CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

AT the annual meeting of this society, held on November 16, 1887, Edward G. Mason was elected president, vice E. B. Washburne, deceased; and on December 6, John Moses was elected secretary and librarian, vice A. D. Hager, resigned. At the regular quarterly meeting held on January 17, the report of the secretary and librarian was read, showing additions to the library of 67 bound volumes and 157 pamphlets. An extended report was made by the executive committee from which the following extracts

are taken: "They have gathered together and arranged from the society's files a sufficient number of papers and documents to constitute a new volume of the society's collections, which will shortly be placed in the society's hands.

"They have under very careful consideration the subject of a new society building, and expect to present at the next quarterly meeting a well-matured plan in reference to it and a sufficient subscription to justify the commencement of its construction. As a matter of interest to the members of the society, the committee also report that the trustees of the Gilpin fund have, by application to the proper court, as required by Mr. Gilpin's will, caused the vacancies in that trusteeship to be filled, and the present trustees of that fund, now amounting to eighty-six thousand dollars, are: Augustus H. Burley, Edwin H. Sheldon, Peter L. Yoe, Henry J. Willing, Alexander C. McClurg and Edward G. Mason."

MAHONING VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

THE efficient secretary of this organization that has done so much in the preservation of historical matter in the Western Reserve, has kindly furnished us with the following notes concerning its past and present:

The present officers of the society are as follows: General T. J. McLain of Warren, Ohio, president; Dr. Jackson Truesdale of Canfield, Ohio, first vice-president; Honorable Sheldon Newton of Boardman, Ohio, second vice-president; Harmon Austin, esquire, Warren, Ohio, third vice-president; Dr. J. F. Wilson of Youngstown, Ohio, secretary; Mr. J. F. McEwen of Youngstown, Ohio, treasurer.

Directors-Henry Tod, esquire, Colonel C. B. Wick, General A. W. Jones, Professor R. McMillan, W. W. McKrown, esquire, Dr. J. F. Wilson, all of Youngstown, Ohio; and General T. J. McLain, Honorable John M. Stull of Warren.

I may say regarding the Pioneer reunion that they have been held annually since 1874, and have always been largely attended. A few years ago a register was opened and since that time the autographs of most of the old people attending, with a statement of their age and address, has annually been obtained. This register promises to be a very interesting book as the years go by. About two hundred and fifty to three hundred aged people have left their names annually. At the last reunion, September 14, 1887, there were three names of persons present who were over 90 years of age, 19 were between 80 and 90, 77 between 70 and 80, 82 between 60 and 70, while there were 86 below 60 years of age.

The oldest person present is regarded the hero of the occasion, while the emulation of sturdy old fellows to show the greatest number of years, with still vigorous bodies, has afforded much entertainment. On one occasion, five generations of one pioneer family in the valley were exhibited. The citizens of Youngstown have each year furnished a free dinner to the old folks, and special care is taken to give them an enjoyable day.

J. F. WILSON, Secretary.

AN OPEN LETTER TO A. A. GRAHAM, ESQ.
MADISON, WISCONSIN, February 23, 1888.

A. A. Graham, Esq. :

MY DEAR SIR :-In your excellent paper entitled, "The Beginning of Education in the Northwest Territory," printed in the last (February) number of the MAGAZINE of Western HISTORY, pp. 422-434, is this sentence :

"June 5 [1788] James Varnum brought a number of emigrants [to the mouth of the Muskingum] among whom were Mr. James Owen and his wife, to whom belongs the honor of being the first woman to settle in the [northwest] territory. Women as captives, or as wives of soldiers and officers, had preceded her to the western wilderness, but none were before her in the role of a settler."

In connection with this, I take the liberty of calling your attention, with high respect, to the following letter, which came into my possession a few days after its date, and which would have been published immediately had not sickness prevented me from giving it to the public:

PITTSBURGH, April 2, 1887.

EDITOR MAGazine WesteRN HISTORY:

Some delay was inevitable in answering your request to give the names of families and individuals who had settled in the territory [northwest] of the Ohio, near Philip Cable [see Magazine of WestERN HISTORY, Vol. V., p. 166 (November, 1886), where the writer asserts that "there is not the slightest trouble to establish the fact that Philip Cable, a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, settled on the western bank of the Ohio at what is still known as Cable's Eddy, in 1785"], prior to 1788-as many of their descendants are widely scattered over the country, and who had never thought that the date of the settlement of their fathers would become a question of history. The families in the immediate neighborhood were the family of Michael Myers, the celebrated scout and Indian fighter, the Hoffmans, the Leeches, Thomas Kells and the Betz family, a man named Burke, the ferryman, Silas Paul, afterwards the first state's

