Obituaries (March 28)

Luverne B. Stratton

Utica Saturday Globe, November 1910

 

Luverne B. Stratton

1864 - 1910

Oxford [Chenango Co., NY]:  Luverne B. Stratton of this village, whose death occurred recently, was born in Coventry [Chenango Co., NY] August 4, 1864, the son of E. Ross and Hannah Symonds Stratton.  He married on December 5, 1888, Cora [Church], daughter of Erwin J. Church.  About 15 years ago he entered the employ of the T.G. Clarke Blue Stone Company in this village, remaining until the plant was closed three or four years ago, since which time he had been employed by the Clarke-Conroy Company at Norwich.  His trade was that of a blacksmith and repairer of tools and he worked faithfully until sickness compelled him to relinquish his work.  Mr. Stratton was a well known and respected citizen, and his death is mourned by a wide circle of relatives and friends. Deceased is survived by a wife, four children, Claude C. Stratton of New York; Clara, Ross, Albert and Elizabeth, who reside at home; also one sister and two brothers.  The funeral was largely attended and the Independent Hose Company and a delegation from the Clarke-Conroy Company were present.

 

Edith (McDonald) Ingersoll

Bainbridge Republican, July 12, 1899

Mrs. Guy Ingersoll died very suddenly last week at her home in Owego [Tioga Co., NY].  Burial was at Afton [Chenango Co., NY].  She was formerly Miss Edith McDonald of No. Afton and was about 35 years of age….The remains of Mrs. Edith Ingersoll, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George McDonald, were brought to Afton Wednesday and interred at Glenwood.

Thomas Jefferson Teachout

Oxford Review Times, February 11, 1923

T. Jefferson Teachout died at his home on Caswell street [Afton, Chenango Co., NY] Monday, Jan. 24, after an illness of seven months, aged 68 years.  The funeral was held at the home Thursday at one o'clock, Rev. I.L. Bronson officiating.  Burial was made at West Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY].  The Odd Fellows and Rebekah lodges of which he was a member attended in a body.  He is survived by a wife and daughter, Pearl Dimorier.  [ORT, 12:16]
 

