Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Obituaries (February 12)

The Rev. William Burnside was born Dec. 20, 1817, in the town of Maryland, Otsego county, N.Y., and died in Sidney, N.Y. [Delaware Co.], May 25, 1893.  When he was nineteen years of age the Revs. A.E. Daniel and John Crawford were appointed to the circuit where his parents lived; during a protracted meeting held by them he was converted.  Immediately after his conversion he heard the voice of the Spirit saying, "Go preach the gospel."  He took the preparatory course, and was received on probation in Oneida Conference in 1842.  Brother Burnside labored on twenty-three charges with great acceptability.  He was a good preacher, a most faithful pastor and very successful in revival work.  Hundreds were converted under his labors, among whom are a large number of ministers.  The last year of his life he was full of zeal for the cause of Christ.  He was always ready to preach or pray; full of hopefulness and good cheer.  He was sick for several weeks, having been taken ill while at the church at Sidney.  His last words to his pastor were:  "I am ready.  It is all well with my soul."  He leaves a widow, who has labored with him for these many years in the ministry, two faithful sons, and many friends to mourn their loss.  J.B. Cook. 
 
Rev. Wm. Bixby died at the residence of his sister in Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY] on Saturday.  He was one of the oldest members of the Wyoming conference, beginning his ministry in 1837, and has been in continuous active work as a preacher from then until the time of his death with the exception of one year.  His funeral took place Monday , and the burial at Oneonta [Otsego Co., NY].  Mr. Bixby was pastor of the M.E. church in this village in 1844-5, and in 1854-7 was presiding elder of Chenango District, with residence in Oxford [Chenango Co., NY]. 
 
Stanley H. Sprague, a life-long resident of Livingston Manor [Sullivan Co., NY], with the exception of the three years last past, died at his home in Bainbridge, N.Y. [Chenango Co.] on Monday January 7th, 1929 of coronary embolism.  Deceased was born at Deckertown [Schuyler Co., NY] on July 29th, 1859 and was the last living of six children born to Erastus Sprague and Mary Ann Purvis Sprague.  He pursued farming and lumbering since early life and in 1885 married Ilive M. DePuy, daughter of Jacob and Rachael L. DePuy of Centerville, N.Y.  To this union were born four children Floyd who died in October 1912 at the age of 21 years, and Harriet Isabel.  In 1890 deceased purchased the Sprague farm located about one mile north of Livingston Manor, from the estate of his father and lived here until 1918 when, on account of the ill health of Mrs. Sprague, he parted with the homestead to Anthony Vantran of Liberty, N.Y.  In 1918 deceased moved to Bainbridge.  Owing to ill health of both Mr. and Mrs. Sprague their life for the last several eyars had been spent in practical retirement.  Within the past month, heart trouble developed and this caused the sudden death of Mr. Sprague on the 7th inst.  The funeral services were held in the Livingston Manor Presbyterian church, of which deceased was a member, on Thursday January 10th, at 2 p.m. with Rev. Mr. Grosh, pastor of the church and Rev. Mr. Schoonover a former pastor of the deceased, officiating.  Interment was in the family plot in Orchard St. cemetery.  Surviving the deceased are his wife residing at Bainbridge, N.Y., Floyd L. Sprague of Middletown, N.Y., Frank H. Sprague of Ellenville, N.Y. and Harriet Isabel Monroe, wife of Roswell M. Monroe fo Bainbridge, N.Y.  [Bainbridge Republican, Jan. 17, 1929]