attorney. There were still others. There was another settlement a few miles below, near what is now Warrenton. The names of the leading men were John Carpenter, Robert and Abner Waddle, Joseph Tilton, George Boskins, one Scammerhorn (the last killed by the Indians), and the Morrison family, whose daughter, Elizabeth Morrison, was born in the territory at this point September 7, 1787. This lady had been [was afterward] a prisoner with the Indians. She was twice married; first to a man named Shrimplin, and after his death to a Mr. Blair, and in her old age removed to her son's home in Harvard township, Knox county, Ohio. There were many other settlers which will no doubt come to the front, Jacob Nessly, the grandfather of J. Nessly McCullough, the vice-president of the Pennsylvania railroad, was a frequent and welcome visitor at the block-house, as he was considered a safe counselor in times of great danger. These settlers had carried the laws under which they had formerly lived into the wilderness, and all disputes between neighbors were settled by those rules of equity and written laws governing the older settlements, while crime was punished with a promptness and certainty unknown in the present administration of justice.

DR. WM. W. CABLE,
151 Second Ave.

Now, Mr. Graham, the writer of the letter just given, asserts, in the MAGAzine of WesTERN HISTORY, Vol. V., p. 166 (November, 1886), that "his [Philip Cable's] eldest son, Ephraim Cable, was born on his farm [at Cable's Eddy], March 15, 1787. and lived there continuously until his death, December 4, 1875." Does not this prove that Mrs. Owen, the wife of James Owen, was not the first white woman that settled in the "territory northwest of the River Ohio," as mentioned by you? that at least one woman preceded her as a settler? and that that woman was the mother of Ephraim Cable? What say you?

CONSUL WILlshire ButteERFIELD.

It is with much Regret I find myself under the Disagreable Necessity of Addressing you on the Subject of my present unhappy Situation. I must Confess I Stept into the Business to precipitately & in an unthinking manner, But never being at any of their Riots nor Meetings untill Braddocks field, which was meerly Acidental, & then Spoke Largely to the People for Peace, though after that Chosen As a member of the Committee, & with Reluctance & through Persuasion went and what I said there was Rather from Precedent, persuasion & being Timid from the heat of the people than any Design against Governmt. I can now Appeal to that God who knows that my Attachmt to Governmt was always Such that never such a Design Entered my mind, as I have always Supported the Character of a Great friend to the Interet of the united States in our former Contest & Still trying to keep our frontiers Together by which I Lost a wife & three Children killed, & two Scalp'd alive, & now

am suffering, & my Spirits so Depres'd that I know not what to Do. I Try'd for Peace on the present Ocasion in Several Instances, wrote to Esqr Sidgwick on the Subject, who is here also

my Nerves is in Such a Condition I Cant write but when Cald upon Shall try to Give a Detail to the Court of my Proceedings &c. & If I am Spar'd Shall Take notice of those who have So misled me as indeed I have already for not one of them has had my Voice at the lection nor I hope never Shall &c.

Oh Gentlemen if you will try to help a Destroyed friend. it shall ever be Gratefully Acknowledged by

Yr Very Humble & Obedient Servt
JOHN CORBLYS

Messrs.
Genl John & Colo Presley Neville

JULY 28th, 1794.

Sir, Having had suspicions that the Pittsburgh post would carry with him the sentiments of some of the people in the country, respecting our present situation, and the letters by the post being now in our possession by which certain secrets are discovered hostile to our interest, it is therefore now come to that crisis, that every citizen must express his sentiments, not by words, but by his actions. You are then called upon as a citizen of the western country to render your personal service, with as many volunteers as you can raise to rendezvous at your usual place of meeting on Wednesday next, and thence you will march to the usual place of rendezvous at Braddock's Field, on the Monongahela, on Fri

PITTSBURGH, August 8, 1794. Sir, I have received no papers from you; your letter by the post is the first I have heard from you. I take the opportunity to give you, in return, a summary of the present state of this country, with respect to the opposition that exists to the excise law. It has its origin not in any antifederal spirit, I assure you. It is chiefly the principles and operation of the law itself, that renders it obnoxious. Be this as it may, the facts are these: The opposition, which for some time shewed itself in resolves of committees, in representations to government, in masked attacks on insignificant deputy excise officers, for only such would accept the appointment did at length, on the appearance of the marshal in this country to serve process, break out into an open and direct attack on the inspector of the revenue himself, general Neville. These circumstances you will by this time have heard, from the general himself, and from the marshal, major Lenox. Subsequent to their departure from the country, notice was given of a meeting on the Monongahela river, about eighteen miles from the town of Pittsburgh. Six delegates, of whom I was one, were sent from this town. Nothing material was done at this meeting, but the measure agreed upon

of a more general meeting, on the 14th of August, near the same place, to take into view the present state of affairs of the country.

