Esther Oliver 1837 - 1917

OLIVER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/22/2016 at 22:22:05

Onawa Sentinel
11 January 1917

The funeral of Mrs. Esther Oliver, who died Wednesday evening of last week of pneumonia after a brief illness, was conducted Friday afternoon at two o’clock at the Congregational Church by her pastor, Rev. W.J. Turner.

Esther Connor was born in Erie County, New York, May 27, 1837, and moved with her parents to DuPage County, Illinois in 1848.

She was united in marriage to Franklin G. Oliver at Elgin, Illinois on November 29, 1855.

She came to Monona County in company with her husband and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Oliver, the party arriving as Ashton, July 2, 1857, having traveled from their home in Illinois by ox team and having been on the road six weeks.

Both families made their home in the old court house in Ashton until fall, when they moved to the newly laid out town of Onawa.

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Oliver made their home in Onawa until July 1861, when they moved to section 25, in Franklin Township, seven miles south-east of Onawa, where Mr. Oliver owned a farm is partnership with his father, which was added to until it comprised a thousand acres. The neighborhood in which they lived was known as the Oliver settlement, the Oliver family becoming one of the leading families in the county.

Mrs. Oliver was the mother of fourteen children, several dying in childhood. She is survived by seven of them, Mrs. Lurena Templeton, Mrs. Charles Hoar, George W. Oliver, Mrs. G.W. Loomis, Mrs. F.G. Dugdale, F.G. Oliver and Fred L. Oliver, all residents of this city, with the exception of Mrs. Loomis, who lives on a farm four miles north of Onawa.

Her husband died April 17, 1898.

Mrs. Oliver has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. F.G. Dugdale, of late years, moving with the Dugdale family from their farm four miles south of Onawa where she had made her home seven years to town two years ago.

She lacked only a little of being eighty years old at the time of her death, being aged 79 years, 7 months and 6 days.

Mrs. Oliver was a beautiful type of Christian character, her pastor saying in his address that she was a natural born Christian, her natural character and disposition conforming so closely to the type of Christ that she was able to live as a Christian without any struggle. She was noted for the excellence of her judgment and this she retained with all of its keenness until the end. One who knew her said, “It is hard to exaggerate in regard to the beauty and sweetness of her character. Her graciousness, sweetness and tenderness were like a benediction to all who met her during her life. To know her was to love her.