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Old
Settlers Association
of Douglas County
The
Pioneers of Douglas County
Organize
The
Constitution Adopted and Principal
Officers Elected Last Evening
An
adjourned meeting of the old settlers was held last evening at the court house
for the purpose of organizing the Old Settlers' Association of Douglas County.
The
meeting was enthusiastic and the attendance
remarkably large considering the weather.
Upon
motion of Hon. A, J. Poppleton, Hon. P. W. Hitchcock was chosen chairman and Mr. Peter Gibson secretary.
The
report of the committee on constitution was presented by Mr. Alf. D. Jones. In making it Mr. Jones said that the report
was not exactly in accord with the views expressed at the last meeting, but was
shaped by the conversations he had with old settlers since that time, and
was more with the popular voice.
Upon
motion of Mr. Hugus the constitution was read section by section and discussed. The following is the text:
Mr.
Chairman:
Your committee
appointed to draft a constitution most respectfully submit the
following as the
result of their investigation and duties performed, with the
recommendation
that the drafts, herewith presented may be adopted as the
constitution of this
association.
Preamble
The
subscribers, pioneers, squatters, early settlers and inhabitants of Douglas County,
Nebraska, being desirous of the promotion of social intercourse, by meeting
together at convenient times to compare notes, consider reports, listen to studied
addresses, to preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of the interesting facts
and reminiscences in reference to the early pioneering, settlement and history
of our frontiersmen, who braved the dangers and endured the hardships of a squatter
life in the wilds of Nebraska, but more particularly of Douglas County, our
adopted home, and to many our place of nativity, we have agreed to form
ourselves into a society, to be designated and known as the Old Settlers'
Association of Douglas County, Nebraska.
Constitution
Section
1. The association shall be composed of members who are residents of Douglas
County, and who were twenty-one years of age, end lived in the territory of
Nebraska at the date of the organization of the city government 0n March 5th,
1857.
Sec.
2. Each person making application for membership shall be required to give a
statement of the date of arrival, preparation for settlement, and the time of
acquiring a residence, together with such other corroborating facts, as may be
deemed essential by the association or its committees having the subject of
membership under consideration.
Sec. 3.
All the facts presented in reference to membership shall be referred to
appropriate committees to ascertain the true status of the questions and data
to be considered, and the result of the investigation shall be reported in
writing by the committee to this association at the first regular meeting to be
held after the making of such reference.
Sec.
4. The members shall pay such initiatory fee and quarterly dues as may be required
by the Association, to pay current expenses.
Sec.
5. The officers of the Association shall consist of a President, one vice-President
for the city of Omaha, a vice-president for each voting precinct beyond the
city limits, and a Secretary, who shall also act as Treasurer, all of whom
shall be elected annually at the regular meeting in January, to serve until
their successors are chosen, and take charge of their respective official
positions
Sec. 6.
The following named committees to consist of three each, shall be appointed by
the chair to serve as standing committees until their successors are appointed:
Executive, Membership, Squatter, Occupation, Incidents, Miscellaneous.
Sec.
7. Tee officers and committees shall perform tee usual duties of their respective
positions, and the Society will be governed by the generally accepted parliamentary
law.
Sec.
8. Quarterly meetings of the association shall be held 0n the first Monday
evening of January, April. July and October for the transaction of general business,
and to which all officers and committees shall submit reports in writing for
the consideration of the association.
Sec.
9. At the meetings to be held in April and October general addresses shall be
delivered by selected speakers for those particular occasions.
Sec.
10. All meetings shall be open to the public, and ladies and gentlemen invited
to attend.
Sec.
11. All members will be required to sign the constitution.
Sec.
12. The executive committee shall have charge and transact all business during
the interim of the meetings of the association.
Sec.
13. This constitution may be amended at any regular meeting by two-thirds of
the members present.
On
the reading of the first section, Mr. Poppleton moved an amendment, showing
that under the section as it stood the membership must dwindle away and finally
become extinct. He would substitute for it a qualification of twenty-one years
actual residence in the state and present residents in Douglas
County
Mr.
Jones said the objection to the broader qualification was that at least eight
hundred members would join at the start, and young men would be admitted whose ideas
would be in conflict with those of the older men. Messrs. Woolworth, Swift, Dr.
Miller, Peter Gibson, Hugus and J. S. Gibson also participated in the
discussion.
