Henry August Styir 1895 - 1930

STYIR, BURROUGHS, MEYER, BURKENDAHL

Posted By: Errin Wilker (email)
Date: 12/6/2006 at 14:33:18

YOUNG FARMER ENDS OWN LIFE
Henry Styir Finds Life Battle Too Great a Struggle and Ends All Thursday

Ill health and financial trouble are believed to have caused Henry Styir, 31 years old, a farmer residing 10 miles southeast of Caledonia, Minn. in Winnebago township, to take his own life by shooting on Thursday, May 22nd, 1930. A 12-gauge shotgun and a stick about 2 feet long, used to spring the trigger, were employed by Styir to bring about his own destruction.

The tragedy was discovered by Mr. Styir's six children, the oldest eleven years of age, when they returned from the home of their grandmother, Mrs. Herman Meyer, where they had been sent early in the day by their father. Entering the home, the children found their father lying on the dining room floor. By his side was a 12-gauge shotgun.

Styir committed suicide, declared Houston County Coroner A.B. Molitor, after sending his children to their grandmother's home a mile away and his wife to Waukon to see her brother. He left a note to his wife, contents of which the coroner would not reveal.

Ill health and financial trouble are believed to have caused the young farmer to kill himself. He had been sick several years, and had been urged to go to a sanitarium. Styir had used a stick about two feet long to push the trigger of the gun after placing the muzzle at his head.

Mrs. Styir left for Waukon about 8 o'clock in the morning, and the children left the farm about 9 a.m. Mr. Styir is believed to have shot himself soon after they left.

Screaming with fright at the scene they saw when they entered the home, the older children ran more than a mile to Alfred Anderson's farm. Melvin Nelson, Houston County Deputy Sheriff, was at the farm. The deputy summoned coroner A.B. Molitor.

Funeral services were conducted on Monday at Lansing, burial being made in the Lansing cemetery. Rev. Oscar Holt of Caledonia officiated at the service.

SOURCE: Waukon Republican Standard ~ June 4, 1930

DOB: 1895 in Houston County, Minnesota
DOD: 22 May 1930 in Winnebago Township, Houston County, Minnesota
PARENTS: Peter & Anna (Burkendahl) Styir
SPOUSE: Lydia Jane Burroughs