Nelings, Sarah A. died 1863

NELINGS, NELLINGS

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 12/6/2024 at 10:35:26

DIED - In Farmersburg, on the 7th day of April, of Typhoid fever, Miss Sarah A. Nellings, in the 26th year of her age.

Miss Nellings had been engaged to finish the term of a school commenced by a worthy young man, who had been suddenly snatched from his employment by death. She had not been but a few days in the school, when she was seized by the terrible malady that terminated her life.

The death of two teachers in the bloom and vigor of youth in succession, in the same school within a few weeks, is a solemn admonition to the living of the shortness and uncertainty of life, which should not be passed by unheeded.

Miss N. was born in Chester county Pa., and came to Farmersburg five or six years of age with her father's family; and since she has been here, has taught several different schools with entire success. She was fortunate in obtaining a good education, which she completed at the Cedar Hill female Seminary of Pa., where many ladies, now occupying high stations in society were educated.

With uncommon personal comeliness, she united in a great degree, all the feminine graces and accomplishments which distinguish and adorn her sex. Her intellectual faculties, which were of a superior order, were developed, cultivated and disciplined by study, by reading and by a large [illegible] correspondence with her numerous friends. Her refined taste, her delicate humor, her ready wit, with her fine conversational powers, made her the delight of every social circles she honored with her presence.

Although the sphere of her life was comparatively sequestered her high endowments qualified her to shine in the most genteel and polished society. She had the happy faculty of accommodating herself to any company into which her lot might be cast; she was fitted to please among the unlettered as well as among the learned; in the abodes of poverty as well as in the mansions of wealth.

But the beauty of Miss N's life was most conspicuously displayed in her moral qualities. she was blessed with a conscience, that guide sent from Haven to govern our conduct, remarkably sensitive and discriminating, and she always heeded its voice. If to live according to the dictates of this Divine spirit is to live a religious life, her life was commently religious She did not decline mingling in the festivities and amusements of youth; but she never seemed to forget the injunction, "know those that for all there things, God will bring thee into judgement."

Her family had seen better days, but adversity did not disturb the equinity of her character. The sweetness of her temper, the kindness of her disposition, the gentleness and grave of manners, will long be remembered by her acquaintances.

But the personal attractions, the grace and dignity of her manners, her mental endowments, her moral worth, the purity of her life, all, could not protect her from the unnerving hand of sickness, or the relentless arrow of death. She has left a void, in the society of her seat in the family circle is vacant; the cold and heartless sad [illegible] on that heart, which lately beat so gaily with hope and the expectation of long life; "she has gone to her long horse and the manners go about the streets." It is a sad alleviation of their grief to commemorate her virtues.

~Weekly North Iowa Times, Wednesday, April 22 , 1863; pg 2

Note: 1860 U.S. census, Grand Meadow twp. is the family of Wm & Jane Nelings, both age 59, with George (30), Daniel (28), Wm. W. (20), Sarah (26) teacher, Mary (24), James (18) and Almira (24) - all born PA