Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-08-21
THE NORTHWEST
ANNUAL ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY MR.. DENISoN b
SMITH. OF TOLEDO,
At the Meeting of the Maumee Valley
Pioneers, at Grand Rapids
on the 14th inst.
"Ths god Of love whose constant care
With blessings crowns each passing year,
Our seanty span doth still prolong,

tne DEEDS done and the hArdships endured Dy thei
forefathers."
Is it nothing that the men and wom
an of fifty or sixty years ago, left pleas
ant, healthy vicinages-eastern farm!
and villages-and exchanged them fol
the wild, unbroken west; to begin
anew all the preparations for living
to subdue dense forests into smiling
farms; to compact, strengthen anC
build up struggling settlements into
villages; to encounter inevitable sick
ness, the destroyer of all energy and
industry and life itself; to choose and
adopt o country without schools oI
churches, and almost without q gov.
ernment? Is it nothing that these men
and women were wise in their genera.
ton? By all the tests have named
1t would be natural to say, No, they
were not wise; but say they were. Il
was the beginning of the emigrating
age, and the broad and fertile west was
before them. Newspapers were less
numerous then, and information did
not cover all the possible hardships.-
What have they wrought? They laid,
strong and deep the foundations OF
schools and churches, and a govern.
ment or liberty without license. tell
you that early men of any city or coun-
try leave upon it forever the stamp OF
their lives. Such unwavering love and
devotion deserves our grateful recogni-
tion, and may we forever cherish and
affectionately remember their services.
hope my interest in the past and in
the character, experience and results of
our pioneers will not be gauged by the
fact that heretofore have been con-
spicuous in their annual councils, only
by my absence. have been a busy
man, and not always in command of
my time. To-day / recall and renew
acquaintance with the old and new
pioneers, with special pleasure, and
heartily adopt the expression of Dick
ems Tiny Tim, "God bless you, every
ohe."
am not an early settler compared
with many. but if / had fully realized
before I commenced this paper, how
much l had forgotten of early life on
Of the seats before me, instead of on the
stand. A weak memory is great loss
Of intellectual force. If the events of
our lives could be carefully preserved
In the archives of sound memory, to-
gether, with the precedents and conclu-
sions that have been formed upon them
such record would advance the intel
lectual standard of all men.
The times of 54 or IS years ago and
lately, have been ably reviewed in pa
pers read before you. IF can make
any additions to what has been said it
may be by producing some events from
business and commercial life, and of
business and professional men, the
greatest number of whom have remov-
ed to that great city of the dead, which
SO vastly outnumbers living cities.
came upon the river of the flood
tide of the speculative boom in 1886,
arriving at Perrysburg April 18th. /
had left Syracuse in the latter part of
March and travelled by stage to Cleve-
land, where | met the steamer Commo-
dore Perry, Capt. David Wilkison. The
Perry went first to Detroit and coming
across from the mouth of Detroit river,
we had gale of wind up the lake,
which gave me my first lesson in sea-
sickness. ! am inclined to think the
Hon. Henry. .Wetmore was an officer on
the Perry on that trip. We were all
greatly elated with the Perry and boats
of her class. 1t was long stride in |
the march of improvement, but COM
pared with the present models and size |
Of marine architecture, the Perry was
vertible tub.
The impressions stamped upon my
mind by the beautiful scenery of the
river above Toledo on that April morn
ing, will never be effaced, and when the |
view of the two villages, with their
lofty banks, Fort Miami and Fort
Meigs, encircling the grand ampithea-
ter, broke upon me on the Perry's'deck,
l could not withhold an exclamation
of surprise and joy. True, nature had |
not begun her Easter of springing grass
and flowers and foliage, but thought
1 could imagine that, but later, when
all that loveliness came and clothed |
the scene with its added beauty, I was
thoroughly enchanted, and I believe
our people to-day do not half appreca-
ate the lovely scenery of their river, so
near their homes.
/ confess it is wide departure in all |
respects, but want to name here an
other impression of that April day, and |
that was John Clark's French fisher
men at the foot of the big island, with |
their great row boats and their French |
songs. 1t was very new TO me, and |
many day the resounding oars, in |
rhythm with the song, could be heard |
above the rattle of the streets and |
"broke upon the midnight air." 1t was
labor wrought into song.
My brothers, John w. and Frank,
the former an older and the latter a |
younger brother, had emigrated here in
1884. John WIS home was my home
for while, and there was also Mr.. J.
Austin Scott, now of Ann Arbor, Mich,
and Mr.. Mcbride, who was then pub
fishing the newspaper called the Midrai
OF the Lake. Mr.. Scott is now SO and
in good health. 1t is believed Mcbride
is not living.
] entered the employ for one or two
months of Joseph J. Bingham who had |
been sent here as the agent of w. W. |
Mumford, of Rochester, N. Y, and was |
building docks and warehouses at |
Miami. The filling of that dock, the |
lower one, was the first encroachment |
on the banks of old Fort Miami. On |
those docks, and above, were erected
three substantial warehouses. There |
were 500 feet of dock on that side of the |
river, and finally nearly all the COM
mercial business at the foot of the rap
ids came to be transacted there. There |
is nothing left to mark the scene of this |
business. Decays effacing fingers, .
and the sweeping ice in the spring. |
time shaVn left M tnkan 0f if