Below is the obit for one of my ancesters. It mentions a Marion County Old
Settlers Meeting. Would anyone known if there might be any records about
these meetings.
Obit in Indianapolis Star Newspaper Aug 29, 1914
Mrs. Eliza M(A). Large
After an illness of three weeks, Mrs Eliza M(A). Large, 92, one of the
oldest women in
Marion county, died in Greensburg yesterday. The body was brought to this
city
today and on Monday the funeral will be held at the home of her daughter,
Mrs. I. N.
Metzger(Medsker), 1431 Montcalm street.
Mrs. Large took the prize as the oldest woman at the Marion county old
settlers'
meeting at Broad Ripple on Aug 7, and on the following day went to
Greensburg to
visit. She leaves five children: Mrs. William A. Rosemeier(Rosemeyer), Mrs.
David McCoy,
Mrs. Metzger(Medsker) and John Large of Indianapolis and Mrs. Frank
Johnson(Jackson)
of Greensburg.
Article in Indianapolis Star Newpaper, Oct 25, 1909
SEES KIN: READY TO DIE
AGED WOMAN CALLS REUNION
Mrs. Large, Pioneer of City, who fears she may expire during
winter, relates settler stories at family gathering.
A birthday anniversary gathering was held yesterday at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. I.N. Medsker, 1415 Montecalm St. in honor of Mrs. Eliza Anna Large,
who is 87 years old today. More than fifty relatives were present and
partook of
the family reunion diner and had their pictures taken in a group with Mrs.
Large
in the center. Nineteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren
were
present.
Mrs. Large has been in poor health during the last two years, and it was at
her request that all her relatives in Indiana gathered at the home of her
daugh-
ter yesterday. She said that she wanted to see them all together, fearing
that she
may not live through the winter.
"Children, I am ready to die now, since I have seen you all and know you
are all
well and happy, as soon as the Lord wants to call me", she told the
relatives
and then asked to be excused from the merrymaking circle and retired early
in
the afternoon.
The six living children, out of a family of twelve, who were present
yesterday,
are Mrs. Frank Jackson of Greensburg, IND., and the others from this city
are
Mrs. I.N. Medsker, Mrs. William Rosemeyer, Mrs. David McCoy, H.D.
Richardson and
John Large.
Tells Settler Stories
Stories of the early days, the settler days, when Indianapolis was a small
country town, surrounded by woods filled with wild game and Indians, were
told during the day by the great-grandmother to here many descendants.
Mrs.
Large is the only member of her family, save here own children. Her husband
Michael Large, died three years ago. She has lived in this city ever since
she was
5 years old, and said she remembered distinctly of coming here in a covered
wagon from her home in Fairmont County, Ohio. She said she came through
Cincinnati entering Indianapolis by the Michigan road. For twenty-five
years
she lived on Washington street, then known as Main Street. She said most
of the
bouses were built of logs, and while Indians did not bother the inhabitants
of the
town much, they were numerous and a contant dread was entertained.
She told stories in her weak and hesitating voice of how she had joined the
Strange Chapel, a Methodist Church, one of the first to be founded here,
when
she was a young girl: how the preacher rode a hourse and how the
congreations
shouted and "carried on" in revival meeting times. She said it was not un-
common for men to go to church with a gun over their sholders. The chapel,
she said, was some place on Senate avenue, then known as Mississippi
street.
The Court House was made of logs and stood on Main street, near Pogue's
Run.
The first train that passed through here, a J.M. I., she said she saw, and
that all the cars were flat and were not covered. When the Court House was
built there were but three churches and five stores. Two sons enlisted in
the
civil war, the surviving one being H.D. Richardson.
Mrs. Large is a devoted Christian. Her eyesight is so poor that she asks
different
members of the family to read from the Bible to her every day. She had her
picture taken yesterday with a Bible in her lap.