Mary Catherine (Meadows) Eppard (1917)

EPPARD, LEEPER, MABBETT, MEADOWS, SULGROVE, YOUNG

Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 1/25/2007 at 15:28:24

The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, January 24, 1917

Mary Catherine Eppard

Mary Catherine Meadows was born in Page county, Virginia, March 28, 1838 and died at her home near Earlham, Iowa, Jan. 14, 1917, age 78 years, 9 months, 16 days.

She was married to Wm. S. Eppard, Sept. 20, 1866. To this union were born eight children, of whom two: Charlotta, Dell and Jacob Henry died in infancy. The remaining children, four daughters and two sons are: Mrs. Wm. Sulgroye, Mrs. Anthony Mabbett, Mrs. Jesse Leeper, Mrs. Robert Young, Venus and Clarence Eppard, with her husband, survive her, and were with her during her last illness and death, a rare circumstance made possible by the fact that the children are all still living in the immediate neighborhood or not more than 14 miles apart.

Besides these she leaves to mourn her departure, 22 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, an aged brother of Elkton, Virginia, and a host of friends.

She united with the Methodist church in Virginia in early girlhood. After moving to Iowa, she placed her membership with the North River Church of Christ, now known as Early Chapel of which her son Clarence is the present pastor, to which she remained faithful until death. Ill health prevented her from regular attendance upon the church services during her declining years but her interests never waned; the success of the church was among her greatest pleasures.

Mr. and Mrs. Eppard came to Iowa in 1866, before the railroad was farther west than Des Moines. They came by boat from Wheeling, W. Va., to Keokuk, Iowa. From Keokuk, they drove across the prairie, arriving in this community on Dec. 6, 1866. Within one year, from this time, they moved into a part of the old house, still standing just to the rear of their late and newer home and from that time to the present, a period of over 50 years, this has been their one continuous residence. The experiences of pioneer life were borne with their joys and sorrows.

Mrs. Eppard was a true and devoted wife, a loving mother and a dear friend. Even in her last illness, she thought of others, rather than herself. Her home was open to all hospitality, and many were the wayfaring travelers who made their way to the house on the hill to find an asylum from the shadows of night; not once was she ever known to turn a stranger away in the cold or night and fittingly many can say of her: "I was a stranger and ye took me in, hungry and ye fed me, thirsty and ye gave me drink, sick and ye visited me."

"The dearest gifts in all the world
Are Mother, Home and Heaven
She gave to us the former two
The last to her is given."

Funeral services were held at the Early Chapel Church of Christ, by Re. L. F. Davis, a former pastor and friend of the family, and interment was made in the Jackson township cemetery.

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