A Tribute to the Memory of Mrs. WOODS 1813 - 1891

ELLIS, WOODS, HASTINGS, OWEN, ALLEN, FOX

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 5/2/2006 at 21:09:46

"The Fairfield Tribune"
Wednesday, September 30, 1891
Page 7, Column 3, and
Page 6, Column 1

A TRIBUTE TO WORTH.

An Affectionate Tribute to the Memory of the Late Mrs. ELLIS WOODS.

After the Evergreen Cemetery Association was organized, one of Fairfield's citizens who had been unfortunate in business died and was buried in an unpaid for lot. That his body should be moved to the Potter's field was the decision of the authorities. Quietly, unostentatiously, a woman came to the management and buying the lot said that the body was to remain undisturbed. Mr. HASTINGS was not of her kin; had no hold upon her affections other than had all who were unfortunate.

The Congregationalists of Fairfield built a church and people walking to and fro saw through the door a woman painting the woodwork inside the building.-- a woman who had given bountifully to the funds that were to set here this mark of civilization. For the same reason that we behold without wonder each sunrise and let pass unnoticed the folding of each spring, do we learn with difficulty that heroes and prophets did not all live in the days of Moses. Perhaps a death has been necessary to awaken many of us to the appreciation of this woman, who said that her boy's remains should rest in peace; who with her every energy helped to build her church; who for fifty-one years in Fairfield has done almost daily some act that was Christ-like.

Character is shown in little things. Much will be written elsewhere of Mrs. WOODS' great work; it was her noble, every day life that made her so dear to us. No woman in the United States, with the possible exception of Mrs. Livermore, did more than Mrs. WOODS for the soldiers of the late war. And this occupied but a few years of a long life.

Mehitable OWEN was born in Vermont the same year with Louis Agassiz and our Longfellow,--1807, and she deserves to be mentioned with these great names. In our final estimate of men and women, to have sung as a great poet or to have solved the mysteries of nature commands of itself less love than to have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and comforted the broken-hearted. But a few days longer and she had been 84 years of age. This date varies from that recorded elsewhere, but the OWEN family bible (sic) is its authority. Ethen ALLEN was Mehitable OWEN's cousin. Her mother's family came to this country with General LaFAYETTE. Her grandfather fought for our liberty under Washington and her father was in the War of 1812. If there is aught in inheritance this woman had every reason to be patriotic.

From her twelfth year she cared for herself. She early came west and three times changed her name. Coming to Fairfield as Mrs. FOX, June 27, 1839, she has lived here as Mrs. ELLIS and since 1857 as Mrs. WOODS. Before the war Mr. WOODS was killed, leaving his widow, "Aunty WOODS," or "Mother WOODS," to all the people of the community; yes, to thousands more, to every soldier, to everyone who was helpless or afflicted, to everyone who was quietly doing his or her duty.

One day putting a pair of silk stockings in Mrs. Jordan's hands Aunty WOODS said: "These are for your faithful attendance at the organ in the church." Such thoughtfulness, such seeming heroism in faithfulness was always hers.

Nine times during the war, with tons of provisions and clothing, Mrs. WOODS went to the front and supplied the soldiers' needs. Any package sent to friends was delivered at its destination by her own hands. Well did she earn her commission as Major. With remarkable determination and courage she passed all lines and saw her work well done. Mr. Blakemore in Fairfield was thought to sympathyze with the south; it was called a "copperhead." But Mr. Blakemore always gave to Aunty WOODS. He was a contributor to every one of her cargoes of supplies. Her generous, grand soul was above petty prejudice and she had the help of all.

"I cannot believe in a Father who will not save all" she often said, and her life showed throughout broad, liberal views. Aunty WOODS always kept abreast of the times. To the day of her death she read carefully the daily papers. Years ago some young men (among them Christian Slagle and George Acheson) boarded with her. Every evening Mrs. WOODS brought her ironing table or clothes into the room and worked while Mr. Hendershot--chosen because he was the best reader - read aloud. And of all he read, disasters and accidents seemed to be first in their impression. Here were fellow mortals needing her aid and sympathy.

A cyclone swept Grinnell. Aunty WOODS collected a car load of provisions and clothing and took them herself to the scene of disaster, relieving the suffering to no small extent.

The grasshoppers impoverished Kansas and Aunty WOODS' house was the center of supplies for the starving people of the west. It is usually true that an active person's energies and sympathies are vented alone in careing (sic) for the unfortunate, or alone in helping on the advance line in progress. Not so with Mrs. WOODS. With all her work for the disconsolate she yet had time to know of and be actively interested in every step in culture and learning. She was an honorary member of the Agassiz Society and of the Alethean Literary Society of Parsons college. Her interest in these was active. She watched carefully their progress and gave aid unasked. Any improvement in Fairfield had her warmest support, and the water works and the electric light here are in part indebted to her.

Mrs. WOODS was always careful of the feelings of others. When she joined the Adventists she kept the seventh day and the first day also, so that she might not disturb her neighbors. Her religion was of works as well as faith. Many do not know that the loads of wood and sacks of flour that came to Mrs. Benton and other of our poor were paid for by Aunty WOODS; all these acts of charity were done so quietly she let not her left hand knoweth.

The Ellis Hose Company was named for Mrs. ELLIS WOODS, its members these later years have been "her boys." That they worked without pay for the good of Fairfield was sufficient reason that she should become their patron and sponsor. To carry books and papers to their room was her weekly pleasure and each year she gave the company a banquet, the one enjoyed two days before her death being the most pleasant of any ever held.

Such briefly are some events of the life of Mehitable ELLIS WOODS. A volume it should be and not this brief space of a paper to tell of the noble work of 84 years. This town will hardly seem like Fairfield without her, who was so great a part of its life. On the morning of the reunion of one of the the (sic) regiments she had aided during the war -- Wednesday, Sept. 23d -- after one and one half hour's illness, she went to sleep. While the drums were beating to call "her boys" together for rejoicing, the whisper flew from mouth to mouth that Aunty WOODS was dead. Thursday she was buried. The house, the yard, the street was not large enough to hold the hundreds who came to pay their last respects to this honored woman's remains. From ten o'clock until three the body lay in state and a continuous line of men, women and children came for a last look at the dear face all loved. Her hose boys led the procession to the grave. They, aided by her soldier boys, bore the remains on their shoulders to the cemetery. The Grand Army Post, The Order of the Eastern Star, The Daughters of Rebecca, The Woman's Relief Corps, and innumerable friends followed the band which played the funeral march.

Because of Mrs. WOODS' often repeated request the Eastern Star had charge of the service at the grave and by the beautiful and impressive ceremony of this order was the curtain drawn closing this life so estimable. While the sun was setting on this, another day, the hosts of friends turned from the new made grave, carrying with them, each one, impressions and memories that are to make better the world for all. Deeds and words are immortal, and Aunty WOODS' life work, like the mustard seed, has grown into a tree whose branches reach far beyond our county's limits.

J. Fred CLARKE

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THE WILL.

After providing for a suitable funeral and monument and payment of debts, she says:

"I also will and bequeath to said city (Fairfield) the sum of one thousand dollars, for the use of which said city shall pay to the Ellis Hose Company annually the sum of one hundred dolalrs, the first payment to be made one year from the date on which said city received this legacy and annually thereafter.

I also devise and bequeath unto said city of Fairfield, lot 7, block 7 in the old plat, being the property which has been my home in said city, for the purpose that said city may erect on said lot a market house and city hall, for the use of said city, and to be and remain the property of said cith without the power of alienation, but said devise is upon condition that said city shall within five years from the taking effect of this will, erect upon said lot a good, suitable and substantial brick or stone building adapted to the purpose of a market place and city hall and such other uses as may be to the advantage and welfare of said city, and shall also pay the taxes upon said lot from the date of my decease.

And if said city shall not formally accept these bequests and all of them by resolution of its city council and have same duly filed with clerk of district of said county within one year after my deceased then all three of said bequests shall be void, and if the building directed to be built upon said lot is not erected and in condition for use within five years after my decease then this paragraph shall be of no effect and said these bequests to said city shall be void and remain residuary in my estate.

----

The Ellis Hose Company of this city has adopted the following resolution:

Resolved. That in the death of Mrs. M. E. WOODS the members of this organization have met with a most appalling affliction. The friend and benefactor of the Ellis Hose Company, she was admired for her many excellent qualities, esteemed for her womanly virtues and loved by "her boys" with a love like that of a son for a mother. While bowing our heads to the will of the Father of the Universe, we are sorely grieved at the loss of this excellent woman and deeply deplore what appears to us to be her untimely taking away.

J. W. Gordon,
A. C. Shoults,
J. W. Harris,
Committee.

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"The Fairfield Tribune"
Wednesday, March 15, 1893
Page 7, Column 3

A Handsome Monument.

J. S. McKemey, executor of the estate of the late Mrs. M. E. WOODS, has placed an order with W.C. Spalding for the erection of a monument which will be one of the largest and finest of any in the cemetery.

It will be of the renowned dark Barre granite, and will stand eleven feet high. The die, which rests on three substantial bases, is an elaborate piece of workmanship, having heavy recessed panels, pilasters, bases and capitals, and will be surmounted with a handsomely fluted plinth and cap. On the front panel of the die will be the inspription. On the back panel a few concise words referring to the army and home life of Mrs. WOODS. The Ellis Hose Company and other beneficiaries are also mentioned. The work will probably be in place before the Fourth of July.

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*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.

Note: Mrs. WOODS is buried in the Old Fairfield City Cemetery, in Lot 42, on the East half. Her husbands were 1)Gilbert FOX, 2)Parrish ELLIS, and 3)Joel WOODS. Her first two husbands are buried on the same lot, and Joel WOODS died in 1864 in AZ and was buried there.