Marshall County, Indiana - Chapter 10, 1881

OLD SetTrLers' Sociery--WHEN ORnrGANIZED - CONSTITUTION - - OFFICERS - MEMBERS - SECOND ANNUAL MEETING - EXTRACTS FROM ORATION AND RESPONSES TO 'TOASTS - OLD SETTLERS OF MARSITALL CoUNTY MEMBERS OF STATE PIONEER ASSOCIATION.

i a work of this kind, it must be apparent to all that nothing could be more appropriate than a chapter devoted to the old folks generally. Anything that tends to perpetuate the early history, and the scenes and incidents of the early days, is not only interesting to those who participated in them, but will be to those who shall take their places in the future. Hence this chapter. The formation of an Old Settlers' Society had been talked of for many years, but for one cause or another, no active steps were taken until 1878. Prior to July 4 of that year, a cireular was issued requesting the attendance, on that day, at the fair-grounds near Plymouth, of all interested in the subject. In obedience to the call, a large number were present. Robert Schroeder, the oldest settler at that time in the county, was selected Chairman of the meeting; John W. Houghton, Secretary; Rev. Austin Fuller, Chaplain. The following constitution and regulations were presented and unanimously adopted:

Srerron 1. This society, organized on this, the 4th day of July, 1878, shall be known as the 'Old Settlers' Society of Marshall County, Indiana."

Sec. 2. The officers of this society shall consist of a President, First and Second Vice Presidents, Chaplain, Treasurer and Secretary, who, when elected, shall constitute an Executive Committee for the management of the affairs of the society.

Src. 3. The officers of this society shall be elected at this meeting and at each annual meeting hereafter provided for, in such a manner asa majority of the members present may determine.

Sec.5. The annual meetings of this society shall, after the current year, be held on the 20th day of July in cach year (that being the day of the month on which the county seat was located and the county organized), except when the said 20th day of July occurs on Sunday; in that case, the annual meeting shall be held on the 19th day of July in each year.

Sec. 6. The members of this society shall be composed of all male and female persons who are now residents of the county and who have been, either by birth or settlement, residents of the county for twenty-five years or more.

Provided, That a majority of the members present at any annual meeting may extend the limit of membership if it be deemed advisable for the interest of the soeiety.

Sec. 7. No dues or assessments shall be made. The funds necessary to carry out the objects of this society shall be raised by such contributions as the members of the society may feel inclined to make; and it is hereby expressly provided that no officer shall receive any compensation as such for any services he may render,

Sec. 8. At each annual mecting, it shall be the duty of the President to make a report of the condition of the society, and present such matters pertaining to the early history of the county as he may deem of interest to the society and the inhabitants of the county generally. The Vice Presidents shall preside, in the absence of the President, in the order named, and the Treasurer and Secretary shall report at cach annual mecting, fully, all matters pertaining to their respective offices. The Chaplain shall perform the duties usually devolving upon ministers in other societies.

See. 10. Bach person entitled to membership in this society shall sign his or her name to this constitution, including date and place of birth, date of settlement in Marshall County, and present post office address, or authorize the same tobe done by the Secretary or some member of the society, either at this time or at any other time that may be convenient; and the signing of this constitution, either in person or as provided, shall constitute the person so signing a member in full standing. Any person wishing at any time to withdraw his or her membership may do so by notifying the Secretary to that effect, who shall thereupon erase the name from the roll of membership.

Sec. 11. It shall be the duty of each member of the society to notify the Secretary of the death or removal! of all members, so far as practicable. accompanied with a brief biographical sketch of his or her life and the Secretary is required to procure a record, in which he shall cause to be recorded all such information.

Sec. 12. The annual meetings above provided for shall be held at such place as the Execeutive Committee, or a majority of the members present at any annual meeting, may determine.

The first annual meeting after the organization was held on Saturday, July 19, 1879, in Plymouth. The meeting was largely attended, and proved to be a "grand old time." Daniel MeDonald, who had been selected as orator of the day, delivered an address. A.C. Thompson, M. L. Smith, Rev. George H. Thayer and Elder 5. A. Chaplin appropriately responded to toasts. The following extracts will indicate to the reader the style of the several orators who spoke on the occasion. A. C. Thompson, among other things, said:

IT have been honored by being selected to, on this oceasion, respond to the toast, "'The Pioneers of Marshall County," and I only regret my inability to do the sentiment justice, for this, above all others, on our programme for to-day's reflection and enjoyment, is the one that I would be most pleased to respond to in an acceptable manner to you all.

