Hadley, Alice 1857-1912

HADLEY, WOODWARD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 1/1/2010 at 09:48:39

Death of Mrs. J. W. Hadley

The City and Community Lose a Noble Christian Woman

The death of Mrs. Alice Hadley, wife of J. W. Hadley, on Monday morning, February 26, (1912), came as a sad shock to hundreds of friends in this community, few of whom had known that she was seriously ill. She had for two or three weeks suffered from an attack of gastritis which culminated in acute attack of heart trouble, the final cause of her death. However, Mrs. Hadley had never recovered from a serious accident of eight years ago. On Christmas day, 1903, after enjoying a dinner party with a number of friends at the home of John Buchanan, in Malaka Township, she and Mr. Hadley were on their way home, when the buggy struck a bank and was upset, Mrs. Hadley sustaining very serious injuries which for a time threatened her life. A stroke of paralysis followed, and for two years she was confined to her bed, except when moved in a wheeled chair. Later she was able to walk on crutches. Although crippled for life, she retained her sweet Christian disposition, was always happy and thankful for the blessing that came to her in her weakened condition.

Alice Woodward was born in Osco, Illinois, March 10, 1857. She was married to John W. Hadley, January 16, 1879, and the following February they came to this county, settling on a farm in Malaka Township, five miles north of Newton, where they lived until in October 1910, when they moved to town, purchasing the property known as the A. J. Osborn home, where her death occurred.

Mrs. Hadley became a member of the Wittemberg Congregational Church in 1880, and for 30 years taught a class in the Sabbath school – two years of the time, after riding 1 ½ miles, she had to be carried from and to her buggy at the church – never missing a single Sunday. After moving to town she because a member of the Congregational Church here, which she learned to love dearly, and yet her heart still clung to the little country church at Wittemberg. Her life was so pure and spotless, her Christian work so well done, that she did not shrink from death when she felt that the end was drawing very near.

Of near relatives she is only survived by her devoted husband and aged mother. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley had never been blessed with children of their own, but seven motherless little ones had been taken into their home and cared for tenderly until homes were provided for them. Two foster daughters were reared from childhood to womanhood by them and came to mingle their tears of sorrow with those of their foster father at the funeral of the one whom they all had loved so devotedly: Mrs. Champeny of Kingsley, Iowa, formerly Hattie Rowe; and Mrs. Peterson of Pearson, Iowa, formerly Jennie Blanchard. Harry Angevine, a cousin, of Cambridge, Illinois, and Warren Dunham and wife of Atkinson, Ill., - he was a foster-brother of Mrs. Hadley – were also here for the funeral , the Dunhams arriving just in time for the sad services.

On Wednesday after a brief prayer at the home the funeral cortege moved to the Wittemberg church where the final services were held, conducted by Rev. George H. Kemp of the Newton Congregational Church. Beautiful music was rendered by the choir, and hundreds of old friends and neighbors were present, their beautiful floral tributes silently attesting their love for Mrs. Hadley and their tender sympathy for the husband so suddenly bereft of the greatest of life’s treasures – a devoted Christian wife. The remains were laid to rest beneath the snow-clad mound in the old College Farm Cemetery. ~ Newspaper unknown