John Cunningham 1832-1904

CUNNINGHAM

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 6/15/2011 at 00:00:51

The Passing of a Pioneer
Another of the old residents of Emmet county passed away on Thursday, September 22nd after a long and rather painful illness in the person of John Cunningham who for thirty-nine years had been a resident of High Lake township and lived on the same section of land he took up in those early days. The funeral was held from the Catholic church this city on Saturday and there was a large attendance of the old neighbors and friends from the locality where he lived so long. The date of the illness of Mr. Cunningham dates back to about two years ago when he was badly hurt at the flour mill in this city. While waiting for a grist to be ground he was leaning against a pair of trucks talking to a friend when the wheels slipped throwing him heavily to the ground and in the fall sustained injuries of a nature producing the ailment which caused his death. For the last year he almost he was unable to leave his house. Deceased was an Irishman by birth and in an early day bade farewell to the land of his fathers to seek his home and fortune in America. For several years he was variously employed and saw many sections of the country until 1865 he came to Emmet county to engage in farming and which labors he was ever after engaged in. He leaves a wife and a family of five sons and two daughters.

Mr. Cunningham was in the eighty-second year of his age and during the long time he made his home on these prairies he encountered many of the privations and hardships that are generally meted out to the men who blaze the pathway for future generations, he succeeded well and owned a fine two hundred forty acre tract of land upon which he had made a comfortable home and where peace and plenty abounded. (Estherville Enterprise, Estherville, IA, September 28, 1904)

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John Cunningham, one of Emmet counties oldest settlers, died at his home in High Lake township last Thursday morning of paralysis. Mr. Cunningham was over 80 years old and until the past two years has enjoyed very good health. The funeral services were held at Estherville in the Catholic church and interment took place in the Catholic cemetery south of town. The surviving relatives are: his wife, two daughters, Adeline and May, and five sons, Michael, John, Will, Thomas and James. All were present at the last excepting Michael and Thomas. The family have the sincere sympathy of the community. (Vindicator and Republican, Estherville, IA, September 28, 1904)

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A Pioneer Gone
The death of John Cunningham, which occurred at his home in High Lake township on Thursday, September 22nd, removes one of the pioneer residents of this county. Mr. Cunningham came to this county in 1866 and homesteaded the farm on which he has lived since that time. He was one of the earliest settlers of Emmet county and experienced some of the early life hardships that are always experienced in a newly settled country. At the time of his death he was eighty-one years of age and raised a family of seven children – five boys and two girls. He had been an industrious and hardworking man and one of the best citizens of the county and will be greatly missed by the people of High Lake township where his friends were numbered by his acquaintance. The large concourse of sympathizing neighbors and friends who followed his remains to their last resting place at the funeral held in the Catholic church in this city Saturday afternoon, was evidence of the high esteem in which he was held by the people in that vicinity. Father Daley preached the funeral sermon and the remains were interred in the Catholic cemetery south of this city. A wife and five children are left to mourn his sudden taking away. The sympathy of that community is extended the bereaved family in their hours of profound sorrow. (Estherville Democrat, Estherville, IA, September 28, 1904)

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Death of a Pioneer
John Cunningham Passes Away at His Home in Jack Creek Township
John Cunningham, one of the pioneer residents of Emmet county, died at his home in Jack Creek township last Thursday, of old age, at the age of 85 years. The funeral was held from the Catholic church in this city Saturday, the interment being in the Catholic cemetery. Mr. Cunningham had been a resident of Emmet county for nearly forty years and was well and favorably known by a large circle of friends. He is survived by five sons and two daughters. (Vindicator and Republican, Estherville, IA, September 28, 1904)

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Jack Creek Township – John Cunningham is very sick and a nurse, Miss Hattie Ridley of Estherville has been employed to assist in caring for him. (Vindicator and Republican, Estherville, IA, September 28, 1904)

Note: per 1880 census, High Lake Township