Obituaries (March 30)

Mary (Thorpe) Holmes

Utica Saturday Globe, December 1900

Mary (Thorpe) Prindle Holmes

 

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  After an illness of several; weeks during which it was realized that there was little chance of recovery, Mrs. Daniel M. Holmes passed away at her home on South Broad street, at an early hour on Tuesday morning.  Mrs.  Holmes was a woman of remarkable intelligence and refined education, and inherited many of the traits of a distinguished ancestry.  She was an ardent student and enriched her mind by reading a wide range of literature. She was prominent in local church and charitable work, being president of the Woman's Working Association of the Congregational Church and took an active interest in the affairs of the Chenango Valley Home, of which she was one of the first directors.  No exertion was too great when there was an opportunity to make others happy.  She interested herself greatly in the welfare of dumb animals and was the local representative of the State Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  The thought of what the consequence would be to herself when she interfered in a case of cruelty to man or beast never occurred to her, for she loved every being that needed a friend better than she loved herself.  All the world had no power to swerve her from the right.  Mary S. Thorpe was born in this village, 62 years ago, and was the youngest of three daughters of Charles A. Thorpe, in his day one of the most eminent lawyers practicing in our courts.  He settled in Norwich in 1820 and at the birth of his daughter Mary, lived where the Broad Street Methodist Church now stands.  Mary was a student in the old Norwich Academy when Miss Harriette A. Dillaye was the preceptress and completed a course under the same lady at the Chestnut Street Ladies' Seminary, since the Ogontz school, Philadelphia.  After graduating with the highest honors she went to South Carolina and taught two years and returning north accepted a situation in the same seminary from which she graduated.  Miss Dillaye being still at the head.  She was a teacher in the Norwich Academy in the ante-bellum days and for several years was preceptress of Oxford Academy and later held the same position in the High School at Rock Island, Ill.  Returning about 1880 to Norwich, she was married February 24, 1885 to Hon. Elizur H. Prindle, who died October 7, 1890, and July 18, 1895, she married Hon. Daniel M. Holmes.  Her husband and a step-son survive her.  She is also survived by one sister, Mrs. W.S. Thomas, of Alexander, Ark.  Another sister, who married judge Horace G. Prindle died in Norwich January 11, 1892.  The funeral of Mrs. Holmes was held on Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. Robert N. Martin officiating.  Interment in Mount Hope [Norwich, NY].

 

Hon. Elizur H. Prindle

Chenango Union, October 9, 1890

Since his fall upon the sidewalk on North Broad Street [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], on the evening of the 11th ult.  It has been known that the chances for the recovery of Hon. Elizur H. Prindle were very doubtful.  For years his health had been failing, and the shock to his system was more than he could endure.  He gradually sank until Tuesday afternoon about 3:30 o'clock, when he quietly passed away.  The announcement of his death was no surprise to the community, yet there was a feeling of sadness upon the departure of one whose honorable and useful life had been passed among us.  Mr. Prindle was born in Newtown, Conn., May 6th, 1831, and his early years were spent in agricultural pursuits upon his father's farm.  He came with his parents when young to Unadilla, where his father died, and his mother, with the family, moved to Cincinnatus, Cortland county.  His early education was in the common schools and was completed in Homer Academy, after which he taught school.  In 1851 he came to this village and commenced the study of law in the office of his cousin, Hon. Horace G. Prindle, and was admitted in January, 1854, since which time he had practiced his profession.  He was elected successively to the offices of Town Superintendent of Common Schools, Justice of the Peace and District Attorney from 1859 till his election to the Assembly in 1862.  He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1866-7, and was elected Representative in Congress in 1870, from this District, serving two terms.  Since that time he has devoted himself to the practice of his profession.  he was an able lawyer and was engaged as counsel in many important cases.  As a citizen he was held in high esteem by his large circle of friends who will miss him in the daily walks of life.  His widows, Mrs. Mary A. Prindle, and sister, Mrs. Warren L. Scott, of this village, survive him.  Funeral at his late residence, West street, Friday at 2 P.M.

