ACHESON, Mary HEMPHILL 1824 - 1880

ACHESON, HEMPHILL, MCKEMEY, CLARKE, GARRETTSON

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 5/25/2021 at 20:22:44

"The Fairfield Ledger"
Wednesday, April 7, 1880
Page 3, Columns 7 and 8

CALLED HOME.
Sudden Death of a most Estimable Woman.

Again has death invaded one of our brightest homes, and in answer to his summons the spirit of Mrs. Mary H., wife of Geo. ACHESON, has taken its flight. The announcement of her death, which occurred at 1 p.m. of Friday last, was indeed a sad one, and fell like a pall upon all our people who knew her. While for years she had been in delicate health, her life was not thought to be endangered, and even in her last illness, which was but of a few days' duration, her situation was not known to be critical until perhaps the day before her decease, and even then death was not thought so near. During the morning of Friday she had conversed sweetly and pleasantly with various members of the family and other friends. About 1 o'clock the nurse noticed a change in her condition, and upon summoning other watchers to the bedside it was found that the soul had taken its flight--she had passed away suddenly, peacefully, without a plaint or a murmur. The semblance of life was still upon her sweet face,but the weary soul had fled from its earthly casket--her death had been typical of her life, calm and beautiful, and without apparent pain.

Mrs. ACHESON was a daughter of the late Adley HEMPHILL, and came to this city from Wooster, Ohio, in 1842, with her father's family, making the home stead about a mile and a half south of the city. Four daughters and three sons composed the family, all of whom are now dead except the eldest daughter, Mrs. Cynthia McKEMEY, of this city, and the youngest son, John T. HEMPHILL, of Sparta, Wis. One daughter, Nancy a favorite with Fairfield people, died in 1867; then came the death of Mrs. HEMPHILL, in 1868; and finally, Father HEMPHILL passed away in October, 1875, at the house of his daughter Mary, where he had made his home since the death of his spouse, beloved and esteemed by all.

On December 23, 1847, Mary became the wife of Geo. ACHESON, Esq., who has been for more than a third of a century an attorney of this city. Six children were born to them, two of whom are dead, and of the others Mrs. C. A. CLARKE, John and George, the two sons, live in this city, and Mrs. D. F. GARRETTSON in Muscatine.

From an early age Mrs. ACHESON had been a devout and earnest Christian woman, uniting with the Presbyterian church in Ohio in girlhood, and after removing to this city identifying herself with the Congregational church. Her life of fifty-five years had not been without its sorrows and troubles and sadness.-- Death's blighting breath came again and again within the home circle, and children, brothers, sisters, father, and mother, faded and withered before the weakening blast. Sickness, family cares, the anxiety of a true wife and loving mother for those that were near and dear to her, were ever present, and although although she bent beneath her tasks, that same sweet, gentle spirit bore meekly and uncomplainingly the evils which came and went. In her was pure womanhood of the highest and noblest type, and all the precious and angelic and ennobling qualities which crown and beautify life.-- Wherever there was sickness, or want, or poverty, where charity could be deservingly bestowed, there could be seen her works, and all was done without parade or ostentation--quietly, and with only the reward of the consciousness that she was doing well. Truly, was she a noble woman, the most precious gift of God to man, and her presence, her kind, sweet manner, will be missed in more than her own broken family circle.

Perhaps no death in the city for time to come will occasion more unfeigned sorrow. Friend, neighbor and stranger alike were made to feel her works of good. Her home was all that she could make it, bright and cheery and happy, and guests were made to feel its refining influences, and the loveliness that came from her that pervaded it. Her church pew was never closed to the stranger, and her deeds of kindness and charity, great or small, seemed only exalted by the manner in which they were bestowed.-- A touching remark was that by one who had lost a winsome little child, the joy and pride of the home: "That if there was rejoicing in heaven over the meeting of friends, his darling's happiness would be great, for the spirit which had fled had been not only a friend but had shown a mother's love when the little one was ill and had been taken away."

Kind and gentle, loving and sweet, the devoted wife and mother, the tried and true friend, is gone. No recollections but those associated with happiness and joy remain. She was not only an estimable woman, but more than this--lovely and delightful. In her life she knew evil of no one--that which was good she remembered and cherished, the ill she forgot ere the word was spoken. In the flesh she is gone, but her memory will long live in the hearts of her friends. The soft, green turf which covers her final resting place, the flowers and buds which grow about her grave, and live and fade away only to spring up again, will remind us that she is not gone forever, and that the transition from this life to that eternal is but the fitting change which overtakes us all at last. On the bright shore of the Great Beyond she waits with outstretched hands, with more than earthly patience, to guide us to our haven of rest. Let us not mourn for her, but rather cherish her ennobling qualities of life and works, and dread not the summons which commands us to rejoin our friends removed away by Death.

The funeral took place from the family residence Monday afternoon, Rev. Dwight conducting the services. A large concourse of friends followed the remains to their final resting place in the Evergreen Cemetery, among whom was a large delegation from the Old Settlers' Association. A number of beautiful floral offerings adorned the casket.

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REMARKS OF REV. M. E. DWIGHT

The large attendance at this house of mourning, and the sorrowful faces before me, betoken that a sense of uncommon bereavement is felt by the community in the loss of her whose remains are before us. Her sudden and unexpected death has startled the whole village, and the intelligence of her decease will fall upon any like a distant hearthstone like a shadow at noonday. One who has been identified with the social and religious life of this city since the beginning has passed away; a sweet woman, a tender companion, a gentle friend, a beloved sister and a devoted Christian has gone to a better life; and there is universal mourning for her departure.

Mary HEMPHILL ACHESON, youngest daughter of Adley and Jane HEMPHILL, whose sterling worth and consistent piety many here remember, was born in Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, the 5th of October, 1824. Her childhood was passed in the valley of the Tuscarawas. At the age of seventeen her parents removed to this state, and in October, 1842, she accompanied them to this city, where she has since resided, beloved and honored by this whole people, and wielding the influence of a sweet and gentle heart. On the 23d of December, 1847, she was united in marriage with Geo. ACHESON, Esq. Six children were the fruit of this happy union.-- Four of these are still living, and two have gone before to greet their mother at the threshold of life and be her companions in the joys of the better land. In 1851 the angel of death entered and took a daughter to the world of love, and then folded its wings and tarried for twenty-six years ere it took another to bless her this day with heavenly companionship. Thus her life was chequered with cloud and sunshine, but the sunshine lingered while the shadows were few and fleeting.

As I think of what her life among us now these forty years has been, there rises the vision of a happy home of which a true woman is the center and the glory. Womanly grace and spiritual beauty adorn her and combine to establish her blessed empire. Gentle as a summer breeze, her manner soothes each heart and charms away all angry strife. Her voice is like a pleasant tale one delights to hear retold; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looks well to the ways of her household, and her hand is seen in the order and refinement which everywhere surrounds here; she leaves no homely duty undone, and makes her home beautiful by her labor as well as her affection. True and tender, the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, and her children rise up and call her blessed. She stretches out her hand to the poor, and her eyes beam with the tenderness of charity. Her countenance wears the placid expression that is born of a heart which has overcome the world, and is filled with exceeding peace.-- Mercy and faith accompany her footsteps; men grow better for her very presence, and women purer, and children happier, yet she is unconscious of her influence. Sympathetic, she is sorrowful when others suffer and yearns to relieve them; self-sacrificing, she bears another's burdens; the motherless she takes to her bosom, yet never dreams that she is exemplifying in any unusual way the loveliest traits of Christian character. Meek and lowly like the Master she adores, she lives and labors and sacrifices for others.

Such an one (sic) was Mary ACHESON--a woman of rare symetry of character and of lovely piety. To know her was to love her. Good by nature, she became doubly so by grace. The beauty of holiness shone through her frail and transparent frame and transfiguredher (sic). She seemed like an alabaster vase within which burned a holy fire. One more gentle and pure--one more like the Mary who loved the Lord--could not be found than Mary ACHESON. Beautiful in her piety, she was likewise faithful in the discharge of her religious duties, and showed herself to be a practical as well as saintly Christian. The last evening she spent away from home was passed in the prayer-meeting of the church of which she was a beloved member and a crown of rejoicing. Her prayers mingled with ours for the welfare of the church of Christ below.-- Little did we suppose that she would so soon depart to join the church triumphant above. But none were better prepared for entrance among the saints in light. She had ripened for immortality, and heaven, which loves its own, gathered her to itself. She returned from the house of prayer to sink beneath a fatal illness.

I will not dwell upon the closing scenes of her earthly career. With gentle patience she bore her sufferings, and in exceeding peace awaited her change. Her children gathered around her in her last moments. A smile of recognition passed over her countenance, then she turned her face away, and lo! her spirit, hastening to depart, stole upward ere any were aware that it had fled. Thus, methinks, she would have chosen to die. Shortly before her illness she read those lines of Mrs. Barbauld and spoke of their beauty:

"Life! we have been long together
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather.

