Matilda (Bowersmith) Finney

FINNEY

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 4/15/2006 at 18:39:37

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
October 1, 1895

Mrs. N. (Nelson) Finney, of Lincoln twp., who died the latter part of last week, was buried yesterday.

The funeral being held at the Christian church.
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Winterset Madisonian – October 1, 1895
Winterset, Iowa
Page 3

County and City

Mrs. N. Finney, of Lincoln township, who died the latter part of last week, was buried yesterday, the funeral service being held at the Christian church. The Finneys are old and respected residents of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Finney lived for a long time in Winterset, but of late years made their home upon their farm in Lincoln township. The family connection is a large one, and includes children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the deceased. The grief of the afflicted husband and many relatives is shared by a large acquaintance.
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Winterset Madisonian – October 4, 1895
Winterset, Iowa
Page 3

Obituary

Mrs. Matilda Finney, wife of Nelson Finney, of Lincoln township, was called to her home “beyond the river” September 28, after a lingering illness. The funeral services occurred at the Christian church in Winterset, September 30, at 11 a.m., conducted by her pastor, assisted by Rev. Chesley Holmes and Rev. A. E. Major. The words spoken were a worthy tribute to the memory of a worthy wife and mother, and a helpful lesson drawn from half a century of Christian living. The songs so impressively sung were like balsam to bereft hearts. Of the ten sons and daughters, seven with their wives and husbands, a number of their grandchildren, and a brother of Mr. Finney, from Washington county, were present at the services.

Matilda Bowersmith was born in Licking county, Ohio, April 6, 1823. Her home continued in that state until she married Nelson Finney, September 16, 1842, soon after which they came to Iowa. They have lived in adjoining counties and in and near Winterset until the present. Mrs. Finney was a quiet woman, being little known beyond her home and the church, of which she was a faithful member for fifty-five years. That half century of Christian service to the quiet life a force that nothing but God’s power can give. In the trials of life on a frontier farm amid the training and rearing of a large family she acquired many traits of the character considered in Solomon’s description of a virtuous woman. Fortunately “her children rise up to call her blessed and her husband he also praiseth her, for she hath done him good, and not evil all the days of her life,” and “her price is far above rubies,” all because she took Christ into her life and was “patient in spirit.” Because of that unwavering trust in God she uncomplainingly bore the lingering suffering of her last sickness, and by it she taught her sons and daughters, with their husbands and wives and children, to reverence the life that was lived before them, which has now become a sacred memory; and it will go on luring them into the way of a christlike life because of the sweet and continued proof of its power in “mother’s life.”

Gravestone Photo
 

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