Shroyer, James Leslie, 1867-1930

SHROYER, ROCKEFELLER, BURT

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

From the Rock Valley Bee, October 17, 1930:

REV. J. L. SHROYER MEETS WITH ACCIDENTAL DEATH

According to reports received here Monday, Rev. J. L. Shroyer, a former pastor of the Methodist church in Rock Valley, was almost instantly killed last Friday while helping on the farm where his daughter, Mrs. Shaffer, lives near Lake Park, Iowa. The report is that he was helping with threshing and in some manner a pitch fork caught in a belt of the machine and struck him over the heart, causing almost instant death.

Rev. Shroyer was pastor in Rock Valley about twenty years ago, and will be well remembered by many of our people. He was a very friendly man and was popular with all who knew him. After leaving here, he preached at Sanborn, Lake Park, Lehigh and Homer, Iowa. His health failed during the past year and he resigned and was retired by the late conference at Storm Lake.

The Webster City Freeman gives the following account of his death:

“Friends in this city have received word of the accidental death of the Rev. J. L. Shroyer, age 62, of Lake Park, former pastor of the Methodist churches at Homer and Lehigh. The Rev. Shroyer was working at the farm home of his daughter, Mrs. Shaffer, near Lake Park yesterday when the handle of a pitchfork which had caught in some machinery struck him in the chest. He never regained consciousness.

“He was widely known in the community around Lehigh and Homer for he was pastor of the churches there for the past two years. Ill health necessitated his resignation and his last sermon of the conference year was preached the Sunday before conference. However, last Sunday, on account of the absence of the new pastor, the Rev. Runyon, the Rev. Shroyer preached at the Homer church. He and Mrs. Shroyer had planned to move to Lake Park, their former home.

“Funeral services will be held at Lake Park Monday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock and burial will be made in Lake Park. Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Peterson, of Webster City, will attend. The Rev. Shroyer is survived by his wife and one daughter, Mrs. Shaffer, of near Lake Park. Mrs. Shroyer is known in Webster City.”

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A brief note on his death in the Alton Democrat, October 17, 1930, Rock Valley news, says that he was pastor of the Methodist church in Rock Valley from 1913 to 1915.

His death certificate gives his full name, James Leslie Shroyer; born August 2, 1867 in New Trenton, Indiana; parents Augustus Shroyer and Mary Rockefeller, both born in Indiana; husband of Estella Shroyer; died at 5 a.m. October 10, 1930, date of injury October 9, 1930; buried in Silver Lake Cemetery, Lake Park, Iowa. Cause of death: accidental by end of fork handle being driven through rib of right of sternum into lung. Tines of fork caught in belt of threshing machine.

FiindaGrave.com (giving his death as 13 Oct. 1930) adds his parents’ full names, Augustus Theodore Shroyer (1835-1914) and Mary Alice Rockafeller[sic?] Shroyer (1838-1868); lists three siblings and one half-sibling; spouse Estella May Burt Shroyer (1875-1951); daughter Gladys Shroyer Shafer (1900-1991). It also includes a photograph of an obituary from the Lake Park News, 16 Oct. 1930.