It takes me back to the days of my childhood, boyhood and early manhood: and in memory I live o'er again many of the incidents of those days, some of which are pleasant recollections, some mirth-provoking, and very many sad. Yet I love to think those days over, for I know that it makes me a better man; and I believe it is so with every one present, for it carrics us back to the time when we were far less selfish than we now are - to a time when we loved our neighbor almost as well as ourself, and observed the golden rule by "doing unto others as we would that they should do unto us."

It is pleasant to, even in memory, meet again with our friends of those olden times and hold sweet converse and communion with them: but 'tis sad to arouse from the reverie, and, on looking about us, find that a great majority of our early friends and acquaintances have passed away, and, were we to have a roll-call to day, alas! how few could respond and say " Present!"

Had I the power to describe events as I see them in my mind, I would attempt to take you a pleasant visit, passing along some of the winding wagon-roads or foot-paths of thirty-five years ago, to one of your neighbors of the days of yore, to "spend the afternoon," or we might go to a '"house-raising," a "'log-rolling," '*mecting," or we might attend a singing school or a spelling school. To any or all of these gatherings or places of social intercourse I would most cordially invite you, and assure you that you would have a most. pleasant and profitable time, if you would give your memory and imagination unlimited scope,

I do not mention the 'Sociable Society," from the fact that all the gatherings of the people in those days were social, and that, too, in the true sense of the word. It was not the spurious article that our society nowadays is cursed with; nor did I mention the '' Mite Society,'' because there were none. Religion was then free, and, although it wus to be obtained *' without money and without price," yet I believe it to have been a far superior article to that in general use among us at this time. The pioneer preachers of religion in Marshall County preached because they were devoted to their religion, and also for the love they bore their fellow-man, and not for money. They were earnest, honest, industrious men, and practiced what they preached,

Oh, that we could be permitted to live over again, even afew of those days of unselfishness, hospitality and congeniality! Then, none of us were ever too busy to stop our own business to help a "friend in distress;" the night was never too dark nor cold, nor the road toolong, for us to turn out and go for the doctor for our neighbor or his sick family. If we had but a quart of meal, there was always some to let our neighbor have who was 'just out," and congeniality was the rule and moroseness the exception.

"The pioneers of Marshall County!" Peace be to the slumbering dust of the departed - though departed, their memories are with us to-day, and ever will be while ours shall last. Let us emulate their noble lives and many virtues, so that when we also have to go we may die as much honored and as sincerely regretted as they, and may the yet surviving and aged pioneers be handed gently, peacefully and serenely down to the quiet grave, there to sleep with the precious dust of those they loved in their youth and vigor - mourned and regretted but not forgotten.

Reflecting over the joys and sorrows of the past, and feeling the weight of present grief, I cannot, probably, better express the feelings of many present than by quoting a few lines from an old song we used to sing when many of us were yet too inexperienced in the trials and bereavements of this life to fully comprehend the author's sentiment or meaning; but now, alas! we do:

*' Joys that we've tasted may sometimes return, But the torch, when once wasted, ah! how can it burn? Friends have been scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the altar and some at the tomb.

* T stood in yon chamber, but one was not there; Hushed are the lute-strings and vacant the chair; Lips of love's melody, oh! where are ye flown! - Never to smile again - never to moan!"

No county in Indiana, perhaps, has improved with greater rapidity than Marshall, named after that stern administrator, Chief Justice Marshall. In order to properly appreciate the developments of the county, it is necessary first to speak of it in its primitive days, and I shall go no farther back than the date of my advent into the county in the spring of 1843. Then, the population of the county was 1,651 - less than half the present population of Plymouth. The people were plain, unassuming, and lived in log houses and cabins. The principal bread-stuff was corn, and the meat, to some extent, was venison and wild turkey. Upon some of the older farms, a little wheat was raised, and that which was sold was wagoned to Michigan City, over almost impassable ronds. But our diet, though plain, gave us strength to fell the forests, and beneath the homespun garments beat as warm hearts as the world ever knew. It may be interesting to our young people to know that our mothers, wives, brothers and sisters met with many privations and hardships without murmuring or complaining.

But these were happy days. The people of the whole county were neighbors, and | am inclined to think there was much less selfishness than exists at the present time. There was no gossip about fashion, and the women who attended service at our rude houses of worship were in no danger of being the subject of ridicule because of the cut of her dress or the style of her bonnet. Every one attended strictly to his own business. There were no daily papers or telegraph to inform us of the doings of the rest of the world. We were shut almost entirely out as compared with today, but we were not to remain in this condition long. Forest gave way to productive fields; orchards sprang up; the log cabin was replaced by the plank or frame house; apples supplanted the place of pumpkins; horses took the place of oxen; wheat bread was used instead of corn, and by 1850 we felt ourselves a prosperous people. :

The response of Elder Chaplin, "Our Successors and Their Trusts," was in every way so elegant and finely written that it seems cruel to mar its excellency by omitting any part of it.

