Elizabeth Ann Sparling

William John Sparling

Amelia Sparling

Sarah Ann Mercier Sparling

Mercilla Marie Sparling

FNU LNU 1st m|1st m

Ann Mercier Smeltzer

Notes:

William Smeltzer

Notes:

the Emerald Isle

Land of the “Little People’ where elves and fairies dance in th e moonlight and hide in the hedges by day peeping out from the shelter of a yew or hawthorn t o watch the passersby. Land of Tradition and superstition where will-o-the-wisp dances lightly over the bogs fillin g the hearts of the unwary with superstitions terror. Oppressed and downtrodden for ages there is still a lilt in the laugh and a sparkle in the ey e of her sons and daughters that no misfortune can quite destroy, making her a land of romanc e and song incomparable with any other spot on earth. The shamrock grows green and the lakes of Killarney sparkle like diamonds in their emerald se tting; the blarney stone is still in Blarney Castle awaiting the kiss of the venturesome. John Thompson and Elizabeth Morris lived and loved in dear old Erin. John Thompson was a poo r man and he knew that, what with tythes, high rent and taxes he could never hope to be anyth ing else. There was, however, in those days, great talk of a country far away across the sea, where eve n a poor man might own land, where there were no tythes to pay, and where men worshipped Go d as they saw fit. Many people were leaving their homes and going away to this wonderful cou ntry in the New World. John Thompson and his wife gathered together their few belongings an d after a tearful farewell to their friends set sail for this land of promise. After a long and perilous voyage they landed in America. Crossing the Atlantic in a slow sai ling vessel of more than a hundred years ago was very different from a trip in one of the mig hty ocean liners of today. They settled at a place called the Forty near Niagara Falls in Ca nada. By dint of hard work and the strictest economy they fed and clothed their family, consistin g of three sons and four daughters. It was here, almost within sound of the Falls, that ou r mother, Ann, was born on May 17, 1824. She commenced to earn her own living at an early ag e by caring for little Sammie Nelson, son of a wealthy neighbor. She loved the little lad an d always spoke of him in an affectionate way. There were no public schools there at that time, so her opportunity for getting a school educ ation was very limited. About the year 1836 the family moved to Esquesing Township in the Pr ovince of Ontario, which was at that time called the west of Canada. Ann, "Ann of the Mounta in," she was called, grew tall and straight and slender, graceful as a deer, cheerful and bra ve and kind; endowed with unusual mental faculties, rare spirituality, and splendid physica l frame, fit to be the mother of a mighty posterity. The Smeltzers originally came from Germany. The name was taken from their occupation, that o f smelting. One branch of the family moved to England, where our grandfather, Paul Smeltzer , was born. He grew up and acquired a very good education, holding the office of bailiff fo r some time. He went to Ireland about 1811 or 1812, where he met a dainty little French lady , Ann Mercre, a refugee from the horrors of the French Revolution. They were married in 1813. He rented a farm on a ninety-nine year lease in Tiprary Co., wher e all eight of their children were born. Ann Maria, William, Amelia, John, Isaac, Abel, Hann ah and Thomas. During the year 1831 he moved to the city of Dublin, where he remained for two years. In 183 3 Paul Smeltzer, with his family emigrated to America, settling in Ontario, Canada. Soon after Ann, his wife, died. He married again, his second wife also dying. He marrie d a third wife and to them were born six children. Their children and grandchildren are no w scattered through