Otsego Herald, Cooperstown, NY, June 5, 1806
Death
Died in the town of Exeter, in this county [Otsego Co. NY] on Tuesday morning last in the twenty-second year of his age, Mr. Rufus Hawkins, merchant. He was an active and useful young man, possessing a share of information, capacity and pleasing manners unusual at his age. He has left a disconsolate father and mother; brothers, sisters and a respectable circle of acquaintance to bemoan the loss of a dutiful son an affectionate brother and faithful friend. His funeral was attended yesterday by a large concourse of relatives, acquaintances and citizens, an appropriate discourse was delivered on this melancholy occasion by the Rev. Daniel Nash of said town. To the providence of an omniscient and omnipresent God we commit his immortal soul.
'Tis gone, that's all we knew; but where / Or how th' unbodied soul does fare? / Spirits fly swift; perhaps 'tis gone. / Ten thousand leagues beyond the sun, / Or twice ten thousand more twice told / Ere the forsaken clay is cold.
Otsego Herald, Cooperstown, NY, June 26, 1806
Deaths
Died at New York on the 6th inst. Gouldsbrough Banyer, Jun. Esq. of the city of Albany [Albany Co. NY].
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On Saturday last, two lads, sons of Mr. Cyrus Clark of this place [Cooperstown, Otsego Co. NY] one 9 the other 7 years of age, in company with an apprentice to Mr. Clark, aged about 15, were in a canoe on the lake, 12 or 15 rods from the shore, during a breeze, the eldest of the brothers, who was steering the canoe, fell into the water, and notwithstanding the cries of the others for assistance, he was drowned after a few struggles. He was taken out in about 15 minutes, but every attempt to resuscitate him proved unavailing. Experience, only, can estimate the grief of his bereaved parents. He was a pleasant lad and was generally beloved. On Sunday his remains were interred and a sermon, suited to the mournful occasion, was delivered before a numerous auditory by the reverend Daniel Nash. The following spontaneous lines were written immediately on hearing of the catastrophe by a neighbor.
The mortal life of feeble man, / Its longest date is but a span; / If sudden death takes us away, / No arm of flesh our lives can stay.
A mournful instance of this truth / Doth now present - a lovely youth, / While o'er the ruffled lake he past, / into the flood he soon was cast.
Around his frighten eyes he cast, / Alas! his term of life is past, / He strives, he gasps, he sinks, he dies; / Within the waves he clos'd his eyes.
Th' unpitying billows of the lake, / Remorseless, the weak victim take; / The second since its lovely banks, / Were occupied by civil ranks.
His little brother views his fate / He cries for help - 'tis all too late, / Instead of Fitch, so blithe and gay / He soon beholds a lump of clay.
His mother, the sad relic spies, / with wringing hands & streaming eyes; His father, soon is call'd to view, / His first born's corpse and bid adieu.
Ye little friends who have of late / Beheld his active lively state; / As you are now, fo, once was he, / As he is now, fo, you must be.
This is the second person known to be drowned in the lake since the settlement of this village [Cooperstown]
The boy's name was Fitch Clark.
The Pilot, Cazenovia, NY, June 6, 1822
Marriage
In Smithfield [Madison Co. NY] on the 23d ult. by Elder John Peck, Mr. Stephen Nickerson of Dryden [Tompkins Co. NY] to Miss Roxy May of the former place.
The Pilot, Cazenovia, NY, July 11, 1822
Death
At Fairfield, Con. on the 30th ultimo, Hon. Josiah Masters of Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County [NY] in the 58th year of his age.
The Pilot, Cazenovia, NY, July 18, 1822
Death
In the village of Madison, N.Y. [Madison Co.] at the residence of her father, D. Woods, Esq., on the eleventh day of July, instant. Mrs. Pamilia Nelson wife of Samuel Nelson, Esquire, Counsellor at Law of the village of Cortland, in the county of Cortland, aged twenty-one years, after a most enerutiating illness of more than five months, which she endured with patience and Christian fortitude rarely witnessed, and which appeared to strengthen as her prospects of recovery decreased and the pleasures of the world receded. Her calm & pious resignation to death, her perfect acquiescence in the will of heaven, seemed really to eclipse her former excellence and happily illustrated the truth of her favorite text in scripture, "and the righteous shall have hope in his death." She was a most endearing wife, a most tender mother, a dutiful child, and most affectionate sister. She has left a most tender and affectionate husband, one blooming infant son, darling parents, brothers, a sister and many relatives and friends to mourn their irreparable loss, all of whom it is hoped may profit by the example which her inspiring [-?-] presented. Surrounded by every earthly blessing which could render life desirable and to the last in perfect possession of her mental faculties, she thus cheerfully resigned in a firm hope of an happy immortality. Thus, all may learn from her decease that youth has no protection against death; that death has no terrors to a Christian and that the most flattering prospects in this life are but transitory visions. Argus