Obituaries (January 17)

Osmos Randall

Norwich Sun, November 28, 1917

 

Osmos Randall

1839 - 1917

Utica Saturday Globe, November 1917

The last of the oldest and most notable colored family in this city passed to the long rest last week when Osmos Randall of 35 Lackawanna avenue [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] died.  Funeral services were very largely attended from the late home at 2 o'clock Friday afternoon, Rev. J.A. Springsted reading the episcopal service.  Interment was made in Mt. Hope cemetery [Norwich, NY].  Osmos Randall was born in Norwich Dec. 8, 1839 the son of Amos and Hannah Randall.  He was a member of a family which attained considerable note in the country's history and he himself was widely known.  For over 50 years he conducted a livery stable on Lackawanna avenue and it was but four years ago that he gave up driving spirited horses and took to the wheeled chair where he spent most of his days, sitting on the front porch and conversing with hosts of friends. 

 

His brother Thomas Randall who died in 1901 was one of the ablest colored men of the county.  He learned the printer's trade here and after several years at the case worked on several of the best papers in central New York.  During the civil war he did service for the abolitionists at Petersboro, doing editorial work.  In 1873 he purchased the Sherburne News which he conducted for several years before returning to Norwich to work on the newly launched Norwich Sun. His last days were spent at the office of the Chenango Union.  Mr. Randall's sister Mrs. Sarah Williams died in 1915 and another sister Mrs. Hannah M.E. Imonds, emigrated to California in the early 50s.  The journey across the isthmus of Panama was made on mule back.  Mrs. Imonds was the first woman tailor in San Francisco and she also conducted a private school.  She was associated in the anti-slavery movement with S.R. Ward, Henry H. Garnett, Frederick Douglas, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.  Mrs. Imonds died in Rochester in 1896. 

July 15, 1877 Mr. Randall was united in marriage to Miss Mary D. Munson who has tenderly cared for him during his last days and who survives together with several nieces, nephews and other next of kin:  Mrs. Fannie Garrison, Mrs. Louise Sherman of Oxford, Misses Blanche and Hannah Randall of Oxford, Mrs. Clementine Taylor of Oakland, Calif. and Mrs. Julia Moore of St. Paul., Minn. are the nieces; Carmi Randall and Herbert Randall the nephews; Miss May Sherman the grand niece and McKinley Sherman the grand nephew.

 

Hannah (Brushell) Randall

Chenango Union, April 9, 1885

Mrs. Hannah Randall died in this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], April 6th, aged 85 years.  Mrs. Randall was the youngest daughter of Jonathan and Prudence Brushell, and born in Rhode Island, February 20th, 1800.  She came to this village with her parents in the winter of 1810-11, making the journey with ox-teams in three weeks time; and with the exception of one year in Stockbridge and two years in Coventry, she has since resided here.  She was married in 1819 to the late Amos Randall, who also came to this town with the late Deacon Charles Randall in the early beginning of the century.  He died October 2d, 1840.  Her mother, Prudence Brushell, was one of the constituent members of the first Baptist church, in Norwich, and Mrs. Randall was a member of the first M.E. class organized in 1824, and throughout her lifetime was earnestly and practically pious, showing her devotion by her works.  There are many recipients of blessings at her hands who have gone before, and who will greet her with welcome joy in the house of the brightest spirits.  Of a large family of children she left surviving her three, Thomas and Osmos Randall, and Mrs.7 Sarah Williams, all residing in this village, and a step daughter, Hannah, now Mrs. Edmunds, in San Francisco, Cal. The funeral services at 3 o'clock, Wednesday, at her late residence of Lock street, Rev. H. Fox officiating.

 

Hannah M. (Randall) Edmonds

Chenango Union, August 6, 1896

The gates of the redeemed were thrown open July 12, 1896, to receive the spirit of Mrs. Hannah M. Edmonds, which was then released from its earthly tenement, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Clementine Taylor,  1120 Broadway, San Francisco, Cal.  Funeral services were conducted by the rector of the Episcopal church, of which she was a member and the remains interred in Masonic cemetery.  Mrs. Edmonds was the eldest daughter of the late Amos Randall, and was born in this town [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] October 8, 1817.  She went to San Francisco about 1852, and resided there since that time, making but one visit (in 1866) to her native village.  She leaves surviving her one daughter, Mrs. Clementine Edmonds, of San Francisco, who tenderly and lovingly cared for her during her last illness; one sister, Mrs. Sarah Williams, of Binghamton, and two brothers, Thomas and Osmos Randall of this village.

