Rev. Alexander Thomson- Minister and Poet

-contributed by Chris Yoder

When he died in Saugatuck of liver and pancreatic cancer March 10, 1914, Alexander Thomson had led a full life. Born in 1844 in Aberdeen, Scotland, he and his family sailed to Canada in 1856. In 1864 he came to the U.S., serving briefly in the Civil War to obtain his citizenship. In his twenties he taught school, first near Allegan, Michigan, and later in Wheaton, Illinois, where he also attended Wheaton College. Feeling a call to the ministry, he was ordained in the Congregational church on Oct. 21, 1887. He began his service at Bartlett, Illinois, and was in active ministry for 21 years, both in Illinois and Wisconsin. He first married Laura Jane Holt, who died leaving three children, Mabel, Laura and Alexander Jr. His second wife also died young. While pastoring a northern Wisconsin church he met and married a young teacher, Jeanette Harris, by whom he had another daughter, Jeanette. Mabel was to marry Saugatuck boy J. A. Falconer, later a Congressman from Washington State.

His obituary remarks that he had first come to Saugatuck 28 years before (c1876) and spent a portion of his time here ever since, eventually making it his permanent home. As early as the 1889 assessment record, it shows that Alexander owned 28 acres of land downstream from Saugatuck on the east bank of the Kalamazoo River. This property was called "Slumber Bluff" and was left to his wife Jeanette. From 1923 to 1950, Jeanette and two friends from Chicago operated this property as "Oak Openings" camp. Jeanette died in 1956 and is buried at Riverside beside her husband.

The Jan. 20, 1950 issue of the Commercial Record announces the donation to the library of the book "Selected Poems of Alexander Thomson" which had been compiled by his son Alexander. Daughter Mabel Thomson Falconer wrote "Alexander Thomson wrote poetry from early manhood. It seems that there never was a period of his life when he did not express his thoughts and his emotions by means of verse. His poems were quite widely published in various papers and localities, and especially in "The Christian Cynosure," Chicago, Illinois, which paper was his best literary friend." (No, the book is no longer in the library holdings, but we have found a copy for the future SDHS research library.)

The following poem from the book first appeared in the Feb 7, 1908 Commercial-Record:

WINTER NIGHT IN SAUGATUCK

Old Baldhead lifts his golden crown above the forest bare

The stars are like a silver swarm in deep blue fields of air,

And Night bows to the Living God, a worshiper at prayer.

Her Sable robe becomes her well, brooched by the crescent moon,

Whose radiance falls with shimmering light on every golden dune

And gives a mournful glory to the frozen wild lagoon.

The fisher now has housed his lines, and drawn his boat ashore

And 'gainst the Winter's icy blast has fastened well the door.

The Great Lake beats against its beach with long and muffled roar.

Night holds her solitary reign yet with her own sweet grace

The snow flower on the window pane her artist hands will trace,

And if she has a frozen heart, all kindly is her face.

--Alexander Thomson

Other poems in the Commercial Record include:

"Morning and Evening of A Good Life" -a farewell read to Rev. and Mrs. F. W. Bush of Douglas, on their move to Hopkins, Michigan- 1/7/1910; an untitled poem on the hunting death of William Brittain, 2/4/1910; "The Veteran In The Dentist's Office", 4/8/1910; "The Middleman"- 1/31/1913.

The Rev. Thomson's obituary speaks of the inspirational way in which he faced his final painful days. The following was written shortly after his doctor had told him his illness would be fatal:

Not like the dog to his kennel,

Not like the ox to his stall,

Not like the horse to his stable

When the night begins to fall:

But I look for the beams of gladness

To break through the clouds of pain:

I wait for the call of the master

And his sunshine after the rain.

Another poem in anticipation of his death:

THE LIGHT AFFLICTIONS THAT ARE BUT FOR A MOMENT

Are these afflictions light my Lord?

They force the tear and start the sigh:

They make the young spring forest sear

And leave the once full channel dry.

But for a day? Nay days and years

Are black with gloom, and grim with pain,

The barren earth sharp thorns rear.

Hot scalding tears are all the rain,

O story past out human thought,

O wonder working God, we know

That often when the shadows fall

There comes the evening afterglow.

And so we wait the open door

The greatness of the glad release,

The day when all thy Squadrons ride,

Full laden to the port of peace.

-Alexander Thomson

More Saugatuck Poems from His Book

MEMORIAL TO MR. HOUSE, SAUGATUCK FARMER, 1897

He moved his quiet way along,

Simple, earnest and sincere,

He helped the weak, he dried the tear,

And cheered the singer in his song.

He saw the truth and loved it well,

He followed where its banners flew,

And with the many or the few

He never stopped to count or tell.

A quiet, common life he crowned

With worth that was no common kind,

But true in heart and clear in mind

He made his acres hallowed ground.

Then let him rest, his work is done;

But that life impulse he has given

Shall reach the very gates of heaven

With blessings ere its course is run.

SINGAPORE

Alone on the deep dark waters

I paddle my skiff along,

While the torn clouds float above me

And the night bird sings her song;

And the sand dunes rise like mountains

From their unsubstantial base,

And only the lone fox prowling

Frequents that desert place.

Before me a town deserted,

With never a dwelling there,

Where only the bats' gyrations

Startle the somber air.

There woodcock sits enchanted

In the shimmering poplar tree,

Watching the moon as it saileth

Through cloudland mystery.