Dr. Miller
inquired if a continuous residence were considered necessary.
Mr.
Peter Gibson moved as an amendment to Mr. Poppleton’s amendment, that all
persons residents of Nebraska
prior to January 1, 1837,
and now residents of Douglas County
be eligible to membership.
Mr.
J. S. Gibson did not see why a continuous residence should be essential, and
moved that any person who has been a resident prior to a certain date for any time
in Nebraska should be eligible.
Mr. Peter
Gibson saw that he was one of the many who would be shut out by the section as
reported, and while they would abide by the decision, still felt it not right
to be shut out.
Mr.
Jones said be had been in favor of a proposition something like Mr. Gibson's, but
had feared it would make the association too large.
The
chairman remarked that the spring of 1837 brought many settlers to Nebraska,
whom Mr. Jones proposition would rule
out, and who felt they had a right to be considered old settlers.
Mr.
Swift said it seemed as if any honor to be had should belong to the people who had stayed through the storms and the ups and downs of the country. He remembered how in '59 and '6O many left and
the people who went away came back only because they could not sell their
property and get their money out of it.
Dr.
Smith could not see how we who had stayed should arrogate to ourselves any
great glory because we had not the facilities for getting out of the country,
[laughter and applause.]
Gen.
Estabrook thought that a residence in the country in some era—say, the era of
claims, should be made the requisite for membership. It should be that time when men went with a
large, strong force and dropped a man into the Missouri river
for jumping a claim. He does not regard
an old settler a man who came here after the Union Pacific Railroad bill passed
and the future of the place was settled. He believed that the purpose of this society
was to gather up the history of that peculiarly early period.
Dr.
Miller said he would fall back upon Gen. Poppletons amendment, with the
qualification that persons residing here prior to ‘56 and residing here now
should be eligible.
Mr.
Woolworth did not agree with the proposition of Mr. Jones that young persons
who were here at an early day but not of age should be excluded.
Two
principles were to be conserved in this organization—the historical and the
personal, and the idea of Gen. Poppleton's proposition with Dr. Miller's
suggestion he thought the best.
The
vote was then taken on the amendments to section first.
Mr.
Gibson's proposition to embrace all residents of Nebraska
on July '67 was lost. Geo. Poppleton's
proposition to make eligible all residents of Nebraska
for 21 years previous to their application, and who now are residents of Douglas
County, was adopted.
Section
first as amended was adopted, and each succeeding Section and then the preamble
and constitution as a whole were adopted.
On
motion of Gen. Poppleton the Secretary was instructed to have published in the
newspapers the qualifications, and invite persons eligible to send in their
names before the next meeting in July.
The
election of officers was next in order and the following were elected:
The
further election of vice presidents was postponed to give members in the
country precincts the choice of their own.
President
Lowe was escorted to the chair, amid applause, and gracefully made his
acknowledgments.
Mr.
Peter Gibson read the following, and upon motion of Dr. Miller thanks were
returned:
Nebraska
City, June 9, 1870.
Thos.
Gibson, Secretary Old Settler Association, Omaha,
Neb.
Dear
Sir—In behalf of the Old Settlers Association of Otoe county, I take
pleasure
in extending to the pioneers of Douglas
County a cordial invitation
to be
present at our annual picnic to be held Thursday, June the 10th, 1870.
Hon.
D. H. Calhoun, of this place, will deliver the address, and a real old
fashioned
reunion of the pioneers of Nebraska
will be held.
Respectful
yours,
J, W.
Pearman, Secretary.
The
charter members came forward and signed
the constitution, and then the association adjourned to meet on tee first Monday in July.
The
roll is as follows:
Alf. D. Jones
Enos Lowe
Wm. P. Snowden
George L. Miller
Experience Estabrook
Richard Kimball
John Evans
J. T. Allan
Walter Walker
John Logan
Thomas Gibson
Chas. Childs
Chas. Powell
Chas. P. Birkett
Henry A Kosters
Thos. Swift
M. Robling
John A.
Horback
Henry Livisey
Geo. Smith
G. M. Conoyer
F. H. Latoy
J. B. Gibson
Dominick Scherrer
Julius Rudowsky
James P. Peck
James L. Woolworth
Henry Grebe
P. W. Hitchcock
J. M. Winship
John H. Logan
Charles R. Radick
Frederick
B. Lowe
James Smith
The Omaha Daily Herald - June 13, 1879
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