Canada, New York State, Michigan and California. Our father, William Smeltzer, was born on December 24, 1816, at Townsend Renoughmoor, Paris h Kilcooley, Tiprary, Ireland. His boyhood was passed in his native home, and many were th e tales he told us children of the beauties of Ireland, as well as the privation of many of h er people. I can almost see the hedges with the daisies, violets and cowslips peeping out from underneat h like children at hide and seek. It is easy to picture boys (gorsoons) eating the lusciou s blackberries growing in the hedges or pelting each other with haws, while the junipers stoo d like silent, stately sentinels guarding over all. We can see the goats clambering up the Hill of Hoath and gazing away toward the sea, then ble ating in wild glee, come racing down the hill again. A fair-faced boy with waving ringlets w atching with delight the antics of Willie Wag Tail and the cat. The gentleman's beautiful residence and the hovel of the very poor. Men dug peat from the bo gs and dried it for fuel, while the lighter fires were made from the trimmings from the hedge s. A company of gentlemen and ladies on a fox hunt might hurdle the fence and ride through a poo r man's wheat field in pursuit of their hounds and the poor man had no redress. Although a f ox might carry away a man's geese or chickens, he must not harm the fox; one man who caugh t a fox by strategy was exported for committing so grave a crime. The family moved to Dublin in 1831, where they remained for two years, giving the older child ren the advantages of one of the best schools of the day. They then sailed for America. The story of that voyage was a veritable fairy tale; birds tha t followed the ship, shoals of porpoises, a whale calmly spouting, flying fish in their fligh t, and many other wonders. The vessel was driven from her course by adverse winds, causin g a shortage of provisions and water. They even witnessed the solemn rites of a burial at se a. After eleven weeks of tossing about the ship landed safely in the Harbor of New York. From thence they sailed north, entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence, up the river St. Lawrence , through the locks, passing Quebec and Montreal, and finally settling in Esquesing, Ontario. The transition from Ireland with its crowded population and crushing laws to the liberties, d angers and privations of a home in the wilderness of Canada must have been wonderful, callin g forth all the wisdom, courage and strength of the early pioneers. There was some sort of an uprising in Canada about the year 1836; I think it was McKenzie's R ebellion. William Smeltzer served for some time as one of the Queen's Rangers. He did sentr y duty and such work but was never engaged in a battle. Afterward he bought a piece of land and a yoke of oxen in Esquesing Township. He met Ann Tho mpson in the autumn of 1843. It must have been a case of love at first sight as after a shor t courtship they were married on December 18 of the same year. John Paul, Ann Mercere and Thomas were all born in Esquesing. In the spring of 1850 they sold their farm and moved to Garafraxa township, Wellington county , where they had bought two hundred acres from the government of fine land heavily timbered w ith maple, beech, elm and ash. Here in the heart of the wilderness they set to work to build a home and to help to develop w hat afterwards became on the the best farming sections in all Ontario. Much game abounded in the forests: deer, bear, wolves, foxes, lynx, beaver, squirrels and oth er animals and birds. It was the very frontier of civilization; no roads, no school, no chur ch, the nearest neighbor two miles away, except Uncle William Merecre, who lived alone in a l ittle log hut about a mile away. Those first months and years must have tried their very souls

