Martha Dewell 1852-1945

DEWELL, IRELAND, FREEMAN, BAIRD, FOWLIE

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 2/10/2017 at 14:27:50

22 March 1945 - The Clarence Sun

There is something causing thought at a life that has spanned ninety years or more. The changes that have taken place, the progress made in improvements in the mechanical and scientific realms as one has been able to enjoy them are food for thought especially, when one life can contemplate all these changes.

Such is the case in the life of Mrs. Martha Dewell. The daughter of James and Martha Ireland, she was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, May 18, 1852. In 1854 she came with her parents in a covered wagon to Jones county, Iowa, where she grew to womanhood. Thus she came to Iowa before there was a railroad within the state, to a country new and raw in the process of settlement. It was her privilege to witness all our modern expansion.

On May 25, 1870, she was united in marriage with Hiram Dewell. They set up housekeeping on the farm four miles north of Clarence which has since been the Dewell homestead. To them were born four children, Howard E. of Clarence, Gertrude Freeman, now deceased, Mabel Baird of Neilsville, Wisconsin, and Nellie Fowlie of Winnpeg, Canada.

In 1911 Mr. Dewell passed away. In 1912 she moved to the home in west Clarence which was to be her home till the infirmities of advancing age compelled her to relinquish it and live with her son and his wife. For the past eight years she had been bedfast, as a patient in Mercy hospital at Anamosa most of that time.

She passed from life on the morning of March 12th. If she had lived till May she would have rounded out her 93rd year. Thus has departed one of the last of our pioneers.

Mrs. Dewell took an interest in all that went on about her, especially in public affairs and politics. Due to her husband's service at Des Moines as Cedar County Representative, she came to know and followed the careers of a number of men in public life, particularly the late Governor N. E. Kendall, whom she greatly admired.

In the year 1869, she confessed her faith in her Saviour and was immersed in the Wapsie River by the late O. E. Aldrich, uniting with the Pleasant Hill Freewill Baptist church. After her removal to Clarence she united with the Presbyterian church. As long as she was able she was a regular attendant on its services. She was the last one of a family of fifteen brothers and sisters.

Besides her three children above named, she leaves 13 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren.

Funeral services were conducted from the McCormick Funeral Home at Tipton on Wednesday, March 14, by Rev. Gordon Smith, assisted by Rev. Stanley Schlick, pastor of the Tipton Presbyterian church. Music was furnished by J. C. Coonrod. She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Clarence cemetery.