John Jasper Morford (1937)
ARLEN, CUMMINGS, LEEPER, LENOCKER, MORFORD, MOORE, MYERS, PITMAN
Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 5/14/2007 at 14:45:37
The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Friday, July 2, 1937DEATH OF J. J. MORFORD
Long-Time Resident of Penn Township Will Be Buried Today
J. J. (John Jasper) Morford, a resident of Penn township for more than 50 years, died at his home in Dexter early Tuesday morning. Burial services were conducted at the Penn Center church Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Morford moved from Illinois to this county when a young man and located on a farm four miles south of Dexter in Penn township. Owing to ill health, he moved from the farm to Dexter a few years ago. Due to hardening of the arteries, he underwent a critical operaion, the amputation of both lower limbs. This affliction he bore with a cheerfulness and fortitude that was remarkable.
He leaves besides his wife, eight children, all married. They are: Mrs. Frank Leeper, Mrs. Guy Lenocker, Mrs. Clarence Moore, Mrs. Boyd Myers, Mrs. Jay Pitman, Fred Morford, Mrs. Willard Cummings and Hazen Morford.
All but Mrs. Myers of Oklahoma City and Mrs. Jay Pitman of Del Rio, Illinois, reside in the vicinity of Dexter.
________________________The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Friday, July 16, 1937J. J. MORFORD OF DEXTER IS DEAD
Was Widely-Known Resident of Community for 48 Years
J. J. Morford, one of Dexter's oldest and most widely-known citizens died at his home there on June 29.
Mr. Morford was a native of Pennsylvania and was born August 18, 1853. As a child, he moved with his parents to Illinois, where he was reared and where he was married to Della Arlen.
In 1889 Mr. Morford brought his family to Iowa and they settled on a farm south of Dexter. Since 1919 he had lived in the town of Dexter.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by eight children, Mrs. Frank Leeper, Mrs. Guy Lenocker, Mrs. Clarence Moore, Mrs. B. S. Myers, Mrs. J. A. Pitman, Fred H. Morford, Mrs. Willard Cummings and Hazen Morford; and 24 grandchildren.
Funeral services were held July 1 from the Penn Center church in charge of the pastor, the Rev. J. H. Freedline of Dexter. Burial was made in the Penn Center cemetery.
________________________Dexter Library Obituary Collection
Dexter, IowaOBITUARY OF J. J. MORFORD
Passed Away Tuesday Morning June 29, at His Home in Dexter.
The following obituary was furnished by Rev. Peter Jacobs:
John Jasper Morford, Dexter’s aged citizen answered the final summons on Tuesday, June 29. For forty-eight years he and his wife have been residents of this community.
They settled on a farm south of the city in 1889, moving into the village in 1919. “Jap” Morford was a well known and most highly respected man. The philosophical manner in which he bore his afflictions, the optimistic view of life he always held, made him a distinct personality and won for him a large circle of friends. At the age of seventy-five he lost a limb on account of illness. Six months later it was necessary to amputate the other leg, then an eye was removed. With a wheel chair he made regular trips down town and visited the men along the street. His familiar figure and cherry greeting will be missed.
Mr. Morford was born in Pennsylvania, August 18, 1853, and would have reached his eighty-fourth birthday this coming August. At the time he was born Franklin Pierce was president of the United States. He was a babe less than a year old when his family moved to Illinois. They settled in Mercer county in 1854, near Henderson. When he was nine years old his father, John T. Morford, and two of his brothers enlisted in the civil war. He was one of seven children and the last to go. May 9th of this year a sister, Mrs. Martha Steele of Seattle, Washington, died.
On Christmas Eve, of December 24, 1879 he and Della Arlen were united in marriage. During the nine years their home was in Illinois four children were born to them. Since coming to this community four more children have been added to the home. All have grown to manhood and womanhood, have married and have homes of their own. Those who mourn his death, besides the companion of fifty-seven years, are Mrs. Frank Leeper, Mrs. Guy Lenocker, Mrs. Clarence Moore, Mrs. B. S. Myers, Mrs. J. A. Pitman, Fred H. Morford, Mrs. Willard Cummings, Hazen Morford, twenty four grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. The death of Mr. Morford marks the first break in this large family circle.
Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon in the Penn Center Methodist church conducted by the pastor, Rev. J. H. Freedline of Dexter. Rev. Peter Jacobs of Shenandoah, a former pastor preached the funeral sermon. A quartet, Mrs. Lloyd Drew, Mrs. Roy Imboden, O. J. DeVault, Bernie Wetrich, with Mrs. J. H. Freedline at the piano, sang two hymns that were favorites of Mr. Morford’s. Those in charge of the flowers were Mrs. John Love, Mrs. Clyde Wasson, Mrs. Albert DeVault, Mrs. John Moreland. The casket was borne by six grandsons, Merle Leeper, Claire Leeper, Paul Lenocker, Jasper Lenocker, Fred Lenocker, and Fred Morford, Jr. Interment was in the Penn Center cemetery.
The audience, which filled every bit of available space in that large rural church, and the many floral tributes were evidence of the high esteem in which Mr. Morford and his family are held. He had demonstrated to the community in which he lived that one can be cheerful under great disadvantages, that one can be optimistic under most discouraging circumstances. He was a man known for his genuineness sincerity, honesty, integrity. Through hardship, toil and self denial he and his wife had reared a large family and made provisions for their safety in advanced years. By his character he helped to build into the country neighborhood, his home for thirty years, those fine qualities of virtue that have established in America such a worthy citizenship.
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