Who put the Maple in Mapleside Farm?

The row of Maples in front of the farm are like majestic guards providing shelter from the elements and offering a magnificent connection to the natural world. If music is for the ears, perhaps trees are a part of the natural symphony for the eyes! 

This is Mapleside Farm in 1900.

These Maple trees stand as a testament and a memorial to the person who planted them around 1861. That person was William Harrison Ferris.

This is William in about 1853 at the age of 18.

William is Leila’s Uncle and Ma’s Brother.  Before William went off to the Civil War in 1862, the family lore says that he planted these trees. Interestingly enough, those trees are still standing in front of Mapleside Farm today in 2007.  Admittedly, the trees are beginning to show signs of age.

This is a picture of William in 1857 at the age of 22.  This was taken in California while he was prospecting for gold.

William planted these trees, went off to war and at the age of 28 was never to return home again.  William Harrison Ferris, Private, Company F of the 116^th New York Volunteer Infantry, died October 2, 1863 and is interred in Grave Number 3490, Section E, Mound City National Cemetery in Illinois. 

This is a picture of William in 1862.  It was likely taken in Buffalo, NY

William’s family from that time and into the future were fighting abolitionists but this did not change the bitter suffering they felt over William’s death.  William could have stayed home (he volunteered for service) and made a life on the farm in Collins with his father James Ferris and his mother Ruth Knight-Ferris.  There was bitterness not only for the national circumstances leading to William’s death, but over William’s choice to put himself in harms way for what he deeply believed in. 

We can’t help think today about the talk of reparations and official apologies to African American families for the certain suffering that was endured by their ancestors under the culture of slavery.  Certainly the damage from those times did not magically end with the war.  I wonder if we shouldn’t take that to the next step and consider (at least privately) the suffering by so many other families of our nation’s history that felt so strongly about the injustice of slavery that they were willing to sacrifice their own lives to help free their African American brothers and sisters and help change the course of an entire nation.  Of course others were drafted into the war and had no choice in the matter, but their sacrifice is no less real.  Certainly all of humanity paid a high price during this period in order to steer away from a very dark path.  As we look at the world today, have we really learned anything from history?  Looking back on my personal family history and reflecting on the stories of this painful loss, I can tell you that the suffering felt over William’s untimely death did not quickly fade. 

We have letters that William had written home to his family.  In time we will include those letters on this website.  From the letters you will see that William was a person with a kind heart, a sense of humor and hopes and aspirations like young people of any generation.  Unfortunately for him the times were unkind and his strong convictions sealed his destiny. 

We choose to remember Uncle William for his selfless convictions, his gentle adventuresome spirit and the beautiful trees that he planted.  Those trees have endured all these years as a testament to the continuity of life and the hope of those that pass through this existence.