Sarah Melvina Wilson 1851-1926

WILSON, HARBIN, HARRISON, THOMPSON, RINEBARGER

Posted By: Volunteer: Roxanne Riggan
Date: 6/21/2012 at 18:49:38

OBITUARY

Mrs. Sarah Melvina Wilson, wife of William A. Wilson, of Cantril, Iowa, departed this life Thursday, April 1, 1926, at 11 o’clock a.m.

Mrs. Wilson was born September 3, 1851, in a log house, near Milton, Ia. She was the daughter of Squire and Susan Harbin.

Her girlhood and school days were spent at and near the home of her parents, and many of her very early girlhood days were happily spent at the home of her grandfather, Henry Rinebarger, a brick house just east of Milton, the brick for which were made and burned by her grandfather.

She was married February 9, 1870, to William A. Wilson. To this union five children were born: Alma Belle, Lillian Maude, Ruth Ester, Vance Avilla and Elsie Valley, two of whom are still living; Mrs. Joseph D. Harrison, of Cantril, and Mrs. Earl L. Thompson, of Galesburg, Ill., who together with her granddaughter, Mrs. A. J. Harrison and her husband, were with her at the time of her passing to the Great Beyond.

Mrs. Wilson was, in a measure, a pioneer in this district, having spent her entire life in this vicinity. She has lived through the various periods of the country’s progress, having lived as a girl when these vast prairies were the home of wild turkey, prairie chicken and deer. Later she saw coming of the various labor saving farm machinery, then finally the automobile the flying machine and the radio.

She was a woman who was beloved by all who knew her. Her greatest pleasure in life was the helping of her friends and neighbors in their times of trouble.

She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Lebanon, Iowa, and lived happy in the thought that all her children and grandchildren were identified with the same organization.

The funeral services were held on Easter Sunday, April 4, a short service being held at the home in Cantril at 10:45 a.m., with Rev. A. M. Smith of Cantril, officiating, after which more extended services were held at the M. E. church at Lebanon, with the Rev. H. F. Gilbert officiating.

The pallbearers at Cantril were Foster Steinburg, W. H. Beaty, Mauvier Weir, P.C. Larson, L. A. Teter and B. C. Casady. At Lebanon the pallbearers were Lyle Trout, Ralph Val Fleet, Hazen Beeler, Stanley Beeler, Arthur Wilson and Vance Wilson.

The singers at the home were Letha Dhority, Edna Beaty, Clyde Casady and Joseph Hootman, who sang most beautifully, “Lead Kindly Light” and the quartet at the church consisted of Florence Brown, Edna Muir, Claire Muir and LaRue Wilson with Mrs. Paul Wilson at the piano, sang three selections: “Shall We Gather at the River,” “Saved by Grace” and Nearer My God to Thee.”

Interment was made in the Lebanon cemetery beside her son and daughter.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Scrapbook A, page 398, Keosauqua Public Library; Keosauqua, IA