Obituaries (August 21)

Sidney S. Babcock

Utica Saturday Globe, June 1902

 

Sidney S. Babcock

 

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  Sidney S. Babcock, a well-known resident of this village, died suddenly Thursday  morning, aged about 32.  An autopsy was performed by Drs. Wilcox, Fernald and Harris and an inquest will be held today (Friday).  Deceased was the eldest son of the late Dr. Linn Babcock and was born in New Berlin [Chenango Co., NY] and came to this village with his parents when about a year old.  He was until recently traveling salesman for the firm of L.&A. Babcock, dealers in musical instruments, of which firm his late father was the senior member.  He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Linn Babcock, two brothers, L.H. and Ormond Babcock, of this place, and one sister, Mrs. Frank Rogers, of New York.  The funeral will be held from the home of his mother on East Main street Saturday afternoon.

 

Lucinda Knapp

Northern Christian Advocate, 1846

Lucinda Knapp died in \Cazenovia, Nov. 24th, aged 46 years.  Mrs. Knapp had been a consistent member of our church for thirty years  For more than three months the family has been severely afflicted.  She was the mother of Rev. J.N. Knapp, whose obituary you published not long since.  Her vigilance at his sick and dying bed, was unabated.  Immediately following his death, Br. Knapp, the father, and a daughter, were taken very sick, and lay dangerously ill for weeks; then Mrs. Bierce, Mrs. Knapp's mother, was attacked with sickness; thus were three of her family for weeks very low.  Her anxiety and care at length exhausted her strength, and she gave up as she said, to die.  Four of the family were now very low, and it was doubted by many whether either of them would recover.  At length Br. Knapp and the daughter were permitted to give evidence of recover, but the aged grandmother, after giving a delightful example of Christian patience and resignation, fell asleep in Jesus.  In one week she was followed by her daughter, who died as above.  In the course of her sickness, and in her life of devotion, our departed sister afforded encouraging evidence that she is now entered upon her glorious reward in heaven.  Our Br. Knapp in this severe series of afflictions, has been sustained by the blessed consolations of the gospel, and though himself and daughter are still quite feeble, they murmur not at Divine Providence, but look forward with joy to the time when they shall rejoin their friends who are gone before.--A.J. Crandall

 

Anna (Green) Goit

Utica Observer, June 13, 1902

Mrs. Anna Goit died suddenly in Oswego Tuesday night, aged 53 years.  She had been in her usual health during the day and appeared to be so when she retired that evening.  Wednesday morning her daughter-in-law, Mrs. A.J. Goit, with whom she lived, upon going to the room found her in a chair fully dressed, but lifeless.  The coroner concluded that Mrs. Goit had been dead about 12 hours, that death was due to heart trouble.  Some time ago Mrs. Goit wrote her own obituary notice and requested that it be used in case of her death.  It reads:  "Mrs. Goit was the wife of the late William H. Goit.  She was born in Deerfield, Oneida county, in 1819, the daughter of Henry K. Green and Johanna B. Northrop.  She came to New Haven this county with her parents in 1832, and in 1841 married William H. Goit in Mexico. Soon after she moved to Oswego, which has been her home since.  She joined the First Baptist Church in 1860, and was a member at the time of her death.  She leaves one child, Adelbert J. Goit, and two grandchildren, Mrs. Anna Goit Earl of Oswego, and William G. Goit of Wilkesbarre."

 

