American Pioneers To The Northwest Territory - Arrivals The Following Month, May 1788

Arrivals The Following Month, May 1788

“A song of the Early Times out West,”
And that bold adventurous band
Who first set foot upon these shores
Where now their children stand;
Who fell’d the lordly forest tree
And built the Cabin Home,
Resolved on meeting valiantly
All dangers that might come.
A strong and hardy race were they,
To wield the axe and hoe,
When first they came as Pioneers,
Just sixty years ago!

The April winds swept o’er the hills
And bowed the forest tree,
And wild-wood flowers were blossoming,
And birds were singing free,
The wild deer bounded o’er the plain,
The wolf’s long howl was heard
And oft the panther’s fearful scream
The stoutest bosom stirr’d,
The wily Indian roam’d the wood
And sprung his bended bow,
When first they came as Pioneers,
Just sixty years ago!

But like a band of brothers then
Our worthy Fathers stood,
And met with firm and cheerful front
The dangers of the wood;
E’en woman’s heart grew bold and strong
Amid the toil and fear,
And with unshrinking heart and hand
Gave comfort, aid, and cheer.
Sweet were the social joys of life-
Few others did they know-
When first they came as Pioneers,
Just sixty years ago!

But years rolled on and swept away
Their trials and their foes,
And soon the wilderness was made
To blossom as the rose,
The bleating of the gentle sheep,
The lowing of the kine,
Were heard, where once the panther screamed
In days of Old Lang Syne.
Our worthy Sires, all danger o’er
Now felt life’s joyous flow-
Nor mourned that they were Pioneers,
Just sixty years ago!

But few are left to bless us now
Of all the honored band-
And they, ere long, must pass away
Into the spirit land.
Oh may their fleeting years be blest
By Sympathy and Love!
Till God shall call each wanderer home
To dwell with him above.
And may we all by well spent lives,
Of strength and virtue show
We’re worthy of the Noble Sires
Of sixty years ago!

Arrivals the following month, May 1788, included:

• General Samuel Holden Parsons
• Colonel John May
• Colonel Israel Putnam (son of General Israel Putnam)
• Colonel William Stacy
• Major Winthrop Sargent
• Captain William Dana
• Aaron Putnam
• Jonathan Stone

• Winthrop Sargent