Iowa
Old Press
Oskaloosa Daily Herald
Oskaloosa, Mahaska co. Iowa
February 27, 1912
"Aunt" Semirah Phillips, one of Oskaloosa's oldest
citizens and the first school teacher in Mahaska County, died
this morning. Mrs. Semirah Ann Phillips, aged 85 years, 9 months
and 8 days, passed away at her home, No. 316 South Market Street,
at 2:16 o'clock, Tuesday morning, February 27, 1912, of old age
after a decline covering a period of several months. Funeral
services at 2:30 o'clock p.m., Wednesday, February 28. Interment
in Forest Cemetery. "Aunt Semirah," as she was called
by almost everyone, was possibly the best known woman in
Oskaloosa. She was likewise the oldest "old resident"
of the city, having come to the village when it contained but a
few people and a small cluster of primitive log buildings. She
was the first school teacher of the County and has resided in
Mahaska for a period of 68 years. She was married to T.Garl
Phillips in January, 1846, and was the mother of two sons, O.Q.
Phillips, deceased, and O.C.G. Phillips, well-known attorney of
Oskaloosa, who survives. Miss Dot Phillips and Mrs. Jenkin Davis
are
grand-daughters. Mrs. Phillips was in many ways a remarkable
woman, of high intellectual attainment and accomplishment. She is
the author of a history of Mahaska County and was a deep student
of current events and human affairs up until a few months
preceding her death. The family home for years has been in the
two-story brick residence, No. 316 South Market Street, where the
silent messenger bore the last summons this morning. It is one of
the better of the pioneer homes of the city and known to
practically every one who knows anything of the town as the
"Phillips place." The sympathy of the town and county
goes out to the family. In the passing of Aunty Semirah Phillips
there has been removed one of the last links that has retained
for us a personal contact with those early pioneer days of the
community, of which the deceased possessed a better knowledge and
memory and a deeper personal experience than any of those now
left of the old day.
[note: transcriber of article not related; there is a photo
included in article.]
[transcribed by J.D.P., February 2005]