Downing, Rachel E. Leach 1842-1907

LEACH, KELLY, DOWNING, CUNNINGHAM

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 7/30/2007 at 02:34:07

Mapleton Press, Mapleton, Monona County, Iowa
1 August 1907

At her home in Ute, Sunday evening, July 21, at 8:40 o’clock, occurred the death of Mrs. J.A. Downing, following an operation for appendicitis which was performed the day previous.

Rachel E. Leach was born in Delaware County, Indiana, on June 13, 1842. In 1860 she was united in marriage to Robert Kelly, who met his fate in one of the battles of the civil war, in 1864. Two sons were born to this union, one dying in infancy, while the other, J.W. Kelly, reside on a farm near Ute.

On September 5, 1870, she again entered the matrimonial state, being married to J.A. Downling at Guthrie, Iowa. The following year the family came to Monona County and have been residents of St Clair township ever since.
By her second marriage Mrs. Downing was the mother of three children, Chas. P. Downing, Mrs. W.J. Cunningham and J.W. Downing, all of whom are residents of Ute, and were with their mother during her last hours on earth. Beside her husband and children she leaves two brothers, George and Reuben Leach, living near Castana, and two sisters, Mrs. Sarah Bueoy of Fairfield, Nebr and Mrs. Abbie Farr of Oklahoma.

Funeral services were conducted from the home by Rev. W.A. Richards, Monday, and was largely attended by friends and old neighbors of the family who sympathize with the husband and children in their loss of a kind and loving wife and mother.