the spirit and character of these men.
In the early winter of 1885 and So.
the main colony, including the fami-
lies of those already on the ground.
were ready to start on their long and
perilous winter journey. 1t was a
severe winter, four to six feet of snow
covered the ground. Comfortable COW
cred spring wagons with sleeping ac-
commodations and each with a stove
were provided for the women and
children. All the wagons were mount
ed upon sleds. The men roughing it.
in turn drove the teams or trampled
with rifle on shoulder and stood guard
at night-not only were there bad roads
that often had to be cut through snow
banks in advance of the teams but
there were wolves and other wild AMI