Christian, Margaret M. 1849-1927

CHRISTIAN, ROWSE, OWENS, LYON, BUMP

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 8/15/2014 at 08:30:51

The Grinnell (IA) Herald
March 11, 1927

MRS. G.M. CHRISTIAN

The following obituary notice (for) Mrs. G.M. Christian read by Rev. E.F. Bosworth at the funeral, is more complete than that printed in Tuesday's Herald.

Margaret M. Rowse was born Feb. 3, 1849, in Newport, Kentucky. Her father, John Blake Rowse, after coming west two or three years before this and going into business in Cincinnati and married Angeline Owens of Kentucky. Soon after Margaret, their first child, was born, they came across the prairies to Iowa settling in Louisa County and later going to Davenport to make their home. As a very young girl Margaret showed such promise in music that she was put in charge of the best teachers of that city. She became organist in one of the churches at the early age of 13 and from then until she finished High School took an ever increasing part in the musical life of the city. From the time she was a small child, not much more than a baby herself, she was dividing her time between practicing and taking care of a baby brother or sister. After finishing High School she went to a private school near Boston where she studied English and French and had the advantages of some of the best teachers of voice and piano in Boston. While in the east she was under the supervision of her father's brother, Samuel W. Rowse, the foremost portrait artist of his time in this country and was invited with him to the homes of his friends James Russell Lowell, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Mr. Rowse was so delighted with her voice and its reception that he made all arrangements to take her to Europe for further study and it was a great disappointment to him when she decided to be married instead. On Feb. 3rd, 1869, she was united in marriage to George M. Christian and in 1870 they came to Grinnell. Mrs. Christian was often called back to Davenport to take part in some program or cantata and the papers always spoke of her as "Our own song-bird Maggie Rowse." The demands on her time here in Grinnell (missing..)
there were few outside the professional artists to compare with her in this line, her touch was so delicate and clear. But with her piano never filled the place left vacant when she could no longer sing. Mrs. Christian has been a member of the Drummond Club almost since its organization. She belonged to the Historical and Literary Club for a number of years but resigned some time ago. Mr. and Mrs. Christian united with the Church in 1887 and while Mrs. Christian had been singing in the Church a good many years, from this time she confined her services more particularly to the Church, teaching a Sunday School class and taking a more active part in other branches Church work. As her family grew up she felt they needed her, more especially since Mr. Christian's work took him out of town at this time, and she gradually relinquished her activities outside the home, giving up her choir and Sunday School work. For about twenty five years she has been a sufferer from heart trouble and more recently her lameness and defective hearing have caused her to avoid crowds or the larger group gatherings, and her love and affection have been more centered in her devoted husband, children, grandchildren, and smaller groups of friends. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Christian -- Charles and Mabel who died in infancy; George Herbert who passed away in 1914; Jessie Isabel, now living in Chicago; Mrs. Alma Lyon, who resides in this city; and Mrs. Margaret Bump of Ross, California. Besides her husband and these three daughters she is survived by three grandchildren, George Christian, Margaret Ellen, and Betty June Bump, of California, and a brother, Albert Owens Rowse of Gasconade, Missouri.