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OXLEY, William J. 1847-1928

OXLEY, DYER

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/17/2015 at 14:09:48

Death Takes From Our Midst A Pioneer

Wm. J. Oxley Answers Last Call After Months Of Illness

Was Resident Of County Many Years

Passed Away Early Monday Morning of This Week

"Or ever the silver cord be loosed,
Or the golden bowl be broken,
Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
Or the wheel be broken at the cistern."

We all know that time is a tomb-builder. We realize full well the inevitableness of death. Yet every time a final summons comes it brings some measure of sadness to everybody in a community. But a grief more general and sorrow more wide spread than is usual even in such events was evident throughout our city when on Monday morning, January 30th, 1928, we learned that during the hours of the night previous the spirit of William J. Oxley took its departure from its house of clay to enter upon the voyage from when no traveler has ever returned.

William J. Oxley was born October 1st, 1847, in Soundby, Nottinghamshire, England, being one of a family of eight children. Coming to the United States at the age of seven with his parents, they resided for a time in Kent, Ohio, later moving to Stevenson county, Illinois, where he lived until his marriage to Martha Dyer, at which time they moved to Grundy county, Iowa, where they have resided since. It was here that their only son, Charles Leroy, was born and died in childhood, and where they both will lie side by side in "God's Acre."

With the exception of a sister, Mrs. John Harp, of Santa Anna, Calif., he is the last of his immediate family. Several nephews and nieces and a cousin, Thomas Wood, of Reinbeck, and a number of relatives in England survive him.

His wife and Mrs. Albert Vasey, Mrs. Luther C. Warner, Mrs. J. P. McNab, a brother-in-law, Justin Dyer, and a niece, Mrs. Forrest Meyers, nee Alberta Vasey, are left to mourn a very thoughtful and indulgent husband, a loving brother and uncle.

His little great nephews, Forrest Kent and William J., the latter his namesake, and his great niece, Marcia Lu, all of the three being the children of Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Meyers, have been a great comfort to him in his long illness.

Mrs. Oxley's family were members of the Church of England. Above all else he loved his home and friends. He was a man of highest ideals and a true friend to his fellow-men. He will be greatly missed in the home and by all who knew him.

Mr. Oxley had always been a man of great activity, and, while his illness caused a suspension of his physical labors, God granted to him a strong mentality to the extent that he continued the management of his affairs until a very few days before his death.

All that loving and willing hands could do was done to prolong and make happy and peaceful his declining years.

"No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
There they alike in trembling hope repose
The bosom of his father and his God."

The funeral services were held from the late home of the deceased at four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 1st, Dr. H. C. Chambers of the First Presbyterian church conducting the services, using the beautiful burial ritual of the Church of England. Interment was made in the Grundy Center cemetery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 2 February 1928, pg 1


 

Grundy Obituaries maintained by Tammy D. Mount.
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