Before positively assigning to our successors the high position that historically and ethnologically belongs to them, we stop to interrogate the past, question the present, and ask: By what race have unknown countries been explored and colonized? Who have opened up the wilds till cultivation has caused the desert to smile, and the waste place to rejoice and blossom as the rose? By whom has the Nile been traced to its spring-heads under the equator, and the long-hidden recesses of the dark and sultry continent examined and mapped out, till Africa, the terra incognita of the geographies of our boyhood, is to-day delineated with mathematical precision on the atlas of the student?

Who have confronted the piercing blasts of the Polar Zone, passed beyond the eternal ice-belt barrier, and gazed upon the waves of an open sea, whose waters, in all probability, lave the shores of an undiscovered continent centered upon the Arctic Pole itself?

Who have deciphered the hieroglyphs and hieratie symbols that the fingers of the mummy priest wrote down on monumental pillars when the pyramids were young, when Thebes was in her glory, and when Egypt was the seat of literature and art, and the garden of the world?

Who have supplemented the wanting pages of history from the arrowheaded script written on bricks by the scribes of Nineveh and Babylon when these cities were the queens of empire on the Euphrates and Tigris 3,000 years ago?

By what stock of humanity have the hills been leveled, the valleys filled, the rock-built mountains tunneled, the rivers spanned with iron arches, and the steel pathway located in unbroken lines across entire continents, over which a marvel of self-propelling mechanism speeds away with its long train of spacious vehicles and crowds of travelers with the fleetness of the wind?

Who have interlaced empires, kingdoms and republics with metallic threads, then connected these sea-severed realms with submarine magnetic cords, and then sent the tireless lightning careering to tell to the antipodes the events of the passing moment before the index on the dial-plate counts off the following minute?

Who, in scorn of the tyrant's manacles, engrossed those world-renowned instruments, the Magna Charta, signed at Runnymede June 15, 1215, and the Declaration of Independence, signed in our own temple of liberty in Philadelphia July 4,1776, which guarantee political enfranchisement and the sacred rights of conscience?

Who have said to despotism, We will have no star chambers nor bastiles; and to grim superstition, We will have no inquisitions or auto-de-fes, but speech and belief shall be alike free?

In reply to these, and a multitude more of similar questions, we answer that it is the Indo-European type of mankind, in its nobler and more progressive branches, that has accomplished all, and infinitely more, than these queries imply, and, furthermore, that it is from the most notable nations of this type of humanity that the controlling majority of the inhabitants of our great commonwealth, of our State, and of our county, have derived their origin. With a pardonable pride in our own lineage, we may exultingly say of our successors that their title to nobility will consist in being the living representatives of that ethnological division of mankind whose physical development is the most perfect and symmetrical, and whose intellectual achievements have vastly surpassed all others.

In specifying the trusts that are about to pass into the possession of those soon to occupy the places and positions of the present actors in the scenes of life, we observe that this matured mentality, that has been the slow growth of all the past, which qualifies its possessor for still more wonderful achievements in intellectual pursuits and that inherited capacity that fits the person to whom it pertains for still more surprising inventions and discoveries than the world has ever known, are to be the inherent personal talents, for responsible improvement, that will accrue to our successors as a direct result of their connection, in the line of descent, with the noblest and most progressive type of mankind; and the still further development of succeeding generations will depend on the use or abuse that these, our immediate successors, may make of their trust.

With this enlarged mentality, and capacity for further perfectibility, will be intrusted to our successors all that has resulted from discovery, experiment and labor in the past.

