Address Given at Wheeler Family Reunion
J. Wheeler Smith
Oxford Press, August 24, 1900
The following address was written by J. Wheeler Smith, of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY] for the occasion [Wheeler family reunion]:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentleman:
Having passed the inaugural of the Wheeler reunion, we are met together again under a pleasant sky and auspicious surroundings to rivet anew the bonds of social and family associations, and to gather up the incidents of our early family history, which without such aids are fast being buried with the forms of our forefathers and foremothers, in the tomb of forgetfulness, and thus be lost forever to the present and succeeding generations.
Standing as we do today on the threshold of a new century, it is meet for us to pause in the hurry and bustle of life and take a retrospective view of our surroundings and standing thus on the dividing line between the receding past, and the approaching future, and looking forward we behold the venerable form of Time as he stands for a moment on the pedestal of years, his white locks streaming in the winds of winter, his aged form bending over the ruins of empires, and his trembling hand pointing forward into the mysteries of the great unknown.
Looking backward we behold the milestones of the departed years, standing as monuments in life's rugged journey, marking the history of futile plans, of disappointed expectations, of ruined hopes, or of struggles with difficulties and disappointments that brought us to the verge of despair. Or, encircled by more cheerful remembrances and gilded by the halo of sweeter reflections, we trace on memory's page the outlines of pleasant social associations, and the various refined and lasting blessings that go to make up the sum total of life's enjoyments and richest rewards.
One hundred years. How many incidents have been bridged over by the intervening space in life's eventful journey. We can hardly realize, without an effort, the changes Time has wrought in the world's history and condition since our brave pioneer ancestors with their Puritan principles and sturdy constitutions, with their ox teams and canvas covered wagons, bade adieu to the comforts of their eastern homes, with its increasing tokens of civilization, and bravely pushed their way into the unbroken wilderness of these western wilds to carve out a home for the dear ones that surrounded their homely hearth.
We of today, surrounded as we are by the comforts of civilization and the conveniences of the improved methods of labor, can scarcely realize the sacrifices and self denials of our brave ancestors in their struggles with the inconveniences and hardships of their pioneer life. Cut off as they were from nearly all intercourse with the outside world, with only the scanty supply of their small clearings and the results of the chase for the support of their families, their isolation left them at times, not only short of provisions, but without any prospect of outside aid.
A gristmill at Wattles Ferry, near Cooperstown, forty miles away, was the nearest accommodation, in that line, of the first settlers; but about 1800 a mill was erected by Joshua Mercereau near the mouth of the Unadilla river, and only ten or fifteen miles away, which greatly relieved the settlers in this respect.
But without rehearsing the various items of sacrifice and lack of what we of today would call the necessaries of life, it is interesting to follow up step by step the developments and improvements of the outgoing century, and thus by comparison more fully realize the advancement that has marked the history of the years gone by.
The first set of household utensils used by our foremothers was of wood. They had their wooden plates, then called trenchers, their wooden platters, wooden bowls and other wooden utensils, making as complete a set as could be made of wood. Those were usually made of beech as that was considered the best in every respect for that purpose.
Next came the pewter; they had their plates, platters, bowls, cups and indeed the whole complement of pewter ware, including spoons, of which they would manufacture their own, as moulds for their making would be found in every neighborhood, and the only difficulty would be to secure the material.
Thus, tracing up the housewife from her wooden and pewter utensils, and the farmer from his wooden plow, his iron hoe and his sickle, through the various gradations of improvement, to the sewing machine and all the other improvements of the housewife, and the mowing machine, the horse harvester and all the other improvements for the farmer; and then to all the advance in the arts, in science, in chemistry, in electrical appliances, typewriters, telephones, gramophones, and the thousand and one inventions for which we of today are receiving the benefits, seems like the reading of a romance, and the mind can scarcely grasp the full reality of the forward strides of the past century; and yet, looking forward to the end of the century upon which we are about to enter, we may well ask ourselves the question, "What may we not then see?"
Without attempting to draw upon the imagination to picture the condition of the world as it may then exist, we may, judging from our past experience, justly conclude that the advancements in every way at that day will as far exceed those of today, as those of today exceed those which our forefathers and foremothers experienced when they planted their footsteps in this wilderness land, the home of the panther and the bear.
We are gathered here today on a noble mission. To gather up the fragmentary history of our noble ancestors, to rescue from oblivion facts and reminiscences connected with our own families, and relatively the different branches of our widely scattered connections in its different ramifications and extensions; and more than this, to acquaint ourselves with those of our own blood and kin, where heretofore we have been entire strangers. And here let me say that in the hurry and bustle of life in the past years, we have sadly departed from that social simplicity of life and neighborly communion with each other as social beings, which characterized our forefathers, and made their lives, even under so many disadvantages, so full of that rugged enjoyment of which we of today are so sadly deficient.
And so then, the serious question comes to us today, does the opportunities and enlarged facilities of our present surroundings place us under a correspondingly greater degree of responsibility in our intercourse with responsibility in our intercourse with our fellow men as citizens and fellow beings in this great and busy world around us, and of which we are a component part.
Our forefathers expected and received those simple acts of social kindness which their neighbors were able to give; either in pecuniary aid in their hour of need, or assistance in the daily avocations of life, beyond which, their wants were few and easily supplied; but under the peculiar conditions of our present surroundings all this is changed.
The advance in literature places us under obligation to educate our children in a more thorough manner in order to meet the increasing requirements of a proper standing in the community around us. Our obligations as members of society to meet the demands of business, as legislators, as church members, as artisans, as mechanics, as political men, all go to show us that the demands of society upon us is in proportion to the advancement of the present over the past. And unless we meet those demands by a proper self preparation we shall fall sadly behind in the world's onward march in intellectual and moral improvement.
So then, looking beyond mere selfish considerations we find the world has claims upon us which we cannot honestly ignore. True, we have our homes to care for, our families to clothe and feed, our children to educate, etc., but would we not secure a more satisfactory return for our labor and our anxiety by taking a little more time to associate with our friends, a little more time in looking over the wants of suffering humanity around us, and a little less time in actual drudging toil; and would not the results be more satisfactory, even though we left a few less dollars to our children, offset by an increased intellectual acquirement and ability to secure a livelihood for themselves, insuring to them a wealth of self supporting independence worth far more to them than mere financial acquisition.
I see before me today a goodly assemblage of the younger members of our representation, and to them I would say: My young friends, you see before you today a few, a very few, of the aged ones that have come down to you from a former generation. They are the representatives of a pioneer race, the most of whom have long since been laid in the dust. Their white locks and feeble footsteps tell too plainly that their earthy pilgrimage is drawing to a close.
Their voices will soon be hushed in death and their eyes closed in that long sleep that knows no waking. While they are with you, cherish and care for them with that tenderness which you may wish to have extended to you when you shall stand face to face with the last enemy. Gather from their experience those lessons of wisdom which they are fully qualified to bestow, and from their tales of olden times those incidents of pioneer history which will be of value to you and your posterity in the years to come when their forms will be laid in the dust and such opportunities will be lost to you forever. For, as we look upon their aged forms, we realize that earthly scenes are fading away, and the gates of the beloved city are already glittering in the eternal sunlight of the glorious camping ground on high, and that they are standing, like some aged pine on the mountain's brow, towering above the surrounding forest, pathetic in its loneliness, grand in its surroundings, and majestic in its fall.
Compiler note: The author, James Wheeler Smith, 1820-1911, was the son of Nicholas and Susan (Wheeler) Smith. He lived to the age of 91 years and was buried in West Bainbridge Cemetery, Chenango County, NY.
