FREEMAN, Ezra C. 1875 - 1968

FREEMAN, STEARNS, SAWVEL, PICKEN, PATTISON

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 5/1/2022 at 15:23:36

"The Fairfield Ledger"
Saturday, may 18, 1968
Front Page, Column 5

Bulletin

Two men were killed and three others were injured about 11:15 a.m. today in a car-truck collision west of Fairfield on Highway 34 near Cedar Creek bridge.

The dead were tentatively identified as Lewis FREEMAN, 80, and E. C. FREEMAN, both of Ottumwa.

The Fairfield Fire Department was called to the scene in an effort to free one of the bodies pinned in the wreckage.

The westbound FREEMAN car collided with a soft drink truck about a half-mile west of the creek bridge near the John Swaim farm home.

The truck driver and two small girls riding in the cab were taken to the Jefferson County Hospital. They were not identified. The eastbound truck overturned, scattering its load over the highway.

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"The Fairfield Ledger"
Monday, May 20, 1968
Front Page, Columns 2, 3, and 4, and
Page 5, Column 6

Collision Near Batavia---
Aged Brothers Die In Crash

Funeral services for Ezra C. FREEMAN, 92, and Louis S. FREEMAN, 81, brothers who lost their lives in a traffic accident west of Fairfield Saturday, will be held today.

Graveside services for Ezra FREEMAN will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Evergreen Cemetery with the Rev. Ned Gillum officiating. Services for Louis S. FREEMAN will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Johnson Funeral Home in Ottumwa. Burial will be in Shaul Cemetery at Ottumwa (note: in Wapello Co., IA).

Both men were killed instantly when the car in which they were riding crashed almost headon late Saturday morning with a straight-bed truck about two miles east of Batavia on Highway 34.

The other persons, all riding in the truck, were injured. They were rushed to the Jefferson County Hospital where they were treated and released.

They include Clinton E. Erickson, 31, Burlington, truck driver; his daughter, Kim, 10, who suffered cuts and bruises, and her little friend, Sandra Wilson, 10, also of Burlington, bruises.

Erickson was treated for injuries of the left shoulder, knee and elbow. All three were able to crawl out of the battered truck cab by themselves.

The truck is owned by Royal Crown Bottling Company, Burlington.

Highway Patrol offiers investigating the fatal crash said FREEMAN had passed another car and failed to return to his own lane of traffic when his car collided with the truck on a wide sweeping curve.

The truck, loaded with soft drink bottles and cases, veered off the highway onto the right side and overturned on its top in the shallow grader ditch, spilling piles of broken bottles and cases on the highway.

Louis S. FREEMAN, driver of the car, was pinned in the wreckage under the steering wheel. The Fairfield fire department was called to help free his body with porta-power equipment.

Mrs. John Swaim, who resides in the home in front of which the accident happened, said it sounded like an explosion or bomb.

She was working in her kitchen when she heart the noise. She looked out the window and saw a cloud of dust. When she went outside she saw the truck overturned in the ditch in front of her home.

Officers said the crash took place about 11:25 a.m. They said FREEMAN was traveling toward Batavia, and had passed another car. The truck was traveling east.

FREEMAN's car had failed to return to its own lane of traffic as it went into the curve. The vehicles crashed nearly headon. The entire front of the FREEMAN car was virtually torn away by the impact.

Officers said they wished to thank those who grabbed shovels, brooms and other tools to clear the debris from the highway. Patrolmen were assisted by county officers in investigating the collision.

Born in 1875

Ezra C. FREEMAN was born Dec. 12, 1875, in Champaign, Ill., the son of Leyton and Mary STEARNS FREEMAN.

He spent his early childhood in Champaign, moving to the Douds Community with his parents. He then moved to Fairfield where he spent most of his life. His home was at 601 E. Lowe. At the time of death he was a patient in a nursing home at Batavia.

For many years he did custom threshing and field tiling. He never married.

He was preceded in death by eight sisters. His only brother was killed in the same accident in which he lost his life.

His brother, Louis S. FREEMAN, made his home in Ottumwa.

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"The Fairfield, Ia. Ledger"
Thursday, May 23, 1968
Page 2, Column 5

Local Briefs

--Mr. and Mrs. Floyd SAWVEL of Spring Park, Minn., were in Fairfield to attend last rites for Ezra FREEMAN, who had been a resident of the Batavia Nursing Home and Louis FREEMAN of Ottumwa, both uncles of SAWVEL. The SAWVELs were houseguests of Mrs. SAWVEL's brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond PICKEN, 908 S. Sixth. They also visited in the home of his sister, Mrs. Pearl PATTISON, 411 N. Main. ...

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

Note: Buried in Lot 3rd.127.