Sarah Williams

Norwich Sun, October 5, 1915

Mrs. Sarah Williams, the mother of Mrs. Louise Sherman, died at her daughter's home at 18 Lackawanna Avenue October 4, 1915, aged 82 years.  The funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. H.W. Foreman officiating and burial will be made in Mt. Hope cemetery [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY].  [Compiler note:  Photo and more comprehensive obituary posted to this blog on August 19, 2016]

Thomas Randall

Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, January 16, 1901

Thomas Randall, an old time printer and one of the best known and most able colored men that ever lived in Chenango county, died at his home on Piano street in Norwich, Sunday evening, January 13, 1901, aged 73 years.  As a lad Thomas was bright and intelligent and early in life he sought the atmosphere of the printing offices of Norwich.  In the early fifties he entered as an apprentice the office of the Free Democrat, and after becoming a journeyman printer, and a good one, he worked on many of the best newspapers in Central New York and in the years of the Civil war did service for the abolitionists at Peterboro, N.Y., under the leadership of the renowned Gerrit Smith, preparing manuscripts, setting them up in type, doing various branches of editorial work, and even going upon the leisure platform.  he published a book of sermons once, which had a wide sale.  In 1872 Mr. Randall purchased the Sherburne News, in this county, which he conducted for several years, and afterwards became one of the publishers of the Norwich Sentinel.  He was one of the employees of The Sun when the paper was first established by Editor Campbell ten years ago.  For several years, up to the beginning of his last sickness, about two years ago, he was an employee of the Chenango Union.  Of a kind and generous nature "Tom" was held in respect and high esteem by all who knew him, especially by the members of the craft that had been his chosen avocation, and many a tender memory of him will linger through life with those who have been associated with him.  Mr. Randall was a son of Amos and Hannah Randall and was born in Norwich June 8, 1828.  He was married January 23, 1849, to Juliett Randall of Oxford, who survives him. There are also surviving one son, O.C. Randall, one brother Osmus Randall and one sister, Sarah Williams, all of whom reside in Norwich.  The funeral will be held from his late residence on Piano street Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. W.D. Benton officiating. Burial will be made in Mt. Hope cemetery [Norwich, NY]--Sun, 18th

Mr. Randall was for a number of years foreman of The Chenango Telegraph, and held that position at the time of his purchase of the Sherburne News.  He received very flattering notices from the various publications about the country at that time, including the Utica Herald, New Berlin Gazette, Oneida Dispatch, Chenango Union, the writers of several of the articles having served with Mr. Randall during his apprenticeship. 

Death of a Veteran Printer and Editor

There died in the village of Norwich, on Sunday, January 13, 1901, a veteran printer and editor, a native of the village and always a resident, except in the rare intervals when in other places following his profession.  This man was Thomas Randall, who died at his own home on Piano street, a home which he had provided for his family, which had become quite small in the lapse of years.  he leaves a wife of about his own age, and a son, beside many other relatives among the colored people of Norwich.  Among these is Osmus Randall, a younger brother of deceased, on whom much of the care for his brother devolved since the latter had to give up his work in The Union office a year or two since. 

Mr. Randall was a descendant of the purest white and negro blood which Chenango county could furnish before the state of New York abolished slavery.  And all Chenango county people of sixty years ago know that we had no superior mixture of blood in any part of the United States. 

Mr. Randall entered our village schools at an early age, and what school training he had was in these schools.  But at about the time that boys now graduate into the high school, he went to work as a printer's apprentice.  He was of large muscular power, and was able to discuss with his associates the principals of the scholastic training which they received, as well as to knock them down when they became too pressing in their insults. He seems to have learned the printer's trade of the Lawyers, father and son, who had a newspaper, and ephemeral employment here about 1850.  In 1855 he came to the Chenango Telegraph as a compositor, and was there when the present writer sold the office in 1861.  Since then he has been the publisher and editor of the Sherburne News, but for several years has worked as a compositor on the Chenango Union, where his last work was done.

Mr. Randall was a good example of the self-respecting man who comes up by his own desire to be something more than a mere "hewer of wood" for other people.  His fund of information, though rarely displayed, was good.  He was a great admirer of Frederick Douglas, the great leader of the people of his race, and whom in later years he much resembled.  Those who remember Mr. Douglass and his towering form and wide spreading hair often remarked the resemblance, for Mr. Randall was also of stalwart proportions.  Those who have known Mr. Randall through his life can agree with us when we say that his make up was not of the commonplace man, and that under more adventitious environment, he would have made a mark among his fellows much large than those environments allowed him to achieved.