Mrs. Sarah Buckmaster Harding 1836-1923

HARDING, BUCKMASTER, EARLL

Posted By: Michael Kearney (email)
Date: 11/24/2002 at 14:18:27

The Advertiser Friday June 29, 1923 p. 6 At three thirty o'clock this morning, at her home, 1107 North Third street, Mrs. Sarah Buckmaster Harding, widow of Henry Holland Harding, passed on to her eternal home at the age of eighty-seven years and five months after an illness of four months. Both Mr. and Mrs. Harding have been among Clinton's earliest, most loyal and respected citizens, having come here when the locality was nothing but a corn field. Mr. Harding died August 11, 1889. For sixty-four years Mrs. Harding has recognized no other place as home than Clinton, although the greater part of recent years has been spent in Washington, D.C., with her daughter, Mrs. Louise Harding Earll, and two sons, Albert M. Harding and Edward T. Harding. The remaining portion of each year has been spent in her home or with her youngest son, Lee R. Harding, and in visiting relatives and friends in Cleveland, Ohio, Evanston and Chicago. Mrs. Harding's life has been one of unusual interest; she was born at Buckinghamshire, England, January 27, 1836. When five years of age she crossed the Atlantic ocean in a sailing vessel which required three months for the voyage, steamships not having then become common carriers for passengers. The Buckmaster family came to America upon the advice of the family physician who recommended the change because of the impaired health of her mother. Among the passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Payne, who later, became residents of Lyons, where they resided at the time of their death. Through the influence of these friends, Mr. and Mrs. Harding came to Clinton to live. Mrs. Harding, though advanced in years, was remarkably youthful in body and in spirit; her unusual mentality and graciousness of manner won for her numerous friends wherever she went. When a young woman, she openly expressed allegiance to the "King of Kings," becoming a member of the Baptist church in Cleveland, Ohio. For between fifty and sixty years, she has been a member of the Baptist church of Clinton. At the time of her death, she was a member of the Women's City club and of the local W.C.T.U. She has always been a strong supporter of civic righteousness. Besides her daughter and three sons, there remain to mourn her loss, three grandchildren, Donald M. Earll, Washington, D.C., Glenn H. Harding, Des Moines, Iowa, and Miss Louise Harding of Clinton, also three great grandchildren. Mrs. Harding was a cousin of Stanley Buckmaster, recently Lord High Chancellor of England. The funeral will take place at the First Baptist church Sunday, July 1, at three o'clock. Interment will be in Springdale cemetery.