Oglesbee, Lucy M. died 1866

OGLESBEE, FORD, SAWYER

Posted By: Audrey Haught, volunteer
Date: 6/9/2015 at 01:59:02

Died at Elkader, April 2nd, 1866, of Congestion of the Lungs, after an illness of four weeks, Mrs. Lucy Minerva Olgelsbee – aged 19 years.

It is not often that we are called upon to record so sad an event. Four weeks ago the deceased was a bride, married to one whom she loved with all her heart and who returned that love with a fervency that knew no bounds.

Scarcely had the marriage vow passed from their lips, and the happy couple settled down to a life which seemed to them eternal bliss, when disease struck the fair and fond bride and chained her to the sick chamber.

O, the heart must break, voluntarily, yield to so heavy a stroke as this! She, just emerging into the prime of life, with an unclouded and brilliant future before her; he with those hopes and aspirations of a man bent on securing happiness to her whom he had wedded, just then to see these happy influences severed by the grim hand of death, is too grievous for language to express. An iron heart must dissolve at so sad an event. But, it is so. The Creator hath declared it best that it should be so, and we mourn!

Mourn! Yes, none who knew the deceased but loved and esteemed her. The admiration of her many noble virtues made her while living the just recipient of those tender attentions, those kind deeds which the good can only bestow upon the good. To society she was an ornament; she was gifted and possessed of rare talents and accomplishments, and her death must make a void which cannot be filled. In the family circle she was the bright angel which shed sunshine, peace and happiness over those around her. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances will mourn her loss as they never mourned for another.

We knew the deceased well. In years past we spent many a social hour in her company, and those happy hours will ever come up as the fondest reminiscences of one of the fairest and best women we have met. She was so good that in her death we feel as if we had lost a sister. Our pen cannot describe the emotions of the heart as we write this notice, so sincerely do we feel her loss.

However, in our grief for her, we cannot forget how much greater the calamity must fall on the sorrowing husband, Harrison Oglesbee. Young and good as he is, to be stricken down just as he was preparing to enjoy the sweets of life, must keenly affect his deep sensibilities. Because he too is loved, he share the sympathy of the community. But we bid him consolation in the teachings of the Sacred Book, which assures us of an afterlife where there is not death, and where he will again meet with her whom he loved so well.

Among other relatives the deceased leaves two sisters, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Susanna Sawyer, to mourn her death, and whose hearts must almost be bent with grief thus brought upon them. They too, have our sympathy in this hour of their bereavement.

Clayton County Journal: March 4, 1866