1894 Pioneer Picnic

The first thing upon awaking Friday morning last that entered the minds of those at all interested and thought of the matter at all was that there would be no pioneer picnic held on that day as the clouds looked very threatening and as though they had come to stay and give us an all day rain. President Kanouse came to the village the day before to see that all arrangements were properly made and after consultation with those interested here he decided, as it had commenced to rain, to postpone the picnic, but as the hour of noon approached the rain ceased, and people came to the village by the hundred and as Judge Kanouse afterwards expressed it in his speech, "the pesky thing would not stay postponed." Soon after dinner, the people began to congregate in the Opera house, the band and choir were hastily summoned and by that time, the Opera house was filled with people and many were unable to get seats. President Kanouse called the meeting to order, explained the situation and after a beautiful piece of music which was finely rendered by the Baptist choir, prayer was offered by the Rev. Wm. Haw and the welcome address was given by G.L. Adams. The response was to have been given by Mr. Albert Dodge, but after the postponement in the forenoon, Mr. Dodge had arranged to leave on the afternoon train and Judge Kanouse filled his place with a few words. Dr. W.B. Fox, of Bancroft then delivered his address, which contained much of his address, which contained much of his pioneer experience in this county when he commenced the practice of medicine, together with the privations and some of the pleasures of pioneer life. Many of his experiences were heartily responded to from different parts of the room by the old pioneers, many of whom were cognizant of the facts.

This was followed by a beautiful and original poem by Mr. T.R. Shields.

Next came five minute talks by Judge Kanouse, Rev. Wm. Haw, J.W. Stiles, L.H. Pullen, Allen Beard, Prof. Barnes, M. Sabin, Mrs. D. Benjamin, C.W. Barber, Joseph Rider and Rev. C. Carey Willett, each giving some very interesting and some very thrilling experiences of their early pioneer life in the state and county.

The rain in the morning kept many of the pioneers from different parts of the county from being present, but those who were able to attend, pronounced it one of the best meetings they have every enjoyed and were loud in the praise of the citizens of the village and surrounding country for the interest they took in the meeting and for the elegant manner in which they had been entertained.

The preceding article was found in the local newspaper -- wouldn't it have been so interesting to hear actual accounts of living the pioneer lifestyle? If I ever come across any, I will definitely do a post.