“We the undersigned,” to quote from the language of the call, “hereby agree to unite with each to form an association to be known as The Ohio Association in New York, and to that end will meet at any place designated, for the purpose of completing such organization upon notice given to us whenever twelve persons shall have signed this agreement. There is to be no expense incurred until the organization is completed, and assented to by each member.” “New York, October 7th, 1885.” Attached to this document were names that would have carried weight in many of the walks of the business and professional life of the metropolis. General Thomas Ewing, an honored member of the New York Bar, Samuel Thomas and Calvin S. Brice, of the more active fields of Wall Street and the railway world, C. W. Moulton, Col. W. L. Strong, one of the leading merchants of the city, Hugh J. Jewett, Wallace C. Andrews, Homer Lee, J. W. Harman, Warren Higley, Milton Sayler, Anson G. McCook, Col. Fogg, Mahlon Chance, J. Q. Howard, General Henry L. Burnett, and others who had acquired reputation at home, before making New York the scene of later operations and more recent successes. There was more than mere formal agreement in this compact; it was understood by all that such a society should come into being, and all were in one mind that then was the time for beginning. Other attempts looking in the same direction had been made in times past, but had come to naught. Early in the days of the great war, many of the sons and daughters of Ohio, residing in this city, met at the Murray Hill Hotel, and took steps to give active aid to the soldiers in the field; but these weekly gatherings ended with the noble purpose that called them into being. In the first annual report of the Ohio Society, its first secretary, Homer Lee, gives a brief sketch of this effort, and of the things that followed in its wake. “The object,” says Mr. Lee, “was to send supplies, clothing, medicines, etc., to the soldiers at the front. A handsome silk and satin banner was made at a cost of some $500, upon which was a beautifully embroidered Coat of Arms of the State of Ohio, to be presented to the bravest Ohio regiment. As might have been expected there was much rivalry for the possession of this prize, as glowing descriptions of the beautiful souvenir were given by the newspapers at that time. The commanding officers were appealed to, but could not be prevailed upon to decide the question, because, as one officer put it ‘It could not easily be decided which was the bravest, where all the regiments by their valor and heroism had covered themselves with glory.’ At the close of the war the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of Cleveland, secured the prize.”