Show FROM NOBLE STOCK The Coming ScotchIrish Convention t Con-vention at Louisville HOW THE SOCIETY HAS GROWN It is Piling Dp Matter for an Interesting Historical WorkMen of Yesterday and Today LOUISVILLE Ky May 6 lS91Specinl correspondence of TEE HEIIALD The city of Louisville will entertainldistinguished visitors vis-itors this week Qn Thursday will assemble assem-ble there the third annual congress of tee ScotchIrish society of America and it is certain that the gathering will be notable not only for the number but for the prominence prom-inence of those who attend The invitation of the city is extended through her representative bodiesthe local ScotchIrish society the board of trade and the Commercial club The exercises will I be held in the Masonic Temple theatre a large audience chamber situated in the I heart of the city and also in the great I Auditorium These exercises will consist of reports of officers and committees the II annual election and many addresses some of which will be of a historical nature and I others devoted to the immediate prosperity of the society Among the notable menwho will be heard on this occasion are Governor Buckner Congressman W C P Breckenridge J i Proctor Knott Henry Watterson Judge William Lindsay of Kentucky the Rev Dr John Hall of New York the Rev J H Bryson of Alabama E A Stevenson of Illinois the Rev John S McIntosh of Pennsylvania the Rev Stuart Achesonnf Toronto Canada and Francis D Ward expresident of the chamber of commerce of Belfast Ireland who will attend as a delegate from that body The congress proper will be held on the mornings and afternoons of May 14 15 and 16 On Sunday evening May 17 an old time ScotchIrish religious service will beheld be-held and Dr John Hall will preach the sermon Everything will be done to make this service the counterpart of those which were held a hundred years ago Rouses version of the Psalms will be used and the DR JODX flAIL hymns will be lined off in the old style Such service was held at the societys convention con-vention last year in Pittsburg in Mechanic ball which seats 6000 people Some idea of the interest it awakened may be obtained from a contemplation of the fact that lust about as many people were turned away as were able to find places in the vast auditorium auditor-ium CThi enormous and unexpected convocation convoca-tion resulted in some amusing complications complica-tions I recently had the pleasure of hearing hear-ing some anecdotes of the occasion from Mr Robert Bonner of New York who is president of the society In company with the Rev Dr Bryson said Mr Bonner I came before the door of the great hall just fifteen minutes before the hour at which the meeting was to open according to the announcement wo had made We found tho fire marshal at the door and he refused to let us in because the law compelled him to provide against the danger of panic in case of tire and the building already held as many people as he tbaugbt might safely enter it Well as I for me said I to the marshal you may do as you like but Dr Bryson is simply obliged to get in for he is to deliver the second address We then introduced ourselves our-selves more formally and the marshal decided de-cided that we might enter Ten minutes behind us was Dr Hall who was to take charge of the meeting He bad been dining at the house of a lady well known in Pittsburg for her many charities This lady and her daughter were with Dr Hall but they had to go home again the marshal could not let them in And Dr Hall himself had to present the necessities of the case very strongly in order to gain admittance Ida not believe that there ever were so many people in Pittsburg before besefging the doors of the house of worship wor-ship n No doubt there will be similar scenes at Louisville The success of the meeting may be taken as typical of tho society career The idea of its formation oricrinatec In the brain of Colonel Thomas T Wright then a merchant in Pensacola Florida but now a resident of Nashville Tenn This was a little more than three years ago He wrote to exGovernor then governor Tay lor of Tennessee suggesting the organization organiza-tion and received an enthusiastic affirmative affirma-tive response The men of ScotchIrish descent in Tennessee took hold of the plan with eagerness Prominent among them were Mayor Pillow of Columbia Tenn and Mr A C Floyda young lawyer of that oity now secretary of the society It was from Governor Taylor that Mr Bonner and other notable men of Scotch Irish descent in the east heard of the project pro-ject There was an extensive correspondence correspond-ence by means of which ScotchIrish pconlo all over the country heard what was going on and the result of it was that the convention conven-tion or more properly mass meeting in Columbia Tenn in May 1SS9 was attended at-tended by about five thousand persons so many in fact that no building in the city would hold them and they were obliged to hold their meetings in a great tent on the public green It was one of the most harmonious and enthusiastic gatherings ever held in this country An organization was formed which strong the beginning has grown steadily and rapidly resulting in the formation for-mation of local societies in many states and cities and bringing together the national body a vast number of men When the society so-ciety attains its full natural proportions and becomes thoroughly unified it will no doubt be one of the most powerful organizations organi-zations in the country Although everybody knows the preponderance prepon-derance of Presbyterian proclivities among the ScotchIrish the society is absolutely nonsectarian It is also nonpartisan Its present object is the collection of material for a history of the ScotchIrish