Jennie Jensen Ellerston, 1837-1918

ELLERSTON, JENSEN

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 10/7/2010 at 16:46:44

DEATH CLAIMS BELOVED LADY

Mrs. Jennie Ellerston Suddenly Summoned—Was Not Ill—Stricken With Heart Failure

WAS PAST EIGHTY YEARS OF AGE

Resided in Estherville for Many Years
A Noble Christian Woman Whom God Loved to Call His Own

Thursday morning, July 25, 1918, Mrs. Jennie Ellerston passed quietly from this to the High Life. On Wednesday she went about as usual doing her duty as her hands found it to do. Then she was not, for god had called her to Himself. Hardly could it be said that she died. Silently she went away, to be with her Lord forevermore.

The good do not need to be eulogized. Their deeds speak for them. The good that men do lives after them. “Each deed thou hast done dies, revives, goes to work in the world.” Into the ocean of time she dropped many a kindly deed whose ripples spread out to the confines of time into eternity.

She will be missed. The good and faithful are always missed. No where will she be more truly missed than in her church. Year in and year out she was always to be found in her place. No winter too cold, no snow too deep, no blizzard too severe but that if there was a service she would be in her place. Her faithfulness was a silent rebuke to younger stronger persons. While it rebuked it challenged them to greater service. She loved the church because it was the house of God. She loved the services of her church because they spoke to her of her Lord and Saviour. To a devout member of the Episcopal church the church services and the prayer book mean much. To be deprived of them is to lose a vital part of such a one’s life. For several years Mrs. Ellerston could not hear the words of the service she loved, but she could follow it in the prayer book. Often has she remarked: “What could I get out of going to church if I was not an Episcopalian and could not follow the service in my prayer book.” The last few months her eyes failed so she could not read. She was lost. To those who could discern this was bourne the consciousness that the time of her departure was drawing near. When she could not longer enter into the services of the church she loved on earth god called her to the services of the church above. She shall be missed, but we rejoice with her in her fullness of joy in her lord. She has done what she could her on earth. May light perpetual shine upon her and may she rest in peace.

Jennie Jensen was born May 17, 1837 in Kragero, Norway. At the age of twelve she crossed the Atlantic and settled in Chicago. Shortly afterward her mother died of the cholera. Then she lived with Mr. and Mrs. Ely of Chicago for nine years. It was while with them that she was confirmed in the Episcopal church. In 1865 she married Christopher Ellerston. They moved to Norway, Iowa, and then in 1894 came to Estherville where she has since been a resident. Her husband died in Norway, Europe, in 1888. To them were born seven children. She is survived by three sons and three daughters, Mrs. E.E. Hartung, Eugene, Oregon; E.H. Ellerston, Emmet County; Mrs. L.R. Woods, Pasadena, California; Mrs. M.H. Schloeman, Estherville; Chris Ellerston, Emmet County; James Ellerston, Estherville; and by two sisters, Mrs. B.M. McQuinn, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. George C. McCurdy, Berkeley, California; and a brother, F.W. Jensen, Albany, Oregon.

The burial service was read by the Rev. Alvin Scollay Hock in Grace Episcopal church on Sunday afternoon, July 28. North Star Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, of which was a faithful member read the burial services of the order at the grave.

Source: Vindicator and Republican, Emmet County, Iowa; July 31, 1918.