A VISION FULFILLED
BY MAUD BUSH ALFRED.
"Where there is no vision, the
people perish."
When your committee honored me with a
request
for a place on the program of this
celebration, which
commemorates the founding of Bucyrus, I
was filled
with varying emotions, - pride,
reverence, and perhaps,
awe. Pride, that I, the
great-granddaughter of Samuel
Norton and Mary Bucklin Norton, could
have the privi-
lege of honoring their memory;
reverence, that so
hardy, so brave, so God-fearing, so
kindly, so benevo-
lent a forbear had been mine -
reverence for the loved
ones I have known, who lie in the
beautiful silent city
which adjoins you in this, the place
which was "the
forest primeval," and now in the
evolution and develop-
ment of the years is your own thriving,
progressive and
growing city.
Should we not all indeed feel awe when
we regard
the progress of one hundred years? When
Great-
grandfather Norton and his wife and six
children and
small company of followers blazed the
path from their
home in northeastern Pennsylvania and
selected this
spot because of its beauty, its
richness of soil, and its
promise, they found only the red man
and prowling
animals of the forest, and, seemingly,
all that lay ahead
was toil and hardship and deprivation.
But - they had
a vision. Theirs was the spirit which
had won for us
our independence from the yoke of
England.
(5)
6 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
It was the father of great-grandmother
Bucklin
Norton who caught the dying General
Warren when
he fell at Bunker Hill, and General
Warren, together
with Israel Putnam and Nathaniel Green,
belonged to
this family of sturdy manhood.
The first of our forbears in the Norton
line came
from Scotland, settling in Connecticut
in 1675, so it
would seem that the spirit of conquest
and the will to
overcome, had descended in large
measure to these, the
first settlers. It is an interesting
bit of history that the
battle of Saratoga was fought on and
nearby my great-
great-grandfather, James Norton's farm.
And so it was, that undaunted courage
and the
I WILL of all, opened the little
clearing and made the
first home in what is now Bucyrus.
Over mountain and valley, through
tangled forest
and grass-grown plain, over corduroy
roads and Indian
trail, fording streams, and through
storm and sunshine,
this little caravan came from the
comparative security
and comfort of their eastern home, to
this, a wilderness
of unknown dangers.
It is related of great-grandfather by
one who knew
him, that "he was a large athletic
man, six feet tall, of
strong determination, keen intelligence
and full of the
true spirit of enterprise."
There are many family traditions that
from child-
hood I have heard, but it is not the
personal touch upon
which I wish to dwell, but the spirit
which has given us
what we have.
Can we appreciate, in even a slight
degree, the lives
of our pioneer women? Brave, capable,
resourceful,
undaunted by the hardships which they
must bear; full
too of the love of the beautiful,
prizing knowledge, yet
A Vision Fulfilled 7
cut off from the culture which they
craved for them-
selves and their children. Surely -they
needs must
have had a vision.
As a little girl it was a great delight
to me to hear
my own grandmother and my mother relate
stories of
their childhood - grandmother, who was
Catharine
Norton, telling of the earlier days
when all was new.
She was four years old when the long
journey from
Pennsylvania was made. In the company,
besides great-
grandfather and great-grandmother, were
their children
- Louisa, who became Mrs. Harris
Garton, Catharine,
who became Mrs. John Shull, Elizabeth
who married
Dr. Alonzo Jones, and three sons,
Rensselaer, Warren
and Waldo. Then there were great-grandmother's
brother, Albigence Bucklin and six
children and an
adopted daughter. A man by the name of
Seth Holmes
came with them, as driver and guide, he
having been
through this section in 1812. So, in
all, there were
eighteen. The first night was spent in
a deserted Indian
Wigwam which stood where the Court
House now is.
There they spent three days until a
small log house
could be erected. It was located on the
west side of the
present Sandusky Avenue bridge. When
this home was
completed, one was built for Mr.
Bucklin and his family,
which stood about where the old Bucyrus
Machine shops
now are. Mr. Holmes, being a bachelor,
was left the
Wigwam. In these shelters the first
winter was passed
in fair comfort.
On February 11th, my great aunt,
Sophronia Nor-
ton, was born - the first white child
born in Crawford
county.
