Re: Rev. J. C. Truesdale
TRUESDALE, FREEMAN
Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email) In Response To: Rev. J. C. Truesdale (David C Bailey)
Date: 4/4/2014 at 19:24:48
It looks like he died and is buried in Illinois according to newspaper reports.
Is it possible that his widow, Mary (Freeman) Truesdale who died in February, 1917 and is buried in Sac City, Iowa --that a stone was placed for him in Iowa also or that he was possibly reinterred after her death?
Mary is buried in Lot 36 of the Oakland Cemetery in Sac City. She was enumerated in 1910 in Sac County, Iowa and most probably lived there at least the last seven years of her life. It looks pretty likely that J. C. is actually buried in Illinois, but you might contact the Oakland Cemetery (probably through the Sac City municipal government) to see if there are any records of the date of placement of the stone or any reinterments in Lot 36. You should also check for an obituary in the Aurora, Illinois newspaper in 1904.
I did locate a small obituary in the Chicago Daily Tribune on December 3, 1904 which stated that John C. Truesdale died at his residence in Aurora, Illinois and that the funeral would be held at 10:00 am on December 3rd from his late residence in Aurora. This implies that he was buried locally since no indication is made of a burial elsewhere.
Other news items:
Rev. Truesdale Seriously Ill
Word has just been received stating that Rev. J. C. Truesdale is in an unconscious condition at his home near Chicago as the result of a severe stroke of apoplexy. Friends have been summoned to his bedside. Mr. Truesdale was at one time pastor of the U. P. church at Atlantic.Atlantic Daily Telegraph - Atlantic, Iowa
December 1, 1904***
Rev. Truesdale Dead
The friends of Rev. J. E. Truesdale whose serious illness was announced in these columns, will be sorry to learn that death took place without his returning to consciousness, after an illness of less than twenty four hours at his home in Aurora, Ill. Rev. Truesdale died at 9:30 p. m. Wednesday, Nov. 30.Atlantic Daily Telegraph - Atlantic, Iowa
December 5, 1904***
Mrs. C. H. Truesdale was called to Aurora, Ill., yesterday by reason of her father-in-law. Rev. Mr. Truesdale of that city having sustained a stroke of paralysis.Burlington Hawkeye - Burlington, Iowa
December 2, 1904**********
The Rev. D. C. Truesdale, pastor of the Presbyterian church, received word Friday of the death of his mother, Mrs. Mary Truesdale, who died in Sac City, Ia., at the age of 82, death resulting from pneumonia. The funeral was held Sunday. The Rev. Mr. Truesdale had just returned from Sac City.
Fort Wayne News - Fort Wayne, Indiana
February 28, 1917*****
I also located an article from the July 2011 "Federated News" newsletter issue of the Paxton Federated Church in Paxton, Illinois with interesting biographical information on Rev. Truesdale:JOHN CLARK TRUESDALE
June 22, 1833 - November 30, 1904
(Big Woods Cemetery was part of an indenture between James & Anna Brown of Winfield, and Langdon Miller, James Brown, Timothy Woodward, William Currier & William Todd, Trustees of Meeting House & Burial Ground of the Big Woods Society and their successors, dated June 3, 1850. The Meeting House eventually became Big Woods Congregational Church, in Mornings; the New Life Apostolic Church meets here at 6 pm Sunday evenings.)I am the spirit of JOHN CLARK TRUESDALE past, June 22, 1833 - November 30, 1904. Died at 71 years of age. I was number 15 of 16 kids in our family. We all grew up on a farm in Salt Creek Township, Wayne County, in northeastern Ohio, north of the Mason Dixon Line. My great-grandfather, John, my namesake, came from County Down in Northern Ireland, and settled in Sherman’s Valley, Cumberland County, in south central Pennsylvania, in 1773. My grandfather, Hugh, fought in the American Revolutionary War. After education at the Mt. Nebo school, the academy at Edinburg, Franklin College, and Xenia Theological Seminary, I was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Richmond in 1857 and ordained as pastor of the Brookville, Pennsylvania church two years later. While there, I seemed to have gained a reputation for my views on the abolition of slavery. On one account, I was said to be “highly esteemed and cordially hated.” In any case, on November 8, 1859 Mary Louise Freeman and I were married in Madison, Indiana. We had seven sons together, including James, a Lawyer, WW. in insurance, & David, a Presbyterian Pastor. We were abolitionists. I remember my father riding to the polling place year after year and amid the jeers & jibes of his neighbors he voted the Abolitionist ticket. He often predicted a long and bloody war between the states, and taught us all to stand up for the Union. Three of us boys and seven of our sons served in Union Armies. As for me, in 1863 I was a private in the 57th Pennsylvania Militia during Lee’s invasion on Gettysburg and Morgan’s raid through Kentucky, Indiana & Ohio.
With a theological education, I was appointed the next year as Chaplain to the 105th Pennsylvania Veteran Infantry, in the Grand Army of the Potomac. We were in 38 of the pitched battles, and we were 9th on the list of regiments in all the Union armies to lose the most officers and men killed or mortally wounded in action. My father was right, and we were in the thick of that long and bloody war. August 9, 1864 I narrowly escaped the horrendous explosion of our arsenal at City Point, Virginia, General Grant’s headquarters. “Such a reign of shot, shell, bullets, pieces of wood, iron bars and bolts, chains and missiles of every kind was never before witnessed.” A barge loaded with 30,000 artillery shells and 75,000 rounds of small arms ammunition was detonated, leaving 43 people killed instantly and 126 wounded, so that the death toll was ultimately estimated at about 300. The wharf was almost entirely destroyed and the damage was set at $2 million. We learned later that it was a case of rebel sabotage. But within 9 days we were back in full operation with improved security, and in the end I got to be part of the Grant Review at Appomattox, May 23rd, before being mustered out with my regiment July 11, 1865. At last, it was all over.
Later that year I took the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Paxton, Illinois, some 20 miles north of Champaign. Then it was Watseka, 75 miles south of Chicago. Other Pastorates followed in Sharon, PA, Apple Creek, OH; then in Atlantic and Stanwood, Iowa. I retired from the pastorate near Aurora, Illinois, due to poor hearing and gave up my earthly life on the last day of November, 1904.
One wonders what impact one has made, during one’s earthly existence, and I’m both embarrassed and gratified by one glowing account. “John Truesdale is an avid abolitionist in and out of the pulpit,” it said, and “that made him both loved and hated. He also fearlessly stood for prohibition as an eloquent minister of the Gospel.” According to another, Truesdale is a man of fine scholarship, striking personality, a true poetic instinct, and rare gifts as an orator, yet modest and unassuming. He scorned fawning and plotting for place and power. He could care less about praise or blame of those around him, so long as his conscience approved. He helped make the world better, and the nation greater!
http://paxtonfederated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/July2011FedNews.pdf
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