WILLIAM EATON GAMMON

GAMMON, JENKINS, BASSETT, LONG, MITCHELL, ALLBAUGH, DAVISSON

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 2/21/2002 at 20:50:13

Decatur County Journal
Thursday, August l0, l9l6

WILLIAM EATON GAMMON was born near Knoxville,
Tennessee, April 29, l827,
and died at his home in Leon, Iowa, July 26,
l9l6, at the age of 89
years, 2 months and 27 days. His parents
moved from Tennessee to Putnam
County, Indiana, when he was one year old.
Here he grew to manhood,
obtaining what education the country schools
offered in the settlement
of a new country. On April 26, l849, he was
united in marriage to
CAROLINE JENKINS. Their five daughters and
one son are all living, and
with their mother, his beloved wife and
life-long companion, were all at
his bedside when he passed away. The
children are MRS. O.E. BASSETT, of
Farnhamville, Iowa; MRS. ELLEN E. LONG, MRS.
W.A. ALLBAUGH and MRS. J.L.
MITCHELL and MR. ROY H. GAMMON, of Leon,
Iowa, and MRS. H.E. DAVISSON,
of Chicago, Ill. Besides his wife and
children, he leaves eleven
grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.
With his wife he moved from
Indiana to Iowa in the fall of l850 and spent
the winter in Monroe
County, and the following spring moved to
Decatur County, and settled on
the farm four miles southeast of Leon where
they lived until the summer
of l909, when they moved to Leon where they
have lived since that time.

They celebrated their golden wedding
anniversary April 26, l899, and on
April 26, l9l6, they celebrated their
sixty-seventh anniversary at the
home of MRS. W.A. ALLBAUGH. But few people,
comparatively pass so many
happy years of married life together. His
aim in life was to make a
comfortable and happy home for his family and
give them the best
advantages within his power. His home was
always a hospitable one, and
in an earlier day when the country was new,
many a traveler, or people
driving stock to market found accommodations
and entertainment in his
home, never turning anyone away were it
possible to accommodate them.

He was ever ready in time of need or
misfortune and the poor were never
turned away unaided. He was always ready to
do his part in advancing
the best interests of the community in which
he lived. He was a close
student of political economy and always
worked to help secure laws that
appealed to him to be for the best interest
of the common people. He
was bitterly opposed to corporations, trusts
and class legislation,
which favored the rich and oppressed the
poor. As long as he was able
to read and converse, he was as much
interested in the current events,
the legislation and government of our
country, as he was in his more
active years, reading his newspapers with a
second eyesight, seldom
using glasses.

In belief he was a Free-Thinker, never having
been connected with any
church. He did right for the sake of right.
This motto could well be
applied to his life--"The World is my
country, to do good my religion."
He was an exemplary husband and father and
taught his children by
precept and example.

He had been a reader of the leading
Free-Thought papers, first the
Boston Investigator, later the Truth Seeker,
for sixty years or more and
was a great admirer of Paine's and
Ingersoll's writings.

Sometime before his death and before sickness
came on he made the
following selection as expressing his views
of life and death to be read
over his remains when he was ready to be laid
to rest.

We this day consign to the earth the body of
our departed friend. For
him life's fitful dream is over with its
toils and sufferings and
disappointments. He derived his being from
the bountiful mother of all;
he returns to her capacious bosom, to again
mingle with the elements.
He basked in life's sunshine for his allotted
time, and has passed into
the shadow of death, where sorrow and pain
are unknown. Nobly he
performed life's duties on the stage of
earth; the impenetrable curtain
of futurity has fallen, and we see him no
more. But he leaves to his
sorrowing friends and relatives a legacy in
the remembrance of his
virtues, his services, his honor and truth.
He fought the good fight of
free inquiry, and triumphed over prejudice
and the results of
misdirected education. His voyage through
life was not always on
tranquil seas, but his strong judgment
steered him clear of the rocks
and quicksands of ignorance, and for years he
rested placidly in the
haven of self-knowledge. He had long been
free from the fears and
misgivings of superstitious belief. He
worked out for himself the
problem of life, and no man was the keeper of
his conscience. His
religion was of this world--the service of
humanity his highest
aspiration. He recognized no authority but
that of nature, adopted no
methods but those of science and philosophy
and respected in practice no
rule but that of conscience, illustrated by
the common sense of mankind.

He valued the lessons of the past, but
disavowed tradition as a ground
for belief, whether miracles and
supernaturalism he claimed or not
claimed on its side. No sacred scripture or
ancient church formed the
basis of his faith. By his example he
vindicated the right to think and
to act upon conscientious conviction. By a
career so noble, who shall
say that his domestic affections were
impaired, or that his love for
those near and dear to him was weakened? On
the contrary, his
independent method of thought tended to
develop those sentiments which
have their source in human nature, which
impel and enoble all morality,
which grounded upon intelligent personal
conviction, and which manifest
themselves in heroic actions, especially in
the promotion of truth,
justice and love. For worship of the unknown
he substituted duty; for
prayer, work; and the record of his life
bears testimony to his purity
of heart, and the bereaved ones know but too
well the treasure that is
lost to them forever.