Just think of the mother's te rror when Baby Tom ran away and got lost in the woods

The father chopped down the great trees in winter, cleared the land and plowed and planted i n the spring. The grain was sowed by hand, cut with a cradle, raked and bound by hand and th reshed with a flail. Splitting rails, making shingles to cover the buildings, laboring steadily year in, year out. They brought a yoke of oxen and some cows when they moved in; sheep, pigs, chickens and turke ys were later brought to the wilderness home, and finally an old mare, old Betty, who becam e the dam of a line of splendid horses. As there was no school for the children to attend, the father taught them himself winter even ings and as other people moved into the neighborhood he taught their children also. At last a school was opened at Donaldson's Corners, five miles away. Just think

Five mile s to school and five miles home

The boys made a jumper and hitched old Jack to it so they c ould ride in winter. Later the school was moved so when the younger children attended we ha d only three miles to go. The last winter we were in Canada, 1871-1872, a school was opene d on the Amaranth town line. As it was much nearer we attended that. The first death in the family was little Willie, aged three years, in September 1853. He wa s buried in the field, a little cousin was buried beside him, and the little graves, with th e little white marble monument father placed there, remain 'til this day. Through all these years the brave and loyal mother labored, milked the cows, cared for the po ultry, raised the garden, spun the wool into yarn and knit the yarn into stockings and mitten s, making all the garments by hand, even plaiting straw and making hats. No ready-made cloth es, no sewing machine, just a needle and a thimble, with a loving heart and a willing hand . She bore and reared the children, eleven in all, teaching them lessons front the Book of L ife. Daniel Lathwell moved into our neighborhood in 1864. He opened a Sunday School in his own ho use and also preached, or rather, exhorted. We attended services there until the last winter , when they were held in the town line school house. A S. S. anniversary was held in Lathwell's barn in the summer of 1871. At Christmas time Mr . Lathwell and Abel went to Toronto and bought gifts for the Sunday school children. Abel br ought mother a very beautifully illustrated copy of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. That book h as always stood next to the Bible in my regard. In the spring of 1872 William Smeltzer sold his farm in Ontario to Robert Henderson. He ha d a public auction sale and sold the livestock, farming machinery and household furniture. In May he moved his family to Michigan. He brought with him a span of mares, one of the bes t teams ever brought into this country; he also brought three fine cows. We came to Guelph by wagon and took the train for Sarnia, crossed to Detroit and up the lake s and through the Straits of Mackinac on the steamer "Idaho." At that time the harbor at Fra nkfort had not been dredged out sufficiently to permit large vessels to enter and a small tu g came out into the lake to bring passengers ashore. When we reached Frankfort it was very f oggy so they took us on to Milwaukee. As father was unwilling to swim the horses and cattl e ashore at Frankfort, he took them off the "Idaho" and sent them across the lake to Maniste e by another ship. Abel, William, Lamb and George went along to care for them. The "Idaho" took us on to Chicago, where father joined us after sending the boys with the cat tle and horses off to Manistee. Then we crossed over to Frankfort, the steamer whistled lou d and long and a little ferry boat came out and brought us, with our baggage and luggage asho re. Father, Ann, Mary and Joe walked out to Tom's that day and the next day Tom came with the hor ses and wagon and brought us, mother, Fannie and me, with our things. It was mother's birthd ay, May 17; the wildflowers were in bloom and Fannie and I gathered flowers to take to Lizzie , but by the time we got home our flowers were badly wilted. Father had bought out a homeste ad claim in Pleasanton, Manistee County, on the State Road, now US-31, just over the line fro m Benzie County, and we moved in there. One of the hard things about those early days was want of water. We carried our drinking wat er from Rhode's well; I think at least a hundred rods. Cisterns were installed as soon as po ssible, and after great effort and disappointment, a well. The children attended school in Joyfield, Dist. No. 1; we also attended Sunday school and chu rch in the old log school house. The men spent the winters cutting down the trees to clear the land in the spring. Then ther e was sugar-making, the early settlers depending a lot on maple sugar and syrup. There were no potato bugs and few weeds, so that potatoes might be planted on freshly cleare d land and with no further care a fine crop of potatoes might be dug in the fall. Sometime s when they got a good brush-burn they planted corn among the logs. There were lots of deer and a good many bears and foxes; the lakes teemed with fish; the pass enger pigeons were in their glory and in spring or autumn several flocks of wild geese migh t be seen in the sky at one time. John S. Perry organized a singing school in the school house; then there were spelling school s and friendly competiiton with neighboring schools. Joyfield had a martial band, Hiram N. Stanley playing the bass drum, William A. Joy the fif e and Charles Raymond the snare drum. Cattle pastured in the woods and grew fat in summer. There was a plant called ground hemloc k which did the cattle harm if eaten. During the summer of 1876 a barn and a house were built on the place in Joyfield and the fami ly moved in there that autumn. Orchards were planted and many fine cattle, horses, sheep an d hogs were raised. Although William Smeltzer was so energetic and untiring in practical thi ngs, he still had a deep and wonderful love for beautiful things and planted and cared for ma ny beautiful flowers, rare plants, shrubs and trees. For several years we have been reading a chapter of the life history of our parents, Willia m and Ann Smeltzer, now we have come to the close. December 18, 1893 they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. Fifty years

A long, lo ng time they walked together, sharing life's sunshine and shadow, its sorrows and its joys; b raving hardships and privations, ever rising above discouragements and trials, and upholdin g many sterling ideals throughout all the years. January 2, 1894 she passed away to the bett er life. February 15, 1901 he too passed out into the Great Beyond. . Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KHR9-1DM

