Obituaries (November 29)

Rev. John L. Ray

Utica Saturday Globe, March 1920

 

Rev. John L. Ray

1846 - 1920

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  Rev. John Lafayette Ray, who died in Binghamton [Broome Co., NY] on Monday morning at the home of his niece, Mrs. Mary Forward, following an attack of influenza and pneumonia, was born in Beaver Meadow, Chenango county, May 30, 1846.  After attending district school he completed his elementary education in Norwich Academy and afterward matriculated at Madison, now Colgate University.  While in the theological seminary Dr. Ray preached at New Berlin and after his graduation received a call to Bath-on-the-Hudson, now Rensselaer.  Germantown, Pa., the Mount Auburn Church in Cincinnati and the Marcy Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn in turn were served by Dr. Ray and in 1901 the First Baptist Church of Norwich, which he attended in his youth, called him for the longest pastorate of its long history.  For ten years Dr Ray labored for the spiritual and civic betterment of Norwich before he was compelled to relinquish all pastoral work because of ill health.  His friends urged him to remain here but there were constant calls for his help and after a few months he went to the Steuben sanitarium in Hornell and later to Saratoga Springs for treatment. For five years he had resided at the home of his niece, Mrs. Forward, in Binghamton, where he died.  Dr. Ray was one of the family of eight children of Melissa P. Ray, the only surviving member of which is Federal Judge George W Ray, of this city.  Other relatives are:  J. Johnson Ray of this city; Mrs. Mary Forward and Mrs. John Eisenhardt, of Binghamton; Lieut. Col. Hal S. Ray, of Des Moines, Iowa; Charles Van Patten, of Denver, Col.; Miss Minnie Calkins, of Lebanon; Charles Tallett, of Beaver Meadow; Mrs. Legrand Harris and Arthur Blackman, of Holmesville, all nephews and nieces of the deceased.  Prayer service was conducted at the home of Mrs. Forward on Wednesday evening.  The funeral cortege arrived in this city at 10 o'clock on Thursday morning and proceeded at once to the First Baptist church, where the body lay in state until the funeral services at 2 o'clock on Thursday afternoon.  Rev. H.O. Rolands, of Oak Hill, Ill., a lifelong friend and college chum of Dr. Ray, officiated.  Interment will be made in the family plot at a later date, the body being placed in Mount Hope receiving vault [Norwich, NY].

 

Marie Louise Newton Bixby

1854 - 1916

On Monday evening, there died at her home on North Broad street [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] after an illness of about two weeks following a paralytic stroke.  Marie Louise Newton, wife of Joel J. Bixby.  Mrs. Bixby was born in 1854, in the same house in which she died. She was the only daughter of the late Warren Newton and Lydia Wheeler, his wife, long time residents of Norwich.  Her early education was first obtained in the Norwich academy; but later at various schools in new York and Boston, and finally in Europe, where she specialized in music, showing great proficiency. An exceedingly retiring temperament, when remorseless ill health came upon her in middle life, led her to withdraw more and more from intercourse with her old associates; so that there are now only those residents left of the earlier generation who remember "Lou Newton," who in her girlhood was the life of every social gathering and who in her early womanhood, with her mother, by their many charities, brought comfort and happiness to so many of the town's poor.  Besides her husband, Joel J. Bixby, whom she married in 1888, she is survived by an only son, Warren N. Bixby.  ---Sun Norwich.

 

Sophronia A. Bixby

The Morning Sun, Norwich, NY, September 7, 1896

Mrs. Bixby spent her girlhood in the village of her birth, and on the first of January, 1840, was married to the late Joel J. Bixby.  Removing with him to Bainbridge, she remained there for ten years, and then came to Norwich.  Mr. Bixby engaged in business here [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] for twelve years, or until 1862, when ill health compelled him to retire from it. The family then returned to Bainbridge, where Mr. Bixby died in 1865.  Two of the children were then very young and to their education, care and guardianship Mrs. Bixby devoted herself with untiring energy, and a single mindedness that never swerved from her appointed duty.  In 1886, after her son had attained his majority, Mrs. Bixby again became a resident of Norwich and so continued until the time of her death. She had four children, one of whom died at an early age, while three survive:  Mrs. T.R. Campbell of Binghamton, Mrs. J.S. Packard of Oxford, and Mr. Joel J. Bixby of this village. To have known Mrs. Bixby during these last ten years in Norwich is not to have known her thoroughly.  For, whereas none could fail to note her dignity of manner, her refinement, her intelligence, her affection for her children and her strong religious convictions, few would imagine from seeing her thus with the sunset of her life casting its calm over her, that she had borne exceptional responsibilities with uncommon bravery.  Into the twenty years beginning with her widowhood she entered with a firm resolve to be both father and mother to her children, to provide them with thorough educations, to be their guardian and counsellor, and to prepare them for the conflicts and trials of life. Their welfare was her only ambition; their happiness her one delight.  Hence today beside their burden of heavy sorrow, there rests a great burden of gratitude.  "Indeed they feel that, in the heavens above the angels, whispering to one another, can find among their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of Mother."  From girlhood she was a devout communicant of the Episcopal church and regularly attended services until bodily infirmity prevented. At all times she was loyal to her church and its teachings.  In its rites and ceremonies she found pleasantness and peace; that peace, which now is her's forever. The funeral services, which at the request of the deceased, will be strictly private, will be held on Wednesday morning at her late residence on Hayes street. The burial will be made in Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY].

 

Mary Mitchell Newton

Chenango Telegraph, September 5, 1900

Mrs. Mary Mitchell Newton, wife of I. Burket Newton, Esq., died at her home in Los Angeles, Cal., on Saturday, September 1, 1900, after a long and painful illness.  Mrs. Newton, better known in this community as Mary Mitchell, was the younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mitchell of this place [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], and was born June 2, 1863.  Her younger days were passed at her home, she was educated at the old Norwich academy and at Miss Dillaye's school in Philadelphia.  She was married to Mr. Newton in January, 1885, and took up her home with him in Los Angeles, Cal., where she has since resided.  For several years, Mrs. Newton had been in failing health and long visits to various foreign climes failed to restore her, and the skill of many physicians was alike futile.  She is survived by her husband and two children, Rowena and Burket.  She also has one sister, Mrs. Robbins Little of Pasadena, Cal., and three brothers, Dr. John W. Mitchell of Providence, R.I. and F.B. Mitchell and Fred Mitchell of Norwich. The burial will be in Los Angeles --Sun

Death Notices

Chenango Telegraph, November 8, 1865

 

HOVEY:  In Guilford [Chenango Co., NY], Oct. 23, of Typhoid Fever, Mary [Hovey], wife of Ransom Hovey, aged 25 years, 9 mos., and 7 days.

 

NEWELL:  In Martinsburg Hospital, L.D. Newell, aged 23 years.

 

BRIGGS:  In Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY], Oct. 28, Mrs. Olive Briggs, aged 86 years.

 

HALL:  In Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY], Oct. 5, Oliver P. Hall, aged 22 years, 10 months, 12 days.

 

LYON:  In Oxford [Chenango Co., NY] Oct. 29, Geo. M. Lyon, aged 23 years, 6 months, 14 days.

 

HALSEY:  Lost on board the steamer Chanticleer in the China Sea, during the month of July last, Smith W. Halsey, son of the late E.C. Halsey, aged 32 years.

 

CLARK:  At Portsmouth, Va., Sept 15, of quick consumption, Daniel D. Clark, late of the U.S. Navy aged 33 years, late of Smithville [Chenango Co., NY].

 

MEAD:  In Versailles, Cattaraugus Co., Oct. 11, Amos T. Mead, aged 3 years, 4 months.

 

BIXBY:  In Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], Nov. 1, of Typhoid fever, col. J.J. Bixby, formerly of this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY].