Press Run 2500
Net Paid circulation 2015
Vol. 76 No 42
Published Each Thursday at Main St. Charleston, Missouri

Date of Publication (Unknown)

Old Papers Give Interesting Report of

Lee Family Gathering

Mr. And Mrs, J. W. Barren, recently returned from a visit with relatives at Caledonia, MO. And brought with them some very valuable papers which, will be of interest to many relatives and friends in this city and county. Among them was a clipping from the Courier Journal, Louisville, KY., and a full page from Cairo, Ill., paper giving an account of the "Call of the Clan," a notabic gathering of the Lee family and their friends given October, 1879 on the old Jimmie Lee farm on Wolf Island. The host and hostess were Joseph S. Rhodes and his wife Rachel Lee Rhodes, parents of Mrs. Margaret Barrett and Chris Rhodes, formerly of this city buy now of Caledonia

On the farm is a stump with R.E. Lee's name "cut in." It is claimed Lee came down the Mississippi stopped at this home for a week's rest. For the October meeting of the "great clan," a steamboat was chartered and relatives from Louisville, Bardstown, Shepherdville and other Kentucky towns came to the Island.

Relatives from this city and surrounding towns traveled by train and arrived at the reunion at "the break of day." Columbus, Ky., and other southern towns were well represented.

The noon day meal was served at stated time, 12 o'clock to some two hundred relatives, not including those who were assisting.

Sixteen negro women served the food which consisted of two hundred barbecued chickens, one large steer, five sheep, three hogs, and all prepared there on the farm.

Under the large arbor were special tables holding one hundred pies and as many cakes, most of which had been prepared by neighbors, most of whom were members of the Lee family.

Fly brushes were used over the tables by negro men and the negro women serving the guests. Mrs. Barton recalls an account of this "happy day" as given by her mother the late Mrs. Frank Howlett of this city. Mrs. Howlett and two sisters, members of the Lee family, attended the reunion. Mrs. Howlett had a seamstress to spend a week at her home, prior to the event. And make a black satin dress for herself, also one for her sister. Each dress had ten yards of material in it, and each had a set of made up underwear to wear with it. The papers gave much praise to Mr. And Mrs. Rhodes, instigators of this great event, for their generosity and hospitality in entertaining such a large assemblage of relatives.