(Read at the meeting of 1879)
I greet you all, old pioneers,
With pleasant words and hearty cheers,
Where yon shall meet this summer day
To celebrate your lengthened stay
In that fair land which erst you chose .
For living homes and last repose.
Alas! look round and count the faces,
And then again the vacant places,
Of those who are and those who were Partakers of our hardships share
In our old band of pioneers,
And give the absent ones our cheers.
I greet you all now once again,
As brothers all and noble men,
Beneath whose hands the wilderness
Did blossom as the rose, and bless
A thousand happy homes and dear,
Which greet you e'er with pleasant cheer.
SOLON KOBINSON, JACKSONVILLE, Florida, July 25,1879.
MEMBERS.
The list of the original members of 1875 is not at hand and is probably lost. At the meeting in 1879 a list was
made out and published in the Register - thirty-six "pioneers" and forty seven "old settlers"
having been enrolled at that anniversary. From that list and the list of this year the following list of membership
is compiled. After each date the names are given of members settling that year.
1835-John B. Wilkinson, Mrs. P. A. Banks, Loren Hixon, Amos Hornor, James Adams, Mrs. Susan Clark, Mrs. Wm. Fisher,
Mrs. H. Robertson, W. A. W. Holton, W. R. Williams.
1836-Dudley Merrill, Charles Marvin, D. C. Taylor, H. R. Nichols, N. Wood.
1837-B. Woods, Henry Hayward, T. H. Ball, Mrs. Moses Phillips, O. W. Clark, Mrs. Betsy Frazier, Z. P. Farley, Joseph
Hack, Mrs. James Fuller, George Phillips, Mrs. M. J. Pearce.
1838-John C. Kenyon, Mrs. J. C. Kenyon, Henry Sasse, Senr., J. W. Kenney, Henry Surprise, Henry Sasse, Junr., Adam
Schmal, George Willey, David Turner, Mrs. M. J. Hack, Mrs. Cynthia Willey.
1839-J. J. Michael, James Fuller.
1840-L. W. Thompson, Mrs. L. W. Thompson, Mrs. T. Fisher, John Brown.
1842-Mrs. J. H. Luther.
1843-Wm. Brown, Mrs. W. Brown, Amos Allman, Mrs. Elmer Brannon.
1844 -D. K. Pettibone.
1845-Mrs. Susan G. Wood.
1846 -Henry Dickinson.
1848-C. Manahan, Jacob Wise, Mrs. Maria Wise.
1849-J. H. Luther, Mrs. Eliza Marvin.
1850-Henry R. Ward, Mrs. H. R. Ward, T. Fisher, Hull Irish.
1851-George Krinbill, Mrs. G. Krinbill, John Donch, Mrs. S. Witherell.
1852-L. Dresser, Mrs. L. Dresser, Mrs. Barbara Knisely, Major Atkins, Mrs. M. Atkins, Samuel W. Smith, Mrs. George
Nichols, James Doak.
1854-Ross Wilson, Mrs. R. Wilson, P. A. Banks, John Martin, Thomas Bowers.
1857-H. Wason, Mrs. H. Wason.
1860-Mrs. Martin Foster.
Dates not given.-Mrs. W. A. Winslow, Mrs. M. J. Dinwiddie, F. C. Meyer, Mrs. M. C. C. Ball, Mrs. F. Foster, C.
W. Wise, Moses Phillips, W. A. Winslow, Mrs. J. J. Michael, Mrs. D. A. Chapman, J. W. Bates, Mrs. E. Clark, O.
Dinwiddie, A. P. Thompson, Mrs. H. Surprise, Mrs. P. Kenney, L. D. Holmes, Mrs. C. C. Merrill, Mrs. L. Teeple,
Mrs. Zeni Burnham, Mrs. J. W. Hughes, Mrs. H. Sasse, Junr., Mrs. Margaret Cilman, Mrs. W. R. Nichols, Mrs. T. C.
Rockwell, R. H. Wells, Mrs. J. Fisher, Mrs. D. Turner, Mrs. A. Allman, Henry Pettibone, Alfred Winslow, E. P. Ames,
Mrs. C. C. Allman, John Frazier, Mrs. D. C. Taylor, Mrs. Nathan Wood, John G. Hoffman, Joseph A. Little, Mrs. M.