If perfect reliance upon any particular
belief in the hour of death were
proof of its truth, then in the death were
proof of its truth, then in
the death of our friend the principles of
Secularism would be
triumphantly established. His belief
sustained him in health; during
his illness, with the certainty of death
before him at no distant
period, it afforded him consolation, and
encouragement, and in the last
solemn moments of his life, when he was
getting as it were into his own
grave, it procured him the most perfect
tranquility of mind. There were
no misgivings, no doubts, no tremblings, lest
he should have missed the
right path; but he went undaunted into the
land of the great departed,
into the silent land. It may be truly said
of him that nothing in life
became him more than the manner of his
leaving it. Death has no terror
for the enlightened; it may bring regrets at
the thought of leaving
those we hold dearest on earth, but the
consciousness of a well-spent
life is all-sufficient in the last sad hour
of humanity.
Death is but a shadow of a shade, and there
is nothing in the name that
should blanche the cheek or inspire the timid
with fear. In its
presence pain and care give place to rest and
peace. The sorrow-ladened
and the forlorn, the unfortunate and the
despairing, and repose in the
tomb--all the woes and ills of life are
swallowed up in death. The
atoms of this earth once were living men, and
in dying we do but return
to our kindred who have existed through
myriads of generations.

Now that our departed brother has been
removed, death, like a mirror,
shows us his true reflex. We see his
character, undisturbed by the
passions, the prejudices, and the infirmities
of life. And how poor
seem all the petty ambitions which are wont
to sway mankind, and how
small the advantages of revenge! Death is so
genuine a fact that it
excludes falsehood or betrays its emptiness;
it is a touchstone that
proves the gold and dishonors the baser
metal. Our friend has entered
upon that eternal rest, that happy ease,
which is the heritage of all.
The sorrow and grief of those who remain
alone mar the thought that the
tranquil sleep of death has succeeded that
fever of the brain called
life. Death as the soothing anodyne of all
our woes and struggles, and
we inherit the earth as a reward for the
toils of life. The pain of
parting is poignant and cannot for a time be
subdued, but regrets are
vain

Every form that lives must die, for the
penalty of life is death.
No power can break the stern decree that all
on earth must part. Though
the chains be woven by affection or kindred,
the beloved ones who weep
for us will only for a while remain. There
is not a flower that scents
the mountain or the plain, there is not a
rose bud that opens its
perfumed lips to the morning sun, but ere
evening comes may perish. Man
springs up like the tree; at first the tender
plant, he puts forth buds
of promise, then blossoms for a time and
gradually decays and passes
away. His hopes, like the countless leaves
of the forest, may wither
and be blown about by the adverse winds of
fate, but his efforts
springing from the fruitful soul of wise
endeavor, will fructify the
earth, from which will rise a blooming
harvest of happy results to
mankind.

In the solemn presence of death--solemn,
because a mystery which no
living being has penetrated--on the brink of
that bourne from which no
traveler returns, our obvious duty is to
emulate the good deeds of the
departed, and to resolve so to shape our
course through life that when
our hour comes we can say that though our
temptations were great--though
our toils and privations were sore--we never
wilfully did a bad act,
never deliberately injured our fellow man.
The reward of a useful and
virtuous life is the conviction that our
memory will be cherished by
those who come after us, as we revere the
memories of the great and good
who have gone before. This is the only
immortality of which we
know--the immortality of the great ones of
the world who have benefited
their age and race by their noble deeds,
their brilliant thoughts, their
burning words. Their example is ever with
us, and their influence
hovers around the haunts of men and
stimulates to the highest and
happiest daring. Man has a Heaven, too; but
not that dreamed of by
some--far, far away beyond the clouds, but
here on earth, created by the
fireside, and built up of the love and
respect of kindred and friends
and within the reach of the humblest who work
for the good of others and
the improvement of humanity. As we drop the
tear of sympathy at the
grave now about to close over the once loved
form, may the earth lie
lightly on him, may the flowers bloom over
his head, and may the winds
softly sigh as they herald the coming night.
Peace and respect be with
his memory. Farewell, a long farewell!

The funeral services were held at the family
residence in east Leon on
Thursday afternoon, July 27th, conducted by
Dr. J.E. Roberts, a
Free-Thinker lecturer of national prominence,
and his remarks were most
fitting, it being one of the finest funeral
orations ever heard in this
city. An exceptionally large concourse of
sorrowing friends and old
neighbors were in attendance, and the floral
offerings were many and
beautiful.

Interment was in the Eden Prairie Cemetery,
four grandsons and two
nephews acting as pall bearers.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
February 20, 2002