Obituaries (June 27) MHD Collection

 

Mrs. Hannah Orr of Oneonta [Otsego Co. NY], aged 78 years, who lived alone was found dead lying face down upon her kitchen floor Friday night.  A neighbor called in at the house, which is on Brookside street and seeing her prostrate called others and it was discovered she was dead.  An empty tea cup was beside her and a wound upon her forehead supposed to have been caused by falling.  She had done several washings that week.  An autopsy was held.  Mrs. Orr had always lived in Oneonta.  She left four children, a daughter in Oneonta and a son, Dexter Orr of Binghamton.  [Bainbridge Republican, Mar. 6, 1902]

 

A D.&H. engineer, George Sunday, of Cooperstown [Otsego Co., NY], an old man 87 years old was missed by his neighbors last Friday not having been seen for two or three days.  That evening two of them went to his house and found the door locked, but breaking in found him sitting at the table apparently eating, but he was dead.  Mr. Sunday lived alone, his wife having left him a number of years ago.  He worked at odd jobs and sold garden stuff.  His name of Sunday arose from his being left on Sunday morning upon the doorsteps of a wealthy family of Cooperstown and had always lived in Cooperstown.  He had a daughter living in Gloversville and a son in Oneonta.  [Bainbridge Republican, Mar. 6, 1902]

 

Afton [Chenango Co., NY]:  Our community was shocked at the sad news of the sudden death of Lena Irene Jones, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones, Sunday afternoon.  Irene was seventeen years of age, a girl of gentle disposition and one greatly loved by her schoolmates and a large number of friends.  Less than a week ago she was attending school here.  She had a hard cold which developed into pneumonia.  The funeral was held Wednesday at one o'clock.  Burial in Glenwood [Afton, NY].  [Bainbridge Republican, Mar. 6, 1902]

 

Mrs. Mary A. Humphrey, widow of the late Thomas Humphrey, died at her home about two and one-half miles south of this village last evening of la grippe, after a brief illness, aged eighty-eight years.  Funeral will be held at the house tomorrow (Friday) afternoon at one o'clock.  Burial in the East Side cemetery, Afton [Chenango Co., NY].  [Bainbridge Republican, Mar. 6, 1902]

 

William Woods died at his home in the southeast part of the town Wednesday, February 17, 1909, aged 74 years.  He is survived by his wife and several children, among whom are Theodore Woods late of Marathon, and Alfred Woods of Norwich.  Deceased was a veteran of the Civil War being a member of Co. K, 10th N.Y. Cavalry.  He was wounded in the left arm in battle at Bellfield Station, Va., Dec. 10, 1864, and never afterwards fully had the use of that member.  The funeral was held Saturday at 1 o’clock p.m. with burial at North Afton [Chenango Co., NY].  H.H. Beecher Post, G.A.R., of Bainbridge had charge of the services.  Mr. Woods was one of five brothers who enlisted at the outbreak of the war, two of whom never returned.  [Oxford Times, Feb. 24, 1909]

William Woods, the Soldier.  On February 17, 1909, H.H. Beecher Post lost one of its highly valued members, William Woods of Bush Settlement, near Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY].  The father, Hiram Woods, bears the remarkable record, unprecedented in Chenango County and probably rare throughout New York State and too, of the whole North, of sending forth five sons to bear arms in defense of the Union through the Civil War.  These sons were each members of the 10th N.Y. Cavalry.  William Woods, the primary subject of this sketch and his brother Jotham enlisted at Oxford, Aug. 30, 1862, as privates in Co. K 10th NY Cavalry and for three years.  The three other brothers, Clark, Harvey, and James, enlisted at different periods for one year each.  William was wounded at Jarratt’s Station, Va., Dec. 10, 1864 and discharged for disability June 16, 1865, from the Lincoln General Hospital, Washington, D.C.  But two of the brothers died through the war – Jotham Woods, who enlisted at the same time as William accidently shot himself April 24, 1863, and died the next day at Warrenton Junction.  Clark Woods died of disease Dec. 14, 1864, a few months after his enlistment.  William Woods, who has recently died, suffered mortal agony all these years since the war, his upper left arm being so mangled as to create a constant torture, and yet he bore his sufferings heroically.  He was brave in the war but braver still in his uncomplaining resignation to his martyrdom—reprinted from Bainbridge Republican [Oxford Times, March 17, 1909, 71:36]

 

Distressing Casualty:  In our paper for Jan. 1^st last we announced the marriage on the preceding Christmas of Dr. G.A. Shoales, of Plymouth [Chenango Co., N Y], and Miss Anna M. daughter of Albert Harrington of Oxford [Chenango Co., NY].  We have now to announce their sudden death, that of Dr. Shoales being from a most distressing casualty.  On Sunday of last week Mrs. Shoales, who was at her father’s (at the Hyde farm on the east side of the river) was taken ill, but not so violently as to occasion alarm, until a day or two after, by which time her husband had arrived there, when the disease developed into a dangerous brain fever.  On Wednesday morning, the Doctor, feeling alarmed for her, jumped onto a horse with only a halter and blanket, and started for Dr. McFarland, but while riding across Navy Island, a dog ran out and frightened the horse who commenced kicking and threw the Dr. nearly off and then dragged him while holding partly by the neck and partly by the halter to the canal bridge, where his head forcibly struck the post in the center and he fell senseless to the ground.  Aid immediately came to him but in vain;  he was taken while yet senseless to Mr. Harrington’s and there was tenderly cared for till Friday morning when he died.  In the meantime Mrs. Shoales’ disease had assumed a fatal character, and she had preceded her husband into the Spirit land, having died on Thursday morning and so they two were prepared for and awaited their burial in the same parlor, in which so few weeks ago they had been married.  This afflicting dispensation comes with a sad and crushing influence to many who knew and loved and respected the deceased—an influence deepened by the time and manner of their deaths and the suddenness and rapidity with which the strokes fell.  Dr. Shoales had already assumed a commanding position in his profession and gave undoubted promise of attaining eminence in it, and by none will his death be more deeply deplored than by his professional brothers.  A post mortem examination in the case of the deceased husband disclosed a fracture on the left side of the head, and extending to the base of the cranium, which was beyond the power of medical aid, and immediately under that portion which received the blow, the substance of the brain was much disorganized and blood had been flowing from the left ear for about twelve hours after the injury was received.  The funeral was attended on Sunday from the Presbyterian Church, by an immense concourse of sympathizing friends and acquaintances, prominent among whom were members of the Medical profession and a large representation of Good Templars, with which organization one or both of the deceased were connected and which rendered solemn and deserved honors at their grave.  [Chenango Telegraph & Chronicle, Feb. 12, 1868]