KECK, Mrs. Henry (Mary): 1830-1899

KECK, NIXON, BRYAN, CAMPBELL, SPAW, STEVENS, ELLERTON, EASTER, DODD

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri (email)
Date: 12/22/2013 at 09:52:41

Mary Nixon, daughter of Isaac Nixon and Sarah Bryan, his wife, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1830. She, with her father's family, came to Iowa in 1846 and settled in Harrisburg township near the old homestead. She was one of a remarkable family of 15 children. An only brother, Joseph, laid down his young life for his country at the bloody battle of Franklin, Tennesee.

Along back in the fifties the "Nixon girls" were known far and wide for their unusual capabilities as good housekeepers. They were all deft with the needle and expert cooks, year after year, at the county fair, some of them would carry off the premium for the finest quilt, or the most beautiful specimen of needle work. There are but five sisters now living, Mrs. Sarah Campbell and Mrs. Clarinda Jacobs, of Van Buren county, Mrs. Louisa Spaw, of Corydon, Wayne county, Mrs. Eliza Stevens, of Quincy, Adams county, Iowa, and Mrs. Ella F. Ellerton, of Aurora, Nebranka(sp).

Henry Keck and Mary Nixon were married December 13, 1855, by the Rev. I. P. Teter, a noted Methodist preacher of that day. To them were born five children, four of whom survive. The eldest daughter, Ella Jane, died when 8 years of age. Anna Belle Easter, Elmer E. Keck, Sarah Catherine Dodd and Henry Judson Keck, all live in Harrisburg township, all are married and belong to some church.

After marriage they began housekeeping at the present homestead where they have always lived.

Mrs. Keck was converted at a meeting held at Utica in the fall of 1853 under the ministry of Rev. Towne, of the Baptist denomination, and she has been a member of the Harrisburg Missionary Baptist church ever since that date. Her husband has been a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal church and they sustained those relationships throughout their married life, some of the children joining with the father and some with the mother, but they were all one family in Christ.

Her's was an exemplary christian life, always relying upon her walk and conversation to reveal to her associates that she was an humble follower of the meek and lowly Nazarene.

Mrs. Keck's last illness was of short duration. She was first attacked with la grippe, resulting in pneumonia, and she ended her life in great suffering near midnight Feb. 6, 1899. The funeral services were held at the home Thursday at 10:30 o'clock Feb. 9. Rev. Smith of the M. E. church read the latter part of the 15th Chapter of first Corinthians pertaining to the resurrection of the body and made the opening prayer. Rev. McCollom of the Baptist church, preached the funeral discourse from the text, "Ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men."

"Nearer my God to Thee," "Gathering home," and "God be with you," were the hymns sang. The choir was composed of Misses Lily and Lola Tade, Charles Dodds and S. W. McCullough, and Mrs. Charles Dodds presided at the organ. The pall-bearers were mostly relatives, vis.: John Israel, Leroy Junk, John Frye, George Israel, Hugh Campbell and Milton Stillwell. The interrment was at the Dibble cemetery, where lie buried, father, mother and four sisters.

"She is not dead but sleepth,
There is no death.
The stars go down,
To rise upon some fairer shore
So sing the blest
In dreamless sleep,
The wake to live forever more."

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book C, Page 381, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA