Mrs. Mary W. Hamilton

HAMILTON, WALKER, GILSON, TILTON, MACOMBER, COLEMAN, DOWNS, GARRISON, BEATTY

Posted By: Yvonne Hamilton (email)
Date: 5/25/2004 at 17:37:02

Cascade Pioneer September 14, 1900

Death’s Harvest

The Grim Reaper Gathers Many Sheafs to His Eternal Care

Mrs. Mary W. Hamilton

Mrs. Mary W. Hamilton, an aged and respected resident of Whitewater township, died at the family residence one mile east of Cascade last Sunday, September 9, at 3 o’clock p.m. at the age of 90 years, 7 months and 22 days. She was the widow of the late James S. Hamilton and was one of the pioneer settlers of Whitewater township, where she settled with her husband as early as 1845.

Her maiden name was Mary Walker and she was born in Alleghany township, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1810. On the 8th day of October, 1829, she was married to Mr. Hamilton. For ten years they remained in their native county and engaged in farming, and five years they farmed in Bedford county, Penn. In the spring of 1845, they emigrated to Iowa and located in Washington township, Dubuque county. In October of the same year, they permanently located on the farm where the present homestead is situated and for nearly fifty-five years, the deceased had been a continuous resident of Whitewater township.

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton endured the privations and struggles of the frontier life and through their industry improved and cultivated the property which still remains in the estate of the deceased. In late years, Mrs. Hamilton had been enfeebled by age and it’s attending infirmities, and has been in the charge of her daughter, Mrs. T.A. Hamil, whose husband has conducted the farm since the retirement and death of Mr. Hamilton.

Mrs. Hamilton was a generous and benevolent woman, and in the early days was notable for her charity and ministrations to the needy in which she was assisted by her husband. Their home was frequently the asylum of the orphan and the homeless. In religion, she was consistent, and a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal society.

When it is recalled that as long ago as October 8, 1879, Mrs. Hamilton and her husband celebrated their golden wedding—fiftieth anniversary—and that their marriage had occurred before the birth of some of the citizens who are old men now, it brings directly to mind the actuality of the long life of the deceased lady, who has witnessed the passing of events and changes that over half a century have wrought in a land that was a wilderness when with her husband and young family, she settled here in the then territory of Iowa, before the railroad or telegraph had checkered this commonwealth or hundreds of other modern innovations had been introduced, or even dreamed of in the minds of their ingenious discoverers.

Nine children were born to Mrs. Hamilton, six of whom are living: Mrs. Hattie Tilton of Manchester; Mrs. Mary Jaggers of Alice, Montana; Mrs. Martha Macomber of Hawarden; Mrs. Fannie Gilson of Newton; Mrs. Ida Coleman of Idaho; and Mrs. Sarah Hamil of Whitewater township. Mrs. Gilson and Mrs. Macomber from abroad were present at the funeral.

The funeral took place Tuesday afternoon from the residence and was conducted by Rev. E.B. Downs, of Clarksville, assisted by Revs. Garrison and Beatty.