G. Little, Mrs. B. Williams, Mrs. Mary Edgerton, Mrs. J. Brown, Mrs. O. G. Wheeler, Mrs. L. V. Serjeant, Mrs. J.
Doak, A. J. Pratt, Mrs. A. J. Pratt, Mrs. Smith, Charles Dolton, Mrs. C. Dolton, Mrs. A. Knowlton, Mrs. B. Judson,
Mrs. R. H. Wells, B. Brown, Mrs. Brown.
There are probably other members, but their names are not on these two lists of 1879 and 1884.
EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL REPORTS.
1879.-The death was reported of Mrs. Ann C. Wheeler, daughter of J. D. Jones, who came to Lake county in 1847,
widow of Col. Wheeler. She died Jan. 10, 1879, being nearly forty-nine years of age. Also the death of Alexander
Clark, son of Judge Clark, who came as a boy among the pioneers in February, 1835, who died of a lingering disease
Feb. 22d, 1879, fifty-six years of age. Also of Rev. R. B. Young, a resident for about twenty-five years, who died
April 24th, 1879, seventy-four years of age. Also of Mrs. Julia Merrill, wife of O. L. Merrill, daughter of Jesse
Pierce, who died May 7th, 1869, twenty-six years of age. Also Mrs. Martha Parrish, widow of an old settler, who
died at the residence of O. Pierce, March 3d, 1879, eighty-four years of age. Also Mrs. E. Benton, mother of Mrs.
Parley A. Banks, and widow of a pioneer, who died at Englewood, Illinois, July 19th, 1879, eighty-two years of
age. Also Zerah F. Summers, who had almost completed twenty-five years of residence, who died July 31st, 1879.
1880.--The death was reported of Mrs. Harriet W. Holton, the first teacher in our county, and for several years
the oldest woman in our limits, who died October 17th, 1879, at the residence of her son, William A. W. Holton,
being ninety-seven years of age. This report made Sept. 9th, 1880, says:
"A member of one of the pioneer families, Mrs. Annie Turner Morgan, in October last, left the home of her
father and the home circle and the land of her birth, crossed the ocean, landed in Europe, and then sailed for
Southern Asia, where she is now with her husband and daughter, the first representative from Lake county as a Christian
missionary among the heathen."
1881.-From a lengthy report the following is taken. Mrs. J. A. H. Ball died Oct. 14th, 1880, seventy-six years
of age. John Mereness died Feb. 1, 1881, nearly seventy-two years of age. In the same month died Jacob Hurlburt,
who was with the surveyors here in 1834, who guided Solon Robinson in October of that year to this spot which is
now Crown Point, who, then a resident of Porter county, afterward removed into Lake, and at whose "home his
fellow pioneers and settler friends were sure of finding the old-time hospitality." The deaths were also reported
of two pioneer women, Mrs. J. C. Kinyon and Mrs. Henry Sanger.
Finding human remains at Cedar Lake in October, 1880, was also reported.
1883.-Several interesting items are found in this report .given at some length. The deaths are: Hiram Post, a resident
in South East Grove for thirty-three years, died Aug. 19th, age eighty-seven years. Mrs. George Fuller, aged sixty-seven
years, died Aug. 20th. Asa E. Flint, who came to this county in childhood in 1836, died Aug. 25th, fifty-four years
of age. Jacob Platt died August 5th, age eighty-three. Lorenzo D. Holmes, a resident since about 1838, died at
Ross in the spring of this year.
Among landmarks removed the following were reported: The first Methodist church building was taken down in the
fall of 1882; the Crown Point bakery in July, 1883; and the First Baptist church building, completed in 1856, was
taken down in August, 1883.
Source: Lake County, Indiana, 1884 : an account of the semi-centennial celebration
of Lake County, September 3 and 4, with historical papers and other interesting records prepared for this volume
Authors: T H B; E H Woodard; Tuthill King; Charles W Cathcart
City of Publication: Crown Point, Ind.
Publisher: Printed at the Lake County Star Office
Date: 1884
Transcribed by K. Torp
