Bernhard Hannasch, 1898 Obituary

HANNASCH, SCHMITZ

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 10/21/2004 at 21:19:30

I translated the following obituary from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. The obituary was originally published on Friday, 15 April 1898. I have not changed the name or place spellings. Any information in brackets or notes at the end is my own explanation. It reads as follows:

Bernhard Hannasch

To our readers, the sad report that Bernhard Hannasch died Friday last week, the 8th of April, in Burke’s Hotel in Carroll. Just on Wednesday last week, the deceased was in Breda conducting his professional duty as an insurance agent, and even on Thursday, he went to Carroll to take care of business, happy and jovial and unaware of his impending death. On that day, he wanted to leave Carroll again on business, but because he did not feel well, his friends advised that he might allow himself a few days’ rest and stay in Carroll. He lodged in Burke’s Hotel, and when his condition worsened in the evening, a doctor came who informed him that the onset of an illness, of the type he had often had, was approaching, and that it would be better for him if he had one of his relatives with him to assist him. Since he had often had these breathing problems and had always fortunately survived them, so also he hoped to successfully survive this onset. And it was his wish not to alarm his wife, or his children who live here, or to trouble them on his account. The doctor left behind medicine, and gave instructions on how it should be given. As he had been accustomed to doing for some time, he went to sleep in a chair because it was easier for him to breath. Various persons from the hotel were around him to take care of him and observe him. Around 5:30 he received his medicine, and it appeared he was breathing easier. After 15 minutes, the clerk entered the room again to look after him, but by then he was dead. He was sitting in the chair just as he had been earlier, and it appeared that death befell him in his sleep.

The deceased was born on the 25th of July 1838 in Münster, Province of Westphalia, Germany. He married Miss Magdalena Schmitz on 12 August 1862, and this marriage produced 10 children, two of whom, however, predeceased their father. For many years, he was the successful agent of the German Insurance Company of Freeport, Illinois. Also, for several years, he was an agent of the Southwestern Life Insurance Company of Marshalltown, Iowa, and it can well be said that he was a very industrious representative of those companies, and that he always took care to pave the way for their ever-wider expansion. Because he was an old settler of Carroll County, his circle of acquaintances was very large, and indeed his occupation as an agent increased his circle of acquaintances far beyond the borders of the county.

On Monday morning at 9:00, the funeral proceeded from the farm of the deceased, seven and a-half miles south of Carroll. About 60 coach wagons followed the mortal remains of the deceased, and on the five-mile-long road to the Catholic Church in Roselle, more and more teams appeared, some coming from Carroll, some from the neighboring farms, and joined the funeral procession. In Roselle itself, 40 to 50 teams had arrived in the mean time, having come straight from every direction in the county. It can well be said that it was an attendance such as one seldom has the opportunity to see. We observed a large number of mourners from Carroll, Mt. Carmel, Breda, Halbur, Templeton, and from Willey.

The body was first blessed by the priest, whereupon it was carried to the grave amid the prayers of the mourners. At the grave, prayers were said for the repose of the deceased’s soul, and then the participants went back to the church where Rev. Father Frey celebrated a solemn requiem.