TOMLINSON, Mary Morson 1805-1895

TOMLINSON, MORSON

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 9/17/2011 at 20:18:34

Mary Morson Tomlinson 1805-1895

Mrs. Mary Morson Tomlinson was born at Hudson, N.Y., March 30, 1805, and died at Osage, Iowa, November 16, 1895.

She spent her girlhood among the romantic scenes of the Hudson, and as a young lady she was for a time a resident of New York City. She was there when the great LaFayette made his famous tour through this country, and it was her privilege to see him. This she never forgot, and in the last few years, when a cloud was hanging over her mind, she seemed to be living over again the scene of forty years ago.

She married W. D. Tomlinson on November 25, 1825. That day was then observed as a great holiday, being the anniversary of the evacuation of New York by the British. At that time she was a member of the Presbyterian church, and sang in the choir and in the last few months she has been heard to mention the name of her pastor of long ago.

She lived in her native state until 1856. She was then 51 years of age, and we would call her an elderly woman. At least she had reached the time in life when its burdens should have been lightened. Yet at that time greater trials and hardships than ever were just before her. She and her husband and the family of children joined the mighty tide of immigration that was sweeping toward the great west and in a few weeks they landed at Burlington. Two years later they removed to the town of Mitchell and this county was her home ever after. Those were pioneer days in the fullest sense, and they all had to meet the hardships of those earlier times.

It sounds strange to us in these times to hear how many were crowded into the log houses of those pioneer days. But we must not get the idea that all was hardship and trial; far from it. That was a time of boundless hospitality and the truest friendships. The tired, hungry traveler was sure to find food and shelter wherever he asked admission. With all the trials and hardships of those times there are many aged persons who have beautiful pictures photographed upon their minds of those pioneer days. Better days soon came and the transition was rapid.

Mrs. Tomlinson was the mother of 11 children, ten of who grew to maturity. Eight of these are now living. Her husband died in 1884. She was a woman of marked personality, and she did all that the love of a true mother prompts to guide and direct the steps of her children aright.

For many years she was a firm adherent of the Universalist faith, and in it she died. For several years she made her home with her son in this city, and she was an object of the tenderest care and solicitude. On Saturday evening she fell asleep and her earthly life was at an end. Funeral services were held on Tuesday morning, at the residence of her son, A.J. Tomlinson, under the direction of Rev. J. L. Everton. . . .

[ From a clipping at the Osage Public Library ]