Ann Thompson

Notes:

the Emerald Isle

Land of the “Little People’ where elves and fairies dance in th e moonlight and hide in the hedges by day peeping out from the shelter of a yew or hawthorn t o watch the passersby. Land of Tradition and superstition where will-o-the-wisp dances lightly over the bogs fillin g the hearts of the unwary with superstitions terror. Oppressed and downtrodden for ages there is still a lilt in the laugh and a sparkle in the ey e of her sons and daughters that no misfortune can quite destroy, making her a land of romanc e and song incomparable with any other spot on earth. The shamrock grows green and the lakes of Killarney sparkle like diamonds in their emerald se tting; the blarney stone is still in Blarney Castle awaiting the kiss of the venturesome. John Thompson and Elizabeth Morris lived and loved in dear old Erin. John Thompson was a poo r man and he knew that, what with tythes, high rent and taxes he could never hope to be anyth ing else. There was, however, in those days, great talk of a country far away across the sea, where eve n a poor man might own land, where there were no tythes to pay, and where men worshipped Go d as they saw fit. Many people were leaving their homes and going away to this wonderful cou ntry in the New World. John Thompson and his wife gathered together their few belongings an d after a tearful farewell to their friends set sail for this land of promise. After a long and perilous voyage they landed in America. Crossing the Atlantic in a slow sai ling vessel of more than a hundred years ago was very different from a trip in one of the mig hty ocean liners of today. They settled at a place called the Forty near Niagara Falls in Ca nada. By dint of hard work and the strictest economy they fed and clothed their family, consistin g of three sons and four daughters. It was here, almost within sound of the Falls, that ou r mother, Ann, was born on May 17, 1824. She commenced to earn her own living at an early ag e by caring for little Sammie Nelson, son of a wealthy neighbor. She loved the little lad an d always spoke of him in an affectionate way. There were no public schools there at that time, so her opportunity for getting a school educ ation was very limited. About the year 1836 the family moved to Esquesing Township in the Pr ovince of Ontario, which was at that time called the west of Canada. Ann, "Ann of the Mounta in," she was called, grew tall and straight and slender, graceful as a deer, cheerful and bra ve and kind; endowed with unusual mental faculties, rare spirituality, and splendid physica l frame, fit to be the mother of a mighty posterity. The Smeltzers originally came from Germany. The name was taken from their occupation, that o f smelting. One branch of the family moved to England, where our grandfather, Paul Smeltzer , was born. He grew up and acquired a very good education, holding the office of bailiff fo r some time. He went to Ireland about 1811 or 1812, where he met a dainty little French lady , Ann Mercre, a refugee from the horrors of the French Revolution. They were married in 1813. He rented a farm on a ninety-nine year lease in Tiprary Co., wher e all eight of their children were born. Ann Maria, William, Amelia, John, Isaac, Abel, Hann ah and Thomas. During the year 1831 he moved to the city of Dublin, where he remained for two years. In 183 3 Paul Smeltzer, with his family emigrated to America, settling in Ontario, Canada. Soon after Ann, his wife, died. He married again, his second wife also dying. He marrie d a third wife and to them were born six children. Their children and grandchildren are no w scattered through Canada, New York State, Michigan and California. Our father, William Smeltzer, was