Mak, Wilhelmina (Mrs. John W.), 1874-1915

MAK

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/19/2016 at 20:18:24

From the Rock Valley Bee, June 4, 1915:

MRS. J. W. MAK DEAD

Mrs. John W. Mak, a former resident of Rock Valley, died very suddenly at her home in Rock Rapids last Thursday morning [May 27?] from heart failure. The Mak family moved away from here about eight years ago to Rock Raids and since that time have had charge of the Lyon county Poor farm. Funeral services were held at Rock Rapids Saturday from the Methodist church. Friends of the family will be grieved to learn the sad news. The Rock Rapids Review gives the following account:

"This community was inexpressibly saddened when it was learned that Mrs. J. W. Mack had died very suddenly at an early hour this morning.

Mrs. Mak had always enjoyed the best of health, and she did not know she had an ailment of any kind. She was in town yesterday doing her shopping as usual. She ate a hearty supper and chatted pleasantly with her family until bedtime, when she retired feeling as well as she ever did. She slept soundly until about one o'clock this morning when she awoke with a smothering sensation. She called her husband, who assisted her to the window, which was opened in the hopes that the fresh air would assist her in breathing. However, her breathing became more difficult, and she was carried back to the bed. Dr. Boetel was called at once, but she had passed away before he arrived. She lived only about twenty minutes after being stricken. Heart failure was the indirect cause of her death.

Mrs. Mak was about forty years of age and enjoyed the respect of the entire community, and her sudden death must have been a great shock to the family."

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A similar obituary appeared in the Rock Rapids Reporter, May 27, 1915.

A search in the 1910 U.S. census for John W. Mak living in Lyon County produced one result: In Riverside, Lyon County, John W. Mak, head, age 43, born Iowa-Dutch, a farmer; wife Wilhelmina, age 36, born Wisconsin-Dutch; 6 children and 4 boarders. It makes no reference to a connection with the Poor Farm, however.

FindaGrave.com has a page for Wilhilmina Mak, 1874-1915, buried Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids, Lyon County.