Alice Johnston

JOHNSTON, MATHER, CHALDERS, LANG, SMITH, BIRDSALL

Posted By: Melody Aldrich (email)
Date: 4/25/2026 at 21:40:23

Death of Grandma Johnston.
DIED-at Clarion, Iowa, Aug. 12, 1898, Mrs. Alice H. Johnston, aged 78 years and 11 months. Funeral services were conducted at the home of her daughter, Aug. 13th, Rev. Lambly officiating.

"Death is the close of life's alarms,
The watchlight on the shore, The clasping in inmortal arms, Of loved ones gone before."
Alice Hales Mather was born at Maxwell Derbyshire, England, September 14, 1819, the daughter of Thomas and Jemma Mather. Her father died when she was a small child and her mother with the family of three children came to America, settling near Galena, Illinois, then an outpost of western civilization, in 1829. The mother died within a few years and Alice was left in the care of two uncles with whom she lived and for whom she kept house, residing at and near Dubuque, Iowa.
She was married at Dubuque in June, 1842, to Wm. Johnston with whom she lived until his death, Dec. 22nd, 1890, their married life extend- ing over a period of more than 48 years. There were born, as the fruits of their marriage twelve children, the eldest, Jemima, who intermarried with Dr. Thomas Garth and was for many years a resident of Clarion, died here in February 1880, and her memory is still cherished by our earlier residents who knew and loved her. Of the twelve children born to Mrs. Johnston, six survive her and six have pre- ceded her into the great beyond. The. survivors are Mrs. Joseph Chalders of Dubuque, Matilda Lang of Lehigh, Wm. Johnston of Lindburg, Alexandler Johnston of Clarion. Mary Smith of Tampa, Florida, and Mrs. Belle Birdsall of Clarion. She became a resident of Clarion in the year 1876, and since her husband's decease has resided with her daughter, Mrs. Belle al Birdsall, at whose home she died after a lingering illness extending over 01 a period of nearly nine months; during this time she was tenderly ministered to by her loving friends and by Dr. Garth, who gave such aid as science and skill supplemented by a generous affection could bestow. She was a devout christian and had been a consistent member of the Methodist church for sixty-eight years.
Such are the brief annals of life, yet how much is impressed within the limits of such as has here drawn to a close. One of her children, a beautiful babe, lies buried at sea, one daughter and seven grand-children were swept to an early grave in the angry flood which occurred at Rock- dale near Dubuque ou July 4th, 1876.
Sorrow and sunshine. birth and death, fortune and adversity such was the sum of her human life, but above all and through all was a constant faith in the justness God, a faith that never knew a shadow or entertained a doubt. It fostered a life as sweet and innocent as a child. No harsh word ever passed her hips, no unkind thought ever found expression. Such a faith, such a religion and such an example abounding in naught but gentle, worthy deeds rounded out her life and points us to a better time than ours.
The poet asks:
"Can storied urn or animated bust,
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honor's voice provoke the ellent dust,
Or flattery sooth the dull cold ear of death" No, but the writer of these lines who stood by the side of the now de- parted in her hour of suffering and of pain, who was present when the dread messenger came, and saw the calm resignation upon the wrinkled face, who knows she saw, or seemed to see, the faces of loved ones gone before, must add this tribute of respect to a memory he loves and cherishes, to a life he honored.
Children and children's children shall call thee blessed, grandma, but not until the earth and the sea give up their dead shall thy reward be full.