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Page 27 text:
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rh1s was the most frequent cause for anyone gomg anyplace 11 was only logtcal that the new county seat should be located there Luckrly for me a very energetlc man had lately come to the v1c1n1ty from Lawrencevrlle by the name of Iudge Aaron Shaw I do not care to get 1nto any argument about genealogy but as far as I know Iudge Shaw IS entrtled to whatever honor there may be for bema responslble for my exlstence Cer tarnly he gave rre my name and that ought to be suffxclent evxdence and nobody should be so uncharltable as to try to drag a one hundred year old skeleton out of the closet and try to breathe any scandal lnto our or1g1n as we assure you that everythmg was perfectly legrtrmate In our good democratrc way 1t was decxded that the txtle of County Seat should be determlned by a vote of all the people 1n the newly born county Watertown 1mmed1ately advanced her clarms and Faxrvlew followed su1t Fransoma also tossed her hat ln the rlng 1f she had a hat Iudge 'Shaw accepted the challenge and was all out for Olney he persuaded two estlmable gentlemen Mr Hrram Barney and Mr Thomas Lllley to donate thlrteen acres for my new home The s1te chosen was almost tn th exact center of the county and was on h1gh healthy land far dxfferent from the m1asm1c atmosphere of the Fox bottoms at Watertown and Fransoma and much better located than the s1te of Fa1rv1ew The battle waxed hot Iudge Shaw put up placards bearmg my name and pra1s1ng the beauty of my newly donated envlronment Watertown had all the advantage of age and prestlge It was not unt1l Mr Iohn Wolf another enterprxsmg c1t1zen had made a Paul Revere r1de to Falrvxew and convlnced the settlers there that 1t was erther Olney or Watertown and 1f they knew what was good for them that they would throw thexr votes and 1nfluence to Olney Otherwlse they would have two mlles farther to go and often have to swlm to get to Watertown Thls last mlnute dramatlc appeal brought the votes of many 1n the FGIIVIGW commumty to Olney and when the votes were counted 1t was found that Iudge Shaw s unborn fledglrng had won out by the blg marg1n of nlneteen votes Now you would have thought that after Iudge Shaw had accompllshed what he d1d that there would have been no one to dlSpUle hrs rlght to g1ve me my name Not so I became more or less publlc property and after more or less of an argument 1t was decrded to let three good men and true Samuel Olf1ClGl name These three VJISS men of a nat1v1ty of more modern trmes than the orrgxnal 1941 years ago flnally oy a process of el1m1nat1on got lt bolled down to two names Iudge Shaw s beloved Olney and the good agrncultural appellatlon of Farmlngton Iudge Shaw was st1ll ready to battle for hls good name He assembled the multltude and they appeared before the three wlse men w1th all the pent up energy of a modern C I O plcket lme We want Olney became thelr battle cry The b fuddled commlttee frnally gave up IH despatr and appearlng before the assembled multrtude exclalmed We wash our hands of th1s affalr see ye to 1t Whereupon the multltude ralsed a great shout saylng We want Olney and thus Olnev 1t became and st1ll IS VVe have been gllen to understand that the 1nsp1rat1on of our name so earnestly sought by Iudge Shaw was ID order to honor a very good frtend of hrs by that name who llved ln Lawrencevllle I have also been gwen to understand that Mr Olney was not sufflcxently honored to deem 1t worthy or hls tlme even to come over and take a look at me The name Olney 1S ho Never a not uncommon one and has an anc1ent or1g1n If the Mr Olney of Lawrence vllle d1d not care for the honor lmposed on htm 1t can be llghtlv dlsregarded for rf necesslty forces I can trace my lrneage back to W1ll1am the Conqueror who actually drd what up to date Adolph Httler has not done made the last successful lnvaslon of England IH 1066 We f1nd ln W1ll1am's Domes Day Book the word de Olner and there IS a town 1n Buckmglnamshlre England datmg Twenty three , . . . . . K I L. Lowry, a Iustice of the Peace, Iames Laws, and Ioshua Iohnston, select the .K . . . ' ' ' 1 - - . 2
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Page 26 text:
“
Oriel- ' ZW An Autobxography wntten by Mr Charles Van Cleve if How would you ltke to be assrgned the task of J V Z wr1t1ng your own hrstory at the rrpe old age of one ,J , N., hundred? If you made a few errors of memory you Oy sl' would no doubt thtnk you should be pardoned for so m 5 dorng and so do I Now rf you frnd such errors rn thrs story please be charrtable and Just attrtbute thqn Q9 M 'J to advanced age However rn sprte of my hundred years and havmg been cut up 1nto numerous preces called addrtrons I arn st1ll hale and hearty and accordrng to a recently 0 u adopted slogan rn my honor I am sttll Growrng All tn Ways In fact these cuttrng up occasxons have acted wrth about the same effect as blood transfuslons and I have constantly grown blgger and stronger As I approach my hundredth b rthday I look forward to the second hundred wrth a great degree of opttmrsm and have only the greatest contempt for that oft heard adage The frrst hundred vears are the hardest I was born on the thrrd Monday rn lune l84l Now rf you wrsh to be techmcal and want to know Just what day of the month that was on all vou Nrll have to do rs to look up an old calendar of the year of l84l and see for yourself When you get to be a hundred years old you wrll know that such ltttle rncxdentals are of no great rmportance Rrchland County of vxhrch I have been for a century the county seat was porn a few months before I was but couldn t functron untrl I was born so we are practlcally tw1ns My off1c1al name rs Olney Ill1no1s and there rs qurte a story attached to that Most parents have a good many serrous arguments before they agree on the name of a new offsprrng and I was no exceptlon In fact 1t almost broke up rn a famrly row The truth IS there was a famrly row before I ever arrrved I arrlved there were already several older ch1ldren who coveted the honor In the f1rst place there was Watertown Watertown was four years old when I arrrved Watertown was born rn l837 on the west bank of Fox on the old Trace Road a mtle and a half west Amos Bullard a great uncle of Attorney lohn Lynch was the daddy of Vl'atertown Naturally Watertown r srdents who had gone to the trouble of plattrng thelr locatron off mto town lots thought they should hate D1'1OT1lf over a young upstart who was s1mply rmored to be on the way Then there was also the lrttle vrllage ot Fatrvrew on Lalhoun prarrre srx 'lll6S south that had a prxor clatrn Mr Hugh Qalhoun after whorn the place was later named was the father Cf Farrxlew and lolaly asserted the cl I ot I rs offsprmg tothe honor of ha rng t lc trtle of the polltrcal capttal of the ne .vly r crn county Dox 1 rn Decker townsl rp lllcIE? x as a busy llttle hamlet on Fox known cs Fransonra or Matthews Mrll Tm rla e had a full fledged store and a x ater null where everybody had to gc to get their wheat ground lnto flour A Gflkl 1 -J I ' A ' ' . 1 - ' 35, X: 1 mmf , - as ' , ., -'n k - ,sn 1 A Q v' , . . - 'NI N V V, ' 1' . 1 K I ' ' ' 1 A . . . ll I I I V ' I , , . . , , and that is even more regrettable. Titles often go to the eldest born, but before T1 f r , I f , .J . nat rt .4 , 4 .,- 1 A - ' . A , Ay: ' 1' l 'X -,V ' l l A ' l 'Q - f. , A .' . , , A ' - .. ' , s
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