race and to that end it invites contributions from all who have appropriate data at command Already an immense amount of valuable matter has been obtained an incredible number of the men who have moulded the destinies of this country have been proven to have sprung from this indomitable race Among them are Patrick Henry Thomas Jefferson John Witherspoon John Paul Jones James Madison John Marshall Andrew An-drew Jackson James K Polk James Buchanan Buch-anan Lincoln and Grant Then there was A1IIJ V f j 1 ROBERT BOXXER stout old Davy Crocket and Sam Houston the Washington of Texas Robert Fulton and Horace Greeley and that remarkable family the Perrs In regard to the last named I will quote from a letter which President Bonner recently re-cently received because it shows the manner man-ner in which material for the Scotch Irish history is coming in all the time A lady from a Connecticut city writes as follows I beg to mention among the sailors of New England of ScotchIrish blood my five uncles Commodore O H Perry of Lake Erie fame Captain Raymond H J Perry who commanded one ot the vessels on Lake Champlain under Commodore Mc Donough Commodore M C Perry who crowned a life of naval distinction and glory by opening the ports of Japan to the commerce of the world Lieutenant James Alexander Perry who died at the age of twenty he was a midshipman at the time of tho battle of Lake Erie wanting a little of twelve years old he acted as Commo dore Perrys aid ana was voted a sword by Congress being probably the youngest recipient I re-cipient of a national sword of honor in the world My youngest uncle Nathaniel Hazard Perry a purser in the navy was too young to take any part in the war of 1S13 born in ISO and died in 1S32 Their I father was Commodore C R Perry U S N who had some ScotchIrish blood in his veins from his mother Their mother was Sarah Alexander of County Down daughter daugh-ter of Sarah Wallace and James Alexander Alexan-der Such historical references as this with the tracing of the ScotchIrish descent are desired by the society and they are coming in fast Mr Bonner named me more men of ScotchIrish blood who were prominent in this countrys history than I could have called up with no limitation as to descent Mr Bonners enthusiasm in this research made him the victim of a good bit of satire shot at him by Mr Oliver Dyer long associated asso-ciated with the Bonnersin the Ledger office and known to everybody in New York Mr Bonner had been giving Mr Dyer a formidable for-midable list of noted Scotch Irishmen and was diving further and further into the depths of history when Mr Dyer interrupted inter-rupted him with the remark If you keen on you will make out St Paul to be Scotch Irish There is no need of going back so far as that Even in these alleged degenerate days there are plenty of ScotchIrish worth mentioning as a glance at this list of the societysofficers will show President Robert Bonner New York city vicepresident general Rev J S McIntosh D D Philadelphia Pa first vicepresident at large J F Johnson Birmingham Bir-mingham Ala second vicepresident at large TTWright Nashville Tenn secretary secre-tary A C Floyd Columbia Tenn j tress urer Lucius Frierson Columbia Tenn vicepresidents for states and territories New Hampshire James W Patterson Concord Con-cord J Massachusetts Prof A L Perry Williamstown Conneticut D S Calhoun Hartford New York RevJohn HallDD New York city Pennsylvania Colonel A K McClure Philadelphia New Jersey T N M Carter Newark Ohio Matthew Addy Cincinnati Illinois Judge John M Scott Bloomington California Alexander Montgomery San Francisco Iowa PM Cassidy Des Moines Virginia William Wirt Henry Richmond North CarolinaS B Alexander Charlotte Georgia Campbell Camp-bell Wallace Atlanta Mississippi Right Rev Hugh Miller Thompson Jackson Louisiana William Preston Johnson New Orleans Tennessee A G Adams Nashville Nash-ville Kentucky Dr Hervey McDowell Cynthiana Ontario Canada A T Wood Hamilton V THOMAS T WRIGHT V Almost all the states represented here have local societies in a flourishing condition condi-tion That in California of which Mr Montgomery is president is such an important impor-tant organization that there was some talk of its being the entertainer of this years congress but the distance proved a bar Mr Montgomery who has no end of money and a very generous heart has recently given 50000 for the erection of the state societys building in San Francisco Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania is a stronghold of the ScotchIrish The state society has Dr McIntosh for president His address before the congress this year will be on Our Pledge to Posterity Poster-ity or the ScotchIrish Today and Tomorrow To-morrow Tennessee is also particularly strong in that element of a sturdy population The president ot tho state society is Lemuel R Campbell of Nashville At present the headquarters of the national society may be said to be in Columbia Tenn where the secretary Mr Floyd resides There has been some discussion as to the erection of a building as the societys home but that will come later When it is put up it may be in Pittsburg but that is not settled Columbia Colum-bia whichif it were not so far southwould be the place for it is as one may say tho birthplace of the society and besides it stands in that grant of land given to General Gen-eral Green after the Revolutionary war which became the rallying centre for early ScotchIrish influence in what was then called the west Probably Columbia wont get it in spite of the argument in its favor and everybody will be sorry for as Mr Bonner said though not about this particular partic-ular matter Theyre such a tine lot of fellows around Columbia that we hate to leave them DAVID WECHSLER |