,Tis hart to part where friends are dear,
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear;
Then steal away, give little warning;
Choose thine own time;
Say not 'good night,' but in some brighter clime
Bid me 'good morning.'"

Even so did her earthly life depart. It stole away with little warning. But in a fairer clime we feel she has already heard the greeting of the life eternal, and the voices of her children who had gone before have bidden her "good morning." Can any one doubt her entrance upon another existence? What! did all this loveliness perish with her earthly days? Is there no land of the blessed and the lovely ones for such to live in? Forbid the thought! The conviction leaps afresh within me that all this wealth of love and piety cannot perish in God's counsel--that there must be some blessed land for its reception. It is this conviction which stills my heart before the stroke of death, and binds my faith to Him whom I adore. It look upon this sleeping day and say: "The beautiful life which dwelt therein but yesterday has not been extinguished; after fifty-five years of earth's storm and sunshine it has gone to begin the cloudless years of heaven;" and then I feel that it is well. Glad as life can be here, still to die is gain. Sweet as earthly companionship is, still to depart and be with Christ is far better. God is good to those He takes to His bosom.-- Shall we not believe He is also good to those He leaves behind? His goodness has been too brightly manifested in the gift of His Son for any trial to contradict it. He who spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all: He who pardons our sins and receives us finally into His eternal glory, must mean us well in all His procedures. And in His goodness He has not left us to such convictions simply as our reason, often erring, can give, but by the resurrection of the Redeemer He has revealed to us the other world, and demonstrated to our faith the dead shall live again.

We have hardly passed the days of Easter-tide, and our thoughts are still lingering amid the sweet and blessed memories of the resurrection. To what truth, therefore, can I more properly direct your hearts, beloved, in this hour of trial than to the great sign by which God has taught us to sorrow not as others who have no hope, but to say amid our tears--

"Since He is risen, who once was slain,
We die in Christ to live again."

How certain is the truth that the Redeemer rose! The great stone was rolled away from the sepulcher, and angels sat upon it in token that heavenly love and power held watch and ward that neither might, nor error, nor chilling doubt, nor reckless contradiction, nor wild despair, should be able to shut up the risen hope of man again within the grave. "Because I live," saith the Lord, "ye shall live also." As surely then as Christ arose at Easter dawn, so surely shall this sweet clay arise in the world's great morning to greet her own and taste with them together the gladness of the life of immortality. O, blessed awakening! O, morning of re-union, and perfect joy! Would that time might hasten, this night of sorrow flee away, and to-morrow's sun usher in the morning for which our hearts do yearn and wait. And time shall hasten in its flight, for the Redeemer has said: "Surely I come quickly." "Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus."

But while this tenantless clay awaits the hour when it shall put on warmth and motion, and enter upon the corporeal duties joys of the life of heaven, the spirit even now tastes the sweet existence of the saints in glory. To die is to depart and be with Christ. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have (not shall have, but we have,) a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The pure spirit has left the house of this earthly tabernacle only to enter another, therein to abide in peace, together with blessed spirits and the Lord, until the day of resurrection, when God shall make all things new, and the risen saints shall enter into the fullness of life, and the joy of the celestial city.

Such is the sweet faith of the church now as in all the ages. We still therefore think of her not as dead, or sleeping, but as alive in the spiritual world, dwelling with the pure in heart within the light of God. And while we consign this precious clay to the dust, we will do so in the confident expectation that it shall come forth again in newness of life, to hold once more her glorified spirit, in the morning of the resurrection when death shall be swallowed up in victory; for we know that her Redeemer, and our Redeemer, liveth. Wherefore, beloved, let us be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the works of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.

JEFFERSON COUNTY BAR MEETING.

Meeting called to order. Hon. D. P. Stubbs chosen chairman, Rollin J. Wilson, secretary.

The chairman announced the death of the wife of George ACHESON, Esq, and in a very appropriate and feeling manner stated the object of the meeting, whereupon a committee consisting of the following persons, W. B. Culbertson, J. J. Cummings, Robert F. Ratcliff, Charles D. Leggett, H. N, West and Charles W. Kirkpatrick, was appointed to draft suitable resolutions. The committee retired and in a short time made the following report:

The members of the Jefferson County Bar have heard of the death of the wife of our friend and brother, George ACHESON, Esq., with sincere sorrow. Her many acts of kindness, the beauty and gentleness of her life, and the truth and influence of her example in our midst move us to offer our heartfelt sympathy to our brother in this the time of his deep affliction.

