Elmer Ellsworth Bissell (1958)

BISSELL, STEWART, THOMSON

Posted By: Linda Brittain (email)
Date: 3/21/2006 at 07:56:11

Winterset Madisonian, Winterset, Iowa
October 1, 1958 – page 2

ELMER E. BISSELL DIES IN COLORADO

Elmer E. Bissell, a long-time resident of the Early Chapel community, died Sept. 21 at Denver, Colo. He was 67 years of age.

Mr. Bissell was born June 6, 1871, near Dexter. His early life was spent in that community, and he attended Dexter Normal school. As a young man he moved to Des Moines. His first wife Elizabeth, died in 1906, and two years later, he was married to Grace Stewart of Early Chapel. In 1910 they moved to a farm south of Earlham. They lived in that community for many years. The second wife died in 1948.

Since then he had spent most of his life with his son, Milford Bissell, of Denver, and with his daughter, Eunice, in northern Minnesota.

Surviving are the daughter, Mrs. Eunice Thomson of Sandstone, Minn., his two sons, Milford of Denver and Clare Bissell of Eugene, Ore.; 11 grandchildren; 12 great grandchildren.

Funeral services were held from the Hamilton Funeral home in Des Moines last Thursday.
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Earlham Library Obituaries September 1958
Earlham, Iowa

ELMER ELLSWORTH BISSELL

Elmer Ellisworth Bissell was born on June 6, 1871, on a farm near Dexter, Iowa, and departed this life on September 21, 1958, at the age of 87.

His boyhood was spent on the home farm. He attended Dexter Normal School, then settled in Des Moines, where he lived with his wife and three children for a number of years. His wife, Elizabeth, passed away in 1906, and two years later Elmer married Grace Stewart, of the Early Chapel community, who took good care of the mother-less children for many years. In 1910, the Bissells moved to a farm eight miles south of Earlham, where they lived lives of typical Iowa farm folks until the children were grown and left home to establish homes of their own. When the children left, Elmer sold the home farm, and he and Grace moved into the home of her brother, Bert Stewart, where they lived for many years. Both Elmer and Grace were active in church affairs at Early Chapel, and both loved this church and its many members.

In February 1948, Grace passed away in Denver, Colorado, and was brouhgt back to Iowa for burial in the family plot in Penn Center Cemetery. Thereafter Elmer made his home with his elder son, Milford, in Denver, usually spending several summers months yearly on a farm of his daughter Eunice, in northern Minnesota.

In April of this year, his annual trip included Eugene, Oregon where he spent several weeks visiting his younger son, Clare, and his family where he enjoyed visiting with his five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

He returned to his Dexter home in company with his two grandsons from the Minnesota farm on the night of September 20, and passed away the following afternoon with very little suffering.

Elmer kept his interest in world affairs and read the Time magazine weekly. He studied his Sunday School lessons in the Christian Herald every Saturday evening, even after he no longer attended Sunday School. He kept his interest in Early Chapel and enjoyed the letters from Early Chapel members. He kept up his interest in friends and had correspondence with sixty some friends and relatives.

He is survived by his daughter, Eunice Thomson, of Sandstone, Minnesota; his two sons, Clare Bissell of Eugene, Oregon, and Milford Bissell of Denver, Colorado; 11 grand children and 12 great grandchildren.

Though we shall miss him, we remember he lived a good Christian life, and was ready to meet God and his loved ones who had gone before.

Funeral at Hamilton Funeral Home in Des Moines, Thursday, September 25, at 1:30 p.m.