Thomas G. Brenton 1874-1938

BRENTON

Posted By: C. Diamond, IAGenWeb Volunteer
Date: 9/5/2014 at 10:09:47

DIED FROM OLD AGE, THOS. G. BRENTON TAKES HIS LIFE BY HANGING
 
Gives Illness as Cause in Note He left To His Wife
 
Thos. G. Brenton, 54, a resident of Villisca and this community all his life, took his life by hanging himself yesterday about 4:30 p. m. in the loft of the barn at his home here on West First street. He was found by his wife who went home to find out why he did not come to take her and his mother home, as he had planned, from a meeting of the Ladies Aid society at the Methodist church which they were attending.
 
In his shirt pocket was found a farewell note addressed to his wife in which he gave no reason for his act except that his 'head hurt and he was sick.' He had no reason to worry because of his financial condition, but he had been despondent.
 
ATTENDS FUNERAL
 
Mr. and Mrs. Breton attended the funeral of T. E. Wallace at the Methodist church yesterday afternoon, following which Mr. Brenton came down town and conversed with friends before going home. Upon arriving home he went upstairs where he took off his suit and put on a pair of work trousers, and evidently while there sat down at his typewriter and typed the farewell note to his wife.
 
As he left the house by the front door, which he locked after him, he conversed briefly with Mrs. C.O. Green, next door neighbor, about the recent sale of his dry goods store here and said he did not know what he was going to do now that he was out of business in which he had been engaged 36 years. He was then on his way to the barn at the rear of his residence.
 
CLIMBS TO BARN LOFT
 
He climbed to the barn loft by way of a stepladder which he placed under the opening in the floor, and tying a small rope around his neck he tied the other end around a rafter as he stood on an old trunk and then stepped from the trunk to his death.
 
When Mrs. Brenton reached the barn she saw the ladder, and peering into the loft she saw her husband's body suspended in mid-air. Neighbors were notified and the body was cut down and left in the loft until the arrival of Dr. W.S. Reiley of Red Oak who ordered it removed. It was taken to the R.C. Pitman funeral home. Dr. Reiley said he believed Mr. Brenton had been dead less than half an hour when found.
 
SOLD STORE RECENTLY
 
Mr. Brenton sold his store April 11 to Missouri Liquidating Co., of St. Louis. and the stock is now being disposed of at a closing out sale. He started in the dry goods business in Villisca in 1902 as a clerk in the W.H. Weber store and in 1916 he bought an interest in the store. Three years later he took over the entire stock from Mr. Weber. He operated his tore on the west side of the public square until November 1932, when he moved it to its present location in the L.W. Scott building on the south side of the square.
 
He was successful in the mercantile business and with his savings purchased a farm of 125 acres northeast of Villisca, which he owned at the time of his death.
 
Besides his wife and mother and mother, Mrs. W. F. Brenton, Mr. Brenton leaves two sons, Jud and Dean of Dayton , Ohio.
 
Villisca Review, Villisca, Iowa 28 April 1938