Resolved, That we sympathize with our brother and his family in their great sorrow, and we condole with them in their irreparable loss, and for consolation we can only commend them to the Great Judge, who decides all things right and doeth all things well.

Resolved, That the members of the bar attend the funeral services.

W. B. Culbertson,
J. J. Cummings,
Robert F. Ratcliff,
Chas. D. Leggett,
H. N. West,
Chas. W. Kirkpatrick, Com.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Moved and carried that a copy of the resolutions be transmitted to our brother, and a copy furnished the city papers for publication.

After which action meeting adjourned.

D. P. STUBBS, Chairman.
Rollin J. Wilson, Secretary.

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"The Fairfield Tribune"
Thursday, April 8, 1880
Page 3, Column 3

DEATH OF MRS. GEO. ACHESON.

One of the saddest and most deeply and generally mourned deaths which has ever occurred in Fairfield took place last Friday afternoon in the death of Mrs. Mary ACHESON, wife of Geo. ACHESON, Esq., and a resident of the city for nearly forty years. The sudden and almost startling announcement of the death of this good woman, whose gentle and womanly life had endeared her to all, came with cruel force upon the whole community. Every tongue was stilled and every heart was hushed in realizing that so good, and true, and noble a woman had been beckoned by the Unseen Hand, that the final summons had been heeded, and that Life for her had gone forth from its tenement of earth forever.

Her death occurred about one o'clock in the afternoon. She had been sick only a week, and while it was realized that she was very low, none felt but that she would recover. And hope was strong until a short time before her death, when suddenly she began to decline and in a few moments the golden bowl was broken, the silver cord was snapped, and Mrs. George ACHESON was no more.

Deceased was the daughter of Mr. Adley HEMPHILL, who came to Iowa from Wooster, Ohio, in January, 1843. Mr. HEMPHILL had four daughters and one son when he came here and had two sons born afterwards. Of that family all are now dead excepting Mrs. J. A. McKEMEY of this city and John T. HEMPHILL of Sparta, Wis. Deceased was married to Geo. ACHESON, Esq., in December if 1847, and has resided here ever since. They have four children living and two dead, those alive being Mrs. Chas. CLARKE and Mrs. Frank GARRETTSON, and John and George ACHESON.

The funeral took place Monday afternoon from the residence and was one of the largest ever known here. The services were conducted by Rev. Mr. Dwight, of the Congregational church, of which Mrs. ACHESON was a member. Mr. Dwight spoke feelingly of the many virtues of the deceased, and offered to the bereaved relatives, in truly tender words, the consolation which is contained in the christian religion.

Mrs. ACHESON will long be remembered in Fairfield as one of the kindest and best of woman, devoted as a wife and mother, and the whole effect of whose life has been entirely for good. She was a noble woman, and the example of her life is a lesson which, properly heed, will make happier and better the homes of all who ever knew her.

ACTION OF THE BAR.

Minutes of a meeting of the Jefferson County Bar, held in Fairfield, Iowa, April 3, 1880.

Meeting called to order, Hon. D. P. Stubbs chosen chairman and Rollin J. Wilson, Secretary.

The chairman announced the death of the wife of George ACHESON, Esq., and in a very appropriate and feeling manner stated the object of the meeting. Whereupon a committee consisting of the following persons, W. B. Culbertson, J. J. Cummings, Robert F. Ratcliff, Chas. D. Leggett, H. N. West and Chas. W. Kirkpatrick, was appointed to draft resolutions.

The committee retired and in a short time made the following report:

The members of the Bar of Jefferson county have heard of the death of the wife of our friend and brother George ACHESON, Esq., with sincere sorrow. Her many acts of kindness, the beauty and gentleness of her life, and the truth and influence of her example in our midst, move us to offer our heartfelt sympathy to our brother in this time of his deep affliction.

Resolved, That we symyathize (sic) with our brother and his family in their great sorrow, and we condole with them in their irreparable loss; and for consolation we can only commend them to the Great Judge who decides all things right, and doeth all things well.

Resolved, That the members of the Bar attend the funeral services.

W. B. Culbertson,
J. J. Cummings,
Robert F. Ratcliff,
Chas. D. Leggett,
H. N. West,
Chas. W. Kirkpatrick,
Committee.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Moved and carried that a copy of the resolutions be transmitted to our brother and a copy furnished the city papers for publication, after which action the meeting adjourned.

D. P. Stubbs, Chm'n.
Rollin J. Wilson, Secretary.

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

Note: Interment was in Evergreen Cemetery, Lot Old.P.319.