John R. Van Ness 1844-1888

VAN NESS, DUNHAM

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 9/26/2012 at 20:11:18

John R. Van Ness arrived from Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, yesterday, with his family, stock and farming tools, etc., to take personal possession of a two hundred acre tract of land about a mile a little north of east of the Hotel Orleans, which he bought eleven years ago of George Bellows. We hear he will at once put up buildings and start a breaking plow. (Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, IA, April 15, 1887)

A strange accident occurred Monday [November 29, 1888], near Hotel Orleans by which a man named Vaness lost his life. While at work plowing, his team was followed by some colts, which his little girl endeavored to drive away. The colts rushed in between the horses, and in his efforts to entangle them, he was thrown down, trampled on and killed outright. (Northern Vindicator, Estherville, IA, November 2, 1888)

Mrs. Van Ness [Lucinda Susan Dunham Van Ness] desires through these colums to thank the friends who came to her assistance in her recent terrible bereavement. (Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, IA, November 9, 1888)

Mrs. Van Ness, so suddenly widowed last week, will remain on the farm in Spirit Lake township, we understand. (Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, IA, November 9, 1888)