THACKERY, Elizabeth 1836-1898

THACKERY, THACKREY, JENNISON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 2/24/2019 at 17:38:16

A Good Woman Called Home

Died, March 17, 1898, of pernicious anemia, in Felix township, Grundy county, Iowa, Mrs. Elizabeth Thackery, wife of Elwood Thackery, aged nearly 62 years.

Elizabeth Jennison was born in Ripley county, Indiana, April 27, 1836, being the fourth child in a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom four brothers and two sisters survive. Father Jennison moved to Monroe county, Iowa, in 1856, where the marriage of Elizabeth Jennison and Elwood Thackery took place Nov. 23, 1856, the latter having accompanied them from the east. Mr. Thackery and family lived in Monroe and Appanoose counties until the spring of 1882, when they moved to Hardin county, and in 1885 to Grundy county, where they have since resided.

Seven children, five sons and two daughters, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thackery. The younger two died in infancy; the others survive and are Mrs. J. A. Stanbar of Appanoose county; Chas. F. Thackery of Nebraska; Mrs. J. K. Musgrave of Grundy county; W. S. Thackery of Kossuth county, J. E. Thackery, who lives with his father in Grundy county. Lilly Belle Ely, the daughter of a sister of the deceased, has made her home with them since she was seventeen months old. Of the absent members of the family none arrived to attend the funeral. W. S. Thackery came later.

Mrs. Thackery united with the Baptist church in 1869, and remained a consistent member and faithful christian until the time of her death. Her end was peaceful, and she rests from her labors. For many years she had suffered much illness, the last confinement being since December 10, 1897. She had been in poor health for more than a year. Medical skill, loving hearts and kind hands did all they could for her, and now the loved ones "mourn not as they who have no hope." The relatives and friends who knew her well have no misgiving as to her happy destiny, for her faithfulness to duty was never known to waver in this life where the toil of a pioneer mother was ever met with christian courage and unyielding hope. But to those of her family who ever relied upon "Mother" in every trouble or time of need, the irrevocable fact that she is dead--aye! gone from earth forever, strikes home to the soul in that luxury of agony known to those only who, with Washington Irving, realize that "The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced." And while she rests well and her works do follow her, theirs is the lingering, ever present sadness as they gather around the table, there to note the "vacant chair at mother's place," which all the tears and all the years can never, never fill.

The funeral exercises were held at the Christian church of Whitten, on the afternoon of the 19th, Rev. C. H. Marsh of the Baptist church of Grundy Center, and Rev. Edward Lee of the M.E. church officiating. The music was rendered by the choirs from the Christian and Methodist churches. The services were conducted according to her previous direction, for she had set her house in order, then gone to sleep. The text was Isaiah 51:11. The sermon was sympathetic and well adapted to the occasion, being a clear and forcible setting forth of the relation of man to his kindred under the Jewish dispensation, the nearest of kin having the duty of redemption in all cases of bondage--a duty significant, in figure, of the soul's redemption by the nearest kinsman, Christ, the nearest and dearest brother from God's household in heaven. The remains were tenderly laid to rest by kindly hands in the Vinton cemetery, a large concourse of friends and citizens of the community being in attendance.

God bless the mother gone; and keep alive in the hearts of those she loved so well a memory sacred as the soul in the loving hearts she left behind, an inspiration unconquerable by all the despairs of life.

--The Grundy Republican (Grundy Center, Iowa), 24 March 1898, pg 1