Margaret J. "Maggie" (Fry) Read (1862-1907)

FRY, READ

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 2/22/2017 at 22:24:02

From Nevada Representative December 27, 1907

DEATH OF MRS. W. J. READ

Mrs. Maggie Read, wife of W. J. Read, died at their home in this city Tuesday afternoon after an illness of about ten days with valvular disease of the heart. The deceased was Maggie Fry, and she was born in the county February 9, 1862. She was married April 4, 1895, at Maxwell to W. J. Read; and to this union were born four children, of whom three survive, two boys and a girl. The family have resided at Nevada since early in the present year, and the husband had until recently been earning good wages as a blacksmith; but he has spent his money for drink, has outrageously neglected and abused his family, and presumably his wife's death is one consequence of this neglect and abuse. Because of his conduct it has been difficult for charitably disposed neighbors to do for the family what they might otherwise have done; and the distress of the family the death of the wife and the example of intemperance presented by the husband, have stirred the community upon the question of temperance and law enforcement, as this community has not been stirred by any matter of this sort for many a year.

The funeral was conducted by Dr. Bunce Thursday morning from the Friends church. The house was crowded, the situation most affecting and the funeral address very much to the point. The occasion meant the utter breaking-up of what had been a family and a home. The wife's body was in charge of the undertaker for burial; the husband was there in charge of the sheriff and about to be taken to the inebriate asylum for a term of three years; the two boys were in care of the deputy sheriff who was about to take them to the orphans' home at Davenport, where they will enjoy much the best care they have ever had and the little girl will remain here in the care of relatives. The ruin of it all and the wrong that is done in the selling of the liquor to the head of such a family offered a theme the discussion of which left no dry eyes among those who heard it.

Mrs. Read was aged 45 years, 10 months and 15 days, and she is spoken of as a good woman made the best struggle she would make against hopeless odds. She enjoyed the consolations of religion; and in her last hours she rejoiced in the assurance that her children would hereafter be better provided for than it had been possible for her to provide for them.

In the same issue of the paper:

County Correspondence

IOWA CENTER

Mr. Jno. Fry received the sad news Tuesday that his sister Mrs. Reed in Nevada had died.