EARLY SETTLERS SOCIETY

A large body of early settlers of Delaware County assembled in the city hall at Manchester, upon a stated call for the purpose, and organized the Society of Early Settlers of Delaware County after first having placed E. O. Clemens in the chair and selected E. Healey as secretary of the meeting. After the objects of the assemblage had been stated by B. H. Keller, a constitution was adopted and the following officers elected: President, Joel Bailey; vice presidents, J. S. Barry, of Prairie; B. H. Keller, Delaware; John Magirl, Adams; L. McNamee, Colony; John Lillibridge, Milo; Aaron Sullivan, Coffin's Grove; A. A. Strong, Honey Creek; H. D. Wood, Richland; A. Parliman, Elk; John W. Penn, Delhi; James Le Gassick, Bremen; William Nicholson, North Fork; Leroy Jackson, South Fork; C. L. Flint, Hazel Green; S. B. Whittaker, Union; H. C. Merry, Oneida, who was selected as the secretary; L. L. Avers, recording secretary and treasurer.

 

This organization was effected January 17, 1877, and before adjournment the voice of the society was declared by vote in favor of according honorary membership to the wives of all pioneers.

 

A partial list of the names of members of this society is given below:

Joel Bailey, born in New York, came to Delaware County March, 1838

Henry Baker, New York, June, 1841

John Lillibridge, Mrs. J. Lillibridge, New York, October, 1843

Aaron Sullivan, Ohio, November, 1844

C. G. Reyn­olds, Pennsylvania, 1844

Mrs. S. E. Tilton, Pennsylvania, 1845

E. D. Olmstead, New York, 1847

Joseph S. Belknap, Vermont, May, 1848

H. D. Wood, Kentucky, November, 1848

E. Tilton, Pennsylvania, 1850

G. R. Buckley, New York, 1850

D. S. Potter, New York, May, 1850

Henry Acers, New York, March, 1850

S. Knickerbocker, New York, 1851

James Lewiston, Ireland, June, 1852

E. J. Skinner, New York, 1852

J. C. Skinner, New York, 1852

N. Andrews, New York, 1852

T. Crosby, Massachusetts, 1852

J. W. Robbins, Massachusetts, 1852

Allen Love, Scotland, September, 1852

W. Potter, Iowa, November 18, 1852

Mrs. T. Crosby, Massachusetts, 1852

Mrs. E. A. Strong, New York, 1853

Mrs. W. B. Smith, New York, 1853

W. B. Smith, Canada, spring of 1853

A. Swindle, Ireland, April, 1853

James McLaughlin, Ireland, 1853

A. A. Strong, Ohio, 1853

Rufus Dickinson, New York, May, 1853

Chauncey M. Mead, Indiana, May, 1853

J. F. Gillespie, Michigan, fall of 1853

W. J. Doolittle, New York, October, 1853

H. L. Ryan, New York, July, 1854

H. Munson, New York, 1854

S. P. Moshier, New York, 1854

M. Eldridge, June, 1854

William Ryan, New York, 1854

S. J. Edmonds, winter of 1854

Mrs. A. Kirkpatrick, May, 1854

William Cattron, May, 1854

B. M. Amsden, New York, spring of 1854

Justin Healy, Vermont, 1854

H. P. Duffy, Ohio, spring of 1854

E. Healy, Canada East, May, 1854

J. B. Robertson, Prince Edward's Island, 1854

Mrs. H. Ryan, New York, 1858

A. N. Smith, winter of 1855

E. L. Tomlinson, 1855

John Towslee, spring of 1855

Mrs. P. Dunham, New York, February, 1855

I. U. Butler, New York, spring of 1855

F. Dunham, New York, February, 1855

W. H. Hollister, New York, 1855

A. Shew, New York, 1855

Thomas Toogood, England, January, 1855

S. G. Van Anda, Pennsylvania, April, 1855

S. R. Young, Maryland, October, 1855

James Dunham, Indiana, 1855

Henry Lister, England, March, 1855

Thomas Hilliar, England, 1855

F. Bethell, England, 1855

W. H. Board, June, 1855

A. Kirkpatrick, Indiana, 1855

R. M. Marvin, Ohio, 1855

A. Dunham, Indi­ana, 1855

Edson Merrell, New Hampshire, August, 1855

H. M. Congar, New York, March, 1856

Oliver Cronk, New York, April, 1856

E. Hamblin, New York, 1856

E. P. Orvis, New York, 1856

L. S. Shirwin, New York, 1856

B. H. Keller, New York, April, 1856

John S. Barry, Massachusetts, April, 1856

Alfred Durey, England, April, 1856

Mrs. Alfred Durey, Eng­land, April, 1856

R. W. Tirrill, New Hampshire, November, 1856

D. Young, Maryland, 1856

Mrs. E. Hamblin, Ohio, spring of 1856

D. P. Ferris, Ohio, 1856

D. Magirl, Ireland, May, 1856

A. H. McKay, Virginia, April, 1856

James Clugston, Indiana, August, 1856

N. Denton, England, 1856

Charles Paxson, Pennsylvania, 1856

John Magirl, Ireland, 1856

D. Pierce, Massa­chusetts, 1856

G. S. Snover, New Jersey, March, 1856

Mrs. E. P. Orvis, Maine, 1856

A. F. Coon, New York, June, 1857

H. N. Cornish, New York, 1857

D. R. Lewis, New York, 1857

A. Sledon, Massachusetts, April, 1857

Thomas Vibbard, New York, 1858

A. S. Blair, New York, October, 1858

Seth Brown, England, January, 1858

J. U. Schelling, Switzerland, 1858

