Mary Etta Gideon (1876)

GIDEON

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 8/7/2007 at 08:26:11

Winterset Madisonian - July 6, 1876
Winterset, Iowa
page 6

The wife of Oliver Gideon, and three children, were drowned last night in North River, four miles from here. Mr. Gideon barely escaped with one child. The bodies of the wife and three children have not yet been found.
--------------------
Winterst Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
July 13, 1876
Page 6

The circumstances connected with the drowning of Oliver Gideon’s wife and three children in North River on Tuesday night of last week are as follows: The house was situated on the north bank, close to the stream. The family had retired for the night, and a short time after the storm commenced the water began running into the house. Mr. Gideon thought best for all to leave immediately, but his wife objected, the reason it is supposed was that on a similar occasion she ventured out and came near losing her life in the waters. The flood kept rising rapidly and the house began to float and was carried down stream about one hundred yards when it lodged against a tree, where it remained a few minutes, the family being then in the loft. A few minutes longer a floating log struck the house and knocked it in two, leaving the family struggling in the angry flood. When the house parted Mr. G. made a grab for his wife but missed her and she was gone; he secured two of the children and swam with them a little ways and caught hold of a bush where they remained until six o’clock the next morning when they were rescued by a neighbor. That indeed was a perilous night for Mr. Gideon. His wife and three of his darling little ones drowned by the angry elements, and he compelled to hold on to the frail bush that was so weak that several times during the seven long hours he was in this suspense they were entirely immersed. The wife and two of the children were found on Thursday, near where the house was broken in pieces. The babe was found on Friday, some three quarters of a mile further down the stream. Mr. Gideon has the sympathy of the entire people in this his sad bereavement.

(Burial was made in Bennett cemetery)