Amelia (Prentice/Wilkins) Woods Butler

Afton Enterprise, March 22, 1934

 Obituary of Mrs. Amelia Butler, of Afton [Chenango Co., NY]:  The late Mrs. J.B. Butler was born in the town of Sherburne, N.Y. [Chenango Co., NY] Aug. 20, 1848,  She was one of three children born of Gilbert Prentice and his wife, Fanny Harris.  Very young in life, Mrs. Butler was adopted out to Lyman Wilkins and his wife of Wilkins Settlement.  There she spent her childhood days.  It was at Mr. Wilkins house that all the neighbors used to gather to hear the Civil War news read from the papers.  That was one of the duties that Mrs. Butler had to do.  At the age of 17, Mrs. Butler, then Amelia Wilkins was baptised in the Baptist church.  She and George Woods, later her husband, were both baptised in January, a hole having been cut in the ice in order to perform the ceremony.  After the war, in 1867, they were married.  From Wilkins Settlement they followed Horace Greeley’s advice, “Go West, young man, go west.”  So in the spring of 1868, Mr. and Mrs. Woods went west to wrest their living from the prairie, leaving Afton by stage coach for Binghamton.  They arrived in Iowa, where the early settlers had to build dugouts and sod houses.  It was in one of these dugouts that they lived 25 miles to any near neighbor.  More than once she has told of having to stand in the door of her dugout many times to protect a spring of water and even their very existence.  There was also a camp of Sioux Indians, not five miles away, which five years before, had participated in the terrible Minnesota Massacre.  It was in this dugout that her husband had to have his leg amputated, as an after effect of the war.  Then it was up to Mrs. Woods to provide for her family.  In spite of the strict school laws she was the first lady to secure a first class teacher’s certificate in Plymouth County, Iowa.  Mr. and Mrs. Woods came back east again and settled in Afton.  In later years, Mrs. Woods opened a millinery shop in the old Hyde block later destroyed by fire.  Then came the big fire here in Afton, but that did not daunt her courage, even though she lost her stock in the fire.  She re-established her business and became well known both in this village and in Bainbridge where she later established the same trade.  In the month of January 1892, Mr. Woods died leaving her a widow.  Eight years she remained a widow.  In April 1900 she was married to J.B. Butler of Canton, Pa.  From Afton Mrs. Butler moved to the latter place.  It was at this place that Mrs. Butler learned of her sister’s whereabouts (although the sisters were separated from each other in childhood).  She wrote her sister a letter and she was very pleased to receive an answer from her.  It was to this place that she brought the writer of this and brought him up.  Mrs. Butler was at one time Junior Vice President of the Department of Pennsylvania W.R.C.  She was also Past Regent of the Cunahunta Chapter D.A.R. and at different times a member of the W.C.T.U. and the Order of Good Templars.  She was also the oldest in membership of the Afton Baptist Church.  The funeral services were held from the home of the deceased on Thursday of last week.  Rev. Lester D. Huxtable officiated assisted by Rev. Clifford E. Webb.  Mrs. Harry Horton sang Mrs. Butler’s favorite hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” accompanied by Kathleen Camp.  Mrs. Butler is survived by her sister, Mrs. M.B. Sayre of Trenton, Mich. And a niece Nantie, a nephew, his wife and children.  A daughter Mrs. Carrie Pierce Cronin, Grandsons Leon Pierce of Afton;  Ivan Pierce of East Meredith, Granddaughters, Alura Pierce of Rockville Center, L.I.;  Dorothy Pierce, Schuyler Lake, and Sylvia Pierce of Afton, and one greatgranddaughter, Annogene Pierce child of Mr. and Mrs. Leon Pierce.

George Emory Aylesworth

Bainbridge Republican, June 4, 1908

George Emory Aylesworth died at the home of his daughter Mrs. Herman Davenport, on Front street Wednesday morning of this week from cancer.  Mr. Aylesworth had been a sufferer for the past twelve years, but did not give up until the last few months.  He was 68 years old and had been a resident of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY] all his life being born in West Bainbridge on the farm he later owned and was the son of Thomas Aylesworth.  He was a prosperous farmer and about twenty-five years ago he built a home on Front street in this village and came here to reside.  He retained his farm and alternated between the two places in making his home for the past few years.  Mr. Aylesworth was a conservative and respected citizen and one of the pioneers in Bainbridge life.  His wife died two years ago.  He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Herman Davenport of Bainbridge, Mrs. Florence Riley of Oneonta, and two sons Will J. Aylesworth of Bainbridge and Edward Aylesworth of Oneonta.  The funeral will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the home of Mrs. Davenport, Rev. G.E. VanWoert, officiating.  Burial in Green Lawn cemetery [Bainbridge, NY]. 

Cornelia (Newton) Elderkin Anderson Briggs

Afton Enterprise, October 15, 1931

 On Thursday morning, October 15, at 1:45 a.m. Cornelia Newton Briggs after an illness of five months passed on to life eternal at the age of 80 years.  Mrs. Briggs was the daughter of Philinda Easton and Philo Newton and was born in the town of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY].  At an early age the family moved into Afton Village, where she spent her girlhood days.  After residing several years in Burlington, Wash., it was a great pleasure to her to return again to her native home where she was united in marriage to Mr. Briggs on October 10, 1929.  Beside her husband, she is survived by three children, Mrs. Ralph E. Wilson of Guilford, Mrs. Howard M. Curtis of Richfield Springs and one son Claude B. Elderkin of Reno, Nev.  Fifteen grandchildren and ten great grandchildren survive.  The funeral services will be held at the Baptist church on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. of which church Mrs. Briggs was an active member.  Burial will be in Afton Glenwood cemetery. [AE, 54:8]