AARON THOMPSON OBITUARY
To the Editor of the Christian Guardian:
Rev. and Dear Sir:
In the Guardian of September 4th, you kindly transferred from the Port Hope Gazette a notice of the death of Mr. Aaron Thompson, who was killed by his thrashing machine in Darlington on Monday morning, the 19th of August last. But, for circumstances which are not now necessary to mention, I would have furnished you with a fuller notice at an earlier date than this. The account in the Gazette is substantially correct as far as it goes; the only inaccuracy relates to his having "been in a kneeling posture adjusting some portion of the machinery when his head was caught by the wheel, and crushed between it and the partition". It is certain that he could not have been kneeling at the time he received the blow, as the wheel revolved too high to endanger him while in that position, and to me it appears improbable that ho was in the act of adjusting the machinery, as it is neither usual nor possible to do so while the machine is in operation, which was the case at that time.
To se it seems more probable, that, as Mr. Thompson was a man of prayer, and in the habit of secret prayer, and that, as just then the machineryteam and attenders were regularly at work, he stepped aside into the machinery room, (his cloister for the time being) and having been for a while devoutly engaged in his devotions, (adjusting matters between God and his soul), he rose up, unmindful of danger and too near the wheel. One of several projecting irons could have struck him behind the left ear, near the cervical vertebra, and in a moment drew his head between the wheel and the partition, through a space of about three inches, the iron then forcing its way through the bone, tendon, vessel and muscle, till it lost its hold at the mouth. The velocity of the wheel and the proximity of the partition rendering escape impossible and instantaneous death inevitable.
"The deed thus performed, the victim was dismissed", prostrated senseless and powerless upon the floor, where for a moment or two he bled profusely, when, seemingly by the last muscular struggle of a dieing nature, so to speak, he was drawn up into a kneeling, or rather a doubled up posture, in such position he was first discovered, and which, perhaps, was the occasion of the inaccuracy referred to above.
I was in a neighboring house at the time, and with many others was soon on the melancholy spot, inquiring into, and wondering at the awfully afflicting disaster. The but half cold body had been brought into the house and laid on a bed frame; and there, now motionless, speechless and dead, I saw the man, the Christian brother, with whom I shook hands and parted in the house of God the late evening before. There lay the man of health, strength and business, and whose years were thirtynine, now a feeble, inactive corpse, with bead half severed from his body: half his life's blood hardly clotted on the floor of the apartment of the barn in which he fell, the remnant streaming forth, as in haste to quit the body already deserted by the soul. Hardby, in writhing agony, sat the woman, the Christian sister, who to that hour had been the loving and beloved wife of the departed, with groans and shrieks, and cries as unrestrainable and innocent, I trust, as the involuntary machine which bad just slain with a stroke, the endeared partner of her life.
Interspersed amidst the sorrowing throng were eight sons and daughters, inexpressibly mourning a kind and faithful father dead, each others and their mother's sudden and mysterious bereavement. There too, was seen the aged and infirm father, insuppressible grieving; like good old Jacob, "halting on his thigh" and "leaning on his staff" whose steaming eyes and quivering lips seemed to say, "O, my son Aaron; my son, my son Aaron; would to God I bad died for thee, O Aaron, my son, my son".
Yes, and there too, I saw the mother, (though last mentioned, not the least, lamenting) who, unlike husband or wife, is always "Mother, Rachellike, weeping for her child, and would not be comforted", but only “with the comforts wherewith God comforteth then that are cast down". Mournful and Moritory was the scene.
"Fixed in an eternal state,
Our brother is done with all below,
We a little longer wait:
But how little none can know."
Brother Thompson was a native of Lincolnshire, England. He immigrated to Canada in 1827. He resided several years in the township of Hope, where, as the Gazette properly remarked, he was respected by all who knew him. Thence he moved into the west of the township of Darlington, where, by industry, economy, and the blessing of Providence, he acquired a good property, and became comfortable situated. But, what is infinitely better than all earthly good, about six years ago, Brother Thompson was convinced of his sinfulness and his need for salvation. With a contrite heart and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he sought God; and found, in his pardoning love, the "Pearl of Great Price". He attached himself to the Wesleyan Methodist Church, in which he remained a devoted and acceptable member, walking in the ordinances and commandments of the Lord’s house until the hour of his departure came.
"When, as sudden as the spark flies from the smitten steel.
Our dear brother was cut off by the revolving wheel;
But if, as safe as sudden, our friend was taken hence,
Not ours the crime nor folly, to wish him back from thence
That life, and bliss, and glory, which waits the righteous dead,
We trust is now our brother's, through Christ our living Head.
The solemn occasion was improved the following day by a funeral discourse, delivered to a large collection of weeping friends and neighbors, who, with the writer, it is anxiously hoped, will "Be also ready, seeing we know not the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh", and that…
"Dangers stand thich through all the ground
To push us to our tomb;
And fierce diseases wait around
To hurry mortals home."
Signed: A.A.
Transcribed from “The Christian Guardian” by Viola L Young
“Thompson Family History”
Privately Published by Viola L Young 1984