and junior year of school. The Sowers family lived in the northeast corner of Sec 8 with frontage on the north-south road.
The Kimbles had three other children- Vivian (Milford 1927) (Pix pg 132), Dorothea (Milford 1930), and one brother, Lowell (Milford 1933).
“Rufus Clarion, youngest child of Mr and Mrs Tom I Sampson, passed peacefully, away last Saturday after a severe illness of nearly two weeks' duration. Rufus was not destined to long gladden the home of his parents, being a few days over one year old when claimed by the Master.
“Rufus died at the home of his parents southeast of town on Nov 6, 1909. The little one was born Oct. 24, 1908 and was but a year and 13 days old, when its soul passed from his suffering little body, and the loving parents lost one who was near and dear to them, yea, one who was the sunshine of the happy home. The little child had been sick for a couple weeks and continued to grow worse all along, until the Angel of Death took him to the Heavenly Home, where there is no more suffering.”
Edit: This combination death notice and obituary, although dealing with a tough subject, is the prime example found of the elaborate use of language that expressed the Victorian sentimentality. Nevertheless, this example states the obvious which goes unspoken too often in a situation like this. But yet, the almost unutterable grief and unspeakable sorrow at the death, not only of the child, but the dreams and expectations of the parents, and the helplessness experienced by all are mentioned. This Sampson family lived in the vicinity of School Number One in Milford Twp. Services were at the Bergen Church in Roland.
From the Nevada Journal, which tells it as well as it can be told at this time;
“Little Edwin Mann, two year old baby son of Mr. and Mrs Gaylon Mann, is under observation today after a miraculous escape from death, when run over by a motor car, while playing in the yard at Milford School, about 11:00 this forenoon.
The child was on his kiddie-kar just in front of a car belonging to ......, a student at the school. Not noticing the child, (the student) started his car in low and it passed over the kiddie-kar and the child, before the driver knew of the presence of the child.
The front wheel passed over the head of the child and the rear wheel across the chest. It is thought the position of the wrecked kiddie-kar was such as to take part of the weight (sic) off the child.
Mr. Mann hurried the child into town and to the office of Dr. (Sic) Bowers, where an examination failed to indicate any serious injury to the little one.
There is the possibility of internal injuries and the baby will be kept under close observation to detect any that may develop.
It seems almost a miracle that the child could go through the experience without being crushed to death. The father was at a distance and witnessed the accident.
Mr. and Mrs. Mann live in the cottage at Milford, where Mr. Mann has charge of the building as janitor and custodian of the grounds.”
The name of the student has been omitted as it would serve no purpose, the article only informs that the incident occurred. When talking to a family member in the summer of 2010 it was learned that Edwin suffered no long term consequences from this incident.
Earl Stevenson atabout ten years
of age.
Vera Stevenson Tarman `32, lower right, writes of her younger brother, Earl: “I was 8 years old and it was hard for me to see someone replace me, especially when my Mother was nursing him.. I was also upset because my Mother had to be in bed instead of helping me.
“My Grandmother was taking her (my Mother's) place. One day my Grandmother let me hold the baby and the baby smiled a me. From that time on I was hooked on this “doll” as I referred to this baby. Eventually this doll was pulling himself up by a chair and would hold his hands out to me to take him- We became very close as brother and sister from then on.”
Vera writes of the incident of her younger brother being ill-- “Our doctor was Dr Martin. He use to stop by to see Earl whenever he made a trip to the county farm which was about every other week. Sometimes he would bring his accordion and play for Earl. Earl loved that.” She mentions that Earl had a bout of strep throat in the fall of 1937.
Adapted from the May 1938 Nevada Journal:
“Earl Stevenson, 15 year old son of Mr. and Mrs W.A. Stevenson of Milford township, died at 12:15 P.M. today (Tuesday, 24 May 1938) at the Iowa sanitarium**, after an illness of several months from heart trouble.***