Obituaries (March 24)

E.B. Van Camp

Chenango American, March 17, 1864

In the list of killed in the late battle at Olustee, Florida, is the name of E.B. Van Camp a member of Co. B, 8th N.Y. Colored troops.  He was drafted into the service last summer from Norwich.  The name of George Robinson, of Co A, same regiment, is in the list of wounded in the same battle, and it is generally supposed to refer to another colored soldier from that place of that name.

Oliver Family

Chenango American, April 7, 1864

Mr. John Oliver, his wife, eldest daughter and infant, residing in Half Moon, Saratoga county, have died within a brief period. Their disease is attributed by physicians to the foul vapors from the cellar under the house, which was filled with potatoes.

Alfred Nichols

Chenango American, April 14, 1864

Alfred Nichols, Esq., a well known lawyer of Sherburne [Chenango Co., NY], died at that place on Sunday last of diptheria.  He was last fall elected Special County Judge, and the office becomes vacant by his death.

Sherburne News, November 6, 1909

Editor Sherburne News:  Some kind friend sent me a copy of The Sherburne News of October 9th.  The article under the heading of "Do You Remember?" attracted my attention and being a member of the family of "Attorney Nichols" mentioned in that article, I thought some of your readers might be interested to know what has become of us.  The older residents of Sherburne many remember that my father, Alfred Nichols, died at his residence in that village in 1864.  At the time of his death he was Special County Judge of Chenango County.  Not long after my father's death my mother, with her three small children, returned to her girlhood's home in Pitcher, N.Y.  Bravely and patiently she toiled to keep her little family together until they were of an age to care for themselves. Twenty years after my father's death she married G.C. Palmer, of New Hartford, who recently died at the advanced age of 101 years.  She is still living at New Hartford, but will soon make her home with her children.  her eldest son, Irving E., resides in Cortland, N.Y., the youngest in Naugatuck, Conn. Though I was too young to remember much concerning my life in Sherburne, I can recall a few of its incidents.  I know I was sent to an "infant school" taught by Miss Miranda Follett.  I remember the queer little stove in the middle of the room upon which something black and bitter was always steeping, to wash the naughty mouth and tongue that told a lie.  I remember the willow tree that grew back of the house where we lived.  It had a curved limb so near the ground that it often served as a chair for a certain wee lass with her book; and there was a honeysuckle climbing over the porch and a jasmine growing on a trellis in the front yard.  It would be gratifying to me if some of my father's old friends in Sherburne could produce some anecdote or reminiscence of him.  He must have been a unique figure in those days.  He was a very small man and wore a tall silk hat and was an inveterate story teller. But I dare say the friends who knew him best have long since passed away.  To me the memory of the old times though dim, is very dear, and the odor of the honeysuckle or the jasmine flowers always carries my thoughts back to my childhood's early days in Sherburne.
Ida Nichols Warner,  23 Spring street, Ilion, N.Y., October 20, 1909

Rev. Dr. Henry Hale Gifford

Died May 3, 1937, Penny Farms, FL

Word has been received here of the death of the Rev. Dr. Henry Hale Gifford, retired minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church.  His death occurred at the Penny Farms, Florida, where he had been living since his retirement in 1931.  Dr. Gifford started his ministry, after graduating from Princeton University and the General Theological Seminary, in New York City, as rector of Grace church, Elizabeth, N.J.  He was successively rector of St. James Church, New Brunswick, N.J.; St. Margaret's Church, the Bronx, and St. Andrew's New Berlin, N.Y. Surviving are his wife, the former Anna E. Brown; his brother, Frank Gifford, of Marine, N.C.; and four sons, Clifford Brown Gifford and Henry Durelle Gifford, of Sacramento, Calif., Howard Kelly Gifford, of Los Angeles, and the Rev. Frank Dean Gifford, pastor of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Mamaroneck, N.Y.

Lillian (Stark) Gifford

Died February 7, 1937, Edmeston, NY

Edmeston [Otsego Co., NY]:  Struck by a car and hurled down an embankment by the impact, Mrs. Ernest Gilbert, 54, was killed almost instantly Saturday morning in front of her home south of here.  Mrs. Gilbert had posted some letters in a mailbox and had started back across the road to her home when hit by an auto driven by Earl Hickling, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hickling, this village.  Mrs. Gilbert was thrown over a guard rail and down an embankment and the car smashed over several posts. The driver was uninjured.  Mrs. Gilbert was dead of internal injuries by the time she had been carried to her home by passing motorists.  Dr. H.V. Frink, Richfield Springs, coroner, was called and troopers from Sherburne investigated the accident which took place near the milk station.  Lillian Stark Gilbert was born at Mill City, Pa., April 3, 1882, daughter of Jennie Daley and the late John Stark.  Most of her life was spent at Clark Summit, Pa., but she had resided in this section for several years. She was twice married, her first husband being Claude Titus, Oct. 30, 1930, she was married to Ernest Gilbert.  Besides her husband, she leaves a daughter, Marie Titus, Edmeston, and a foster son, Rutherford Stark, San Diego, Calif.; two brothers Thomas, Hopbottom, Pa., and Floyd, Clark Summit; two sisters, Mrs. Lewis Wademan Ithaca, and Mrs. Joseph Swintak, Binghamton,  The funeral wil be held Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Death Notices

Chenango American, April 21, 1864

In Norwich [Chenango Co., NY], on the 18th inst., Harriet Ann [Johnson], daughter of Homer Johnson, aged 15 years.

In Guilford [Chenango co., NY], on the 18th inst., Mr. Ezra Gibbs, aged 67 years.

In Mt. Upton [Chenango Co., NY], on the 5th inst., Mrs. Anna Stowell, formerly of Richfield, Otsego Co., aged 86 years.

Chenango American, April 28, 1864

In Chenango Forks [Broome Co., NY], on the 21st inst., Mr. Daniel Willson, aged 88 years.

At the U.S. Hospital, David's Island, on the 11th inst., Mr. Luther A. Johnson, of Co. H, 89th Regt, N.Y.S.V., aged 23 years.

In Guilford [Chenango Co., NY], on the 13th inst., Mr. Thomas Sheldon, aged 83 years.

In Coventry [Chenango Co., NY], on the 5th inst., Ruth Martin, daughter of the late Dea. William A. Martin, in the 27th year of her age.