THREE ATTEND
          58 REUNIONS

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Hat for Permanent Meeting Place
Passed at Collett-McKay
Gathering.

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     WILMINGTON, Aug. 16.---Three persons---B. Y. Collett, Horace W. Collett, and Mary Frances McKay---have not missed one of the 58 annual reunions of the Collett-McKay family, and were on hand at the 58th gathering near New Burlington last Saturday. Nearly 300 persons attended and 275 registered. To insure a permanent place for the meeting of the family year after year, the members "passed the hat" and raised $258 with which to pay for the four-acre tract where the picnics are held. Hiram Poor, of New Burlington has made the tea and coffee for the gatherings the past 35 years. This year one of the charming incidents of the affair was the attendance of three brides, Mrs. Robert Collett of Dayton, Mrs. Weldon McKay, New Burlington, and Mrs. Harry Smart, Cincinnati.

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Collett McKay Family Picnic
Members Just Couldn't Stay Away
Nearly 300 Gathered Saturday

     With all its annual accessories, namely: cloudless skies, smiling sun, gentle breezes, immense baskets of epicurean as well as more substantial delicacies, and assembled and animated multitudes, the 58th annual Collett-McKay family picnic was held Saturday.
     In accordance with iron-clad and time-strengthened Collett-McKay custom, the picnic was held at the Collett-McKay picnic grounds on the Bernard McKay farm near New Burlington. As usual, it was held on the second Saturday in August. As usual, B.Y. Collett, Horace W. Collett, and Mary Frances McKay, who have never missed any one of the 58 consecutive annual picnics, were there.
     Hiram Poor, well known colored man from New Burlington, was there --familiar sight to Colletts and McKays. For the past 35 consecutive years, Hiram has attended these annual picnics, and he holds no small part in their annual success. Hiram brews the steaming hot coffee and tea, in 30 gallon and 20 gallon from kettles, respectively, are prepared on the grounds and served as a complement to the picnic banquet.
     Saturday, 275 persons registered in the mammoth and aged register, resembling those seen in the greatest hotels, which occupied its usual conspicuous vantage point under a tree on the picnic grounds. More than this number were present, however.
     In addition to delegations of Colletts and McKays from Dayton, Toledo, and Cincinnati, there were others from both Western and Eastern states. Friends of the family, many from Wilmington, including Dr. Elizabeth Shrieves and Mrs. Grace Ballard, motored to the picnic grounds for the day.
     A busy physician from Toledo left his suffering clientele to the mercies of the torrid weather and came; an agriculturalist from Fayette County, who is likewise a candidate for county office left a threshing outfit in his barn yard and his chances of election to take care of themselves for this day and came.
     A New Burlington member of the family, who had been camping at the Miami Valley Chautauqua, was reminded through the columns of a Dayton paper that his family picnic was right at hand, and he literally "pulled up stakes" and came home for the day, later returning to his Chautauqua.
     "It is just this spirit, manifested by every Collett and McKay, which makes our picnics such a decided yearly success," remarked a member of the family to a New-Journal reporter, Tuesday.

     There were three new brides in attendance this year at their first Collett-McKay picnic. They were Mrs. Robert Collett of Dayton; Mrs. Weldon McKay near New Burlington; and Mrs. Harry Smart, of Cincinnati.
     The picnic grounds, which, in settlement of the estate of the late Virginia and Harriet Collett, threatened for a time this summer to be sold out of the family, and which were bargained for by members of the Picnic Committee, were officially paid for as a result of Saturday's picnic. The picnic ground was $64.50 an acre, bringing the total cost to $258. Exactly this amount was amassed through a "hat collection" Saturday.
     Picnickers observed that 10 new maple trees had been planted in the picnic grove, which boasts' a sugar camp and many handsome and stately trees.
     Nearly 300 people lingered and talked and frolicked and relaxed in sun flecked shade of the grove until sundown Saturday, in accordance with the yearly custom. Then, they reluctantly dispersed, with the enthusiastic and yearly comment that it had been "the best picnic ever."

COLLETT-M'KAY
     PICNIC-REUNION
          WILL BE SATURDAY

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     The fifty-eighth annual Collett-McKay picnic will be held at the family picnic grounds near New Burlington, Saturday, August 9.
     Three members of the family are expecting to be in attendance at the reunion for their fifty-eighth consecutive time. These persons, who have never missed one of the picnics since they were first instituted in 1866, are Horace Collett, of New Burlington; B. Y. Collett, of Harveysburg, and Mrs. Mary Frances McKay of New Burlington.
     The late E. S. Collett, who passed away at his home in Wilmington recently, was another member of the family who could boast attendance at every picnic held since the custom was first inaugurated more than half a century ago.
     Not only members of the Collett-McKay family attend the annual picnic but close friends of the family. Members of the Collett-McKay families say that unlike the ordinary picnic day, it never has been known to rain on a Collett-McKay picnic day. This annual family affair is also arranged without the aid of officers. There is no prepared program and speech-making and everything is wholly informal.
     The picnic is always held in the same place near New Burlington, on the second Saturday in August. Recently the grounds on which the picnic has been held for so many years was purchased by the Colletts and McKays and set aside for this particular purpose.
     It is estimated that at least 350 people will attend the picnic Saturday, many members of the family already arriving from other states purposely to attend the annual family gathering.

COLLETT-M'KAY
     HAVE PICNIC DAY

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FIFTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL GATHER-
ING WILL BE HELD
AUGUST 9

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     The 58th annual Collett-McKay picnic will be held at the family picnic grounds near New Burlington, Saturday, August 9. At that time, unless Providence takes a hand in their affairs in the meantine, three members of the family will be in attendance on their 58th consecutive annual family picnic. These persons, who have never missed one of the picnics since they were first instituted in 1866, are Horace Collett, of New Burlington: B. Y. Collett, Howeysburg. and Mrs. Mary Frances McKay, of New Burlington.
     The late E. S. Collett, who passed away at his home in Wilmington not long ago, was another member of the family who could boast attendance at every picnic held since the custom was first instituted more than half a century ago.

     The Collett-McKay picnic is almost a county institution now, and was instituted long before the "family reunions," which have gained in popularity during recent years. Not only members of the Collett-McKay families attend this annual picnic, but close friends of the family, as well. Miss Ellen Smith, Dr. Elizabeth Shrieves, C. Q. Hildebrant, and Mrs. Grace Ballard, of Wilmington, are among family friends who have a standing and life-long invitation to attend the picnic.
     Members of the Collett-McKay families say that, unlike the ordinary picnic day, it never has been known to rain on a Collett-McKay picnic day. This annual family picnic is also arranged without the aid of officers. No president, secretary, or treasurer is elected to preside over the yearly gatherings, there is no prepared program; no tiresome speech-making; everything is wholly informal. They meet and eat and walk and talk, they explain, and then disperse to meet again the next year.

     The picnic is always held in the same place, near New Burlington, on the second Saturday in August. Recently the ground on which the picnic has been held for so many years was purchased by the Colletts and McKays and set aside for this particular purpose.
     It is estimated that at least 350 people will attend the picnic Saturday, many members of the family having already come to Clinton County from other states purposely to attend the annual family gathering.
     In former years, and for many years after the picnic was inaugurated, 500 or more people attended the picnic every year, it is said. How ever, time has pruned the family tree to some extent, and some of its branches are dying.

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COLLETT-McKAY PICNIC

     The fifty-eighth annual Collett-McKay picnic will be held at the usual place, Saturday, August 9.