J. B. Frentress, Illinois, March, 1860

L. S. Gates, Ohio, 1860

Mrs. J. F. Gillespie, Michigan, June, 1861

S. W. Green, New York, 1861

E. O. Clemens, Massachusetts, June, 1855

Alfred Coates, New York, October, 1854

Ann Coates, New York, October, 1854

Philemon Stowe, Thomas E. Averitt, Wisconsin, July, 1855

William S. Adams, Pennsylvania, 1854

Thomas Cole, New York, June, 1847

Daniel S. Cairl, Pennsylvania, November, 1854

Michael Cole, Tennessee, Sep­tember, 1853

Thomas Carrigan, Canada, November, 1851

Benjamin Coleman, Pennsylvania, April, 1850

Marion Cloud, Pennsylvania, November, 1848

Francis Curler, Vermont, June, 1849

George Conrad, Illinois, April, 1849

Joseph Chapman, New York, December, 1850

P. C. Boisinger, Penn­sylvania, April, 1847

William Bohnenkamp, Germany, August, 1846

John V. Bush, Pennsylvania, October, 1852

William Barker, Rhode Island, 1857

George W. Bush, Pennsylvania, 1853

C. Bockenstedt, Ger­many, 1856

James Dickson, Indiana, 1857

Robert Dickson, Scotland, 1851

William Ellis, New York, I860

John Fishel, Ohio, June, 1850

Joseph Grimes, New York, June, 1845

William H. Graves, New Hampshire, April, 1848

G. H. Goodken, Ohio, 1846

J. Hubbard, Connecticut, April, 1841

Pat­rick Hogan, Pennsylvania, May, 1845

Hezekiah Hubbard, Pennsylvania, 1846

James Hughes, New York, May, 1852

Harmie Hulbert, Illinois, May, 1853

Joseph Holbert, Pennsylvania, April, 1855

Jerome B. Jacobs, New York, June, 1856

John D. Klaus, Missouri, August, 1842

H. H. Klaus, Missouri, June, 1845

Anton Knipling, Germany, June, 1854

Rudolph Keller, Penn­sylvania, March, 1855

Henry Kipp, Illinois, April, 1857

David Knee, Pennsyl­vania, April, 1855

S. G. Knee, Pennsylvania. April, 1855

John H. Knee, Pennsylvania, April, 1855

James Knee, Pennsylvania, April, 1855

Frank Keller, Pennsylvania, March, 1855

O. H. T. Knee, Pennsylvania, April, 1855

Jacob Landis, Pennsylvania, April, 1842

Joshua Landis, Pennsylvania, April, 1842

Jacob Landis, Jr., Pennsylvania, April, 1842

Theodore Lampman, Germany, April, 1849

B. H. Luhrsman, Ohio. April, 1855

J. B. Moreland, Pennsylvania, April, 1839

George Link, Germany, April, 1858

Frederick Merten, Missouri, May, 1843

John S. Merten, Missouri, September, 1843

L. McNamee, Missouri, September, 1842

E. L. McNamee, Missouri, September, 1842

Joseph Malvin, Pennsylvania, September, 1846

John McMahon, Iowa, September, 1846

F. O. Nichols, New York, September, 1852

Herman Ovel, Germany, September, 1852

John Platt, Pennsylvania, September, 1843

Jacob Platt, Pennsylvania, September, 1843

Jeremiah Page, Missouri, September, 1847

Perry Perkins, Missouri, September, 1848

Daniel Partridge, Ohio, Sep­tember, 1853

James Rutherford, Illinois, July, 1838

William Reueepiper, Germany, July, 1846

G. W. Rea, Ohio, July, 1848

A. Rea, Ohio, July, 1848

George T. Rea, Ohio, July, 1848

R. Steadman, Canada, July, 1855

Charles Simon, New York, May, 1849

F. B. Simons, New York, April, 1849

Jacob D. Smith, Pennsylvania, April, 1843

Philip Stillinger, Ohio, 1855

Edward Smout, Pennsylvania, April, 1852

Jacob H. Smith, Pennsylvania, April, 1858

Henry Tapka, Ohio, April, 1855

John C. Wood, England, June. 1848

R. Wilson, New York, May, 1851

A. Partridge, Ohio, April, 1853

The society still holds together and has its annual reunions, which mean the gathering, in a stated place, of not the pioneers any more, but their rep­resentatives and friends, many of whom, it may be said, are well advanced in years and experience, who rehearse upon these occasions the stories told them by their forbears of the country as it was in the ^‘40s; and how the men and women of those days first settled in the timber, the trees of which they cut into logs for the building of their first cabin homes; how they cleared a patch of ground and, when the timberland became scarce, they tell of the first venture­some spirits who had the hardihood to go onto the prairies and turn over the sod, which was then an unknown quantity to the husbandman. The men and women of Iowa pioneer days had very little, if any, faith in the productivity of the prairie soil. That is to say, they placed but little value upon it for farming purposes. These old folks also tell, as they best can recollect, of the many hardships and privations of their parents and grandparents, of their joys and sorrows and the many shifts they were put to in order to make two ends meet. Practically, the same narratives are told with each recurring year, but, for all that, they retain a peculiar interest and atmosphere that always attracts and edifies.