In an exceedingly brief summary of additional trusts, we observe that the floral beauties we so much admire, the richly colored, luscious fruits so gratifying to the taste, and the symmetrical shapes in stock and herd that we contemplate with so much pleasure, have been effected by the skillful florist, the practical pomologist and intelligent herdsman; and these perfected productions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms will become the property of our successors. To our suceessors will be left the richest patrimony in the world. Their real estate will consist of a country whose eastern line, along the Atlanic, measures 2,347 miles, and, at a distance of 2,500 miles toward the setting sun. its western boundary extends along the Pacific 1,810 miles, Along British America, its northern limit stretches 3,540 miles, while its southern boundary, along the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico itself, is more than 3,000 miles. About 2,000,000,000 acres of land are embraced within these bounds. Magnificent old forests, that have for centuries waved in the sunshine and in the storm, extending numberless belts from limit to limit. This wealth of woodland shades of the North, with the towering pine in its somber evergreen, while the Southern confine is fringed with the lemon, orange and citron groves. In our country's woodlands grow countless species of useful and ornamental trees - oaks outrivaling Bashan's monarchs, magnolias far-famed for beauty of foliage and flower, and those wonders of the world, the giant sequoias of the west, beside which Lebanon's grandest cedars would be dwarfs. But the wealth of fruitful field that pioneer hands have won from the wilds of nature, comprises the grander part of the real estate trust about to descend to the coming generation. Pen cannot portray in a few brief sentences, the endless extent of grain-field, of meadows, of pasture, of valleys, standing thick with corn, and stocks and herds that graze a thousand hills and plains.

The very mountains conceal inestimable treasures of the precious metals in their capacious rock-built vaults. Where hours are wanting, instead of the minutes at our disposal,we must comprehensively crowd our lines and say, that a cultivated area equaling the surface of whole kingdoms in the Old World, embracing the cotton, the rice, and the sugar plantations of the South, the still vaster expanse of grain producing farms at the East, North and West, the mighty cities and all their marvels of architecture, the ships of commerce, the long lines of railroad and all their equipments, the colleges, seminarics, high schools, libraries, and all that pertains to education, the grand chambers of National and State legislation, the temples of justice, the numberless places of worship where a Creator is revered, a Redeemer magnified, and the sublimities of an immortal existence portrayed, all! all! will soon become the trusts of our successors. Will the future, under their supervision and management, be a future of progress? Will our great commonwealth continue to be what our Revolutionary fathers designed, ''A name and a praise in the whole earth," for its civil and religious freedom? Will our successors prove true to their high and holy trusts? Will God and His revelation be adored and venerated? Will the principles of true science continue to be unfolded? The future must answer. Forty-two years ago this summer I passed through this town of Plymouth, Twenty-nine years ago, on the third Sunday in January, 1850, I preached my first discourse in this county in the old Pisgah Meeting- House, five miles south of here. The Indian hunters were traversing these woods when I came into the State. Those hunters have slept for many moons in their rude graves in the distant West. The marbles in our cemeteries tell us where our pioneer friends and neighbors take their last repose. A few of us survive to meet to-day, and our successors will soon make our graves !

"Our life - its clouds and sunshine - may its remaining labors be worthy of the heritage left us by the pioneers." Response by Rev. G. H. Thayer, of Bourbon. The remarks made concerninz the responses of Elder Chaplin, are fully applicable to the finelyworded address of Mr. Thayer. It is difficult to eliminate any part of it without marring thewhole. The following, however, will serve to perpetuate his elegant and intellectual style of composition:

How oft this lesson comes in requisition in the settling up of new countries. We come from different parts and bring our local feelings along with us, and usually our own is the standard by which we measure all the rest. The standards do not agree, and conflicts thus arise. We see the cause, but whence comes the remedy? Much may be done by mental and moral discipline; much by examining human history and seeing how near alike are all the roads of life, as well as all the hearts of men. In the roads of life the weak and timid fail, while the brave and active triumph. In the struggle for happiness, hearts desire it all alike, but all have not equal perception of the principles on which it is based, nor equal relish for the labors by which itis acquired. That all-pervading desire to better our condition aroused the pioneers in their distant homes to look about for openings. The West arose before them, abounding with comforts and blooming with beauties. wings, and cultivated fields and swarming cities spread over the wide expanse, and wealth and comfort lay just within their reach. Once West, and we are rich and happy, was flitting constantly before their eyes ; and led by these brilliant fancies, thousands swelled the ranks of emigration, and to the West they came. thunders of astormy morning broke their slumbers and the dream was gone. Cities vanished, the fields were yet to be cleared and cultivated, and the West, like all the rest of the world, was found to be a stage on which each must act his own part. Life here, as elsewhere, was made up of stern realities. Its wants, its comforts, its clouds, its sunshine, were all really as in other places. Some brave men fell in the struggle; peace to their memory, Some labored on till victory crowned their efforts, and are here to-day; and now a host of hardy heroes are assembled to swell the song of triumph which will always be sung when muscle, mind and morals enter the field, trusting in God who rules the destiny of all conflicts of muscle, head or heart. And now, ye noble ones that Lave passed through the conflict, have been overshadowed by its clouds, or cheered by its sunshine, all honor on your heads and blessings on your hearts. Some of you have swung into port with sails set, or steam up and colors flying. Some, perhaps, shattered or ship-wrecked, but with strong arms and brave hearts beating the surf and making for the harbor. But here you are, and we give you our friendly grip and our hearty shake, and bid you welcome to these festal scenes. Brothers in our toils, brothers in our comforts, brothers in our clouds, brothers in our snushine, One common brotherhood, God bless you all. May each of you be here at our next anniversary, but if you are not, we will hallow the spot where your bones repose, and drop a tear to your cherished memory. Again, we say, God bless the old settlers of Marshall County. Whatever we may have passed we are here to-day with the storms of life mostly in our rear. A rich and beautiful inheritance of houses, lands and cities is ours. God's blessing on our labors has made itso. And now, with the genial, blooming, beautiful faces of our successors around us, eyes beaming with intelligence, hearts swelling with patriotism and love, we feel that we have not lived nor labored in vain.

