WHEREAS, An Old Settlers' Association of Ottawa county being yet in a partially organized state and will be destitute of by-laws until the first annual meeting, therefore

Be it Resolved, That every member of this association should feel it a duty incumbent upon him to attend the funeral of any deceased member of the association previous to the organization at the first annual meeting.

On motion, the association adjourned until the third Wednesday in January, 1859. NORMAN M. HINSDALE, Chairman HENRY S. CLUBB, Secretary

The following is Col. Norton's speech above referred to. MR. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW OLD SETTLERS: I arrived in the State immediately after it was admitted into the union as a State. I first arrived at Detroit. I came to the Grand river valley. When I started for this place I supposed that the land was for sale. A friend of mine had written to say that the land office at Ionia would be opened on a certain day. The day had passed before I reached there. I found the land had not been surveyed on this side. I was advised, however, to come and look at the land.

At that time there was a bill before congress called "Walker's bill," that was to allow settlers a section of land. I supposed that bill would pass. I came on by the recommendation of friends, and made a commencement by plotting out three preëmptions under the expectation that the bill would pass. It had passed the house of representatives, but being a short session it remained with the unfinished business in the senate. Then I stopped, because I did not want to expend too much, wishing to be able to buy my claim when it came into the market.

I started back for home, and came on again the first winter, and put up a mill. I started one saw in May and another in June, 1838.

At that time it was pretty new to take the route from our place (Nortonville) to the Rapids. There was but one house, that was Mr. Yeomans's. Mr. Yeomans had settled where Mr. Steele has since lived.

Provisions at that time were very hard to get. The early settlers had to pay from $30 to $35 a barrel, for pork, and other provisions in proportion. I paid that to provide for my men. Butter was half a dollar a pound. White beans were the cheapest article and they were $4.00 a bushel. Prices continued equally high until the great bank suspension throughout the union and that brought them down.

We had many hardships to endure in those days. People who come here now think they help to settle a new country, but they know little of what the first settlers had to endure. We had many annoyances, to say nothing of the multitude of mosquitoes which were very thick. Nobody had prepared to shut them out and did not know how to manage with them. In those days we had to cut through the woods and cross streams. We could not go a short journey with a team without taking an ax and auger along with us.

REV. WILLIAM MONTAGUE FERRY

From the Grand Haven Union, Feb. 6, 1868

The sad event-which we briefly noticed last week-the death of this loved and honored pioneer of our city and county, demands a more extended notice than we could then give it. We use the term "sad" in reference to his death, and feel that it is truthful as applied to those who are left behind, deprived of the guiding and sustaining counsel of his far-seeing intellect and

noble heart; yet we never knew a death more entirely stripped of its terrors, nor a scene better adapted to extort the prayer "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

Mr. Ferry was born in Granby, Mass., Sept. 8, 1796, and was consequently at the time of his death, Dec. 30, nearly seventy-one years and four months old. He was the youngest one of a family of ten children, his youngest brother, Aretas Ferry, of Bernardston, Mass., being now the only surviving member of the family. His father, Noah Ferry, was one of the sturdy New England farmers, in whose character was combined firmness and decision of purpose, with strict devotion to correct principles as the rule of his life, and an earnest determination to make his own efforts, with the blessing of Providence, the foundation of whatever success in life might be accorded to him. The memory of this sturdiness of character in the father, was always blended in the hearts of the children, with the fond love and fervent prayers of their mother, who long survived her husband.

At fifteen Mr. Ferry was a slight, frail youth, not physically adapted to the rugged toil of a New England farm. But trusting that his heart had been graciously renewed by the power of the Spirit, he earnestly desired to obtain a thorough education, that he might preach, the gospel of Christ. His father had not the means to aid him in carrying out this plan, nor would he consent to it until the son promised that under no circumstances would he solicit or receive aid from any one, but would make his way by his own personal efforts. This point settled, he entered upon a clerkship in the store of his brother, Heman Ferry, at Remsen, near Utica, N. Y., where he remained three years, meanwhile applying himself earnestly to study in his leisure moments. At eighteen he accepted a tutorship under his uncle Joseph Montague, then principal of a female seminary at Kinderhook, New York. He taught there one year, and then went to Plainfield, Mass., where he prepared himself for college, under the instruction of Rev. Moses Hallock. During these preparatory studies, he also took charge of Sanderson Academy at Ashfield, Mass., for a single term. Thus he provided for himself, redeeming his pledge and maintaining his independent and self-reliant course. At the age of twenty-one he was ready to enter upon his collegiate course at Union College.

An incident occurred at this time, which well illustrates both his character and his financial situation. Visiting the old homestead, he asked his oldest brother to take him to Schenectady, that he might enter college. He did so, and made the journey-then a long one-in a one horse wagon. In crossing a defective bridge near Schenectady the horse's leg was broken and another must be purchased to fill his place. The young student insisted that the journey was made for his sake, and he must bear the loss. The older brother, not knowing the extent of his resources, yielded, and the sixty dollars necessary to purchase a horse, took the entire amount of his funds, save a single sixpence. With this he entered college, and we can imagine the feeling of dismay that must sometimes have crossed his mind at the financial prospects. But in, Dr. Yates, a leading professor of the college, he found a friend who offered him such employment as would assist him in completing his college course. He entered the sophomore class, and graduated in his 24th year. He then pursued a two years' course of theological study at New Brunswick, N. J., and six months under Rev. Dr. Gardner Spring of New York, and was licensed and ordained by the Presbytery of New York, in 1882.

Offering his services to the United Foreign Missionary Society, he was, appointed to explore among the Indian tribes of the northwest.

He came up the lake from Buffalo in the Superior, the first steamer that ever floated on the waters of Lake Huron, and the second trip she made up. Detroit was then a small village, mostly inhabited by French settlers and traders, and in the Territory of Michigan, there were small settlements commenced at Pontiac, Monroe, and a few other points. The results of this exploration, were the establishment of, and his appointment to the Mackinac mission, on the island of that name. Here he remained about one year, employed in laying the foundation for future labor. Having these arrangements completed, he returned to Ashfield, Mass., in 1823, and was married to Miss Amanda White, eldest daughter of Thomas White, and with Mrs. Ferry, at once returned to resume his labors in Mackinac. In 1827 this mission was transferred to the care of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Mr. Ferry's labors at Mackinac continued for twelve years, and they were years of incessant and arduous toil. He entered into this labor as he did into everything he undertook with all the ardor of his soul, and with such fixedness of purpose as was ever characteristic of the man. Indeed, as was well expressed in the funeral discourse of Rev. Mr. Evans, "None but one gifted as he was, could have moulded into usefulness such material as was adrift on the borders of civilization." He acted in the double capacity of missionary to the Indians, and chaplain to the military post at Mackinac, and in both these relations his memory is cherished with the strongest affection and reverence by those who survive him.

He organized schools in which hundreds of Indian children were instructed and prepared for usefulness, and otherwise opened fountains of influence whose streams will bless the world to the end of time.

The exhausting cares and labors of such a charge, however, at length began to tell upon his health, and a combination of difficulties led him to believe that his active duties of life were passed. He did not expect to be able to continue in discharge of the duties of ministry. What should be done? He stated his convictions to the board, and they urged him to remain in his present relations, even if unable to labor. The secretary of the board visited the station and urged upon him the same view. But with characteristic energy and decision, he determined this question in the negative. It was contrary to his whole character to consent to be a burden upon the church, and rendering no equivalent services for the support of his growing family. He must, therefore, seek an opening to do something for the comfort of his family, while he continued with them.

In these circumstances the late Robert Stuart, a dear friend of his, (who, if we do not mistake, make a public profession of religion under his ministry), proposed to him to take certain funds which he provided, and travel for the double purpose of restoring his health and seeking a place of residence. With this object in view he visited Chicago, St. Joseph, Milwaukee, and Detroit, whence he traveled across the country on horseback, with Mr. N. H. White, to Grand Rapids, and down the river in a canoe to Grand Haven. Hon. Rix Robinson, a fur trader, and now a resident of Kent county, had a log shanty here for the convenience of his business, and Mr. Ferry spent ten days in making certain surveys and other provisional arrangements for settlement. These things being done, he procured of Mr. Robinson a bark

canoe and crew of Indians, and coasted to Mackinac, a distance of 240 miles. Instead of being five or six days on the passage, as they expected, they were sixteen days, and although their provisions were supposed to be ample, at the end of eight days, they were all consumed. This was in September, 1834. They obtained of a band of Indians, some green corn and a few squashes, on which they lived, without salt, for eight days, until they reached Mackinac. Making his arrangements as rapidly as possible, he chartered the schooner Supply, of 44 tons, to bring his family and effects to Grand Haven, and after a passage of three days arrived on Sunday morning, the 2d day of November, 1834. They landed none of their stores, but in Mr. Robinson's log shanty,. like the Pilgrims at Plymouth, 214 years before, they united in solemn public worship, Mr. Ferry preaching from Zechariah, 4:10-"Who hath despised the day of small things." Thus, as it were, the first act of the first settlers was an act of prayer and praise, and thus they consecrated the future village and city to God.

At the time of Mr. Ferry's settlement the nearest white neighbors were forty miles distant. Ottawa county had not another white inhabitant. On the south, ten miles up the Kalamazoo river lived a family named Butler. On the east there was a family or two and a mill up Buck Creek, in Kent county. On the river the first family was at the Rapids, forty miles up. On the north the nearest settlement was at Mackinac, two hundred and forty miles.

The accommodations of Mr. Ferry and his family for the first winter are worthy of note. The log building of Mr. Robinson, in which they found shelter, Mr. Ferry himself described as about sixteen by twenty-two feet, and in this were twenty-one persons to be accommodated. "About two-thirds of the number slept in the loft, and a portion slept in a vessel which had been thrown into the harbor, unexpectedly, to winter there."

In 1835 Mr. Ferry visited Detroit, going by way of Mackinac. He there made an arrangement with Mr. Stuart to explore the Grand River Valley to its mouth, the country being then an unbroken and almost entirely unknown wilderness. Accordingly, accompanied by Capt. Jedediah Perkins, of Ann Arbor, and Mr. P. C. Duvernay, he traveled from Detroit to Jackson, where they purchased a canoe and paddled down the river the entire distance to Grand Haven.

But the financial crisis of 1836-37 did not fail to reach this infant settlement, and Mr. Ferry found himself once more empty handed, and compelled to commence anew. Mortgaging his house for $500, and procuring a credit in Chicago for $500 more, he purchased a stock of goods and commenced business anew. We need not follow these struggles of our persistent friend minutely, as he brought himself out of the straits, and achieved independence and wealth. These things are too well known here to need detail. As the first act in the settlement of Grand Haven was an act of worship, conducted by our departed friend, so that public worship was regularly maintained by him. For more than eighteen years he preached the gospel to the people of Grand Haven free of charge, until they were able and willing to employ and sustain a minister.

Mr. Ferry was eminently a loyal man. He loved his country. During our recent struggle with treason, he watched with deep anxiety the ebb and flow of the tide of success to our armies. Most heartily he gave of his substance to promote enlistments, and of his sons to fight the battles of freedom.

One of these continued honorably in the service till the close of the contest, and the other fell gloriously with his face to the foe at Gettysburg. His fellow citizens, who saw how the father bore up under that mighty sorrow, who heard the brave words in which, at the grave of his heroic son, he declared that the sacrifice was not too great to save his country, need no testimony to this point. And when more recently, his second son, entrusted with high responsibilities at Washington, was called to decide whether he should leave his father in steadily declining health, or his official duties, the brave hearted father said: "Go my son-that is your post-your duties to your country and your constituency are there.”

His religious character partook of his mental in its decision, clear-sightedness and stability. He could not understand how any Christian could allow himself to be a doubting Christian-to live so that he could not at all times be sure of a safe interest in his eternal inheritance. He was a warm-hearted Christian. He loved the Redeemer, and he loved his church, and the church in Grand Haven, and the ministers and churches with which he was associated in the presbytery will long miss his clear-headed counsel, and his liberal hand. In his business intercourse with the world his integrity was as inflexible as were his religious convictions, and the steady purpose with which he maintained the institutions of religion, education, and morality, have done very much toward building up all those influences which go to make the world better.

Some years since he was thrown from a wagon by a vicious horse, and received injuries from which he never entirely recovered, though he has attended to business more or less until within a few months past. We believe but few men would have borne up and continued in any degree active with the measure of debility which has been upon him. With less force of character he would have yielded to the pressure and probably died long before he did. But his powers were consecrated to a holy purpose, and his mental activity would not allow him to be idle while any physical power remained. For some ́ weeks, his bodily strength gradually wasted, though for the most part he suffered no pain. In this gentle manner did he pass down toward the grave, with clear perceptions of, and trust in the Saviour, and when the end came, it was like the gradual sinking of the summer sun from a cloudless sky behind the western hills. He breathed his last so gently that it was difficult to note the precise time of his departure.

So fades a summer cloud away;

So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts the eye of day;

So dies a wave along the shore.

THE FUNERAL

Seldom has a bright, beautiful day in Grand Haven been so overshadowed with a cloud of sorrow, as Thursday last, when the mortal remains of Rev. William M. Ferry were followed to the grave. A large number of friends

NOTE by the compiler. In 1849 Rev. William M. Ferry was postmaster at Grand Haven, and the compiler was sent by the P. O. Department to investigate the loss of money sent by mail. Starting from Adrian, the shortest route was one day by stage to Jackson; a day and night by rail to New Buffalo, and boat to Chicago; and a day and night via Milwaukee to Grand Haven. Mr. Ferry took us across the bay in a skiff, to where he was building a saw-mill, as we might say in a desolate swamp, now the lively village of Ferrysburg. It was then a desolate looking region, but Grand Haven showed marked signs of enterprise.