Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1921-08-08
BIG REUNION
AT BELLS MILL
Annual Reunion This Year
one of Largest Ever Held,
About 5000 At
tending.
INGHAM IS SPEAKER
Opposes Militarism.-Con.
gresham Dickinson
Also Speaks.

The annual reunion of the Hamilton
County Old Settlers association, held
yesterday at Bells mill, was the lars
est gathering held there in gOot
many years. 1t was fine tribute Il
Uncle Jas Bell and his good wife, Aunt
Mary Jane. Uncle Jas. who has beer
i'll for four months, was able to be pres
cnt and received the cordial handshake
and good wishes of hundreds of people
The occasion was especially notable be
cause of the presence of Harvey Ing
ham, editor of the Des Moincs Register
and speaker Of the day, and of Con.
gresham Dickinson of this district
who also delivered a brief address. 1t
is estimated that close to 5000 people
were present. A total of $50 autos was
counted on the grounds at one time in
the afternoon. The day was an ideal
the and people drove from many miles
over the county to attend.
Uncle Jas Bell is in his S1st wear. He
will celebrate his birthday Sept. 10.
Aunt Mary Jane, as she is affectionate-
iy known to host Of friends, will be %
Sept. %. Saturday this venerable
couple celebrated their 44th wedding
anniversary. Uncle Jas has been resi-
dent of Hamilton county since 1852,
when his father, Benjamin Bell,
brought his family up the Boone river
from Des Moines.
Each year, for some time past, it has
been feared that the reunion ut Bells
mill would be the last. Yesterday,
however, 1t was determined to contin-
ne these annual events and an execu-
tive committee was named to select off,
GERS and arrange for next years gath
ering. This committee is composed of
G. II. Dick. Stanhope; f. A. Rolfe, Day
ton; Allie Dec, Stanford; Mrs. John
Bell and Il. G. Pierce. Homer; Mrs. Ed
Peterson, Stratford, and John Miller,
from near Stanhope.
Uncle Jas Bell has been president of
the association ever since it was organ
lied many years ago. Prof. +. C..
Runkle, Of Dayton, has been secretary
for some fourteen years and the past
few years the success of the reunions
has been due to his untiring energies
and much hard work on his part. He is
moving to Danbury, however, and will
retire from his official position.
Two Entertaining Features.
A feature of yesterdays reunion was
the presence of the drum corps from
Winfield Scott Post. G. A. r., Of this
city. Their martial music was much
enjoyed and often applauded. Prof.
Runkle, who presided, also brought a
Dayton quintette of accomplished
young ladies, who gave half hour pre-
Jude to the program, which was anOth-
er interesting feature. The young lad
les were the Misses Bliss Swanson,
Dorothy Johnson, Edith Carlson, Violet
FreebOrn and Vivian Peterson. Miss
Johnson is the leader. These young
ladies are good enough to be on the
cbautauqua and lyceum platforms.
They were all in the Dayton high
school graduating class this year and
have been playing together several
years.
Ingham Speaks.
The bringing Of Harvey Ingham to
the reunion this year as the speaker
probably had a great deal to do with
the unusual crowd which gathered
Mr.. Ingham, who grew up as lad in
Algona. is remarkably familiar with the
early history of this part Of Iowa. He
was given cordial round of applause
rs he took the platform and was listen
cd to with rapt attention. He traced
the early history of Iowa and went in
to some detail regarding the early
settlements in the Homer vicinity.
The invasion Of the west in 1910,
" hen gold was discovered in California,
turned the eyes of the nation westward
and the initiation Of money, following
the discovery of gold, brought flood
of immigrants into Iowa in 1880, 81.
80 and '53. II also brought an era of
railroad building. bringing many lines
as far west as the Mississippi. Stats
tics show that during the four years
named, Iowa gained in numbers one
fourth her present population. The
at that time, however, large
ly paralleled the states from which the
immigrants came Southern Iowa was
rapidly settled. The Sac and Fox In
dams left that part of the state in 1864,
while the Sioux, who were more quar-
relsOme, did not cede northern Iowa
until 1851, but did not leave until 1857,
following the Spirit Lake massacre.
Thus it was that northern Iowa was
settled so much later than the southern
Nm ~ Of fha ctota