Now, let us say to you, our cherished ones, for whom we lived and labored, we bequeath to you, in confidence, this rich inheritance. Our lands, our cities, our social, our religious and hterary institutions, our government and country. Receive this sacred trust at our hands, To us you may be thankful for their possession. But forget not that to God you are responsible for their perpetuation and improvement. Where we have done wrong, avoid our errors. Where we have done right, improve on the example, and may your morning sun outshine ours at its zenith; and when, in turn, it must decline, may it go down in honor and rise again to immortality.

Our progress, as a county, has been more rapid and permanent than the most enthusiastic pioneer, in his wild dreams of our future greatness, ever pictured it. In 1836, we had a population of 600; in 1840, it had increased to 1,651; a decade later we had 5,600; from 1850 to 1860, the population had more than doubled, being at the later date 12,717; in 1870, we had increased to 20,211, and, when the census of next year is completed, it will, doubtless, disclose a population of nearly, if not quite, 25,000. Truly our progress has been wonderful.

But I should weary your patience did I attempt to itemize all that has been done to bring us to this period in our country's history, and I will forego further comment in this direction.

As we review the past, the forms of the early pioneers - those who ''blazed the way" through the almost impassable wilderness - come up before us in vivid remembrance, and in their life's history present much that is worthy of admiration and emulation. Leaving their early homes, and the scenes of civilization, with ax and gun, they wended their lonely way through the unexplored wilderness, until they reached the place where their future home was to be. Here, among the untutored savage, the wolves and wild beasts of prey that infested the country, a wigwam of poles and brush wag erected, a camp-fire built, and "the ax laid at the root of the tree.'" Here, in the lonely woods, away from friends and family, the original pioneer labored, day in and day out, clearing alittle '' patch" of ground, and preparing a rude log cabin for the reception of his wife and little ones. Finally they came, thinly clad in '* homespun," sick and weary from weeks of traveling with ox teams, over roads that had to be made as they went, breaking an axle here, a tongue there, sleeping on the ground in the night air, fighting myriuds of mosquitoes, and hraving the storms that overtook them on their journey. Here, and in this way, was the battle of lifé again renewed, and right manfully wasit pressed to a glorious victory. How the memory of their hardships looms up, as the past, like a panorama, 1s spread out before us! Itis well those who are living here now, gathering the fruits of the toil of those early pionecrs, cannot realize the suffering and deprivation they passed through in forming and handing down the blessed heritage we now enjoy.

Those were days that tested truc friendship. The question was never asked, '' Who is my neighbor!"' Ali were neighbors! All were friends! And let us hope that the friendships formed under so many trying circumstances, in those early days, may serve to cement the rising generation with the past, and continue for all time to come!

" Here we have met, here we may part, To meet on carth no more, And we may never sing again The cherished songs of yore. The sacred songs our fathers sang, In days of Auld Lang Syne, We may not meet to sing again The songs of Auld Lang Syne. '* But when we've crossed the sea of life, And reached the heavenly shore, We'll sing the songs our fathers sing, Transcending those of yore.

residents of Marshall County, who resided in Indiana forty years | comment. The successor of Mr. Fraley was Rev. Thomas Owens, prior to October, 1879, who attended the State Fair at Indianapolis. | who probably commenced laboring on his work in the fall of 1838.

The third annual meeting of the Old Settlers' Society was held July 20, 1880, in Magnetic Park, Plymouth, Ind. There was a large turnout and a good time. Elder Richard Corbaley, of Healdsburg, Cal., a former old resident, delivered an acceptable address, after which the following officers were elected: For 1880-81 - President, George H. Thayer; Vice President, Joseph Evans ; Chaplain, Elder H. Barnhill ; Treasurer, A. Hawley ; Secretary, Thomas K. Houghton.