Obituaries (February 9)

Daniel Hale
Chenango Telegraph, May 1, 1844

At his residence in Florence, Oneida co., on Friday, the 12th inst., Daniel Hale, an old and much respected inhabitant of that place in the 85th year of his age.  The deceased removed from Brookfield, Worcester co., Mass., in 1816.  He has ever sustained the character of an honest and upright man and has left a large and respectable family to mourn his loss.  He was a member of the Baptist Church at the time of his death, and had by a consistent and well ordered life, adorned the doctrine of the Gospel which he professed.

"Another freed spirit has taken its flight

From regions of sorrow to realms of pure light;

His spirit divested of its cumbersome clay

There on wings of bright angels borne swiftly away."

Miles Ireland

Chenango Telegraph, May 1, 1844

The funeral of the late Miles Ireland, who died at his home Thursday morning last, after a long and severe illness from lung disease, was held at the Union church on Saturday at 3 P.M.  The church was crowded, many G.A.R. comrades from Norwich, Plymouth and Smyrna being present and participating in the solemn ceremonies. The speakers on the occasion were Dr. H.H. Beecher and Rev. Mr. Moore, of Smith Post No. 83, and Rev. Mr. Beers, pastor, Rev. W.G Queal and Rev. L.C. Hayes, of Norwich. The remarks from the above named gentlemen as well as the sermon delivered by Rev. L.C. Hayes, made a deep and lasting impression upon the congregation. The singing was supplied by the congregational choir of Smyrna, and highly appreciated.  The deceased was born in the town of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], in 1838; enlisted as private in Company F, 114th Regiment in 1862, and was discharged from the hospital at Washington for physical disability, in May, 1863.  He was a member of the Grand Army Post at Norwich, and was highly esteemed by all of its members.  Ritualistic ceremonies were performed at the grave by the members of that grand order.  He was a prominent member of the M.E. church, and was ever ready and willing to lend a helping hand to advance the cause of Christianity.  He was a benevolent man, and did much to alleviate suffering humanity. As a citizen he stood high in the estimation of his friends and neighbors.  He was an indulgent father and an affectionate husband, a true soldier, and a zealous Christian, and will be missed in the community where he lived, as well as the home circle.  He leaves a devoted wife and four children to mourn his loss, who have the heartfelt sympathies of a large circle of friends to help to comfort them in their bereavement.  North Norwich, June 13, 1887.

Elizabeth Packer (Pendleton) Stanton

Chenango Union, June 16, 1887

"Tis over now, the door has opened this last time for her,

More wide than was its wont; no longer side by side

With us she passed from thence, We followed,

Weeping at the pomp which was not pride, and

Which she did not seek.

We cannot speak because we loved her so."

June 9th, 1887, after a distressing illness of three months, died Elizabeth Packer Stanton, wife of the late Capt. Robert A. Stanton, and only daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth Pendleton, in the 42d year of her age.  Born at Oxford, N.Y. [Chenango Co., NY], she received her earlier education at the Academy at that place, afterward taking a special course of study at Vassar College.  August 27th, 1868 she married Cat. Robert A. Stanton, and soon thereafter the young couple took up their residence in this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], where they have since resided and where four children have been born to them.  Peculiarly fitted for each other, Mr. and Mrs. Stanton, during their married life, ever maintained the character of lovers.  Their greatest enjoyment was to share each others' society, and their greatest desire to rear their children for spheres of usefulness in the world. Thus passed the happy years--though a considerable portion of them were passed by her in physical suffering and ill health--yet she called them happy years.  But all too soon the bright visions faded, and the happiness went out from her heart like the glow from evening skies.  Less than one year ago her companion was stricken down by her side, and she learned that love was powerless to wrest from the usurer Death his bonded debtor.  She buried him, and with him for a time seemed to bury every hope and desire of living.  He had been her support and strength during all the sweet years. and round him she had twined all the tendrils of her affections, and now, bereft of him, all joys for her had faded.  But the devoted wife was the self-sacrificing mother, and from the grave of her dead she rose with heroic determination to take up again the burden of life, and for her children to work, to plan and to live, as it seemed pleasing to the Lord. Then it was that the Master, having taught her the lesson of obedience and love said "It is enough, come up higher."  She heard the call and, commending her loved ones to the care of Him who tempereth the blasts to the shorn lamb, she entered into His rest.  During the few weeks immediately preceding her death she sent loving farewell message to distant friends, and spent hours in planning the future of her children.  The funeral services were held from the home Sunday afternoon, Lovely looked the casket and that which it contained as it lay in state in the long parlor waiting to be borne to its last resting place.  Over the casket, with wings expanded in an upward flight, hovered an exquisite butterfly of rare flowers, beautifully representing the freed spirit winging its way to its other, ultimate home, while around and above the still form, in the most perfect arrangement which loving ingenuity could devise, were other floral tributes equally beautiful, and seeming to take from death its sternness and its sting. The wasted features wore a look of ineffable peace for "the former things had passed away," and you knew, as you looked upon the closed and quiet eyes, that God had indeed wiped away all tears from them forever.

"All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow.

All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing.

All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience."

No pen of ours can do justice to her character.  A devoted wife, a loving mother, a steadfast friend, these are the titles she earned on earth, and which shine as stars in her crown of immortality.  Why God called her when she seemed most necessary to her loved ones, is a question that will remain unanswered until we, too, shall stand in His presence, and hear all mysteries explained.  In the quiet cemetery, near the highway which she traversed when she left her Oxford home-a happy wife-by the side of him who loved her better than his own life, and whose faithful wife she was, Elizabeth Stanton sleeps until the resurrection morning.

"Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them.

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever,

Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy,

Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors,

Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey."

Death Notice

Chenango Telegraph, May 1, 1844

In this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], on the 13th ult., of dropsy on the brain, Lydia A. [Kershaw], aged 17 months, and on the 25th ult, Fanny M. [Kershaw], of the same disease, aged 3 years and 2 months, daughters of Mr. James Kershaw.