Iowa
Old Press
Maquoketa Excelsior
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
July 2, 1887
OBITUARY
Sylvia Stafford
Mrs. Sylvia Stafford, mother of D. A. Fletcher, who lived with
him for the last 17 years, died at his home Saturday morning of
old age. Mrs. Stafford was born in Duchess County, New York,
April 14, 1800, and removed with her parents to Essex County, New
York in 1812, and often times saw British vessels on the lake
during the War of 1812. About the year 1825 she married to Adams
Fletcher and they continued to reside in Essex County until the
death of Mr. Fletcher in 1864. They had but one child, our
townsman, D. A. Fletcher. Mrs. Fletcher afterwards married a
Baptist minister, one of the early pioneers of Springfield,
Illinois, by the name of Christopher Stafford, with whom she
lived in Springfield until his death which occurred about three
years later. She then came to this city to live with her son.
Although Mrs. Stafford was very aged and had lived in an age when
women had to work and endure many hardships unknown to modern
life she was remarkably well preserved. Her natural powers of
sight and hearing were up to her last illness as they ever were.
For the seventeen years she has lived in this city and has never
missed coming to the table for her meals until one week before
her death. She became a professor of religion in her sixteenth
year and was a sincere and earnest Christian woman throughout her
long life. The funeral services were held at the home Sunday
afternoon and were conducted by Rev. S. F. Millikin
[transcribed by K.W., August 2009]
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Maquoketa Excelsior
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
July 21, 1887
MURRAY & FARR
Murray and Farr have just won a suit in the Supreme Court. This
is the first case the boys have ever had decided by that body and
they have every reason to feel jubilant. The case was against
Jones County. The county lost the case in District Court at
Anamosa and appealed to the Supreme Court, but the decision of
the lower court was affirmed.
[transcribed by K.W., August 2009]
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Maquoketa Excelsior
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
July 23, 1887
OBITUARY
Martha Peck
DIED- Of heart disease at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. H.
W. Webb, three miles east of Maquoketa, on Sunday, July 17th,
1887, Mrs. Martha Peck died, aged 78 years, 1 month, 11 days.
Deceased was born in Lincolnshire, England, June 6, 1809, and was
married to Wm. Pyser in 1829. Removing to this country with her
husband in 1835 she settled in Moriah, Essex County, New York,
where she buried her husband. She came to Iowa early in the 1850’s.
She was remarried in succession to Richard Mayo, Peter Loucks,
and George Peck, all of whom she survived. She had four children
by her first husband, of whom two are living, Mrs. Alfred Pyser
and Mrs. Mary Webb. She was a member of the Church of England and
her life was full of kindness toward her fellow men. Open hearted
and generous, she would sacrifice and deprive herself in order to
give to those she loved. An indefatigable worker, she was always
busy, even to within a few hours of her death. Her last illness
was brief and her departure sudden and scarce expected, and like
a clock run down she quietly fell into that sleep which knows no
waking.
[transcribed by K.W., August 2009]