Elsie Blanche DANN

DANN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 3/20/2017 at 21:08:16

April 12, 1876 --- December 2, 1934

ELSIE DANN TAKES OWN LIFE BY HANGING

Continued Ill Health Given as Reason for Self Destruction by Former Librarian at Cherokee.

Miss Elsie Dann took her own life by hanging in her room at Cherokee some time Saturday night. The body was discovered hanging from her bed post by a member of the family where she was rooming Sunday morning. She accomplished her own self destruction in the same manner as did her sister, May Dann, former Eagle Grove teacher, at Clarion in September 1915. She tied a scarf around her neck with the other end attached to the bed post and died of strangulation. About two years ago she made her will and designated a bank at Sioux City as executor of her estate and in accordance with her wishes she was buried in the family lot in Eagle Grove.

Elsie Blanche Dann was born April 12, 1875, in Pontiac, Ill., and passed away in Cherokee, Iowa, Dec. 2, 1934. She was the youngest of three children born to George and Jennie Dann. A sister and brother who with her parents have preceded her to the Great Beyond. She was the last of her immediate family.

Miss Dann passed her childhood and girlhood and received her education in Pontiac, Ill. It was here also that at the age of 14 she became a member of the Methodist church of which she was a faithful member up to the time of her death. Some years later she was taken into the Rebekah lodge.

About the year 1893, she with her parents and sister moved to Eagle Grove where her father engaged in farming south of town for several years. Then her father's health failed and they moved into town and bought the Hollander property which was their home until 1920.

Shortly after the public library was opened, Miss Dann became assistant to Mrs. Miller, the librarian, and had this position until Mrs. Miller retired, when she accepted this responsible office which she held until 1920. It would be hard to estimate the good Miss Dann did during the years she served the public so faithfully. Always fond of children, she took painstaking care to direct them in the choice of good literature and time alone will reap the harvest.

In 1920 she accepted a position in the Cherokee public library that she might be near her invalid mother, who was in a sanitarium, and for 14 years her weekly visits were the only happy hours of her mother’s life.

Loyalty was Miss Dann's outstanding virtue, loyalty to her work, loyalty to her friends, and unfailing, unfaltering loyalty to her family.

For the past year she has been a patient, uncomplaining, suffering from a physical ailment which at times was amidst more than human strengths could endure.

She will be missed by those who knew her and received comfort from her hands and cheery smile, for she was a woman of deep religious faith and consistent Christian character. Bravely she stood alone, carrying heavy burdens, but now her work is done, her care and sorrow cease, and may her loyal soul abide in peace.

Services were held at the Duvan funeral home at Cherokee on Tuesday afternoon, at 4:00 o'clock, in charge of the Rev. C. V. Hulse, pastor of the Methodist church of that place, and also at Eagle Grove on Wednesday morning at 10:30 at Wilson's Funeral Chapel with the Rev. J. G. Eaton in charge. She was buried in the family lot in Rose Hill cemetery.

EAGLE GROVE EAGLE -- Eagle Grove, Iowa
December 6, 1934