Charles Gibson

Bainbridge Republican, December 3, 1880

A fatal shooting accident occurred at the Half-Way House, between Norwich and Oxford [Chenango Co., NY], at a shooting match on Wednesday afternoon of last week.  Charles Gibson, of Norwich, being the victim. The circumstances of the case, are as follows:  Gibson, who resides near Norwich, with his wife and mother, was employed to tend a target at the 100 yard range.  At this range live turkeys were set up and shot at, and a large target was placed behind, and the position in which the shots struck the board was indicated by pins which were placed on the board where the ball entered.  It was the duty of Gibson as soon as the shot was made, to insert the pin and then get out of the way of the target. A shot had been fired, as it appears by D. Hall, of Smyrna, and had hit the turkey, and Gibson went up to the target to mark the shot and stood with his back to the shooting and was inserting a pin, when another shot was fired which struck him about three inches above the hip, and about two inches to the right of the medial line, passing almost in a straight line through the body, severing an intestine and striking his right arm as it passed out of his body, half way between the wrist and elbow shattering the bone.  He started for the stand, but fell before reaching it.  He was taken up and carried to the Half-Way House, and Dr. McFarland of Oxford was summoned, who upon examination of the wounded man, pronounced his wound fatal.  he lived about 22 hours, dying at one o'clock on Thursday following.  It is claimed by most of those present that John Reed, of New Berlin, fired the fatal shot.  Mr. Reed is a veteran of the late war, and lost a leg in battle, for which he now draws a pension from the government.  He is a perfectly temperate man, and feels keenly the part he is compelled to sustain to the said affair. The deceased was about twenty-four years of age, a member of the Baptist church of Norwich, and a poor, but industrious man.  He leaves a young wife, to whom he has been married about a year and a half, in very impecunious circumstances, upon whom the sad blow falls with crushing weight.  As soon as Dr. Avery learned of the death he summoned a jury, who visited the Half-Way House, viewed the body, and an inquest was held, with I.W. Baker as foreman of the jury.  Several witnesses were examined, an autopsy of the body made by Dr. Thorp, of Oxford, and a verdict rendered that the deceased came to his death from a gunshot wound inflicted by John Reed, and that the shooting was wholly accidental.

 

Nathan P. Wheeler

Chenango Union, May 1, 1884

On Wednesday evening last, a telegram was received by Mrs. Nathan P. Wheeler, of this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY] announcing the alarming illness of her husband in Brooklyn.  She left on the N.Y.O.&W. train, Thursday morning, and in the evening a dispatch was received, bearing the startling intelligence that he had died at five o'clock that afternoon, several hours before his wife could reach him.  His eldest daughter, Nettie, was with him during his sickness and at the time of his death.  There was a feeling of sadness throughout the community when it became known that one who had passed his useful life in our midst, and who had long been identified with the interests of our village had thus suddenly passed away.  For the last two years Mr. Wheeler had been extensively engaged in business in Brooklyn, his family most of the time residing here.  On Saturday, the 12th inst., he was called home on account of the severe illness of his venerable mother, returning to the city on the following Monday.  Although apparently in his usual good health, it appears that before his departure he complained of severe pains in his stomach, and that he continued to grow worse on his journey.  Arriving at Brooklyn, he consulted a physician, who prescribed for him, and he was able for the week to, at times, attend to his business.  On Sunday he was attacked with inflammation of the bowels, but on Wednesday was considered out of danger.  In the afternoon of that day he was suddenly taken worse, and in twenty-four hours was a corpse.  Deceased was a son of Jedediah R. Wheeler, of East Norwich, where he was born in 1830.  At an early age he entered the store of Chauncey G. Wheeler, in this village, a clerk, and upon the death of his employer, succeeded him in the business, which he successfully conducted for several years. Retiring from the mercantile business in 1866, he afterwards became agent for the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company; and in 1880 he accepted the position of Superintendent of the Coney Island property of the New York and Sea Beach Railroad Company, which he held for two years.  For the past two years he has been engaged in the manufacture  of oleomargarine in Brooklyn.  In politics he was a Republican, and has held the offices of Town Clerk, Supervisor and county Treasurer, the duties of which he discharged with ability and fidelity.  As a citizen he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all. Genial in manner, active in business pursuits, and public spirited, he was one whose loss will be deeply felt.  He leaves a widow and two daughters to mourn his sudden departure.  The sympathies of the entire community are theirs in their affliction.  The remains arrived on the early Saturday morning train, via the D.L.&W. road, and were accompanied by Mrs. Wheeler, Her daughter Nettie, and his brother, Jedidiah R. Wheeler, Jr.  Funeral services were held at his late residence on East Main street, Sunday afternoon at three o'clock and there were present a large number of sympathizing friends. The services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Taylor of Binghamton, assisted by Rev. H.A. Delano, and the remains were conveyed to the cemetery, I.S. Newton, A.F. Gladding, T.D. Miller and Peter W. Clarke acting as bearers--followed by a large concourse of citizens.  Mr. Wheeler it appears was at his own request conveyed form his boarding house in Brooklyn, to a hospital, where he died.  A post mortem examination was made, which disclosed the fact that the cause of his death was a stricture of the smaller intestines, of apparently long standing, and for which there was no remedy.