Among the necessary possessions brought
from the
east was a spinning wheel with which
both wool and
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
flax was spun, and a loom upon which
was woven bed
linen and counterpanes, and the cloth
with which the
family clothing was made. I have now,
pieces of linen
bleached beautifully white which
Great-grandmother
spun and wove and made into sheets, and
also a blue and
white counterpane is still doing duty
as a cover on an
old-fashioned settee in my country home
- a prized
possession.
The bleaching was accomplished by
laying the newly
woven linen on the grass in the strong
sunlight, and it
was the duty of some one of the little
girls to keep it con-
stantly wet by dipping water and
sprinkling over the
entire surface.
The sampler, which my grandmother
worked with
her childish fingers, was a work of art
to me, and my
interest in the days when she was a
little girl and must
do her "stint" before she
could go out to play, held a
fascination for me which the years have
not dulled.
The family also brought with them from
their
eastern home, several horses, some
cattle, and a few pigs
and chickens, - also such farming
implements as were
used in those days. Their supply of
household articles
was fairly complete and with the flax
which they grew
and the wool which they purchased from
settlers some
forty miles away, and the deer which
great-grandfather
killed, they were supplied with
material abundant for
their clothing.
The men's outer garments were made from
deer
skins and mother and daughters were the
tailors and
dressmakers.
Great-grandfather started a little
tannery for his
own use with which to tan enough
leather for the family
A Vision Fulfilled 9
shoes. A shoe-maker came twice yearly
and made two
pairs for each member of the family.
Great-grandfather was always most
generous and
kindly indulgent with his family, and
whenever a load
of grain was taken to the frontier
towns, he returned
with something pretty in the way of
apparel for each
one.
The small first tannery of
great-grandfather's was
later converted into a real tannery by
Lewis Cary, who
conducted the business for many years after.
It
was his brother Abel, who, coming in
1821, built a
small dam on the south bank of the
Sandusky and
erected a grist mill. This was a boon
to the little settle-
ment for it meant that the long journey
to Fredericks-
burg, which many times had to be taken
with one horse,
and even on foot, was a thing of the
past, and the grain
could be ground at home.
The Cary tannery was the first business
enterprise in
Bucyrus - the Cary mill, the second.
Great-grandfather was an unerring shot
and it is
related that back in Pennsylvania he
one time shot a
panther measuring more than eleven
feet. Wolves filled
the woods and often their howling made
night hideous
around the little cabins. It was long
before any settler
could raise sheep because of these
cowardly beasts,
which always came in packs. At one time
great-grand-
father purchased forty head of sheep
but in spite of
vigilance, they were soon all devoured.
A deer lick was quite near his first
cabin home on
the Sandusky and sometimes he could
stand in his door
and bring down his game without the
trouble of hunting
for it. In one day, near Mr. Bucklin's
cabin, he killed
five deer - so it will be seen that,
with venison, wild
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
turkeys, squirrels and rabbits, and
fish in the streams,
honey which was gathered from the wild
bee-hives in
the trees of the forest, maple sugar,
and potatoes grown
in the little clearing, cranberries
from the marsh not far
distant, our first families could
scarcely go hungry.
Bread, however, became a luxury
sometimes when the
meal gave out and the Indian trail to
Fredericksburg
was impassable for man or beast; then it
was that a hand
mill, brought with them from the east,
was used, -a
crude sort of coffee mill, which held
no more than a half
pint of grain.
Frequently when the household meal was
low, the
winter evening was spent in grinding,
and grating on
an improvised grater, or pounding in a
mortar, the sup-
ply of meal for the next day's use.
Corn, prepared in various ways, was the
staple grain,
while wheat bread was a luxury indeed.
Hominy, corn pone, Johnny cake, corn
dodgers, and
boiled mush gave a good variety, even
though the orig-
inal ingredient was the same. Corn pone
was made in
a covered pan or oven, Johnny cake was
baked on a
board in front of the fire, and corn
dodgers made into
balls and cooked.
In my own grandmother's last illness,
her mind often
went back to the early days, and she
lived over again
the times when youth was a tonic and
gave zest to all
things. I well remember her saying,
with longing in
her voice, "Oh! how I would love
to have some Johnny
cake baked on a board before the fire
in the old fire-
place."
But the old fireplace was gone, and
onward progress
had given us stoves and furnaces and
gas, and many
A Vision Fulfilled 11
comforts she had not known, yet the
memory was
sweet.
