A Webster Baronet

A WEBSTER BARONET

How Sir John Reade Won His Bride.

AN OLD TIME TALE TOLD

of Love Making in Early Days of Washtenaw.

New Incidents Taken from the Detroit Tribune Showing the Romance in a Dexter and Webster Farmer's Life, Who is Well Known Here.

The story of how Sir George Reade, of Webster, might have been an English baronet with large ancestral estates has already been told in the Argus, and also something of his father's early settlement in this county. It may be here stated that Sir John Reade, the father of the present Sir George, was very wild as a young man and it was partly on this account that his father brought him to this country. He first lived in the Fifth ward in this city and the old stories have it that he was drawn into the toils of some forgers or counterfeiters, and his father came on and helped him out and purchased for him a farm in Dexter which was fixed so that he could not sell it.

The Detroit Tribune of yesterday had a long resume of the story telling much that has already appeared in the Argus but weaving into the story much new material. Among other things the Tribune thus describes his Amerian courtship and marriage:

"In those days there was a stage that ran from Detroit to Ypsilanti and Aun Arbor, and thence still farther west ward. Sir John remained for some time in Detroit and Windsor before pushiug onward through the wilderness. In the fall of '33 he ventured forth alone, and intercepted the stage midway between the city and Anu Arbor. There was one other occupant of the coach, a young dark haired girl of remarkable beauty.

"As the journey was a tedious one, Sir John immediately made advances to set himself in the good graces of his pretty companion. Her name was Lovica Walton, and she shyly informed the young man that she lived out near Dexter. Sir John was delighted, and before the rattling old coach had completed a third of its journey he was honestly and deeply in love, for the first time in his lifetime.

"Where the rough trail jogged off to the northward, a little beyond Anu Arbor, the girl was met by her father, who, learning from his daughter the circumstances of Sir John's visit, at once invited him to his home. Sir John was cultured, handsome, refined, a brilliant conversationalist, and in every way qualified to win the respect and admiration of Mr. and Mrs. Walton, and the love of their daughter.

"But Sir John quietly worshipped Lovica from afar, and could not bring himself to tell her of his past life, and that he was a fugitive from the law.

"Sir John built a little one-story log cabin in the depths of the forest and whiled away the first long winter with a few novels and in brooding over the home and country he had lost, across the sea. Not a single letter broke the dead monotony of the first lonely year, and when one did come it bore the postmark of Paris. Sir Compton warned his son against writing, as the little "affair" was still fresh in the minds of certain obnoxious officials.

"Once a month Sir John strode through the forest to the big log hostelry of the Waltons. His heart bled when he saw the hopeless yearning in the girl's eyes. There came a day when Sir John could restrain himself no longer, and he told the girl of his love and the hopelessness of it.

"Then there came another letter from Sir Compton, and the boy immediately began making preparations to leave for Canada. The nearer the time of departure approached the more Sir John brooded over his wretched lite. One day he struck a bee-line through the woods to the Walton inn and laid his whole life bare before the girl he loved. Of course, the story was a cruel blow to her, but the love of Lovica for Sir John was something more than the love of an ordinary woman, and she forgave him.

"Sir John and his sweetheart were married in midsummer. Together they crossed into Canada, where for the last time in life father and son met. It was a sad reunion, and when Sir Compton bade his son farewell he turned to the gentle wife and, taking her in his arms, said: "You will always remember God and the little woman, John. "

'Sir John and his wife returned to their home in Michigan. For several nappy years they made their little Eden a place of sylvan beauty and comfort. As new settlers began dropping in here and there about them, Sir John induced a few families to gather at a common center, and gradually a neighborly little settlement sprung up.

"Two or three years passed, and Sir Compton wrote that the "affair" had been forgotten over in England. The the baronet died, and Sir John made a flying visit across the sea.

"When Sir John Reade, sixth baronet of the line, killed his butler in a fit of passion, and afterward bequeathed his property to John Wakefield be had disinherited his only daughter, an epileptic, as well as his nephew, Sir Compton Reade, father of young Sir John. The imbecile Miss Reade, was cited by the court of probate to oppose her father's will, but she failed to respond and Sir Compton not being himself heir-at-law, judgment was allowed to go by default. Pride and love of the old place induced Sir Compton to purchase Shipton hall and its heirlooms, but when Sir John crossed the sea at the announcement of his father's death he found that portion of the estate was so fixed that he could not dispose of it.

"Sir John returned with enough ready money to buy a good farm of 360 acres, and with an annual income at his command. From then until the day of his death, 16 years ago, he lived the life of an industrious farmer. Six children were the result of Sir John's marriage with Lovica Walton, four of them living. Mrs. Lawrence is now attending her mother. Mrs. Green resides in Ann Arbor, Mrs. Pierce in Ypsilanti, and Sir George, the only son, lives in Webster township."