Miss Mary Louise Banks died in St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago, March 10th, 1929, after a lingering illness of many months.  Miss Banks, only child of James Meade Banks and M. Sophia Juliand, was born in Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY].  The family moved to Chicago in 1870, where Mr. Banks practiced law.  He with his wife and daughter became prominent in the church life of Chicago, being members of the Church of The Epiphany at West Adams and Ashland Boulevard.  Mr. Banks occupied a permanent place in the business concerns of that fast-growing city of the middle-west.  After his death in Chicago, Miss Banks moved with her mother to Delafield, Waukesha County Wisconsin, about 1915.  Here she devoted her life entirely to the care of her mother, now an invalid.  But she found time to aid the little church of St. John Chrysostom in its work.  Funeral services were held in the Epiphany, Chicago, Monday, March 11th, the rector, the Rev. J.F. Plummer, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Holmes officiating.  The committal service was held at Bainbridge Wednesday morning, March 13th, with burial in the family plot in St. Peter's Churchyard, the Rev. T.J. Collar reading the burial office.  At the same hour of the committal in St. Peter's Churchyard, a beautiful service was being held in the little Church of St. John Chrysostom in Delafield.  Some of the flowers used on the altar during that service were from Miss Banks' own home.  Miss Banks never forgot the quiet village of her birth.  She delighted to spend here what time she could during her vacation periods.  One of her chief sources of delight was to tramp through the woods which clothed the hills overlooking the village.  St. Peter's church, in which she was baptized when an infant, bears several marks of her thoughtful generosity.  The beautiful rood screen is in part an evidence of her love for old St. Peter's.  The picturesque lich gate at the main entrance in the churchyard was erected by her in memory of her father in 1927.  It was her intention to add much more to the beauty of the interior of the church, but the long extended lingering sickness resulting in death overtook her.  Hers was a life of singular sweetness and simplicity.  She enacted a quiet influence for goodness and the unchanging truths of her religion.  Her intellect was of unusual strength and beauty.  Of her daily life the governing force will illuminated all that she was, and reflected the peace and harmony of her soul was her true discipleship of her Blessed Lord.  Kind there was the inspiring, controlling principle of truth, keen-sighted, yet delicate and tender.  The love of truth is indeed part of the outfit of every noble nature.  "It ranks with charity and purity among the fairest flowers which grow on the Tree of the Cross."  For Miss Banks the adherence to the principle of truth was the strength which enabled her to meet the exacting requirements in a life of real self-sacrifice.  Miss Banks never indulged in any venture of flight of the imagination at the expense of truth.  She lived a consistent life, and was a sincere believer in all the truths of the Christian Revelation, as held and taught by the undivided Church of Jesus Christ.  She held to her faith with sensitive yet strict tenacity, not because of a peculiar personal bias, but because it was God's truth. Because of her inherent love of truth which was reflected in her genuineness Miss Banks worthily enjoyed the friendship of numerous men and women.  Among her friends were those in high station and low station of our complex American life.  Bishops, priests, deacons, educators, statesmen, tillers of the land, and those whose lot it is to do the menial tasks of domestic routine,  all regarded it a rare privilege to call her friend.  To all she was universally kind, generous, considerate, Miss Banks had a gentleness of disposition which was very marked; and self-effacement which corresponded to her gentleness; she disliked that which we call "publicity" regarding her own deeds.  In whatever she did or said she wanted to be left in the background, never to be made prominent.  Miss Banks was a student.  In her home she was surrounded by books which she had carefully choses and read diligently.  Her large library is composed of the masterpieces of the best in literature both secular and religious.  The walls of her beautiful but unpretentious home in the village of Delafield, Wisconsin are covered with copies of the works of the great artists.  And bits of statuary occupy the niches here and there.  Miss Banks was a very good woman, one of the saints of God.  May light, peace and refreshment be hers in the nearer presence of her Divine Lord and Savior. [Bainbridge Republican, Mar. 21, 1929]

At Sidney Plains, N.Y. [Delaware Co.], April 22d, Charles Skinner Bradford, aged 35 years.  He was educated at the Delaware literary Institute, in Franklin, N.Y., entered the 144th Regiment N.Y.S. Volunteers at its organization as Orderly Sergeant, was promoted for good conduct to be First Lieutenant, was a long time its acting Quarter Master; with it he was mustered out of service on the return of peace, with a record unsullied and personal popularity unsurpassed.  He returned to Sidney Plains, was appointed postmaster, entered mercantile business and exhibited the same traits of character which had marked him in the army, order, punctuality and integrity.  He was the friend and counselor of all.  Old and young, high and low came to him for advice and encouragement.  A local descendant of the Rev. William Johnson, who settled at Sidney in 1772, he possessed and developed the more lovable traits of character of that sturdy divine--energy, courage and an unyielding adherence to the light.  He was a gentleman by instinct, a Christian from conviction and practice.  He will be sorely missed by the community, by the Church and by the Sunday School, and in the family circle.  His life was an open epistle, known and read by all men.  In the village of his birth he lived and died, leaving not an enemy or a heart burning.  Well may his survivors take up the lamentation of the ancient prophet, "How is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod."  His funeral took place on Tuesday and was one of the largest and most impressive gatherings Sidney has ever witnessed.  [Bainbridge Republican, April 29, 1876]
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment