Blennerhassett, Aremberg (ca. 1832-1895)

BLENNERHASSETT

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 12/4/2011 at 19:26:15

Aremberg Blennerhassett
(ca. 1832- November 8, 1895)

The Pioneer Druggist Answers the Summons of Death.

A. Blennerhassett, the pioneer druggist, died at his home in this city last Friday [November 8, 1895] about 2 o’clock p.m. A general breaking up of the system was the cause of death. Although for more than two weeks the sad news had been expected and yet as is always the case the announcement that the end had come came like a shock and spread a gloom over the entire city.

Mr. Blennerhassett had been suffering for years with diabetes and other constitutional diseases which gradually wore his life away. About three weeks ago he was taken with a severe attack of acute inflammation of the stomach, which was the immediate cause of his death.

Aremberg Blennerhassett was born in the county Kerry, Ireland, about sixty-three years ago [ca. 1832]. He was a descendent of some of the best blood of Ireland, being a son of Henry Blennerhassett, Esq., of county Kerry and a grandson of Hon. Richard and Elizabeth Blennerhassett, the latter a daughter of the late Lord Ventry. He was the nearest lineal descendent of the Blennerhassett whose name is connected with the Aaron Burr conspiracy and with whose tragic history every school boy is acquainted. When Mr. Blennerhassett was twenty-one years of age he left Ireland for Australia, where he was engaged in the gold fields for ten years during which time he held the responsible position of manager for the Colonial Gold Company of Tambaroora, and later held the same position in the Wentworth Gold Fields in New South Wales. He returned to his native land about the year 1863, and in May, 1865, was married at Monkstown Church, near Dublin, to Elizabeth Haire, daughter of Hamilton Haire, Esq., of Glassdrummond [sic], county Fermanagh, Ireland, and shortly after went to reside in London. He again in 1868, with his family, left the old country for America and settled on a farm in Blackhawk county, Iowa. He soon sold out, however, and moved to Rudd, Floyd county, and started a drugstore. Finding the prospects very discouraging in his new location, he again removed to Rockford in the same county, and finally in 1871, came to Forest City, where he has since resided and continued in the drug business. Mr. Blennerhassett was of a quiet, retiring disposition, always unwilling to say anything of himself or his past life, never appearing in public, and in the later years of his life never found beyond the precincts of his home or his place of business.

The funeral services were held Monday afternoon at the M.E. church, conducted by the Rev. A. M. Scott of St. Louis, Missouri, who was called here at the special request of the deceased, assisted by Rev. Whitfield, pastor of the M. E. church, and Rev. Mason, pastor of the Congregational church. The remains were interred in Oakwood cemetery.

IN MEMORIAM
In Memory of Mr. A. Blennerhassett who died November 8, 1895.

All is o’er, the weary waiting,
And the trials and events of earth,
And the trouble and the sorrow
Banished in the glad new birth.

He who fought the battle bravely
Wears at last the victorious crown.
Shall we grieve because in gladness
He has laid his burden down.

Shall we say, the blow is bitter,
It is more than we can bear,
As we gaze upon the figure
Lying cold and silent there.

The fond wife and the children dear,
Will long miss one so kind.
A loving heart is cold and still.
Be to the stricken kind.

Oh, can it be that one so dear
Shall pass away so soon,
We may not call our loved one lost,
He has only gone before.

Go, speak to the stricken mourner,
Those hearts are bleeding sore
In a tender voice repeating
At rest forever more. Mrs. Wm. Shaul.

“A. Blennerhassett. The Pioneer Druggist Answers the Summons of Death.” The INDEPENDENT. Forest City: 14 Nov 1895, p. 5.