ERB, John 1849-1881

ERB, SWAN

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 12/9/2019 at 20:08:52

The Reaper Of Death

Comes with Unwelcome Presence Into Our Midst and Claims for His Portion Two of Our Best Citizens

Mr. E. H. Beckman and Mr. John Erb Chosen for Initiation into the Mysterious Unknown

"To live in hearts we leave behind,
Is not to Die."

It is with scarcely a realizing sense of its truth that we write of the sad and irreparable loss this community has sustained in the death of two of its most worthy members. Who among us can at all times realize that no more their familiar forms and cheerful faces will be seen upon the streets or in the places of business where they were wont to be? But as difficult as it may be the truth is forced upon our minds in every way and at all times. We have felt the shock that went through the community when it was thought they could not recover; have seen the silent tear in many eyes when hope was past; have seen the mourning relatives, the sympathizing friends, the long processions, the palls, the graves, the grief-stricken wives and sorrowing children, and all remind us that E. H. Beckman and John Erb have appeared in our midst for the last time. And now it only remains for us to cherish in memory the many good and pure qualities exemplified in their lives, and may such remembrance benefit all who came within the circle of their influence and examples.

Obituary
Erb--Died, at his residence in this city on Monday morning, September 5th, 1881, of Diabetes, Mr. John Erb, in the 34th year of his age.

The subject of this sketch was born in New Brunswick, in May, 1848, where his childhood days were spent. At the age of seventeen years he went out into the world to make his way along the rugged path of life. He apprenticed himself to the business of photography, and by diligence soon mastered all the details of the art. In early manhood he came to the United States and settled for one year in the State of Illinois. In 1875 he came to Iowa and to Parkersburg where he commenced business for himself. It was while a resident of Parkersburg that he became acquainted with Miss Adell Swan, a most estimable young lady, to whom he was married in 1876. He resided in Parkersburg for about two years and then removed to Grundy Center in the fall of 1877, and here he has since lived up to the time of his death.

Some time during the summer just past he commenced to feel the approach of disease, and thought always about attending to business, it was only by great effort that he was able to do so. About the middle of last week he went home feeling as though he must give up work for a time, and from that home he came not forth again alive. A few days of sickness, and of suffering and the slender chords of existence snapped asunder and the spirit of life left the tenement of clay and went forth on the long journey from whence no traveler ever returns. On Wednesday kind friends were called upon to perform the last sad duty of the living to the dead, and all that was earthly was laid away in the silent cemetery there to await the unknown purposes of a wise and eternal creator.

During the four years of his life in Grundy Center, deceased has ever borne an honorable and praise-worthy part in all the essentials of good citizenship. As a business man he has established and built up a name for honor and trust as a citizen he did his part toward furthering the public interests of his chosen town and county; as a husband and father he watched with jealous care over the happiness of the domestic circle, and had just built and completed a fine home wherein it was his dream of hope to pass many years with the loved ones. But this was not to be; fate, the specter ever appearing to man, decreed it otherwise, and the husband, father, citizen and friend, is no more. He leaves, besides a wife and child, an aged father and mother, four brothers and three sisters in that far away home in the east to whom the sad news brings grief and sadness. The sympathy of friends and neighbors goes out without measure to the bereaved ones in these their days of deep trouble and bitter sorrow.

--Argus (Grundy Center, Iowa), 8 September 1881, pg 3