Washburn, Charles S.W. 1848-1948

WASHBURN, WRIGHT, SCHRIVER, CHAMBERS, TAYLOR, FINNEGAN

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 12/20/2022 at 13:32:51

McGregor Mourns Death of its Oldest Citizen
Charles Washburn died Saturday following a short illness. He lacked just two months of reaching his 100th birthday.

In good health until his last few days, he made his usual daily walk along McGregor's streets to meet and chat with friends, just a week before his death.

Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon in the Congregational church with the Rev. Paxton Smith of Glenwood, Iowa, a former pastor here and friend of the family, giving the sermon, assisted by the Rev. C.W. Punter, present pastor.

Charles Simmon Wright Washburn was born December 5, 1848, in Pittsburgh, Cass County, Ne Hampshire. He was a son of Betsy Wright and James Washburn, formerly of Toronto, Canada, and was the last survivor of the nine children of that family.

At an early age he came to Iowa with his parents from New Hampshire and the family lived for awhile at West Union. They settled in the McGregor vicinity in 1867, when the father purchased the farm 4 miles west of McGregor.

He worked for his father on the farm and also worked as bell-hop, stable boy and clerk in the inn, which served as a lodging pace for teamsters from the west, who brought their produce to McGregor for shipping in the early days.

He was married to Anna Eudorah Schriver on January 23, 1877, at Prairie du Chien, Wis.

Having become owner of the home place, he continued to farm it for 41 years or until the death of his wife. Since then he has made his home in McGregor with his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. O.W. Taylor.

He was the father of six children, two of who preceded him in death: Almar, who died in early childhood and Lloyd, who operated the homestead farm, where he died several weeks ago.

The surviving children are: Herbert of Savanna, Ill., Mrs. C.B. (Alta) Chambers of Oelwein; Vern and Mrs O.W. (Pearl) Taylor of McGregor. There are also three grandchildren, John Washburn of Savanna, Ill., Warren Washburn of Des Moines and Mrs. C.R. Finnegan of Colorado Springs, and two great grandchildren, Charles and Marc Finnegan of Colorado Springs.

Mr. Washburn, in spite of his advanced age, remained young in spirit, and he had as many young friends as he had older ones. He cherished his memories of early McGregor and had many interesting stories to tell of those colorful covered wagon days he so vividly remembered. Numerous themes have been written about early McGregor from interviews he gave school youngsters, whom he so willingly and joyfully helped.

But he did not live solely in the past. He kept up with the modern world. He recently enjoyed several airplane rides, viewing from the air the Mississippi river and hills he had known for so many years. This summer on his automobile trip to Colorado Springs, he attended a rodeo and showed keen interest in the horses of which he has always been very fond.

Charlie Washburn was McGregor's oldest "young man." His presence will be missed on McGregor's streets.

The McGregor Historical Society, following the suggestion of one of its members, was making plans for an elaborate celebration to be given for Mr. Washburn on December 5th, his one hundredth birthday anniversary.

~North Iowa Times, Thursday, October 7, 1948; pgs 1 & 5

Note: a photo of Mr. Washburn appeared with his obituary, the image reproducing on microfilm of the paper very poorly, so not included here. Below is a biography which was printed in the paper on the occasion of his 99th birthday. A better (although grainy) photo was included with that article.

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Charles Washburn
Friday, Dec. 5th, was Charles Washburn's 99th birthday. It was the event of the day in McGregor, as residents raided the stores for birthday greetings. He received a hundred and twelve cards, and many callers and telephone calls the day long.

One phone call was from two great-grandsons, Charles, 10 and Marc, 9, in Colorado Springs, Colo., who urged, "be sure, grandpa, to live to be a hundred, so's we can see how you look."

To a call from a cousin, Walter Washburn, in Portage, Wis., and his query, "How are you on your 99th birthday?" the nonagenarian blithely answered, "Pretty fine for a kid! Having a big day!" and then came back to his arm chair in the home of his daughter, Mrs. O.W. Taylor with whom he lives to look at his cards some more.

Later he took his usual daily walk to Main street, before he was honored at the birthday dinner in the Taylor home, and cut the birthday cake, wreathed in red roses.

Present besides Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, were the two sons, Lloyd and Vern and their wives of McGregor, and a daughter, Mrs. C.B. Chambers and her husband of Oelwein. A son, Herbert, and his wife and their son John of Savanna, Ill., tried to come but had to give it up because of the icy roads.

Besides the three sons and two daughters, Mr. Washburn has two grandchildren, Warren Washburn of Des Moines, and Mrs. Eudora Finnegan of Colorado Springs, and the two great-grandsons, Charles and Marc Finnegan.

Mr. Washburn came to McGregor 90 years ago and has lived here since. Beside U.S. Highway 18 four miles west of McGregor is the large brick house his parents in pre-railroad days ran as a way-side inn to accommodate settlers who came from long distances over the road with their wheat for shipment by steamboat down the Mississippi from McGregor. Charlie was bell hop, stable boy, waiter, clerk, and what not at "Four Mile House" as the inn was called.

After the tavern business was ended and he had inherited the home and the big farm with it, he specialized in horses, raising and driving high steppers. His face lights up yet as he talks about horses. But he likes automobiles, too. Last summer he took a 1400-mile trip by car to Colorado and around in the west with the Taylors, and had a "grand time."

~North Iowa Times December 11, 1947 (included the photo)

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