Martha Hearne 1836 - 1921

HEARNE, HEARN, WRIGHT, EYESTONE

Posted By: Volunteer: Stacey Swierk
Date: 9/13/2008 at 02:11:30

Date & Newspaper Unknown

PIONEER OF COUNTY GONE TO HER REWARD

Martha Hearne was born May 11, 1836, at Salisbury, Maryland, and passed away at her home in Keosauqua, Iowa, early on the morning of October 31st, 1921, aged 85 years, 5 months and 20 days. Her parents Thomas and Nancy Hearn, started to Iowa in 1836, making the long journey in rude covered wagons with their two children, Mary and Martha, along with two families of relatives. The older child died on the way, and with sorrowful heart they left her in a little grave by the Ohio River. Martha, a baby of five months, was carried in her mother’s arms much of the journey. In February, 1837, the pioneers reached Van Buren County, and settled just above Pittsburg, on the opposite side of the Des Moines River.

Martha attended school in Keosauqua, and was one of the pupils in the Famous Lane Academy. At an early age she joined the Methodist church. Though the records of those days are incomplete, and the exact date cannot be found, it is certain that at the time of her death she had been a member for 70 years at least, probably joined during the pastorate of the noted Henry Clay Dean.

On Dec. 24, 1868, she was married to Christopher Wright, and became a true mother to his motherless little ones. Their union was blessed by three daughters, Alice, Mary, and Elizabeth. The last named was a deaconess in Chicago and New York; then married Rev. James Bruce Eyestone and went as missionary to ?, where she died in 1907, after ? brief months of service. The following year Mr. Wright Passed.

[Photocopy of this obit is located on page 244 of Obit Book A found in the Van Buren County, IA Genealogical Society's collection at the Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA]