Priscilla Ann Sharpless (1828 – 1915)

CRAIN, SHARPLESSS, SMITH, STUTSMAN, MILLER, WESCOTT, DENNIS

Posted By: Greg Strub (email)
Date: 5/10/2008 at 10:05:17

1915 – 28 October - Iowa City Daily Press

MRS. SHARPLESS CALLED BEYOND

Good “Mother in Israel” Sleeps, Sleep of Just – Loved by Old and Young

A legion of friends in Iowa City and Johnson county experienced deep grief when the announcement was made in these columns recently that Mrs. Priscilla Ann Sharpless had passed to the Great Beyond. Her death occurred at midnight Saturday, Oct. 22, at her home, 412 North Clinton street.

Widely known throughout the county, she will be remembered during all the days to come, cherished in the memories of old and young.
A Noble Life is Ended.

Mrs. Priscilla Crain Sharpless was born June 12, 1828, at Mr. Washington, Pa. She was graduated from Madison college, Uniontown, Pa., when she was 18 years old. On April 2, 1850, she was married to the Rev. James Smith, a Presbyterian minister of Pittsburgh. After the marriage they went to reside at Highlands, Pa. Mr. Smith started west in 1855 to take up his work in the pioneer region of the country, was stricken by the cholera while going on a boat down the Ohio river, and died.

In 1857 Mrs. Sharpless was married to Samuel Sharpless, who was had attended school with her at Madison college. After this marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sharpless went to Martins Ferry, O., where they resided until 1866, when they came to Iowa City. Mr. Sharpless was an elder in the First Presbyterian church, and for many years taken a prominent part in the financial and social and ecclesiastical interests of the city. Mr. Sharpless died June 5, 1901.
Pioneer Households Vanish.

With the death of Mrs. Sharpless the last of the old families living on Clinton street is broken up. For many years this house had been open to the finest hospitality and Christian sympathy and interest were offered to all who were in need. The Sharpless home was the placed where the ministers of all denominations were entertained; delegates to conventions in Iowa City always received a welcome there.

Robert La Follette, United States senator from the state of Wisconsin, was entertained in this home when he was in Iowa City competing for the Original League prize. This house was like another “house near to Jerusalem,” for it certainly was a Bethany to all who had the privilege and the opportunity of entering within its walls.
Motherless Children and Childless Mother.

Providence provides always for a state of equilibrium in society, and while it is not possible for us to understand why mothers are taken from their children, yet God in His mercy provides the childless mother to care for those who were thus bereft. Mrs. Sharpless was a mother to all those who were in need or in trouble, and many young people found it possible to gain an education and to prepare themselves for service in the world because of her loving kindness and care. Of fine intuition, of great faith, of sensitive spirit, Mrs. Sharpless ministered a self-denying way, which was one of the characteristics and the virtues of this gentle woman of her age.

Mrs. Ada Sharpless Stutsman (wife of Attorney W.H. Stutsman, of Mandan, N.D., who graduated from the college of Law, class of 1889, S.U.I., and from the college of Liberal Arts, 1887) is a foster daughter.

Mrs. Fannie Miller, wife of Charles Miller, of Okema, Okla., and Mrs. Nellie Wescott, wife of Arthur B. Wescott, of Oklahoma City. Okla., were also dear to her, and the large part she played in rearing them, brought them still nearer. Mrs. Ed. Dennis, of Iowa City, and Charles B. Crain, of Iowa City, assistant cashier of the Johnson County Savings bank, a nephew, also survive. As the years fled, and young men and young, united by ties of consanguinity or otherwise, came to the Athens, to receive a university education or other reasons, the home of Mrs. Sharpless every opened cheerily to them, and they counted it as their own. Thus, numerous nieces, and nephews, now in other cities, feel, naturally, as if they were deprived by death of an even nearer kinswoman, as they recall her endless solitude, and boundless affection.
Severe Loss to Church.

The church has lost another of friends who have made the policies and diverse interests of the Kingdom for the good in Iowa City for many years.

As an aspiring scholar of the University phrased it; “All the wisdom was hers and the skill of his church not be lost, but they shall be completed somewhere. Eye hath no seen and ear hath not heard; neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.