Obituaries (September 21)

Hiram Horatio Tucker

Utica Saturday Globe, January 1904

 

Hiram Horatio Tucker

Death seldom comes in a more sudden or unexpected manner than it came to Hiram H. Tucker, of Sherburne, Saturday of last week.  Mr. Tucker had been confined to his room for several days with a badly sprained leg, but aside from that injury, apparently enjoyed his usual good health.  Saturday morning he seemed unusually cheerful but preferred to remain in bed so that the injured member could be kept in a comfortable position.  Often, while he had been thus confined, his family had heard him whistling and singing as they moved about in adjoining rooms and so it was that a humming sound, heard by Mrs. Tucker, while she was preparing his morning meal, occasioned no alarm.  However when she returned to his room, after an absence of scarcely two minutes, he was gasping for breath.  Medical assistance was hastily summoned but he passed away almost before the first physician reached his side.  Death is attributed to a weakness of the heart.  Hiram Horatio Tucker was born in the town of Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], January 25, 1854.  He was deprived of a father's care in his early years, but in 1860 occurred his mother's marriage to Reuben S. Aldrich, of Norwich, and on the farm of the latter, located in the western part of this town, the boy grew to manhood.  When he was 13 years of age he united with the First Baptist Church, of this village, and ever afterward led a consistent, Christian life.  He was educated in the old Norwich Academy and at the Lowell Business College at Binghamton.  While a student at the latter institution he became a proficient telegraph operator and in 1878, soon after leaving the college, he entered the employ of the Lackawanna Railway Company whom he faithfully served until his death.  His first position was that of station agent at Hamilton.  From there Mr. Tucker was transferred to Brisben and later to Richfield Junction.  For seven years he was chief train despatcher for the Utica division with an office at Utica.  Sixteen years ago, because of impaired health, he resigned his position and accepted that of station agent at Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY].  During these years he had interested himself in every movement which has tended to the improvement of the village he made his home.  Mr Tucker's business interests were manifold.  Beside attending to his duties as station and express agent he owned and operated an extensive coal and creamery business. Though never a politician, he was many times honored by the Prohibitionists of the county, having been their candidate for the Assembly at the last election.  For several years he was a member of the Sherburne Board of Education and at the time of his death was chairman of that board.  In the church he was always a pillar of strength, having served for many years as leader of the choir.  In every emergency he could be counted upon as an active agent for good.  In the town of Sherburne and in every locality which has ever been his home there are many who know of Mr. Tucker's generosity and benevolence and are saddened by his sudden death.  Quiet, unassuming, and genial in his demeanor, he numbered among his friends all who knew him. Charity was with him a primary principle and in his good deeds he always followed the Scriptural injunction which does not "Let the left hand know what the right [is doing]"  At the time of his death Mr. Tucker was a member of the Maccabees and of the Whitmore Hose company of Sherburne, master-elect of the Sherburne Lodge, No. 444, F.&A.M., high priest of Chenango Chapter, No. 253, R.A. M.; member of Norwich Commandery, No. 46, K.T., and also a member of the order of the Mystic Shrine, at Utica.  On January 22, 1878, Mr. Tucker was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Crumb, of Hamilton, who with one daughter, Alta, survives him.  He is also survived by his aged father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben S. Aldrich, of Norwich, and by two brothers and a sister, Corey J. Aldrich, and Mrs. Randall B. Evans, of Norwich, and Venner A. Aldrich, of Chepachet.  He was a brother of the late Philo R. Aldrich, of this village.  In the death of Mr. Tucker, Chenango county has lost one of her most enterprising business men and influential citizens, a man of whom nothing but good was said. The funeral was held at the Baptist church in Sherburne Tuesday afternoon last at 2 o'clock. The church was filled to the doors by sorrowing relatives, friends and neighbors. The services were conducted by the deceased's pastor and friend, Rev. Mr. Leonard.  The Knight Templar ritual, was rendered by the Norwich Commandery. The remains were placed in the receiving vault at Sherburne, awaiting interment in the spring.

