Susan Dubell

DUBELL

Posted By: Misty Christner (email)
Date: 4/5/2018 at 10:54:12

4 Articles Total

Source 1: Cedar Rapids Gazette 12/13/1948

Society--Clubs
Bright and Cheerful at 97

Celebrating her 97th birthday anniversary today is Mrs. Susan Dubell, 1211 Keokuk Street. She has been kept busy at her telephone as dozens called to say "Happy Birthday" on this occasion.
She recalls Lincoln's election, she has seen John Brown many times, and watched Herbert Hoover's progress from boyhood to the presidency, and Mrs. Dubell, 97 years old today is still as bright as a dollar and as interested in the present as she is in the past. her memory is keen, her sense of humor sparkling, and she likes nothing better than to reminisce of the Iowa she knew as a child, nearly a century ago.
Born December 12, on a snowy day in 1851, she lived as a child near Rochester, on the Cedar River. Her father came to Iowa in '49 and cleared a farm on which Susan and her seven brothers and sisters were reared. Life was rugged in those early days, she recalls. Even the little children helped plant corn, singing as they dropped the kernels, "One for the black bird, on for the crow, one for the earthworms, and one to grow.
Remote Life
There were no telephones, on radios, no newspapers, but when Susan's father went in to Big Grove township store, he picked up news and it was there that he heard of Lincoln's election transmitted by the grapevine from someone who received an eastern paper.
"We young people had non of the distractions of the present day, but we had good times playing games, pulling taffy, and visiting around the warm fire. Many of the people in our neighborhood were Quakers and very strict, but young folks always can have good times and in that day it didn't take much to amuse us."
Of present day boy and girls Mrs. Dubell says, "Some are better than others . . . but I guess there's nothing new about that."
Family Life
She does think there was more family life in the early times, with young and old doing more things together, and not much feverish searching for excitement.
She was 16 years old when she first caught sight of William Dubell, who had come out to Iowa with a wagon load of people from Ohio. She was so bashful that she hid behind the stove to peek out at him, never dreaming she would later marry the newcomer.
During her girlhood, John Brown quartered his men on the Marion farm not far from her home, and she saw the soldier many times. In West Branch, too, she knew young Herbert Hoover, and was one of the friends to greet him when he returned to his birthplace that summer.
Big Family
Mrs. Dubell had three daughters, two grand children; 12 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. One grand child, William Jacobs, lives here, and a great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Robert Engleman, lives next door to the lively nonagenarian.
With her radio, telephone, and some quilt blocks to sew, Mrs. Dubell has a fine time beside her. She had many callers and there's never a dull moment for this chipper Iowa pioneer.

Source 2: Cedar Rapids Gazette 12/13/1952

Iowa Citian Dies On 101st Birthday

IOWA CITY (INS)- An Iowa City woman died on her 101st birthday today.
She was Mrs. Susan Dubell, a native of Cedar County who moved to Johnson County after her marriage and lived in Iowa City the remainder of her life.
She was the mother of three children, all dead, two grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Dubell was born in a log cabin in Cedar County in 1851.

Source 3: Cedar Rapids Gazette 12/14/1952

Services Monday For Mrs. Dubell

IOWA CITY - Funeral services will be held Monday at 2 p.m. in the Beckman Funeral Home for Mrs. William Edward Dubell, who died at 11:50 p.m. Friday - just 10 minutes before her 101st birthday. Burial will be in Sharon Evangelical Cemetery.
A native of Cedar county, she moved to Johnson County after her marriage and lived in Iowa City the remainder of her life. Her husband died in 1929.

Source 4: Cedar Rapids Gazette 2/23/2008

75 years ago: 1933

Aug. 27: Iowa City resident Susan Dubell reminisced about the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery activist John Brown. Brown was a neighbor of Dubell when she was a young girl living on a farm near Springdale.
Dubell recalled watching Brown drill his volunteer militia outside the Brown stone farmhouse as a 10-year old child during the winter of 1857.
She used to climb the fence and ask Brown questions when the men were finished with their exercises.