Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, April 12, 1877
Marriages
Mr. and Mrs. J.G. Van Wagenen celebrated the tenth anniversary of their wedding at the St. James last Monday evening. A large number of relatives and friends were present, and they came "down with the tin" handsomely. Warm sugar and other refreshments were served in the dining room, while dancing and other amusements took place in the parlors. A very social time was had, the host and hostess making it pleasant for all. Times [Oxford, Chenango Co. NY]
Deaths
HOLLIS: In this village [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY], April 7th of consumption, Mr. Eli D. Hollis, aged 53 years.
LAMB: In North Norwich [Chenango Co. NY], April 7th, Roby S. [Lamb], wife of Prentice D. Lamb, aged 33 years. Her remains were taken to McDonough [Chenango Co. NY] for burial.
COOK: In South Canaan, Ct., March 28th, Mr. Cephas B. Cook aged 41 years, formerly of Oxford [Chenango Co. NY].
The many friends of Mr. J.H. Cook, of Central Smyrna [Chenango Co. NY], will regret to learn of the death of his son, Cephas B. Cook, which occurred at South Canaan, Ct., March 20th. Mr. C. was a representative in the Connecticut Legislature and much esteemed by all who knew him. He has been in poor health for several years, and the journeys to and from Hartford and his duties there were too great a strain upon his constitution. He died of consumption, in the prime of life, at the age of 41 years. The Hartford Post of January 6th has the following: "Cephas B. Cook is engaged in the brass and metal business in New York but has been a resident of Canaan for several years past. He holds the offices of Justice of the Peace, School Visitor and Examiner, and is also a member of the Board of Education. He was born at Oxford, N.Y. [Chenango Co.] and received a good academic education at the neighboring village of Norwich, in that State. while a resident of New York he took an active part in politics, but since coming to Connecticut has given most of his attention to Business. He was elected to the Legislature by the Democrats but is in no sense a partisan."
CHURCH: Sherburne, Chenango Co. NY: We are sorry to announce that Henry W. Church of the firm of Church Bros., died last Monday morning of the measles. Mr. Church was a young man of exemplary habits, a kind husband and father, and a good citizen. It is perhaps needless to add that his loss is severely felt in his circle of friends, which comprises this entire community.
FREEMAN: Sherburne, Chenango Co. NY: Mrs. Andrew Freeman died Monday P.M. at 5 o'clock, of hemorrhage. Mrs. Freeman was an estimable lady in every respect and her loss is deeply felt.
HYDE: Afton, Chenango Co. NY: On Friday of last week our much respected townsman, Elijah Hyde, who had been quite sick for some weeks, had a severe shock of palsy, which terminated in death last Wednesday, at 1 o'clock A.M. Mr. Hyde was one of the oldest citizens of this town and much esteemed by all who knew him.
BERRY: Miss Jennie Berry telegraph operator at the N.Y.&O.M. station in Walton [Delaware Co. NY], died on Saturday evening last, and her funeral was attended on Wednesday, by a number of operators and employees of the road. She was the only female operator on the Middle Division.
News Item
A Heroine's Grave
On Wells Hill in Preston [Chenango Co. NY], hard by the center of Chenango County, in a pleasant little cemetery, on a small, antique brown stone, the passerby may read the epitaph of Widow Jane Hadley, born 1733 and died 1819.
The subject of this brief notice was a native of Lexington Mass. Her father Ebenezer Fisk was an inn keeper. Her three brothers were carefully educated in Cambridge College, while she, with her four sisters (one of whom was the wife of the Rev. Dr. Cutler, of Boston) were educated according to the tastes and necessities of that early day. Being able to read and write was thought sufficient for a woman. This she knew, and having acquired the culinary art as practiced then, she was taught skill and dispatch upon the spinning wheel, and many and beautiful were the articles of snowy linen wrought out by her dexterous hand. And when the luxury of imported goods was denied her, she readily supplied herself with a lawn dress of matchless white, fine and nice, made from water rotted flax of her own spinning.
In 1754 she was married to Josiah Headley (afterwards changed to Hadley) and at once assumed the duties of landlady of an inn on the road from Boston to Lexington. It was then she learned how much she could do and suffer for her country, and the soul-stirring scenes of the Revolution were often related with pathetic tenderness in old age, to her grandchildren. She saw with sadness the long line of "regulars," as they went to destroy the much-needed supplies at Concord, and as she fled in haste, she took her hands from the unkneaded loaf, and tarried not to wash, but clad in her camlet riding hood, from the seclusion of the forest she saw with pain her country' foes move like a "giant snake," as she often said.
Her house soon became a rallying place for the Friends of Liberty, and of such occasions she would say, "I did not stop to run; I flew to provide entertainment for their need." About this time her eldest son Josiah was prostrated with a fever. The ardent Sons of Liberty filled the house and thronged the bedside of the sick. In a few days he paled in death, and who shall say this was not her offering to her country's cause?
She stood on Prospect Hill with a spyglass and witnessed the burning of Charleston, church not excepted. Anon their wealth took wings and flew away, but she proved herself equal to any emergency. Her father-in-law gave her fifty guineas, and with that she purchased a home and moved to the forest.
Once and again her residence was changed. Her last removal was from Brattleboro (where she buried her husband) to Preston [Chenango Co. NY]. she came in June, 1810, in company with her son John and his family, and although seventy-eight years of sunshine and shadow had passed over her, like one of old, her eye was not dim nor her natural force abated. Specimens of her stitching, long held as keepsakes, were done without the aid to glasses. She had a kind and helping hand for all, and one who knew her well say she never knew her to speak a frowning word. Her Bible was her constant companion on the Sabbath, and when the close of life came, she passed away as one who had caught a glimpse of the invisible and heard him say "Be not dismayed; I am thy God."
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