Were there not many things to
compensate for those
deprivations of the early times? The
family life knit
together, not only by love, but by a
common interest, the
closeness of the friendships, the
simplicity, the kindli-
ness, engendered because of their
dependence upon one
another, the necessity which was the
mother of inven-
tion, the nearness to nature, all, -
all have left their
imprint, and are we not, who are here
tonight, the better
for it?
Theirs was a vision!
The winter of 1819-20 was a mild one,
which enabled
the two families to progress with their
clearing and get
the ground in readiness for the first
planting. Great-
grandfather had said that he never
raised a better crop
than that grown the first year in the
rich virgin soil.
The first little cabin ere long gave
way to a larger
and better constructed home - still a
cabin, made of
logs. A "raising," which was
a social, as well as a utility
function - now with many hands to help
- soon
brought the new home to completion.
It was the most palatial home in all
the country, with
two rooms down stairs, two windows
instead of one, and
covered with cloth instead of oil
paper, for glass could
not be had. A spacious loft overhead
was reachd by a
ladder on the wall. Here the older
children slept, while
the little ones down stairs were tucked
away in the trun-
dle bed, which, at night, was pulled
out from under the
great "four poster".
Years after, my great aunt, Louisa
Norton Garton,
still had one of these beds, all
curtained about and re-
12 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
quiring steps to climb up into its
billowy depth of feath-
ers -how well I remember the novelty of
this experi-
ence when my mother and I, a little
child, visited her.
In all cabins, herbs were hung from the
rafters to
dry, and were used for tea and
concocting various reme-
dies - for the new settler must be his
own doctor.
In 1822, great-grandfather went back to
New York
State and brought home with him,
great-grandmother's
mother, Elizabeth Bucklin. She had a
scientific knowl-
edge of medicine, which she had
practiced in Rhode Is-
land, so she was of great help and
comfort to the little
community and many were her errands of
mercy! She
died here in 1824.
"Chills and fever" was the
scourge of the pioneers,
and seemed to be a necessary evil, and
was suffered by
even the third and fourth generation.
The early cabin homes were, of
necessity, very crude
in construction. What was true of one
was true of all.
The expression, which is very familiar,
"The latch string
is always out", had its origin in
the fastenings of the
doors of these first homes. A wooden
bolt inside the
cabin fitted into a groove, this bolt
could be raised from
the outside by means of a latch string
of deer hide,
which ran through a little hole above
the bolt and hung
outside. When one wished to lock the
door from within,
all that was necessary was to pull the
string through.
The cabins were completed without nails
or screws
or metal of any kind; leather from the
skins of wild
animals was used for hinges, and the
chimneys made
of stones, plastered with mud, which
had to be renewed
from time to time as it dried out and
became dislodged,
and the logs themselves were the only
building ma-
terials.
A Vision Fulfilled 13
The floors were made of split logs and
smoothed as
well as possible with an axe. They were
kept clean by
scouring with sand and rushes, until
finally they became
quite smooth and white.
In picturing these early days, that
which always fas-
cinates me is the fireplace, around
which so much of the
family life was lived. In the
preparation of the meals
and in the family pleasures, this was
the gathering place
-the abiding place of the household
gods.
The singing kettle, hanging from the
crane, the wild
turkey hanging from the spit, filling
the room with its
savory odors, the potatoes roasting in
the ashes, and
the corn pone baking in the covered
bake pan (which
must always be kept covered with the
hot ashes!) the
apples placed in a row and sputtering
and popping as
their juices burst their rosy skins in
the heat, -and
then again, on long winter evenings,
while the mother
and older daughters plied their needles
by candle-light,
or knit, or spun, or wove, or pieced
patches together for
quilts, which later would be quilted at
another social
function, the "quilting bee",
the younger ones made
merry with popping corn, cracking nuts,
melting the
maple sugar, and running with it to the
snow outside, re-
turning with strings of waxy sweetness;
all this, grand-
mother and my own mother have made
vivid in my
mind. Sometimes there were no candles
and then the
hearth fire was the only light.
The fireplaces were always large,
sometimes burning
logs six and seven feet long, which had
to be pulled into
the cabins by a horse. The great back
log would some-
times keep fire for a week. It was
something of an an-
noyance to have the fire go out for then
flint and tinder
must be resorted to, to re-kindle the
blaze. Sometimes
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
coals were carried from a neighbors to
coax back the
reluctant fire, for matches were
unknown. Wonderful
hardwood logs were burned in a
seemingly reckless way,
but this meant that the little clearing
was extending and
that progress was ever onward.
Aunt Elizabeth Norton Jones has told
how mince
pies were baked literally by the
wholesale, each being
wrapped in muslin and packed down in
barrels, to keep
through the winter. They were allowed
to freeze and
were thought to be improved by this
process. The bak-
ing at this time had advanced to an
oven built of stones
just outside the cabin door and, later
still, a step in ad-
vance, was an oven built at the side of
the fireplace
itself.
The water from the well was lifted in
"the old oaken
bucket" of song and story, and
brought to the surface by
a well sweep. The well sometimes served
as a refrigera-
tor also, as butter and milk were
frequently lowered to
its cooling depts until required by the
family.
In 1831, great-grandfather built the
brick building
which is now the Zeigler Mills, the
outer walls are as
they were originally, which certainly
testifies to the du-
rability of construction, when we
consider that the ma-
chinery of the mills have vibrated
within its walls for
so many years.
Here he spent the remainder of his life
- living for
twenty-five years in the comfort and
security of this
new home, so near the site of the first
crude cabin, amid
the surroundings he loved so well.
Here, for some time, he kept what was
then called a
"tavern", but as
great-grandfather did not enjoy this
new venture, it was discontinued after
a few years.
Col. James Kilbourne, who made the
survey of Bu-
A Vision Fulfilled 15
cyrus, was a warm personal friend of
great-grand-
father's and was a frequent guest in
his home, where
with poetry, of which he was very fond,
and story and
song, he enlivened many a long winter
evening.
General Harrison stopped with
great-grandfather in
1840 and was given a large reception.
It was doubtless
on such an important occasion that
great-grandmother's
housewifely skill was brought into play
and being her
own cateress, she constructed a
wonderful pound cake,
for which she was noted, building it in
layers, tier on
tier to the pyramid top, which was
baked in a tea cup,
and all was iced over into a thing of
beauty.
Then to add variety and spice, when the
candles
were made a very small amount of
powder was placed
in the lower end of the wick so that as
the candle burned
down, there was a startling little
flash, which amused the
guests.
It is recorded that in 1838, Nicholas
Longworth, the
wealthy merchant from Cincinnati, and
grandfather of
Congressman Longworth, stopped with
great-grand-
father. He remarked upon the beauty of
the river and
the surroundings and said, "What a
pretty site for a
town". "Yes" said
great-grandfather slowly, and with
a sigh, "yes, but it spoiled a
good farm".
Many a weary traveler of high and low
estate, could
testify to the warm-hearted hospitality
of that home,
where in those days, neighborhoods
meant counties.
Great-grandfather and great-grandmother
were Bap-
tists and as there was no church,
preaching was held in
their home.
In the later days when the more
rigorous times were
passed and my great-grandparents were
living in the
new brick home, my mother was born -
Letta Merri-
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
man Shull -the eldest daughter of
Catherine Norton
Shull and John Shull. This was the year
1834.
She has told me of the happy days when
she and the
numerous cousins, grandchildren all, of
Samuel and
Mary Norton, would visit them in their,
- what seemed
to the children - palatial home. Hide
and seek through
the rooms of the big house, and frolic
and pranks were
the order, and this, at a time when
children were sup-
posed to be seen, not heard. One time a
fine hiding
place was found for my small mother
inside the big
"grandfather's clock". It is
not recorded whether the
clock ticked on, but the memory of
these days was a joy
even to the end, when "she wrapped
about her the
drapery of her couch and lay down to
pleasant dreams."
The children born to Samuel and Mary
Norton, after
their arrival in Bucyrus, were -
Sophronia, Harris Put-
nam, Charles, Jefferson, and William.
They were the
parents of twelve children, and their
descendants are
scattered far and wide. The only
members of the
second generation of this large family,
now calling Bu-
cyrus home, are Mr. Fernando Norton and
Mrs. Mary
Jones Lemert.
There are several of the streets of
Bucyrus named
for the children of great-grandfather,
- Rensselaer,
Warren and Charles St., Perry St. for
the first grand-
son (Aunt Louisa Garton's oldest son)
and Mary St. for
great-grandmother. Great-grandfather's
modesty did
not permit his own name to be so used.
