Granny and Pap Thanksgiving 2015

I’ve always had a great fondness for the song When You and I Were Young, Maggie. Who wouldn’t enjoy the words that speak of a long and lasting love between Maggie and her man? Pap has always entertained me with stories of the mills his family used when he was a boy, so I suppose those memories swirl around in my like for the song as well.

In my mind the song fits into the Bluegrass genre of music because that’s mostly the type of bands/performers I’ve heard do the song over the years. I was surprised of the lack of traditional bluegrass videos that popped up when I did a quick youtube search of the song the other day. I quickly noticed the variety of names used to title the song as well. Even our video of Pap and Paul posted some 7 years ago has the wrong title – I Wandered to the Hill Maggie.

A quick google search for the real title gave me the history of the song. Apparently a lot of folks list the song as a traditional Scottish tune, but that isn’t where the song was born. The song was written by a Canadian, George Washington Johnson.

The Glandbrook Heritage Society website tells the story of the song:

In 1859, George Washington Johnson, recently graduated from the University of Toronto, came to teach at S.S. #5, Glanford. A native of the adjacent community of Binbrook, George, twenty-one, dark and handsome, soon found himself in love with his student, the fair Maggie Clark who was just eighteen.

She reciprocated his affection and the two shared many hours together. Fond of music they would often sing together at the Clark homestead or in the local Glee Club of Glanford; and frequently summer strolls along the maple lined banks of Twenty Mile Creek took them to her father’s mill, a short distance north of the Clark homestead. It was on one these romantic walks that George Johnson was inspired to begin a volume of verses entitled “Maple Leaves” which would contain the poem “When You and I Were Young, Maggie”.

Much in love, the couple became engaged. However, a storm loomed on the horizon. Maggie who had contracted tuberculosis, then known as the “Great White Plague” made both aware of the threat it held for their future.

During one of his finance’s more serious periods of illness, George made a solitary walk to the hill which overlooked the mill. Here in the “green grove – where first the daises sprung”, George Washington Johnson composed the verse that would provide lyrics for the song.

Unfortunately, they would not grow old together. Whether the lyrics were a denial of reality, a touching pretense or an expression of faith in their future, the couple made plans for marriage.

But first there was a period of separation. Maggie went to the Wesleyan College in Hamilton and George to study at the Fort Edward Institute on the Hudson River in New York State. Distance only increased their love and on October 21, 1864 they were married at the Methodist Church in Glanford Township.

George had now settled on a career of journalism with the “Courier” in Buffalo, New York. His ability as a journalist soon became recognized and he was offered a position with the Cleveland, Ohio, “Plain ‘ Dealer”. Once he was secure in his new post, George and his bride took up residence in Cleveland. Then suddenly, the tragedy they had feared struck. Maggie’s tuberculosis failed to respond to medical treatment. She passed away on May 12, 1865, at twenty-three, less than a year after their marriage. She was laid to rest at the family plot in White Church cemetery near Mount Hope. Overwhelmed by his loss, George resigned from the “Plain Dealer” and returned to Canada and to teaching.

The following year, George visited an old friend in Detroit, Michigan, J.C. Butterfield, who at his request, set the words of “When You and I Were Young, Maggie” to music.

When I read the information regarding the song on the  Glandbrook Heritage Society website I was surprised to learn the song wasn’t written exactly for the reason I had in my mind. I thought “Well there was no aging couple who’d spent the last 60 years of their lives together.”

But then I reminded myself, songs mean different things to different people. There’s no doubt Johnson wrote the song thinking of his deep love for his Maggie and there’s no doubt the words do fit perfectly for couples who last through the test of time.

The words below are the ones Pap and Paul sing, to see Johnson’s original words go here.

When You and I Were Young, Maggie written by George Washington Johnson

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie,
To survey the scene below,
To see the creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie,
As we used to, long ago.

But the green grass is gone from the hill, Maggie,
Where first the daisies sprung;
And the creaking old mill is still, Maggie,
Since you and I were young.

They say I’m feeble with age, Maggie,
My steps less spry than then,
My face is a well-written page, Maggie,
And time alone was the pen.

But the green grass is gone from the hill, Maggie,
Where first the daisies sprung;
And the creaking old mill is still, Maggie,
Since you and I were young.

They say we are old and grey, Maggie,
Our trials of life nearly done
But to me you’re as fair as you were, Maggie,
When you and I were young.

I hope you enjoyed the song of love on this Valentine’s Day. I think of Pap and Granny when I hear it these days. They’re both feeble, grey, and old – yet their love for one another is still as strong as when their daisies first sprung and they were young.

Go here to read about another Maggie. A Maggie that lived just down the road from me and had a lasting impression on Brasstown.

Tipper

*Source: Glandbrook Heritage Society