Harrah, Bessie Dodge – 1846-1942

CUTLER, DODGE, ERHORN, FAIR, HALL, HARRAH, MOTT, PARSONS, SPENCER, WORMLEY

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:37

Pioneer of County Dies
Mrs. Bessie Dodge-Harrah Dies in Lyman, Miss.; Was Nearly 97
News has been received by relatives in Newton of the death of Mrs. Bessie Dodge Harrah, at her home in Lyman, Miss. The funeral was conducted by the Rev. Paul Hershey of the Gulf Haven church and burial was in the cemetery adjoining this church.
Mrs. Harrah, the last of one of the pioneer families of the Wittemburg neighborhood, was born in Rockland, N.Y., on Dec. 27, 1846, thus being in her 97th year at the time of her death. Her parents were Israel I. and Bessie Fitch Dodge. In 1857, the family came to Jasper county and settled on the farm 4 ½ miles north of Newton on No. 14, since known as the Israel Dodge homestead and now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Burton Wormley – Mrs. Wormley being a granddaughter of the original purchaser – Israel Dodge.
On Nov. 13, 1866, Bessie Dodge was married to Albert L. Harrah, the son of another of Wittemburg’s pioneer families. They began housekeeping on the Harrah homestead in Malaka township, then moved to Newton where Mr. Harrah operated the Grange store for a time. Returning to the farm, Mr. Harrah became known as one of the most prominent Short Horn breeders of the middle west. After Mr. Harrah’s death in 1906, Mrs. Harrah remained on the farm until 1913, when she went to Kansas City to be with her daughter. Later she went to Gulfport, Miss., and has been in that vicinity since.
Mrs. Harrah was the mother of six children, four dying in infancy. A son and a daughter survive – Marry Harrah Spencer, who has tenderly cared for her mother during the years of failing health and George Dodge Harrah, a stockman of Omaha. Two grandchildren also survive – Bessie Harrah Erhorn of Omaha and George Andrews Harrah of San Francisco.
Mrs. Harrah was preceded in death by seven brothers and sisters: Elmira Dodge Mott, mother of John R. Mott, internationally known Y.M.C.A. secretary; Israel who served in the Union army in the Vicksburg campaign and was buried in the Vicksburg National cemetery; Joel, who was one of the best known farmers in Jasper county; Emma Dodge Fair and Ida Dodge Cutler together with two who passed away in infancy.
Nieces and nephews now living in Newton and vicinity are Wallace Dodge, Mrs. Bessie Parsons, Mrs. Imogene Wormley, Harry Cutler and Mary and Lucy Hall.
Source: Newton Daily News; Tuesday, April 21, 1942, page 1