Mrs. A.O. Williams 1861-1941

WILLIAMS, WARDEN, STREET, HEIN, BLACK, WRIGHT, VARBLE, SPRY

Posted By: John Davis (email)
Date: 9/22/2019 at 10:52:44

Obit posted in Ottumwa Courier January 31, 1941
Mrs. A.O. Williams Succumbs Friday.
Mrs. Jeanette C. Williams 79, last Ottumwa survivor of the immediate R.H. Warden family, died Friday at 4:30 p.m. in her home, 216 N. Jefferson street.
Mrs. Williams was the daughter of Richard H. and Virginia Warden and was born in Ottumwa March 21, 1861. Twelve years before her birth, her father and J.H.D. Street had founded The Des Moines Courier, the pioneer newspaper of Wapello county and fore runner of The Ottumwa Daily Courier.
Ill Long Period
At that time it was the most western paper in the United States and did the legal printing for all counties west of this city. From 1854 to 1857, the paper was known as the Demoine Courier, later was changed to the Weekly Ottumwa Courier. Mrs. Williams, widow of Dr. A.O. Williams, had been ill for some time. Her death came in a block in which she had lived for all but six months of her life. Her birthplace was next door to the site of her death. She was a member of the First Presbyterian church. Mrs. Williams was married in the First church June 8, 1881. Surviving are daughters, Miss Bessie Williams and Mrs. Virginia Hein of Ottumwa; granddaughters Mrs. Martha Black and Mrs. Charlotte Wright of Ottumwa; great grandson Keith Black of Ottumwa and a sister, Mrs. Anna Belle Varble of Louisville, Kentucky.
Funeral Sunday
Preceding her in death were her husband in 1926 and a daughter, Mrs. Jeanette Spry, in 1934. Services will be Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Carroll Reece funeral home, conducted by the Rev. Richard Paul Grabel, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Burial will be in Ottumwa cemetery. Pallbearers will be Dr. H.A. Spilman, C.G. Merrill, Harry W. Davis, William T. McElroy, Allen M. Kough and Dr. L.A. Taylor.