 

Hon. Daniel M. Holmes

Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, June 29, 1904

Hon. Daniel M. Holmes died at his home in South Broad street [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] about 1 o'clock Monday morning, aged 85.  For nearly seventy years he had been a resident of the town of Norwich and for more than fifty years an active participant in the religious, business and social activities of the village.  While maintaining an active interest in every enterprise which promised for the welfare of the village or tis people, his greatest devotion was to his home, the Frist Baptist church and the public schools.  In his home he was the best type of a Christian husband and father, kind and indulgent, but governing his own life and counseling his family in a meekness of spirit inculcated in daily gathering about the family altar.  He united with the First Baptist church about 1854, during the pastorate of Rev. Lyman Wright and for half a century was one of the recognized leaders in the church.  For many years he served as deacon.  His voice was heeded in the counsels of the church and in the absence of the pastor or during interims between pastorates he conducted the prayer meetings and sought to continue unabated the spiritual activities of the people.

 

In the fall of 1873, when the Union Free School district was organized Mr. Holmes was chosen a member of the board of education.  From the first he took a deep interest in the welfare of the schools and gave liberally of his time and thought to the management of the business of the district and to the betterment of school facilities.  In 1879 he was elected chairman of the board of education and served in that capacity until 1902, when ill health compelled him to relinquish the duties and his son, Daniel P. Holmes, was elected to the board, Judge Ray becoming president.  He was always modest in his work, finding his satisfaction in the knowledge that his duty was well performed rather than in the praise of the community.  And what that work really was, very few appreciate.  For years he practically managed the schools, receiving all moneys due the district and paying them out for the various expenses of the schools. The annual budget amounted to between $20,000 and $25,000 and the detail work necessary in transacting the financial work alone required a great amount of time. All of this time was cheerfully given, and without compensation, and for the valuable time thus bestowed and for the earnest thought and loyal devotion to the schools the people of Norwich owe to his memory a debt of gratitude, which can best be paid by continued progress along the paths which he blazed.  In 1883, when the Chenango National bank was organized, Mr. Holmes became one of the first board of directors and its first vice president.  His directorship he held until his death and he served as vice president until January 28, 1902, when he resigned on account of ill health.

 

Mr.  Holmes was a Democrat in politics, but not a politician or an office seeker, in spite of that fact his fellow citizens have several times called upon him to serve them in critical periods.  For six years during and after the war of the rebellion he was supervisor of the town of Norwich, Later he was county loan commissioner for three years and in 1875 he represented the county at Albany as Member of Assembly  During all of these years the motto of his life has been loyalty and however great the stress of work, no duty was ever shirked.  "I had rather wear out than rust," he wrote to an old Connecticut friend only a few years ago and his wish was fulfilled.  He literally wore himself out in devoted service to the community in which he lived.

 

Daniel M. Holmes was a son of Daniel and Hannah Chapman Holmes and was born at North Stonington, Conn. November 7, 1818.  In 1836 he came with his parents to Chenango county and settled on a farm west of the ravine below the village of Norwich.  For ten years Daniel M. Holmes worked on his father's farm in summers and taught school winters.  Very soon after coming to Norwich he was made school superintendent of the town and as such he had the hiring of all teachers and the supervision of the schools.  Later he taught in the Norwich academy and was one of the trusted, so that for sixty-eight years he was actively engaged in school work in this town.  On November 22, 1848, he married Sarah, L.W. Packer and soon after moved into the village and purchased the home in South Broad street in which he died.  One son was born to them, Daniel P. Holmes, who survives.  Mrs. Holmes died December 6, 1886.  In the summer of 1895 he married Mrs. Mary Thorpe Prindle, who died in December, 1900.  Since that time he has made his home with his son at the old homestead.

 

About 1850, after several years clerkship, Mr. Holmes engaged in the dry goods business in Norwich, continuing for five years, when he engaged in the hardware business with the late Joseph Latham.  Subsequently this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Holmes associated with his son under the firm name of D.M. Holmes & Son.  This was continued until 1888 when he retired from active connection with the business and devoted himself entirely to school and church affairs and to the management of several large estates of which he had been made executor. 

 

Until 1902 he was regularly at his office but failing health then compelled him to relinquish many of his duties and for the last two years he had been confined to his home the greater part of the time by a malady against which he had bravely fought for thirty years.  In the death of Daniel M. Holmes the First Baptist church loses its most efficient member and this community a man who during a period of activity covering more than the usually allotted span of life has walked before this people as a noble example of Christian manhood and the highest type of an American citizen.  Funeral services will be held from his late residence at 3 o'clock this afternoon.  Rev. Dr. J.L. Ray, pastor of the First Baptist church officiating. Burial will be made in Mt. Hope cemetery [Norwich, NY].