Peter Dubois, 1849-1933
DUBOIS, WILSON, KINDLESPIRE, FREEMAN, MOORE, PITZER
Posted By: Clay County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 8/27/2012 at 13:52:33
Burial Services Sunday for Peter DuBois, 83 Years
Death removed from Clay county Friday morning, May 12, 1933, at 3:40 a.m. Peter DuBois, one of the oldest and most prominent of pioneer residents. He was 83 years of age, and had been living at various places in this county since he was 15. At the time of his death which was caused by infirmities and heart disease, he was making his home with his son, Elmer DuBois, in the Harmony community near Spencer. Mrs. DuBois preceded him in death in 1928.
Funeral services held Sunday afternoon at the Cobb-Phelps funeral chapel with Dr. E.H. Hutchinson, pastor of the Grace M.E. church, officiating, were attended by the many friends of the DuBois family. The high school make quartet which includes a grand nephew of the deceased man, George Kindlespire, Earl Fisher, Melvin Nielsen and Kenneth Larson, sang three hymns during the memorial service. They were "Rock of Ages," "Abide With Me," and "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." Clifford Thomas, their instructor, accompanied at the piano.
Burial was in Fanny Fern cemetery near Cornell with Oran S. Kindlespire, Claude Dodd, Willis Eckley, Alva DuBois, Leonard Dubois and John DuBois assisting as casket bearers.
Peter DuBois was born in the state of New York on November 4, 1849. When six years of age he came with his parents to Dubuque, Ia. In 1864 the family emigrated to northwestern Iowa, which was then sparcely settled and homesteaded in Douglas township, Clay county. About the time of his marriage to Miss Elizabeth J. Wilson, November 2, 1873, he purchased farm land in Douglas township. In the spring of 1887 he traded for the place in the Harmony community where he passed away, and they moved that fall to the new home.
The couple retired from active farming several years before taking up their residence in Gillett Grove in 1915. Here Mrs. DuBois died. Since that time Mr. DuBois lived with his sister, Mrs. Jane Kindlespire, Mill street, for about two years, and with his children. For the past one and one-half years he was cared for in the home of his son, Elmer.
During the time of the deceased man's early residence here Fort Dodge was as yet the nearest place for obtaining provisions. Trips to this town were made with oxen. It is recalled that there was on the journey a 40-mile stretch of prairie and swamp beyond Newell with not a settlement or house at which to sojourn.
The pioneer couple had six children, three preceding their mother in death. They were Mrs. Clara Pitzer whose two sons, Dwight and Dale Pitzer, were cared for in the DuBois home until young manhood with all the tenderness and devotion of parents, and two sons who died in infancy within a few days following a contraction of scarlet fever. The three children surviving, Mrs. Minnie Freeman and Mrs. Susie Moore, both of Gillett Grove, and Elmer DuBois, together with Dale Pitzer were at the bedside of their father during his last illness. Other relatives are a sister, Mrs. Kindlespire of Spencer, a brother, John DuBois of Terrill, Ia., and several grandchildren, nephews and nieces. Great grandchildren are Carol Jean Pitzer, daughter of Dwight Pitzer of Omaha and Rachel Ann and Shirley Jean Pitzer, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Dale Pitzer of near Spencer.
Source: The News-Herald, Spencer, Clay County, Iowa; May 19, 1933.
Interment in Fanny Fern cemetery
Clay Obituaries maintained by Kris Meyer.
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