Friday, February 26, 2016

William DeVaughn Southworth, Norwich, NY, retires, 1909

William DeVaughn Southworth
Utica Saturday Globe,  January 1909
 
 
William DeVaughn Southworth
1872 - 1948
 
Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  For 15 years W. DeVaughn Southworth, who has just retired from the retail shoe business, has been numbered among the successful  merchants of Norwich.  He embarked in the shoe business alone between seven and eight years ago prior to which for eight years he was associated with his father, J.S. Southworth, in a department store.  His business relations have always been such as to win the continued confidence and respect of all with whom he had dealings.
 
Mr. Southworth was born in Edmeston, Otsego county, March 8, 187[2], and has spent just half of his life in Norwich.  At the age of 19 he was elected a steward in the Broad Street M.E. Church and has since been actively identified with the spiritual and financial work of that society.  For the past seven years he has served as superintendent of the Sunday school.  The growth of the school has been constant, its records now showing between 500 and 600 members.  He is married, has a happy home in Norwich.  His plans for the future are undecided further than that he will spend the winter in the south in an effort to regain his health.  It is hoped he may return to Norwich to reside and resume the activities of life along some new line if he should so choose.
 
Marriage
Southworth - Wetherby
The Scranton Republican, November 28, 1896
Mr. W. DeVaughn Southworth of Norwich, N.Y., and Miss Harriet Wetherby were married at the home of the bride's parents, Green Grove, Pa., by the Rev. J.S. Southworth, father of the groom, November 25, 1896, at 8 o'clock p.m.  It was one of the prettiest home weddings ever solemnized at Green Grove.  The bridal party consisting of the bride and groom attended by Miss Helen Baker and Mr. I.W. Bradshaw, led by little Jane Brennan as flower girl entered to the music of Prof. Willis Leonard in Mendelssohn's wedding march.  The bride was attired in cream silk trimmed with lace and pearls and carried a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.  The bridesmaid wore Nile green organdie and carried pink chrysanthemums, while little Jane was attired in white China silk and carried a basket of pink and white carnations and smilax.  The ceremony as performed beneath a beautiful arch of evergreen in a corner of the parlor.  The father of the groom then performed the ring ceremony of the Methodist Episcopal church in an impressive manner.  Prayer was offered by the Rev. R.W. Lowry, A.M., of Edmeston, N.Y.  Before introducing the company Rev. Mr. Southworth addressed the contracting parties in a few well chosen remarks. After congratulations the company was seated to partake of the wedding feast.  The ushers, Messrs. Willis Leonard, Ralph Newton, Bert Wheeler and Robert Baker, served the company, for which service and in token of good will each wore a horse-shoe pin of solid gold, presented by the groom.  The high appreciation and esteem in which the bride and groom were held was shown by the many beautiful and valuable gifts presented.  Among the most valuable was $100 in gold from the groom's father.  At 11 o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Southworth left for Scranton amid a shower of rice, good wishes and old shoes.  Now one of the best girls of this little village has gone to adorn another home.  Concerning Mr. Southworth, the editor of the Edmeston local comments as follows:  "Mr. Southworth is the most popular young merchant of Norwich, and one of the brightest young men who ever claimed Edmeston as the place of his nativity."  About eighty guests were present.
 
Obituary
Binghamton Press, April 26, 1948
William Devaughn Southworth, 76, of Greene [Chenango Co., NY] died Saturday morning at the Binghamton City Hospital, after a short illness.  He is survived by his wife, Harriet (Wetherby) Southworth of Greene; a brother, Jay L. of Washington, D.C.  He was former secretary of the Security Mutual Fire insurance Co., of Delhi; former president of Shiloh Brick and Lumber Co. at Shiloh, N.C.  He represented Oneonta, Newburgh and Binghamton Districts at the General Wyoming Methodist Conference three times from 1916 to 1932.  He was a member of Kiwanis Club of Delhi and served as its second president in 1923; the Masonic Lodge, Knights Templar, and shrine of Delhi.  The body was removed to the Root Funeral Home in Greene, where Masonic services will be held today at 8 p.m.  [Buried Union Cemetery, Edmeston, Otsego Co., NY]
 
 


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