Receiving mail was an event of great
importance in
the little community, and whether a
long looked for let-
ter was brought, or only news from the
outside world,
the advent of the messenger with mail
was a stirring
event. Letter postage was twenty-five
cents. In 1822,
A Vision Fulfilled 17
anyone who would travel to Delaware was
the official
postman. He could go by Indian trail,
on horse-back in
the summer, but in winter the journey
could only be
made on foot.
Right here I must tell you that the
fame of Bucyrus
rests not alone on its beauty of
situation. Its fame has
gone abroad! Some years ago while
living in Mon-
treal, I was talking with a friend, a
Virginian. In some
way conversation drifted to our
ancestral homes. I
spoke of Bucyrus, Ohio, upon which he
immediately re-
joined, "Oh, I know Bucyrus - I
never in all my travels
saw such mud".
In 1824 the first official postoffice
was established
with Lewis Cary as postmaster, in which
capacity he
served for five years. During this
period the office ap-
peared on the official records at
Washington as "Bucy-
rus, alias Busiris". The name
"Bucyrus", as doubtless
many of you know, was given by Col.
Kilbourne, but the
origin of the name is a disputed point;
our family, who
knew Col. Kilbourne well, being very
sure that the first
syllable of "beautiful" and
the name "Cyrus" were com-
bined; Col. Kilbourne being a great
admirer of the his-
toric Persian General Cyrus; Mr.
Franklin Adams, also
a personal friend of Col. Kilbourne,
being equally sure
that the name was taken from Busiris, a
city of ancient
Egypt and also a name given the old
Egyptian Kings.
Great-grandfather did not at first
favor the idea sug-
gested by Col. Kilbourne for laying out
his farm into
lots, but later, when persuaded to do
so, he entered into
a partnership with Col. Kilbourne and
together they
platted and planned the town.
In 1830, when Bucyrus became the county
seat of
Crawford County, Col. Kilbourne donated
the lot for
Vol. XXXI-2.
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the court house, which is the present
site. Lots for a
school house and jail were donated by
great-grandfather,
and in addition, he agreed to give
one-third of the pro-
ceeds of all lots sold by him, toward
the erection of public
buildings.
In 1821, Zalman Rowse came from
Massachussetts
and at once entered prominently into
the active life of
the village, occupying many important
offices, and was
identified with every enterprise for
the forward move-
ment of Bucyrus.
Of his children, William Rowse married
Catharine
Finn, whom he had met when she came
from Pennsyl-
vania to visit her mother's brother,
Samuel Norton.
The first pipe organ brought to Bucyrus
was made
by Erasmus West of Lakeville, N. Y.,
who had married
great-grandmother's sister. He traded
the organ for
land, great-grandfather purchasing it
for his children.
Many years after, Jefferson Norton sold
it to the Bu-
cyrus Catholic Church.
The family all enjoyed music, and
several were
thought to be good singers. Jefferson
played the organ
and Charles the violin.
The older children of the family had
little opportu-
nity for educational instruction
outside the home, where
father and mother were the teachers, yet
their knowledge
of history and geography would equal
that of the fortu-
nate youth of today, while their
ability in mathematics
was marked.
Learning to read from the stilted
matter in the read-
ers of those times could scarcely be
the pleasure that
the modern student finds in the choice
selections from
the classics and poets which are
embodied in the readers
of today.
A Vision Fulfilled 19
The spelling bee was an exciting
amusement and an-
other popular form of entertainment was
for the young
people to sit in a circle around the
fireplace with a spokes-
man in the center, who would call
without warning upon
first one and then another for a story.
This would often
result in very bright, witty and
interesting entertain-
ment.
My grandmother kept a diary from her
young girl-
hood until the last years of her life.
How I have wished
that I might have access to its pages
at this time. So,
while educational advantages were
lacking, knowledge
was prized, and sought, and - won.
My great aunt, Elizabeth Norton Jones -
Mrs.
Lemert's mother - attended school at
Granville when a
girl, and here, doubtless, away from
the family roof-
tree, got a taste for secular
literature, which was not al-
lowed at home. She has told how lying
on the floor in
front of the fire-place and reading by
its light, she read
such books as Thaddeus of Warsaw,
Children of the
Abbey, Scottish Chiefs, etc. This was
literature far too
exciting for a well-bred young woman to
indulge in, and
so it was done by stealth - but it
was done!
The candles which supplied the light,
were made by
dipping wicks in tallow and hanging up
to dry -later
a form was used and I remember seeing
one of these
when quite a little girl and exclaiming
to my mother,
"Oh what a cute little
radiator."