Subsequent to this, the mail was intercepted, characters in Pittsburgh became obnoxious by letters found, in which sentiments construed to evince a bias in favour of the excise law, were discovered. In consequence of this it was thought necessary to demand of the town that those persons should be delivered up or expelled or any other obnoxious character that might reside there: also, that the exice office still kept in Pittsburgh, or said to be kept there, should be pulled down; the house of Abraham Kirkpatrick, burnt, or pulled down; other houses also, that were the property of persons unfavourable to the cause. For this purpose, circular letters were sent to battalions of the counties, detachments from which met on Braddock's field, to the amount of at least five thousand men, on the 2d of the month. It was dreaded, on the part of the town, that from the rage of the people involving the town in the general odium of abetting the excise law, it would be laid in ashes. And I aver that it would have been the case, had it not been for the prompt and decisive resolutions of the town, to march out and meet them as brethren, and comply with all demands. This had the effect, and the battalions marched into town on the 3d, and during their delay there, and cantoment in the neighbourhood, with a trifling exception of a slight damage done to the property of Abraham Kirkpatrick, in the possession of his tenant, which was afterwards compensated, behaved with all the regularity and order of the French or American armies, in their march through a town during the revolution with Great Britain.

The town of Pittsburgh will send delegates to the meeting of the 14th instant-what the result will be, I know not. I flatter myself, nothing more than to send commissioners to the President with an address, proposing that he shall delay any attempt to surpress this insurrection, as it will be stiled, until the meeting of Congress. This will be the object, simply and alone, with all that labour to avert

a civil war.

On the part of the government, I would earnestly pray a delay until such address and commissioners may come forward. This is my object in writing you this letter, which I desire you to communicate either by Gazette, or otherwise.

It will be said, this insurrection can be easily suppressed-it is but that of a part of four counties. Be assured, it is that of the greater part-and I am induced to believe, the three Virginia counties, on this side the mountain, will fall in. The first measure then will be, the orginization of a new government, comprehending the three Virginia counties, and those of Pennsylvania, to the westward, to what extent I know not. This event, which I contemplate with great pain, will be the result of the necessity of self-defense. For this reason, I earnestly and anxiously wish that delay on the part of government may give time to bring about, if practicable, good order and subordination. By the time Congress meets, there may be a favourable issue to the negociation, with regard to the navigation of the Mississippi, the western posts &c. A suspension of the excise law, during the Indian war, a measure I proposed in a publication three years ago, in Philadelphia, may, perhaps suffice. Being then on an equal footing with other parts of the union, if they submitted to the law, this country might also.

I anticipate all that can be said with regard to example, &c. I may be mistaken, but I am decisive in opinion that the United States cannot effect the operation of the law in this country. It is universally odius in the neighbouring parts of all the neighbouring states, and the militia under the law, in the hands of the President cannot be called to reduce an opposition. The midland counties, I am persuaded, will not even suffer the militia of more distant parts of the union, to pass through them.

But the excise law is a branch of the funding system, detested and abhorred by all the philosophic men, and the yeomanry of America, those who hold certificates excepted. There is a growling, lurking discontent at this sys

tem, that is ready to burst out and discover itself every where. I candidly and decidedly tell you, the chariot of government has been driven Jehu like as to finances; like that of Phaton, it has descended from the middle path, and is likely to burn up the American earth.

Should an attempt be made to suppress these people, I am afraid the question will not be, whether you will march to Pittsburgh, but whether they will march to Philadelphia, accumulating in their course, and swelling over the banks of the Susquehanna like a torrent, irresistible, and devouring in its progress. There can be no equality of contest, between the rage of a forest, and the abundance, indolence, and opulence of a city. If the President has evinced a prudent and approved delay in the case of the British spoilations, in the case of the Indian tribes; much more humane and politic will it be to consult the internal peace of the government, by avoiding force until every means of accomodation are found unavailing. I deplore my personal situation; I deplore the situation of this country, should a civil war ensue.

An application to the British is spoken of, which, may God avert. But what will not dispair produce?

Your most obedient servant
HUGH H. BRACKENRIDGE.

The severe indisposition of Mrs. Lenox obliged me to return to Philadelphia without my having the pleasure of seeing my Pittsburgh friends. My Portmanteau has not as yet made its appearance, I am therefore apprehensive it may have been left somewhere on the road. Will you be good enough to give directions to some of our friends, now on their return, to make enquiry, I will also thank you to make enquiry after my Saddles & Bridles. My best Saddle I mean that Colo Neville should keep in lieu of his which was sent to me down the