Old Settlers Reunion 1900

by Ella Hull Fulton

From the Valley Falls Vindicator, Sept. 10, 1926

Mrs. T.H. Fulton writes in a reminiscent way about the old settlers reunion which she and her husband attended this year, and recalls how it was about 26 years ago.

The merry-go-round is still one of the main attractions of the Old Settlers Reunion. Photo courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society.

“We would get up early to make preparations and take our dinner and a bucket and cups for the splendid coffee that was furnished free with real cream. The lumber wagon period had passed and most of the farmers had lifted the mortgage and had a better conveyance; so we drew out the carriage and put the big farm team to it. Started early, the younger sons and daughters with pa and ma, the older ones coming with their best girl or fellow as the case might be. As we went south the procession would be coming—the Leavertons, the Pences, the Pipers and Grahams from Fairfield, also the McClennys and further down the Graysons and the Plum Grove people would turn out into the road—the Merediths and Jeffries and the Rickmans. We could scarcely wait to see and shake hands with them and compare notes. Along with the pioneer days had gone the sunbonnets and ruffled calico dresses, and we all had good dresses and hats, and some aspired to kid gloves. Uncle Ike Hull, coming in 1854, would get the hat for the oldest settler, and Mrs. Rickman and Mrs. Low, coming a few months later, in close competition. Ben Meredith would win a prize for the most children of one family on the ground. Willets or Reardon would make a speech to the farmers, sometimes the Governor would get there. The merry-go-round would entertain the children and then the balloon would go up. No use to try to get a bunch started for home until the balloon performance. Then we would all go, tired but happy over a day well spent.”

Mrs. Fulton thinks maybe she and her husband would have taken the prize for the

oldest married couple on the grounds, but there were two other couples, dating their married life further back.

Ella Hull Fulton grew up in Boyle, a small farming community between Valley Falls and Winchester in Jefferson County, Kansas. She wrote local news and historical items for the Winchester Star and the Valley Falls Vindicator in the early 1900s. She is profiled in the April 2025 issue of Yesteryears: https://www.jchsks.com/publications

Courtesy of Jefferson County Historical Society.