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WATERTOWN THIRTY YEARS AGO 1854 by the Hon. Enos Goodrich
In looking back over the past thirty years it is almost wonderful to note the very large percentage of early pioneers who have been spared through the vicissitudes of life, to assist in pushing on the grand work of improvement, and who, like the old guard of Napoleon, can still stand side by side and
answer to the roll call of Watertown's early founders. But who can say how long the list I have presented to-day will remain unbroken. As the Hon. Andrew Parsons said to us when he dismissed the senate of 1835, "It is not probable that we shall all meet again in time. " Were it within the province of my subject I might here waft away your thoughts to the untrodden regions of the future, in imagination contemplative of what Watertown is destined yet to be, but my theme leads me to linger with the past. But before passing from this stage of the subject it is meet that we should pay a passing tribute to the memory of two of Watertown's old settlers, who within the past few weeks have been suddenly called away from the scene of their earthly labors. Benjamin Sperry and Henry E. Chaplain, though not among Watertown's very earliest settlers, may justly be classed among its pioneers. It must be at least a quarter of a century since these two men sat down among us and united their labors with ours in pushing forward the work of improvement. And nobly and manfully did they do their work, closing their labors only "with the closing hour of their lives. One day early in July just passed, I was driving from Fostoria to this village, and met Mr. Sperry, also driving his team; he seemed hale and vigorous, cheerful and active as I had known him in the years of the past. It was the last time I ever saw his honest face; perhaps in less than an hour from that moment, in returning homeward, near the spot where I met him, his team took fright and dashed him to death. Scarcely had the startling news died away, when it was heralded that old Mr. Chaplain, while in the act of carrying a pail of water had dropped down dead; "Heart disease" was the verdict, though why should we wonder that after 84 years of active service the wheels of life should at last stand still. Thus . "ended the earthly career of two of Watertown's most respected pioneers.
Michigan
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