Oliver Perry Haxton (1948)

HAXTON, GORRELL

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 2/16/2007 at 15:19:15

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, November 17, 1948

OLIVER HAXTON DIED FRIDAY AT 75 YEARS

Spent Active Life Farming in Penn and Madison Townships

Oliver Haxton, long-time resident of Madison and Penn townships, died at his home in Des Moines last Friday at the age of 75 years.

Mr. Haxton retired from farming in Sec. 20 of Penn township and moved to California. Two years ago he moved back to Iowa, and had been living in Des Moines.

He is survived by his wife; three children, Wallace Haxton of San Francisco, Calif., Oliver Haxton of Santa Cruz, Calif., Mrs. Charles Gorrell of Cedar Rapids, and Robert Haxton of Dexter.

Funeral services were held Monday from the Welch Funeral home in Earlham, in charge of the Rev. S. R. Overholser. Burial was made in the Earlham cemetery.

(Note: lists 3 surviving children, but names 4.)
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Dexter Sentinel
Dexter, Iowa
Thursday, November 25, 1948

Ollie Haxton, the youngest of Perry Haxton’s family came out from Illinois as a year old baby when they moved here in a covered wagon. He spent the most of the rest of his life here, first on his father’s farm and then on his own. He married Josephine Wicks in 1897 forming a life partnership which was the essential condition of his productive and successful career. He owned and operated several farms in the vicinity which all show some trace of his occupation in the form of fences, buildings and other improvements. A tireless worker, he seemed to lose interest in a farm after he had got it arranged to his taste, and looked about for another upon which he could spend his efforts. Even during his extended stays in California, he continued to be a farmer, tending his backyard gardens with all the energy and skill he had devoted to his Iowa farms. His life was not all work. He loved conversation. He loved and understood nature quite as well in its wild as in its cultivated aspects. The woods and streams and prairies of Iowa especially as they were in his youth were dear memories to him.

He enjoyed hunting and fishing and, when circumstances permitted visited the lakes of Minnesota. When people came to see him in California he would take pleasure in showing them the redwoods almost as if they were a personal possession. I also remember him as a substantial middle aged farmer going to the woods on early spring Sunday afternoons just to see the wild flowers.

Death came to Mr. Haxton Nov. 13 at his home in Des Moines and funeral services were held Nov. 15 from the Welch Parlors in Earlham with the Rev. S. R. Overholser in charge. He was laid to rest in the Earlham cemetery.

Link to Gravestone Photo
 

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