Susannah (Bard) Wilcox (1940)

WILCOX, BARD

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 6/28/2007 at 14:24:53

Winterset Madisonian - August 7, 1940
Winterset, Iowa

PIONEER IN TWO IOWA COMMUNITIES---FORMER WINTERSET WOMAN DIES AT AGE OF 98

Word was received here this week of the death, at her home in Storm Lake, of Mrs. Susannah Bard Wilcox, who succumbed at her home there at the age of 98 years.

Mrs. Wilcox was a pioneer twice-over, for although she was regarded as a pioneer resident of Storm Lake, having setlled there in 1870, she had pioneered many years prior to that in Madison county, and spent her early life here.

The former Susannah Bard was born in Ohio in 1842, and in 1856 she came with her parents, William and Nancy Bard, to Madison county. She was 14 years old at the time. They settled near Winterset. She attended school here and when she was 15 years old she started teaching school, a profession she followed for 30 years.

In 1863, during the Civil war, she was married to John Wilcox, a Union soldier from this county who was home on furlough. She and her husband lived here for some time after the close of the war, and then moved to Adair county. In 1869, they moved to Buena Vista county, making the trip by covered wagon, drawn by oxen. Their home had since been in that community. Her husband was a semi-invalid from the time of the Civil war until his death in 1911. She was the mother of five children, all of whom survive her.