Davidson, Margaret Mary 1856-1933

DAVIDSON, MCKINNIE, HUTSON, RISSE, MATTESON, RASCH, BOLANDER, WHERRY

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 4/1/2013 at 09:30:00

The Grinnell (IA) Herald; Jan. 27, 1933

NOBLE LIFE
REACHES CLOSE
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Mrs. M.M. Davidson Passes Away
At Home of Her Daughter,
Mrs. Mary A. Risse
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(By W.G. Ray)

A scrap book in possession of one of the daughters of Mrs. M.M. Davidson indicates that I first met this lady at a teachers county institute in Montezuma in 1877. She was a member of this institute and seemed to have a memory of the writer.

I first remember Mrs. Davidson as a lady and a friend after the removal of her and her husband with their family to Grinnell.

I had known Mr. Davidson for some time previous to those years, possibly in the period of the early nineties when I began to meet in a newspaper way and at county conventions many of the early settlers.

My knowledge of Mrs. Davidson really dates from my acquaintance with her daughters who were employees in the first part of nineteen hundred in the office of the Grinnell Herald. They were fine young women and the mother, a woman of noble character, commanded the respect of everyone who knew her, including the writer of this notice.

Margaret Mary McKinnie, daughter of Lillian Duncan and Nathan A. McKinnie was born in Iowa county, Iowa, October 18, 1856 where she grew to womanhood, her mother being a descendant of Lord Nelson of Trafalgar fame.

Descended as she was from this noble and famous ancestry, she was a worthy descendant of this well known British admiral. The pennant placed on his flagship when he won the notable victory over the Spanish Armada, "England expects every man to do his duty," showed the magnificent character of this officer. In her whole life this descendant of a famous man taught by her life and bearing the beauty of that noble sentiment because she lived a life which showed her children that she expected them to do their whole duty by home and God.

She attended the normal institute of 1877 and taught school for several years. April 10, 1884, she was united in marriage to William Henry Davidson, who passed away Sept. 16, 1916.

Nine children were born into this home, three of whom died in infancy. Her beloved son, Horace Mann, met an untimely death at Long Beach, California, August 27, 1929, in his 33rd year.

Those remaining to mourn her loss are: Mrs. Lillian Hutson, Laramie, Wyoming; Mrs. Mary A. Risse, Grinnell, Iowa; Mrs. Mabel E. Matteson, Long Beach, Calif.; Mrs. Alice I. Rasch, Fraser, Michigan, and Mrs. Bessie R. Bolander of Long Beach, Calif.; also eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. One sister, Mrs. Elisa Wherry of Everett, Wash., now in her 85th year, also survives.

Mrs. Davidson was reared in the faith of the United Presbyterian church and throughout her life adhered to its teachings, ever admonishing all to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

She was an active worker in the church at Guernsey and Grinnell. Her husband was the first ruling elder of the Grinnell church.

Mrs. Davidson was active and energetic in home and church life and was alert to the pulse of present day thought. Ever striving to be helpful she left her home in Long Beach, Calif., Sept. 18th, 1932, to spend a few months in the Risse home at Grinnell, Iowa, from where she was suddenly taken Jan. 20, 1933, at the age of 76 years, 3 months and two days, to take her place in the mansion not made with hands.

The nobility of her character and her love for education are well shown in the name which she gave her son. Horace Mann has been called the father of the Iowa free school system. He was state superintendent of Public Instruction in Iowa in the latter fifties when the shaping of the present school system of Iowa was started. He was a man of high character himself and this lover of a higher education honored herself when she bestowed the name of Horace Mann upon her son.

Her life was brought to a beautiful close in the early dawn just as the sun was casting its first rays upon the earth she was just about to leave, and her entrance into the eternal kingdom which she had loved and taught her children to reverence was a beautiful opening into the dawning of a new and wonderful life.

Brief funeral services were held in the United Presbyterian church in Grinnell Wednesday morning, January 25 and at two o'clock in the United Presbyterian church at Guernsey. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. W.J. Stewart from t he same text she had selected for her husband's fuenerl service, Numbers 28:10, "Let me die the death of the righteous, let my last end be like his." With tender memories the body was placed in the Guernsey cemetery beside that of the husband and father, to await the resurrection of that day.

Music at the brief service in Grinnell was by Mrs. Floy Dempster and Mrs. J.S. McCunniff who sang "The 23rd Psalm," and "Face to Face." Those acting as pall bearers at this service were Samuel McClain, Hugh Sanders, Will Schooley, Everett Brown, S.R. Robison and A.M. Burton.

At the service at Guernsey the songs, "The Lord is My Shepherd," "As a Flower" and "It is well with my soul" were rendered by a quartet composed of Emmet Taylor, Joe Dieterich, Hilda Prashak and Mrs. Will Norton. The bearers at this service were Frank Daugherty, Herman Schrader, William Cordes, John Morton, Earl Rose and Mark Grier.

Those from out of town attending the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Charles McKinnie of Afton, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Hodge of Jefferson City, Mo., Mr. and Mrs. Harmie McKinnie of Thayer, Mr. Mayo Wherry and Mrs. Ruth Shumaker of Belle Plaine, Mrs. Robert Shedenhelm, Mrs. Mell Clark and Frank Daugherty of Ladora.