William Shea (1911)
GALLAGHER, SHEA
Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 8/16/2010 at 09:02:19
The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, April 6, 1911
Page 8Obituary
On Sunday evening, at his home in Lee township, occurred the death of one of our oldest citizens, Wm. Shea. Mr. Shea was a native of Ireland, but came to this country when quite young and has lived on the farm where he died, for nearly 40 years. He was bedfast only one week, but being a very old man, his age 85 years, he soon succumbed to that dread disease, pneumonia. He was married over fifty years ago to Mary Gallagher. To this union was born fourteen children, two dying in infancy, nine having died after reaching the prime of life, the wife and three children still survive. The children are: Michael, James and Lizzie, besides these he leaves five grandchildren here and two brothers and a sister in Pennsylvania.
He imbibed the Catholic faith in Ireland in early childhood and through all those years of the early life, when the pioneers of Iowa and other states had such a hard time, he daily practiced his faith, raised his family here as he, and died, as the true Catholic loves to die, sanctified by the church and holding the crucifix, the emblem of his salvation and the blessed candle, surrounded by his family, breathing prayers for his salvation, he peacefully passed away. The family have the sympathy of the entire community. Their trouble seems more than the average, so many of the family have of late passed away. Less than two months ago, they followed the youngest son and brother to the grave, but they silently bow to the will of God, and hope to be united with him in Heaven.
The funeral services were conducted by Father Dugan at St. Patrick’s Catholic church in the Irish settlement and attended by a large concourse of relatives, neighbors and friends, all vying with each other to show their respect to their friends for over a third of a century. He was laid to rest beside his four sons and seven daughters who had gone before.
“May he rest in peace.”
_______________________The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, April 6, 1911
Page 8, column 1COUNTY NEWS - Crawford
William Shea, an old and respected resident of this place, but for many years a resident of Lee township, died on Sunday, March 26.
His body was interred in St. Patrick's cemetery on Wednesday and was followed to the grave by a large number of relatives and friends.
Gravesite
Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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