Issac M. Pidgeon 1836 - 1917

PIDGEON, KESTER, ABLES, ALEXANDER, MONTGOMERY, SMITH, HOWARD, JENKINS, BAILEY

Posted By: A.M.W. (email)
Date: 3/3/2006 at 22:27:59

Salem Weekly News - 5-31-1917

ISAAC M. PIDGEON

Isaac Marion Pidgeon, son of Isaac and Phoebe Kester Pidgeon, was born on the Pidgeon homestead near Salem ,Iowa, September 2, 1836, and died at his home in Los Angeles, California, May 7, 1917. He was of Quaker ancestry, tracing his descent from Isaac Pidgeon, who was a settler of North Carolina before the Revolutionary war.

The deceased was the ninth of eleven children, and he was the first white child born in Salem township, his father having been the first Quaker to settle in Iowa, making his home on what is still known as the Pidgeon homestead, and which remained in the possession of the deceased at the time of his demise. Here he lived continuously until 1912 when he came to California. He was married in 1867 to Mary E. Ables. To this union four children were born- Walter G., Harry C., Hermeo, and Mary. after her death he married Alazannah Alexander, who later died leaving one daughter, Alazannah. In 1875 he was united in marriage with Nancy Montgomery, who became the mother of five daughters, Angie, Julia, Evalyn, Myrtle, and Caroline. All the children survive him except Mary, who died in infancy, and Hermeo, whose death occurred in 1913 in California.

He possessed a personality industrious, intelligent, sturdy, and honest, and he was successful and prosperous. He held a birthright membership in the Friends church, and he was noted for his integrity and his desire to see justice for all. He was interested in all reforms, had been a staunch Abolitionist, and was a strong Prohibitionist. Although he was of late afflicted and infirm physically, yet he went to the polls last fall and voted for California dry.

He came to California five years ago so that he might be with his children, and also because of the mild climate. He always seemed well satisfied and often remarked that he knew he could not have survived another winter in Iowa, so that his loved ones feel that his life was prolonged by his removal to this state. At his bedside when he passed away were his wife, one son and two daughters, but all the members of the family who survive him were able to attend the funeral. They were besides the widow, Walter G., Harry, Angie, and Julia Pidgeon, Miss Birdie Smith of Burbank, Calif.; Mrs. Evalyn Howard of Oakland ,Calif.; Mrs. Myrtle Jenkins and Mrs. Caroline Bailey both of Los Angeles.

The pall bearers were all men who knew him in his old home in Iowa. They were the Messrs Theo. Hockett, Samuel Cook, Charles Siveter and Chase Ayers. He was laid away in beautiful Forest Lawn cemetery. The memory of the just is blessed.