Annual Meeting of the

Early Settlers' Association

Held in the Ball Room of the Hotel Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio,

Saturday, September 10, 1927, at 10:00 O'clock A. M.

Hon. James W. Stewart, President of the Association, presided.

At 9:30 o'clock A. M., at the flag raising exercises on the Public Square, the following proceedings were had:

President Stewart: Ladies and gentlemen, by some oversight there was no band engaged to come here this morning, which usually draws a large crowd. Mr. McManus tells me that heretofore Mr. L. C. Carran, who had the arranging of this, always attended to the matter of a band, but it was omitted on this occasion, so we will have to get along with a smaller audience; but we are pleased to have Judge Bradley Hull here who will make an address, which will be as acceptable as if there were many more here. Judge Hull, I am pleased to present you to those here present.

Hon. Bradley L. Hull: Mr. Stewart, members of the Early Settlers' Association, and fellow Clevelanders, this is the fortyseventh year of the Early Settlers' Association of Cleveland. It was organized in 1880 for the purpose of preserving the written traditions that mark the history of the old Western Reserve. Cleveland, as we all know, is one of the oldest cities of the middle west, founded in the 18th century by Moses Cleaveland, whose statute stands before us.

Through the long years, one hundred and thirty-one years, to be exact, Cleveland has been a wonderful place for men, women and children to dwell in. We of Cleveland have preserved, with conscious pride, the fine history of our city, and of the land lying about us here, and today we meet in reverence to commemorate the early days of Cleveland. One hundred and fourteen years ago today the United States of America was at war with Great Britain, the mother country from which we had so recently removed ourselves. The affairs of the country were not doing well. The tide of battle was going against us. It was reasonable to suppose that this part of