Joseph Smith (1887)

SMITH

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 10/28/2007 at 11:15:12

Winterset Madisonian and Chronicle
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, March 10, 1887
Page 5

OBITUARY

Joseph Smith, brother of Harvey Smith, of Winterset, after some weeks of illness, departed this life a short time since, at his home in Decatur county, Kansas.

It is well known that the deceased was one of the old pioneers of Madison county, in which he spent some twenty years as a worthy citizen.

He was a consistent member of the M. E. church for many years, and at the time of his death he departed in bright hopes of eternal life.

He belonged to that class of whom it can truthfully be said, "He had no enemies." He was sober in all things, faithful to his friends and diligent in his business, and he might have spent his life in tolerable cause and quiet but for that corrupt class of people who are ever on the watch to take the advantage of a quiet, easy and inoffensive disposition.

Let the bereaved ever remember that we live in a world of changes. Our life here, at best, is a compound of joy and sorrow, meeting and parting. But let the soul be at peace with its Maker, and some day the waves of death's river, as a pure angel of mercy, will wash away this frail body of flesh with all its corruptions, aches and pains. And on the other shore in that unchangeable world where there is no night and sorrow, pain and death cannot come, the purified soul, in a fixed state of youthful bloom, will ever dwell in one eternal day of perpetual pleasure.

Therefore let us be resigned to the will of him who knows the future. For if guided by his unerring wisdom, in the "Sweet Bye-and-bye" we will fully realize that "God has done all things well."

J. S. Hermon.