FRASER, Emma

FRASER, NICHOLSON, MAST, BRUNDAGE, MCDOWELL, SHELEY, COVEY, ESTEP, REANEY, GERE, SMITH

Posted By: Colette Miles (email)
Date: 8/21/2004 at 11:36:17

(The Mail, Sheldon, O'Brien County, Iowa, Wednesday, July 25, 1951)

Mrs. Emma Fraser

Funeral Services for Mrs. Emma Fraser, who passed away Wednesday morning July 11 at the Brundage nursing home, were held Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Seivert funeral home. The Rev. Alvin Nicholson, minister of the Christian church at Sutherland, conducted the services.

The pallbearers were: George Mast, John Brundage, Byron McDowell, Harry Sheley, Henry Covey and Ed Estep. Interment took place in Pleasant Hill cemetery, Primghar. Mrs. Fraser was a sister-in-law to James Reaney of Sheldon.

Mary Emma Gere was the daughter of Francis A. and Nancy Maritta Alden Gere. She was born in Dodge County Minn., on June 20th 1863. After the close of the Civil War the family moved to Iowa and settled in Lucas county. remaining there for only a short time. In the spring of 1869 the family moved by covered wagon, to Cherokee county where Mr. Gere filed on a government homestead, northwest of Cherokee, in the vicinity of Meridan. Here the family endured the hardships and enjoyed the simple pleasures of the early pioneers, and here the daughter Emma grew to womanhood. She became a member of the Christian church at the age of 16, when services were held at the old Gere schoolhouse near the home.

In February, 1888, the family moved to O'Brien county where they lived on a farm a mile south and five miles west of Primghar. Soon finding a place in the community life, Emma, however devoted most of her time to her family. She worked in the Philby church and was a member of a temperance organization, the Good Templar lodge of Iowa, in which she was active for a number of years.

On March 18, 1894, she was united in marriage with James Fraser, jr., and thier short married life was spent on a farm southeast of Primghar. Mr. Fraser passed away on February 22, 1899, after a short illness. Soon afterwards Mrs. Fraser moved to Primghar where she established a home for her a own small daughter and three young step-daughters.

In 1910 Mrs. Fraser went to western South Dakota where she filed on a government claim, on which she lived for about four years. After her death of her father on March 17, 1914, she returned to Primghar to live with her mother and care for her in her declining years. Mrs. Gere died August 3, 1926 and Mrs. Fraser continued to reside in Primghar.

She leaves one brother, J. E. Gere, of Primghar; one sister, Mrs. W. A. Smith of LaPorte, Minn.; 3 step-daughter, 2 nieces, and 5 nephews. Her daughter, Marietta, passed away April 27, 1845. - Primghar Bell.