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‘A most glorious holiday’ By Bill Miller Jul 17, 2022 12:15 AM A A The previous History Snoopin’ column, “Liberty comes and goes,” (July 3) sparked a few questions about Fourth of July celebrations in the valley and how they were different in pioneer times. While parades and fireworks always had some part in the festivities for our 19th century ancestors, the holiday had a much deeper and personal meaning than the celebrations that followed into the 1900s. They were celebrations of America and filled with patriotism. It’s understandable when we realize that for almost all of the 1800s there was someone still alive who had vivid memories of the American Revolution and passed their patriotic feelings on to their children. By 1897, it was just over a century after the Revolution ended and a peace treaty was signed with Great Britain. Some of us can relate, remembering relatives who, over 100 years ago, fought in World War I and told their stories to their children. The difference between then and now is that in 1897 the traditional Fourth was still a benchmark holiday, probably surpassed only by Christmas. So how was the traditional Fourth different from ours? Begin with the Declaration of Independence. In the middle of what was usually a daylong celebration, residents gathered together to hear a popular local orator or student read every word of the Declaration. Just after noon, following a song and a prayer, 18-year-old Theresa Bryant, daughter of the deputy assessor for Jackson County, T.W. Bryant, read the Declaration “in a loud voice” to the large crowd that had gathered under the cool shade of the maple trees in front of the Jacksonville Courthouse. Future U.S. Sen. Alfred Reames followed with a “flowery” and “fine literary treat” of the traditional Fourth oration. Unfortunately, his “directly to the point” speech wasn’t put into print. The day had begun on a warm and cloudless morning just before 9:30. The parade began to form on Fifth Street, with a long line of floats and over 100 children scrambling to find their assigned places. This parade had all the same traditions as all other Independence Day parades of the time. Following the national flag, the Jacksonville Cornet Band, a carriage of dignitaries and the Jacksonville Glee Club, the “Angel of Peace,” Myrtle Woodford, appeared, an angel dressed in white and riding on an all white float. A Roman-style chariot accompanied the Angel at its side, pulled by four white horses and driven by Genevieve Reames, who was appropriately dressed in a flowing, white Roman toga. Nettie Lewis, with lit torch held high, followed as the “Goddess of Liberty,” the traditional Statue of Liberty twin. A wagon float carried 44 young girls, gowned in white, wearing white wreathes and a blue sash; each girl representing a state of the Union. There was an additional float representing Oregon. Nearly every kind of produce and flower ever produced in the state surrounded Emma Ulrich. There were other fun and interesting floats and vehicles that weren’t part of any tradition but certainly added to the crowd’s excitement. “The Faith, Hope and Charity” float apparently offered some positive feelings, and a float of a dozen or more young girls dressed as fairies offered a smile. In a rare moment of commercialism, the Crescent bicycle dealer offered a collection of his bicycles on a float, pulled by six hard-pedaling bicyclists instead of horses. What followed, said the newspaper report, were “a hundred and one” amusements, including a three-hour baseball game, finally won by Jacksonville, a break for supper and a one-hour fireworks show. A late evening dance finished “a most glorious holiday.” In July 1897, “the birth of a nation was appropriately and traditionally celebrated in Jacksonville, Oregon.” Writer Bill Miller is the author of five books, including History Snoopin’. Reach him at [email protected].