Minerva (Denman) Leonard (1898)

BEST, DENMAN, LEONARD, MOTT

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart
Date: 7/26/2006 at 17:28:13

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, December 21, 1898

DEATH OF MRS. MINERVA LEONARD On last Wednesday Night.

Mrs. Minerva D. Leonard died at her home in Winterset on the night of December 14th, 1898, at 12 o'clock.

Her final exit was peaceful and serene. Neither movement of muscle nor tremor of nerve gave warning of the approaching crisis. The angel of death swept by and she was gone.

Thus departed one of our oldest and well beloved landmarks. For forty-five years she tarried with us. A daughter of Joseph and Mary Denman; born in Knox county, Ohio; widowed with one daughter, she married John Leonard in 1848, and after spending five years in Mount Gilead, Ohio, she settled here in the fall of 1853, on the block where she died.

She soon strove to find friends of her own faith and order as a Baptist, and, meeting some, Dr. Nash, of Des Moines, was invited to come here and preach. He accepted the invitation, and finally organized the First Baptist Church of this place, of a dozen or so members. She was a constituent member of that body, and from that day to the day of her departure, adorned her profession by an active and consistent christian life. It may well be said of her that under the blessing of God she brought many to Christ. She was, in her way, active in all departments of church work, in the Sabbath school, prayer meetings and Sabbath services. Among her last requests was one that her subscription to the church be paid up to the date of her death. Her help went out to all the sister churches of her Heavenly Father in the city, and some she aided in their struggle by her means. Her kindliness and benevolence surrounded her with friends as numerous as her many acquaintances, especially among the poor and destitute.

To home and foreign missions, ministerial education, Baptist Publication society and other beneficences, she was a constant contributor.

She leaves, surviving her, her husband, Hon. John Leonard; a daughter, Mrs. Frederick Mott, with her four sons, three here and one in South Dakota; a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Addie K. Leonard, at Denver, Co., wife of Byram Leonard, deceased in 1879, and her daughter, Mabel M. Leonard, attending the Michigan University; and her son, J. F. Leonard, and his wife and their two little boys.
_______________________

Winterset Reporter
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, December 22, 1898
Page 11

Mrs. Minerva Leonard

Mrs. J. E. Leonard died at her home on Court avenue last Wednesday night, after a long and protracted illness.

The funeral services of Mrs. Minerva Leonard were held at the home on Friday, at two p.m. Music was furnished by the Baptist choir, assisted by Ben. Bare. The services were conducted by Rev. Anthony Jacob, assisted by Dr. Murphey. Delicate and touching tributes were paid to that life of nobility. The only relative who was present from out of town was Myron Mott. The main part of the people who came to pay their last tribute of respect and the pallbearers were old settlers. The sting of the unknown that awaits our departed dead and awaits ourselves and the inscrutable purpose of the Almighty, in calling to Himself the fairest flowers from the garden of life, are beyond our ken. We only hope and trust. The drama of life is over. The lights go out upon this earth. We grope in darkness awhile. We shed our scalding tears over the earthly form and we bind up our hearts with the promises of Christianity. And by the rays of that reassuring hope we find our way out into the sunlight of the Divine pledge that He who watches over us slumbers not nor sleeps. The dark fate, Atropas, has cut off the thread of our earthly existence, but a celestial Lachesis has taken up the strands of life and is weaving them into heaven’s harmonious tapestry.

Gravesite
 

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen