Awtry, Fanny Rogers – 1861-1947

AWTRY, BENJAMIN, HOPKINS, MULBROOK, ROGERS, VAN GILDER

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 12/9/2021 at 11:23:08

Mrs. Awtry, Pioneer, Dies Early Today
Moved to Laurel Area When Three Years Old; Services at 2 Monday
Mrs. Fanny Awtry, 85, a pioneer resident of Jasper county, died early this morning in a Montezuma nursing home where she had resided for the past few years.
Funeral service will be held Monday at 2 o’clock at Grace Chapel church, and burial will be in the Palo Alto cemetery.
Mrs. Awtry was born July 25, 1861, in Ohio and was a member of The Daily News Three-Quarter Century club. The announcement of her impending 86th birthday was recently carried in the paper.
Log Cabin
When she was three years old, Mrs. Awtry, then Fanny Rogers, came to Iowa with her parents, five brothers, two sisters and two half-sisters. The family settled in a log cabin, and several years slater Mr. Rogers, who was a carpenter, built a seven-room house on a farm northwest of Laurel in Marshall county.
Her father contributed the original land on which the Laurel Methodist church was placed. Later the church building was moved to Laurel and is still in use. After retiring from his farm, Mrs. Awtry’s father owned and operated the general store in Laurel for many years.
Marriage
In 1882 Mrs. Awtry was married to A. M. Awtry, who preceded her in death Sept. 5, 1925. One of her daughters, Mrs. Anna Pearl Benjamin, also preceded her in death Feb. 12, 1920. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Awtry had made her home with her children in Jasper county before going to the Montezuma nursing home.
She was a member of the First Methodist church in Newton.
Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. M. F. Van Gilder of Colfax; Mrs. Cyrus Hopkins of Montezuma and Mrs. Cecile Mulbrook of Newton and one son, Merle M. Awtry of Newton.
Source: Newton (IA) Daily News; July 12, 1947, page 1