Sarah A. Evans

EVANS, MILLER

Posted By: Laura Evans Schnabel (email)
Date: 1/22/2007 at 21:31:47

Adair county newspaper
Fontanelle, Iowa Thursday May 24, 1928

Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, Adair county pioneer and resident of Fontanelle for sixty-seven years, died at the home of her son, Lyle O. Evans, at Winterset. The immediate cause of her death was pneumonia, which was too much for her frail body weakened by the infirmaties of old age. Her age was 84 years and four days.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. W. E. Havens, in Greenfield, and were conducted by the Rev. C.A. Carlson, pastor of the Methodist church. Hymns were sung by Mrs. Dorothy McClure, Mrs. J.A. Griswold, Dale Cornell and the Rev. Carlson, with Miss Minnie Reagan at the piano. Pall bearers were F.G. Holcomb, of Greenfield; G.F. Faurote, Bert Jenkins, Sam Friedman, J.H. Welcher and A.A. Kirlin, of Fontanelle. Interment was in the Fontanelle cemetery.

Relatives from a distance who attended the funeral are: G.B. Miller, Dr. G.R. Miller and M. Mayo Miller, Des Moines. A daughter, Mrs. D. N. Henry, Colome, South Dakota, was unable to attend the funeral on account of illness.

Obituary

Sarah A. Miller, daughter of George and Maria J. Miller, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, May 16, 1844. She was the second in a family of nine children, four of whom survive her. When but a small child her parents moved to Allen county, Indiana, later coming farther west and located at Fontanelle, Iowa, in 1858. Here she lived until three and one-half years ago, when she went to Greenfield to live in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Havens. She had been at the home of her son Lyle only about two weeks before her death.

Sarah Miller was united in marriage with Charles C. Evans, a Civil war veteran, December 23, 1866. to this union six children were born. One, Etna, died in early childhood. Two sons and three daughters survive her and mourn the passing of a kind and devoted mother.

Mrs. Evans attended the Methodist church until she became too feeble to make the effort. She was a resident of Adair county seventy years and was widely known as a woman of sterling worth and commendable characteristics. During the last few years of Mrs Evans' life she greatly enjoyed recounting various events of pioneer days in Iowa. The acquaintances then made and the friendships formed stood out like golden nuggets in her memory.

She never wearied of describing a trip made in 1860 with her parents and other pioneers to Colorado in search of gold. The hardships and discouragements encountered were all forgotten as she deftly pictured the joys and new experiences. The hardihood, the endurance and courage needed for such a trip were manifest through her whole life in helpfulness, her kindly sympathy and sincere friendliness for all with whom she came in contact.

She leaves to mourn her going, the immediate family: Clara I. Henry, Colome, South Dakota; Lura E. Havens, Greenfield; Albert M., Fontanelle; Alta V. Lovely, Greenfield; Lyle of Winterset; twenty-three grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren; a sister Mrs. Mary Marquart, Norman, Oklahoma; Three brothers, G.B. Miller, Des Moines; C.E. Miller and M.M. Miller, Fontanelle; a number of nieces and nephews and a host of friends who cherish her memory.