 

Charles A. Wetmore

Chenango Union, July 16, 1874

Charles A. Wetmore, son of Augustus C. Wetmore, of this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], died at Jefferson, N.H., last week, aged thirty years.  He leaves a wife and infant child.  His remains were brought to this village for interment.  The Worcester (Mass.) Press thus refers to his death:

 

"The news of the sudden death of Professor C.A. Wetmore, of the Leicester Academy, will be read with sorrow by a large circle of friends.  During the few years he has resided in Leicester he has made many firm friends and won the esteem of all with whom he was associated.  Professor Wetmore was a native of Norwich, N.Y., and a graduate of Hamilton College in the class of '69.  In the following year he entered the Auburn Theological Seminary, but was unable to complete his preparation for the ministry on account of ill health. During his connection with the Leicester Academy the standing of that institution ahs been greatly improved, a substantial testimonial to his worth as an instructor.  He has long been a sufferer from asthma, and at the time of his death was stopping at Jefferson, N.H., in the hope of finding relief in the mountain air.  At the closing exercises of the last term at the Academy a letter was read from him bidding the students good bye and wishing them a pleasant vacation; and the kind expressions contained therein will be remembered by those to whom they were addressed as the last words of one whom they had learned to esteem."

 

John Wetmore

Bainbridge Republican, March 20, 1875

The death of John Wetmore, a notice of which appears under its proper head, should receive at our hands more than a passing notice.  He was our grandfather, and our intimate knowledge of, and continued association with him (having spent many years under his hospitable roof) taught us to love him with more than a boyish passion.  His has been a career of adversity.  He knew what it was to labor, and what it was, also, to have that labor yield him only vexation and trouble.  He has been a child of misfortune, verily, and the wrinkles on his brow told of the hardships and trials through which he had passed.  In his later years, however, he had been more favored by fortune, and retired from active life a few years before his death, the possessor of a handsome competency.  Born in Hobart, Delaware Co. [NY], he followed farming as his chief vocation for a number of years, when he was married at the age of twenty-three to Miss Ann Van Bergen, a member of the family bearing that name who were noted for their immense opulence and great benevolence.  Meeting with adverse fortune he removed to Butternuts, Otsego Co., in the spring of 1843, where he has since resided--excepting a few years in the adjoining town of Morris--occupied in farming.  He was the father of ten children, nine of whom are now living, and whose heads are already beginning to be silvered o'er with age.  John Wetmore was a direct descendant, in the third generation, of the Rev. James Wetmore, M.A., assistant minister of Trinity Church, New York City, from 1723 to 1726, and rector of Rye, Westchester co., from 1726 to 1760.  He was also a blood relative to the distinguished Prosper M. Wetmore, of New York City.  He died at his residence, half a mile below Butternuts, on Saturday afternoon last, at 3:45, surrounded by his partner and six of their children.  This is the first death in that family in forty years, which is certainly a most remarkable fact.  He had for a long time been suffering from a severe pain in the small toe of his right foot.  Indeed so intense were his sufferings that the family physician was called, who, after a few days, concluded to amputate the painful member.  This was done, but the foot commenced to swell and throb, mortification took place, disease found lodgment in his frame, and the once strong man was laid low.  It was thought that his very vitals were literally blackened with gangrene.  He suffered intense pain during his sickness, but bore all with a fortitude and resignation rarely equaled.  he was perfectly conscious of his condition and surroundings to the very last, and conversed freely, in his feeble voice, with the members of the family, and others, about his bright future hopes.  He passed gently away, approaching his grave

"Like one who wraps the drapery of his death about him

And lies down to pleasant dreams."

The funeral took place on Wednesday, at two o'clock, and the ceremony was conducted by Revs. Mr. Hughes, rector of the Episcopal Church, and Mr. Burnside, pastor of the M.E. Church, of Butternuts.  He was buried in the cemetery nearest the church, where he will remain until the last trump shall sound, and the earth shall give up her dead.  Requiescat in pace!