John Stevens Obituary, 1894

STEVENS, KORVE, PELZ

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 7/23/2004 at 14:48:36

I translated the following obituary from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It was originally published on Friday, 10 August 1894. It reads as follows:

John Stevens

Saturday morning at nine o’clock, the mortal remains of John Stevens from Hillsdale [Roselle] were buried at the Catholic cemetery at Hillsdale. Friends and acquaintances had gathered early in order to pay their last respects to the deceased. We saw people from Mt. Carmel, Breda, Manning, Halbur, Templeton, Dedham, Willey, Carroll, and so forth. At he stroke of nine, the pallbearers arrived and, amidst prayers, the deceased was then carried from the house of mourning to the church, where the Rev. Father Frey consecrated the body and led it to the grave.

The deceased was born in Lone, Hannover, Germany. He came to America in 1844 and settled at first in Cincinnati. From there, he moved to Gutenberg, Clayton County, Iowa, and 18 years ago he moved to Carroll County, Iowa. He had reached the advanced age of 74 years and 11 months. The old gentleman enjoyed good health until shortly before his death. He was only sick for eight days, and “Vater Stevens” used this time to put his affairs in order and spiritually prepare himself for the better life hereafter. The deceased was a very respected man, and “Vater Stevens” was loved and respected by all who knew him.

Some erroneous information crept into last week’s short report of Mr. Stevens’s death. The deceased leaves behind a deeply grieving widow and three children: Hermann and Henry Stevens of Templeton, and Mrs. Henry Korves of Hillsdale. One daughter, Mrs. Pelz, predeceased him but she left a son who was raised by his grandparents.

Our deepest sympathies to the survivors.

NOTES: The town where he was born could be Lohne (Oldenburg), which is south of Oldenburg and about 60 miles northwest of Hannover.