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1528 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Apbil 4, 1907. 



THE DEATH ROLL. 



Nathan Smith. 



Had Nathan Smith, of Adrian, Mich., 

 lived until Saturday, he and his estima- 

 ble wife could have celebrated their 

 sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. As it 

 is, the venerable gentleman died Thurs- 

 day, March 28, at 8:15 p. m., at his 

 home on West Maumee street, and his 

 companion of all these years is left in 

 a house of mourning. 



Nathan Smith, the senior member of 

 the firm of Nathan Smith & Son, was 

 one of the oldest and most highly re- 

 spected citizens in his city. Without 

 doubt, up to his death, he was the old- 

 est continuous resident of his state, re- 

 moving to Michigan with his parents 

 when he was but 3 years of age. 



Nathan Smith was born September 

 22, 1817, at Manlius, Onondaga county, 

 New York. When the family removed 

 to Michigan they settled near Birming- 

 ham, which is now nearly a suburb of 

 Detroit. The father set to work making 

 a home in the woods, where he reared a 

 large family. Nathan Smith is the last 

 one of this large family to go. As a 

 lad Nathan's playmates were the In- 

 dian children of the woods, and he 

 learned to speak their language quite 

 fluently. He seldom saw a white child 

 outside of his own family, and his edu- 

 cation was picked up as best he could. 

 Mr. Smith was a great reader, and kept 

 up to date on all questions to a remark- 

 able degree. At the age of 17 he began 

 learning the carpenter's trade, and was 

 in the work quite extensively in Detroit. 

 For many years he was in charge of 

 the department of construction on the 

 Michigan Central railroad, his first work 

 being on the first Michigan Central 

 roundhouse at Detroit. Most of the 

 first buildings along the Michigan Cen- 

 tral road were erected under his super- 

 vision. He was in charge of a gang of 

 100 men at the memorable time when, 

 near Michigan City, a railroad crossing 

 war resulted in an accident which killed 

 many men, and which ultimately led up 

 to starting the present laws regulating 

 railway crossings in Michigan. 



Mr. Smith was married March 30, 

 1842, in Southfiekl township, Oakland 

 county, to Miss Helen A. Green, and 

 she has proved a faithful and helpful 

 companion through all the sixty-five 

 years that have passed. In the summer 

 of 1843 they moved to Detroit, where 

 they kept their home until 1857, when 

 they removed to Adrian. This city has 

 been their home ever since. Mr. Smith 

 worked at the carpenter's trade for 

 some years, built the present Smith 

 residence himself, on West Maumee 

 street, and in 1876 built the first green- 

 house of the plant which has grown into 

 one of the most widely known green- 

 house establishments in the state. El- 

 mer D. Smith, the only son and junior 

 member of the firm, has accomplished 

 much of this and is now recognized as 

 an authority on the chrysanthemum. 



Nathan Smith took much interest in 

 the affairs of Adrian. In the building 

 of the college in that city he gave lib- 

 erally of his money and of material. 

 He was one of the first republican vot- 

 ers, and a Fremont man. Of a robust 

 constitution, he had but little sickness 

 during his long life, until last summer. 

 Stijl he kept up all winter, and took to 

 his bed only March 26. The funeral was 

 conducted from the house March 30. 

 The burial was private. 



Nathan Smith. 



Mn. Henry A. Dreer. 



Mary L. Dreer, widow of Henry A. 

 Dreer, founder of the well-known Phila- 

 delphia business conducted under that 

 name, died March 25, at Pasadena, Cal., 

 where she had made her home since 

 1890. Mrs. Dreer was born September 

 27, 1829, at Reading, Pa., and after 

 her marriage to Mr, Dreer in 1847 lived 

 at Philadelphia for forty-three years. 

 She was a woman of highest character 

 and ceaseless activity, devoting much 

 of her time to charitable enterprises. 

 Her hospital work during the war of the 

 rebellion is still well remembered. She 

 is survived by four daughters and one 

 son, the latter, William F. Dreer, the pres- 

 ent head of the Henry A. Dreer corpora- 

 tion, who annually has spent a portion 

 of every winter with his mother at her 

 home at Pasadena. The interment will 

 be at Philadelphia. 



Gacton Glosk. 



Gaston Glosk, a young German em- 

 ployed by W. W. Seekins, Duluth, Minn., 

 died of heart failure on the evening of 

 March 27, while at work in the packing 

 shed. Nothing is known of his rela- 

 tives. He removed to Duluth from Chi- 

 cago late in February. He was a man 

 of more than average intelligence. 



Aida G Messeberg. 



Aida C, wife of Gus Messeberg, one 

 of the oldest florists of Flatbush, Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y., died March 25 at her home, 

 317 Snyder avenue. She was 33 years 

 of age. 



Thomas H. Douglas. 



Thomas H. Douglas, of the firm of 

 R. Douglas' Sons, of Waukegan, died 

 March 26, at Los Angeles, Cal., of heart 

 failure. Robert Douglas, the father of 

 the deceased, was a nurseryman of na- 

 tional reputation, and the firm still does 

 a large business in evergreens. 



Thomas J. Kirchner. 



Thomas J. Kirchner, 72 years old, 

 died at his home in South Euclid, Cleve- 

 land, 0., March 26. He has been in the 

 business in ClevelaTnd for fifty years. 



He came here sixty years ago with his 

 father, the two walking from Wheeling, 

 W. Va. His wife came from the same 

 place on a canal boat. He leaves a 

 widow and five children. 



ST. LOUIS. 



Easter Business. 



From what can be learned from the 

 local retailers and wholesalers, this Eas- 

 ter was a record breaker, as all indica- 

 tions point to a phenomenal sale of 

 plants and cut flowers. The weather was 

 good, with bright skies Friday, Saturday 

 and Sunday. The glut early in the week 

 came to an end Saturday and prices sud- 

 denly went up on almost everything. 

 Quite a lot of funeral work came in just 

 when it was not wanted. 



The sale of blooming plants was great, 

 especially lilies, and not enough of these 

 were on hand for the demand. The west 

 end establishments were early sold out 

 of lilies. Some of the floral displays in 

 the big show houses were of the highest 

 type. George Waldbart's and Mrs. 

 Ayers' on Grand avenue were gorgeous 

 sights; so were the displays of F. C. 

 Weber, Miss Newman, F. H. Weber, El- 

 lison Floral Co., J. F. Windt and Will- 

 iam Kalisch & Sons. These places were 

 great attractions for the west end buyers. 



C. Young & Sons Co. 's store was a 

 great sight all last week. The downtown 

 florists, who handle fewer plants, made 

 great shows of cut flowers. The south 

 enders, Schray, Beyer, Kruse, Fillmore, 

 Windier, Bergsterman and the Eggeling 

 Floral Co., are more than pleased with 

 this year's Easter trade. 



In the north end, Bentzen, Huette- 

 mann, Brix, Meinhardt, the Koenig Flo- 

 ral Co. and Rotter, had all the business 

 they could handle. 



The wholesalers were not so well 

 pleased the early part of last week. 

 Trade was light and the big glut of stock 

 that went to waste was not much to their 

 liking, until Saturday, when stock be- 

 came suddenly in demand and prices 

 higher. Sunday was a great disappoint- 

 ment to the local buyers, when little 