The Indians at this time were all
friendly, though
they took keen delight in frightening
the children when
they came upon them in their play in
the woods about
the cabins. They were not always
welcome guests but
had to be endured and many times were
permitted to
sleep on the floor in front of the
fire, wrapped up in their
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
blankets. They would frequently come in
unannounced
and would leave as quietly. They
brought maple sugar
and cranberries and traded them for
calico and tobacco,
or anything the settler had that took
their fancy. There
was little currency among the settlers
and a system of
barter was more often used than money.
When my great-aunt Sophronia Norton was
born,
the event was of much interest to the
Indians, who
evinced a great deal of curiosity about
the little pale
face.
They came many times later on and tried
to prevail
upon great-grandmother to sell her.
I can imagine that this could scarcely
have caused a
feeling of security with
great-grandmother, for it was
not infrequent that children were
stolen by the Indians,
and many times were never heard of
again.
One of the very interesting characters
who pre-
ceeded the pioneer, was "Johnny
Appleseed", about
whom much has been written. He had
planted an or-
chard not far from great-grandfather's
first cabin and
it bore fruit in the early years after
their arrival. Great-
grandfather had brought his own seeds
when he came
and had planted his own orchard; but
many of Johnnie's
trees were standing after
great-grandfather's were all
dead. All of my mother's family were
fond of Johnnie,
who was gentleness, uprightness, and
honor itself,
though very uncouth in appearance,
caring not at all
about his clothes. Often his feet were
bare, even in
winter, and his clothes ragged and
pieced together, but
he was always shaven and clean.
I would that the spirit of construction
which Johnny
possessed could be abroad in the rural
districts today,
and that our present day farmers would
plant more
A Vision Fulfilled 21
trees, - trees to shade the highways
and beautify the
landscape.
In the district with which I am
familiar, this kind
of construction is sadly lacking, and
the tendency seems
to be to tear down, rather than to
build up, and every-
thing possible is commercialized and
apparently no
thought is given to those who will come
after to reap the
benefit of that sown today.
Among my mother's papers, I found a
clipping cut
from the Bucyrus Journal, which I will
read in part, as
a tribute paid to great-grandfather, by
those who knew
him:
"Died-On the 18th of April, 1856,
at his residence, Mr.
Samuel Norton, aged 76 years.
The death of Mr. Norton has left a
vacancy among our
citizens, as well as in his family,
which cannot be filled.
Being the first settler, he was justly
entitled to the name
of the "Father of Bucyrus".
For fifty years he has been an exemplary
member of the
Baptist Church and through all the
vicissitudes of his pioneer
life, his spirits were kept buoyant by
the hope of a future reward
in the mansions of eternal glory.
A large concourse of our citizens
attended his funeral and
all express their respect for this much
esteemed citizen and
sympathy for his afflicted
relatives."
Great-grandmother survived him but
three years,
dying in April 1859, and was laid to
rest beside her com-
panion of fifty-two years of married
life.
Theirs was a vision fulfilled.
"May we join the choir invisible
of those immortal
dead who live again in minds made
better by their
presence".
A VISION FULFILLED
BY MAUD BUSH ALFRED.
"Where there is no vision, the
people perish."
When your committee honored me with a
request
for a place on the program of this
celebration, which
commemorates the founding of Bucyrus, I
was filled
with varying emotions, - pride,
reverence, and perhaps,
awe. Pride, that I, the
great-granddaughter of Samuel
Norton and Mary Bucklin Norton, could
have the privi-
lege of honoring their memory;
reverence, that so
hardy, so brave, so God-fearing, so
kindly, so benevo-
lent a forbear had been mine -
reverence for the loved
ones I have known, who lie in the
beautiful silent city
which adjoins you in this, the place
which was "the
forest primeval," and now in the
evolution and develop-
ment of the years is your own thriving,
progressive and
growing city.
Should we not all indeed feel awe when
we regard
the progress of one hundred years? When
Great-
grandfather Norton and his wife and six
children and
small company of followers blazed the
path from their
home in northeastern Pennsylvania and
selected this
spot because of its beauty, its
richness of soil, and its
promise, they found only the red man
and prowling
animals of the forest, and, seemingly,
all that lay ahead
was toil and hardship and deprivation.
But - they had
a vision. Theirs was the spirit which
had won for us
our independence from the yoke of
England.
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