Nancy (KELLER) TALLEY

KELLER, TALLEY, MYERS, PRICE, WORRELL, STAHL

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/10/2009 at 02:07:23

The Mount Ayr Record-News, 1929

DEATH CLAIMS AGED COUPLE

Double Funeral for Mr. and Mrs. I. A. TALLEY Held at Diagonal.

Tribute to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. I. A. TALLEY,
pioneer settlers of Grant township, who within thirty-four hours Thursday and Friday of last week passed to their eternal reward, was paid Sunday afternoon at a double funeral service held at Diagonal Methodist church. The funeral, which as largely attended, was conducted by Rev. J. E. MATHANY, pastor of the Methodist church, and the pastors of other churches of the city - Rev. Karl L. TEISINGER of the Nazarine church, Rev. D. W. THOMPSON of the Presbyterian church and Rev. Earl CLAR of the Christian church - assisted in the service. Interment was made in a double grave in Bethel cemetery southwest of Diagonal.
The following brief history of the lives of Mr. and Mrs. TALLEY as read at the funeral service:

Nancy KELLER, daughter of Benjamin KELLER, Sr. and Ellanor KELLER, was born March 30, 1838, in Noble county, Ohio, near Mt. Ephriam and entered into life eternal on January 24, 1929, at about 2:30 p. m. at the ripe age of 90 years, nine months and 24 days.

She lived with her parents near Mt. Ephriam until she was past 18 years of age when the family moved in the fall of 1856 to Iowa and settled in Lincoln township and a little later moved to Grant township.

She was the survivor of her father's famly, five sisters and three brothers having preceded her in death The last to go was her sister, Mrs. B. F. TALLEY, who was buried at Mount Ayr on January 15, 1929.

She was converted in the church at Mt. Ephriam when she was a little past thirteen years of age and joined the membership of the Methodist church at that time. She has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for more than 77 years.

Isaac Arment TALLEY, son of Adam G. and Sarah TALLEY, was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, August 17, 1838, and passed from death unto life January 26, 1929, at about 12:20 a. m. at the age of 90 years five months and 11 days, 34 hours after Mrs. TALLEY's death.

In the spring of 1842 he moved with his parents to Perry county, Ohio, which was the family home for eight years. In 1850 the family moved to Hamilton county, Indiana. In 1856 the family moved to Iowa arriving in Ringgold county on July 4th.

He was converted in September 1853, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church a little more than 75 years ago and his relationship with the church has not been broken in all these years.

He was the survivor of his father's family, four sisters and three brothers having preceded him in death.

Isaac TALEY and Nancy KELLER were married by Rev. C. F. SPOONER on February 9, 1860. If they had lived until the 9th day of next month they would have celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary.

After their marriage they moved to their log house which was situated in Grant township on land that was a part of the original TALLEY homestead and the location of which is known to most of you. The hardships of pioneer life were their heritage. The county was new and settlers' cabins were far apart, yet they often spoke of those days as the happy days of their lives. They forgot the rigors of frontier life in the happiness that came in establishing their own home and in the fine fellowships that the frontier developed. They had life and health and a home, and what is of vastly more importance, the approval of a loving God on the home they established and the work they were doing. In the year 1895 they left the farm and moved to Diagonal and a few months later to their home in which they rested until their death.

To this union eleven children were born: Mary Emma, John W. of Compton, Calif.; Mrs. H. E. MYERS of Broken Bow, Neb.; Mrs. Cora PRICE of Des Moines, and Anna May her twin sister; Henry Elmer, Torrington, Wyo,; Mrs. Weldon WORRELL, Eureka; Melvin Roy, Bedford, Iowa; Jessie N. of Diagonal and Louis Franklin of Marshalltown, Iowa; Mary Emma died at the age of 13 years and Anna May at a year and a half. Of those that survive all are present today except John and Elmer. There also survive thirty grandchildren and twenty-eight great-grandchildren.

On the 14th day of February, 1864, Mr. TALLEY enlisted in the 3rd Iowa Cavalry and was assigned to Company M. He served until the close of the war and was mustered out of the service at Atlanta, Ga., on August 9, 1865, and received his final discharge at Davenport in the last days of August of that same year. While he was in the service of his country, Mrs. TALLEY kept the home, caring for three small children. Those were the days that tried the souls of men.

In the year 1856 Rev. Jess SHERWOOD preached the first sermon in the north half of Ringgold county. That sermon was preached in Grand-father Adam TALLEY's house and organized the TALLEY class. There were fifteen original members - charter members of that class. Father and Mother TALLEY were the surviving charter members of that organization. For more than 73 years they have had an active relationship to this church. Of those years no commment need to be made. The work of the church has always been dear to them and their home has always been open to any worker who was endeavoring to advance the work of the Kingdom of our Master.

In the year 1866, the Bethel church of this congregation was built. It stood in the Bethel cemetery on the TALLEY farm. It was built of native lumber. The shingles were split out of native blocks. The siding was of black walnut and planned by hand, the studing and rafters were sawed from native stock and the joints and sills were hand hewed. This church was abandoned and a new church built in 1883. This church was moved to Diagonal about 1891 and this gave place to the present church. Father TALLEY had a place in the building of these three buildings, and was on the building committee of each of these churches.

Father TALLEY has held every office to which the layman was eligible, Sunday school superintendent, class leader, trustee, steward, secretary of the offical board and for a number of years was janitor of the church. Mother TALLEY fitted herself into the church program in much the same way. No task was too small for them to undertake it it promised some advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom. The church was paramount in their lives.

Servant of God, well done! Thy glorious warfare's past; The battle's fought, the race is won. And thou art crowned at last.

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Madison County, Iowa
January 31, 1929, page 4

DEATH of MR. AND MRS. TALLEY

Mr. and Mrs. Grant STAHL drove to Diagonal Sunday to attend the funeral services of an aunt and uncle of Mr. STAHL's, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac TALLEY. Mr. and Mrs. TALLEY were both ninety years of age at the time of their death and had been married sixty-nine years. Mrs. TALLEY passed away Thursday, and Mr. TALLEY on Friday. He did not know of his wife's death. It is said that their combined years of service in their church is more than 150. They were pioneers of Ringgold county, coming there in 1856, from Indiana. The funeral services were conducted together Sunday afternoon, and seven of the nine children living were present. M. R. TALLEY, who was vice president of Simpson college for a number of years, was their son. Lloyd TALLEY, a former resident of Winterset, was also a nephew of theirs.

NOTE: Nancy's father, Benjamin KELLER, Sr., died at the age of 62 in 1860. Her mother Eleanor (?) KELLER died at the age of 58 in 1856. They were interred at Keller Cemetery in Ringgold County, Iowa.
Isaac's father Adam G. TALLEY died on May 14, 1868 and was interred at Bethel Cemetery. Of Isaac Arment and Nancy (KELLER) TALLEY's children: Mary Emma TALLEY was born in 1861, and died at the age of thirteen on April 5, 1874 with interment at Bethel Cemetery;
Anna May TALLEY, twin of Cora, was born May 14, 1867, and died on February 25, 1869 with interment at Bethel Cemetery; and,
Melvin Roy TALLEY was born in Ringgold County May 3, 1874, and died in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa on July 16, 1961 with interment at Bethel Cemetery beside his wife, Lulu (?) who was born in Kansas and died of a stroke at the age of 83 in Des Moines on July 3, 1963.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, 2008