Mrs. Sarah A. Shuttlefield (1856-1944)

SHUTTLEFIELD, THOMPSON, ARGANBRIGHT, BERGMAN, LAMIS, MORLEY, ALLENDER

Posted By: John Davis (email)
Date: 2/12/2020 at 08:08:40

Obit posted in Ottumwa Courier February 21, 1944
Photo posted with obit
Mrs. Sarah A. Shuttlefield above, 87, a Wapello county pioneer whose home was at 1316 North Wapello street, died at 1:05 a.m. today at the St. Joseph hospital. Mrs. Shuttlefield, the second of a family of 10 children was born November 30, 1856 in a log cabin built by the site of Cedar creek in what is now Highland township. She was the daughter of T.J. and Nancy Thompson whose home and land was given them by her father who had secured it from the government. In an autobiography prepared by Mrs. Shuttlefield, she tells of rural life in the then sparsely settled rural sections and how, as a child, she walked to school through unfenced prairie that was only marked by a path. She also tells of Indians visiting their home to beg food, and of her fear tempered with delight when on one occasion an Indian approached on a pony with a baby strapped on a board and suspended from a saddle. She was married in January of 1877 to John B. Shuttlefield and they established their home on a 160-acre farm near Hedrick. The town of Hedrick was not there then, but she tells of a store there known as Butlers where they got their groceries and mail. They started taking the Courier at that time when it was published weekly and had taken it ever since. Mrs. Shuttlefield was preceded in death by her husband and two sons and is survived by the following children: Mrs. Charlie Arganbright and Mrs. Charles Bergman, both of Ottumwa; Mrs. Fran Lamis, Agency, and Burt Shuttlefield Fremont. She is also survived by two sisters. Mrs. Ida Scott Morley of Gravity, Iowa and Mrs. Charles Allender of Oskaloosa, and by eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday from the Lester Jay funeral home in charge of the Rev. R.C. Keagy, pastor of the Wesley Methodist church of which she was a member. Burial will be in the Highland cemetery.