born on December 24, 1816, at Townsend Renoughmoor, Paris h Kilcooley, Tiprary, Ireland. His boyhood was passed in his native home, and many were th e tales he told us children of the beauties of Ireland, as well as the privation of many of h er people. I can almost see the hedges with the daisies, violets and cowslips peeping out from underneat h like children at hide and seek. It is easy to picture boys (gorsoons) eating the lusciou s blackberries growing in the hedges or pelting each other with haws, while the junipers stoo d like silent, stately sentinels guarding over all. We can see the goats clambering up the Hill of Hoath and gazing away toward the sea, then ble ating in wild glee, come racing down the hill again. A fair-faced boy with waving ringlets w atching with delight the antics of Willie Wag Tail and the cat. The gentleman's beautiful residence and the hovel of the very poor. Men dug peat from the bo gs and dried it for fuel, while the lighter fires were made from the trimmings from the hedge s. A company of gentlemen and ladies on a fox hunt might hurdle the fence and ride through a poo r man's wheat field in pursuit of their hounds and the poor man had no redress. Although a f ox might carry away a man's geese or chickens, he must not harm the fox; one man who caugh t a fox by strategy was exported for committing so grave a crime. The family moved to Dublin in 1831, where they remained for two years, giving the older child ren the advantages of one of the best schools of the day. They then sailed for America. The story of that voyage was a veritable fairy tale; birds tha t followed the ship, shoals of porpoises, a whale calmly spouting, flying fish in their fligh t, and many other wonders. The vessel was driven from her course by adverse winds, causin g a shortage of provisions and water. They even witnessed the solemn rites of a burial at se a. After eleven weeks of tossing about the ship landed safely in the Harbor of New York. From thence they sailed north, entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence, up the river St. Lawrence , through the locks, passing Quebec and Montreal, and finally settling in Esquesing, Ontario. The transition from Ireland with its crowded population and crushing laws to the liberties, d angers and privations of a home in the wilderness of Canada must have been wonderful, callin g forth all the wisdom, courage and strength of the early pioneers. There was some sort of an uprising in Canada about the year 1836; I think it was McKenzie's R ebellion. William Smeltzer served for some time as one of the Queen's Rangers. He did sentr y duty and such work but was never engaged in a battle. Afterward he bought a piece of land and a yoke of oxen in Esquesing Township. He met Ann Tho mpson in the autumn of 1843. It must have been a case of love at first sight as after a shor t courtship they were married on December 18 of the same year. John Paul, Ann Mercere and Thomas were all born in Esquesing. In the spring of 1850 they sold their farm and moved to Garafraxa township, Wellington county , where they had bought two hundred acres from the government of fine land heavily timbered w ith maple, beech, elm and ash. Here in the heart of the wilderness they set to work to build a home and to help to develop w hat afterwards became on the the best farming sections in all Ontario. Much game abounded in the forests: deer, bear, wolves, foxes, lynx, beaver, squirrels and oth er animals and birds. It was the very frontier of civilization; no roads, no school, no chur ch, the nearest neighbor two miles away, except Uncle William Merecre, who lived alone in a l ittle log hut about a mile away. Those first months and years must have tried their very souls

Just think of the mother's te rror when Baby Tom ran away and got lost in the woods

The father chopped down the great trees in winter, cleared the land and plowed and planted i n the spring. The grain was sowed by hand, cut with a cradle, raked and bound by hand and th reshed with a flail. Splitting rails, making shingles to cover the buildings, laboring steadily year in, year out. They brought a yoke of oxen and some cows when they moved in; sheep, pigs, chickens and turke ys were later brought to the wilderness home, and finally an old mare, old Betty, who becam e the dam of a line of splendid horses. As there was no school for the children to attend, the father taught them himself winter even ings and as other people moved into the neighborhood he taught their children also. At last a school was opened at Donaldson's Corners, five miles away. Just think

Five mile s to school and five miles home

The boys made a jumper and hitched old Jack to it so they c ould ride in winter. Later the school was moved so when the younger children attended we ha d only three miles to go. The last winter we were in Canada, 1871-1872, a school was opene d on the Amaranth town line. As it was much nearer we attended that. The first death in the family was little Willie, aged three years, in September 1853. He wa s buried in the field, a little cousin was buried beside him, and the little graves, with th e little white marble monument father placed there, remain 'til this day. Through all these years the brave and loyal mother labored, milked the cows, cared for the po ultry, raised the garden, spun the wool into yarn and knit the yarn into stockings and mitten s, making all the garments by hand, even plaiting straw and making hats. No ready-made cloth es, no sewing machine, just a needle and a thimble, with a loving heart and a willing hand . She bore and reared the children, eleven in all, teaching them lessons front the Book of L ife. Daniel Lathwell moved into our neighborhood in 1864. He opened a Sunday School in his own ho use and also preached, or rather, exhorted. We attended services there until the last winter , when they were held in the town line school house. A S. S. anniversary was held in Lathwell's barn in the summer of 1871. At Christmas time Mr . Lathwell and Abel went to Toronto and bought gifts for the Sunday school children. Abel br ought mother a very beautifully illustrated copy of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. That book h as always stood next to the Bible in my regard. In the spring of 1872 William Smeltzer sold his farm in Ontario to Robert Henderson. He ha d a public auction sale and sold the livestock, farming machinery and household furniture. In May he moved his family to Michigan. He brought with him a span of mares, one of the bes t teams ever brought into this country; he also brought three fine cows. We came to Guelph by wagon and took the train for Sarnia, crossed to Detroit and up the lake s and through the Straits of Mackinac on the steamer "Idaho." At that time the harbor at Fra nkfort had not been dredged out sufficiently to permit large vessels to enter and a small tu g came out into the lake to bring passengers ashore. When we reached Frankfort it was very f oggy so they took us on to Milwaukee. As father was unwilling to swim the horses and cattl e ashore at Frankfort, he took them off the "Idaho" and sent them across the lake to Maniste e by another ship. Abel, William, Lamb and George went along to care for them. The "Idaho" took us on to Chicago, where father joined us after sending the boys with the cat tle and horses off to Manistee. Then we crossed over to Frankfort, the steamer whistled lou d and long and a little ferry boat came out and brought us, with our baggage and luggage asho re. Father, Ann, Mary and Joe walked out to Tom's that day and the next day Tom came with the hor ses and wagon and brought us, mother, Fannie and me, with our things. It was mother's birthd ay, May 17; the wildflowers were in bloom and Fannie and I gathered flowers to take to Lizzie , but by the time we got home our flowers were badly wilted. Father had bought out a homeste ad claim in Pleasanton, Manistee County, on the State Road, now US-31, just over the line fro m Benzie County, and we moved in there. One of the hard things about those early days was want of water. We carried our drinking wat er from Rhode's well; I think at least a hundred rods. Cisterns were installed as soon as po ssible, and after great effort and disappointment, a well. The children attended school in Joyfield, Dist. No. 1; we also attended Sunday school and chu rch in the old log school house. The men spent the winters cutting down the trees to clear the land in the spring. Then ther e was sugar-making, the early settlers depending a lot on maple sugar and syrup. There were no potato bugs and few weeds, so that potatoes might be planted on freshly cleare d land and with no further care a fine crop of potatoes might be dug in the fall. Sometime s when they got a good brush-burn they planted corn among the logs. There were lots of deer and a good many bears and foxes; the lakes teemed with fish; the pass enger pigeons were in their glory and in spring or autumn several flocks of wild geese migh t be seen in the sky at one time. John S. Perry organized a singing school in the school house; then there were spelling school s and friendly competiiton with neighboring schools. Joyfield had a martial band, Hiram N. Stanley playing the bass drum, William A. Joy the fif e and Charles Raymond the snare drum. Cattle pastured in the woods and grew fat in summer. There was a plant called ground hemloc k which did the cattle harm if eaten. During the summer of 1876 a barn and a house were built on the place in Joyfield and the fami ly moved in there that autumn. Orchards were planted and many fine cattle, horses, sheep an d hogs were raised. Although William Smeltzer was so energetic and untiring in practical thi ngs, he still had a deep and wonderful love for beautiful things and planted and cared for ma ny beautiful flowers, rare plants, shrubs and trees. For several years we have been reading a chapter of the life history of our parents, Willia m and Ann Smeltzer, now we have come to the close. December 18, 1893 they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. Fifty years

A long, lo ng time they walked together, sharing life's sunshine and shadow, its sorrows and its joys; b raving hardships and privations, ever rising above discouragements and trials, and upholdin g many sterling ideals throughout all the years. January 2, 1894 she passed away to the bett er life. February 15, 1901 he too passed out into the Great Beyond. . Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KHR9-1DM

Florence Gertrude Sparling

Samuel Herbert Sparling|Pvt.

Notes: