Ann (Middleton) PAINE DARLING

MIDDLETON, PAINE, DARLING

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/6/2015 at 22:51:01

November 14, 1879 --- April 10, 1980

Mrs. Ann (Middleton) Darling, 100, Friendship Haven, died early Thursday morning April 10, 1980 at Tompkins Memorial Health Center. Services will be at l:30 p.m. Saturday in the Chapel on the Hill, Friendship Haven, with the Rev. Paul McKinley, chaplain, officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery, Eagle Grove, Iowa.

Ann Middleton was born in a log cabin on a farm in Troy Township, Wright County, November 14, 1879. She later moved to Woolstock where her father, Elza E. Middleton, was the first postmaster. Because of her father's ill health, he had to move to a higher altitude, and he left Iowa in May of 1890 in a covered wagon, settling in the Platte River valley 10 miles southwest of Gothenburg, Nebraska, where he homesteaded 160 acres of land. The mother and the children joined the father in May, 1891 in Nebraska, and they lived in a sod house with walls three feet thick. Her father died October 4, 1891 and as a young girl she taught rural schools for about 10 years, traveling with horse and buggy between her home and the school. She graduated from Normal School (for teachers) in North Platte, Nebraska. Ann married David D. Paine in 1915, and they farmed near Eagle Grove, Iowa until his death January 16, 1936. In 1946 she married Will S. Darling, and they farmed in Evergreen Township near Goldfield, Iowa. They then moved into Eagle Grove, and in 1956 they sold their home and moved to Friendship Haven retirement home at Fort Dodge, Iowa. Mr. Darling preceded her in death May 28, 1957. Mrs. Darling was a former member of the Order of Eastern Star and White Shrine of Eagle Grove. She was a member of the Congregational Church at Eagle Grove. Mrs. Darling was a member of the D.O.C. Club of the Evergreen community. Mrs. Darling had been in the health center for one year and had been seriously ill for a short time.

Fort Dodge Messenger -- Fort Dodge, Iowa
April 1980