Obituaries (May 10)

Annah Campbell

Norwich Journal, July 4, 1821

In Columbus [Chenango Co., NY] on the 29th of June, 1821, Mrs. Annah Campbell, consort of Mr. Samuel Campbell, after a long and severe illness in the 44th year of her age.  In the death of Mrs. Campbell, her husband has sustained an irreparable loss, and her children have been deprived of a tender and affectionate mother.  The virtues of Mrs. Campbell were well known to all her acquaintance.  The numerous concourse of friends and relatives who attended her funeral is a sure indication of the esteem in which she was held. She died as she lived, with full reliance upon the merits of the savior of the world.

"Jesus can make a dying bed

As soft as downy pillows are.

Whilst on his brest I lean my head,

And breathe my life out sweetly there."

 

John Pabodie

Norwich Journal, October 17, 1821

Died In Providence, Rhode Island, Oct. 4th, Mr. John Pabodie, in the 23d year of his age, formerly of this village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], a worthy and respectable young man. He died full of hopes of a blessed resurrection.  He retained his senses to the last moment, and died in peace, giving praise to God, with his latest breath.  In the death of this young man, his parents are bereaved of a dutiful child, his brothers and sisters of a kind brother, and society a worthy member.

"Why do we mourn departing friends,

or shake at death's alarms?

'Tis but the voice that Jesus sends,

To call us to his arms."

 

Pomona (Dickinson) Johnson

Chenango Union, May 12, 1887

Guilford [Chenango Co., NY]:  Mrs. Pomona Johnson, widow of Alpheus Johnson who died at our place in 1841, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary Cook, in Afton [Chenango Co., NY], on the 5th last, after a short illness, at the advanced age of '89.  She was the only sister of the late Daniel S. Dickinson, and the last of that family.  She was one of the early residents of our town, and until a few years ago continued to reside in our midst.  Although nearly blind for a good many years previous to her death, she treasured in a remarkable degree all the early history and incidents of the past, as well as gathered the important events of a more recent date.  She possessed much of that shrewd, good sense of her family, and particularly of those mental qualities that made prominent her illustrious brother.  In her death we are again reminded that the "old landmarks" are fast disappearing from the earth, to give place to another and entirely different generation.  Mrs. Johnson's remains were interred by the side of her husband at Guilford Centre.

 

Afton [Chenango Co., NY]:  Mrs. Mary Cooke, the lady that we mentioned in our last as being very sick with pneumonia, is still quite low, but has passed a crisis, and her family and friends are encouraged to believe that she will fully recover.  Her daughter Julia, who has also been very sick away from home, is improving slowly.  Her mother, Mrs. A. Pomona Johnson, who had been sick and partially recovered, had a relapse a few days since, and died early last week Thursday morning.  This lady, who was nearly 89 years of age, was a sister of the late Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, and among quite a large family of sons, she was the only daughter that lived to grow up to womanhood.  Although not the youngest, yet she was the last to put on immortality.  Her body was taken to Guilford, where her funeral was held in the episcopal church (This church was the one with which she united many years ago, and of which she was a consistent member). After the services her body was taken to Guilford Centre and interred by the side of her husband, Alpheus Johnson, who died over forty years ago.

 

Julia & Mary Sherburne

Chenango Union, February 28, 1884

The Monroe (Michigan) Democrat gives the following particulars of the drowning of two little daughters of John Sherburne, on the 16th, inst.  Mr. Sherburne was formerly a resident of the town of New Berlin [Chenango Co., NY], and his many friends will hear of his sad bereavement with deep sorrow:

Five o'clock last Saturday afternoon brought with it the saddest and most distressing accident that has occurred in Monroe in many years.  About that hour Julia and Mary [Sherburne], the four and six years-old daughters of Mr. and Mrs. John Sherburne, went under the head of the ice gorge a little below the Macomb street bridge, and were drowned.  The news spread like wildfire and soon several hundred persons were gathered at the scene of the drowning.  A five-years-old daughter of William Stoeckert had fallen in with the other girls who were drowned, and a visit to her home established the identity of her unfortunate playmates.  They had spent the afternoon with her and she was accompanying them part way home.  When they reached the open lots east of the lower bridge they were attracted by the sight of the ice gorge and went to the water's edge to get a better view of it.  They walked out upon the newly made ice at the head of the gorge and were seen from the bridge by Mrs. Daniel Metty and her uncle, Oliver Latour.  Mrs. Metty cried to them to leave the ice and Ida Stoeckert obeyed and ran part way up the hill.  Mary Sherburne ventured further toward the running water and broke in.  Her sister ran to her rescue and also went in.  Ida now went to assist her playmates, slipped and in a second was floundering in the water with them. When the first child fell in Mr. Latour ran to save her but got there too late.  The strong current had taken her under the ice about thirty feet from shore.  Julia Sherburne disappeared nearly a minute after her sister.  Ida Stoeckert, begged for "God's sake" to be saved, and as soon as Mr. Latour could get near her by crawling on the ice, he extended her a branch which he had broken from an apple tree, and with this he pulled her within reach. She was clinging to an apple which was frozen on the ice when he extended her the branch.  Joe Nadeau arrived just after Latour but not in time to save either of the children.

The Democrat says that hundreds of citizens joined in the search for the bodies, which was kept up for three days before the paper was printed, but they had not been recovered.

 

John Swan Randall

New York Daily Tribune, January 4, 1878

John Swan Randall, aged sixty, a noted insectologist, numismatologist, and eccentric lawyer, of Norwich, Chenango County, was found dead in his room on Tuesday.  The cause of death was vertigo.  His collection of insects nad coins is very large and valuable.

 

Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, January 2, 1878

At about three o'clock Tuesday afternoon, John Swan Randall was found dead in his rooms over T.D. Miller's drug store.  Dr. Stewart who occupies rooms adjoining those of Mr. Randall, heard groans in the room of the deceased and soon heard a heavy fall, and attempted to enter the rooms, but found them locked, a key was procured, and on entering the rooms he was found laying upon the floor dead. The deceased had been in poor health for some time, and it is supposed that he fell as Dr. Stuart heard the fall which attracted his attention and there were several severe contusions about the head and face, and a very severe fracture of the skull over the right eye, the fracture of itself being, on the opinion of Dr. Avery, the Coroner, fully sufficient to produce death, and under the circumstances the Coroner decided that an inquest was not necessary.  Mr Randall was formerly a prominent practicing lawyer in Oswego, and has resided in Norwich over twenty years.  Although somewhat eccentric, he was a man of rare intelligence and of a kind and genial disposition and had many warm friends.  He leaves two surviving sisters, one Mrs. Ezra Hewitt of this village, and Mrs. M. Birdsall of Greene, to mourn his untimely and sudden death, and who have the deepest sympathies of our entire community in their severe affliction.

 

Oswego Times, January 3, 1878

Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]:  About three o'clock in the afternoon of New Year's day our community was shocked by the startling announcement that John Swan Randall, a well-known citizen of Norwich, had been found dead in his room, over Miller's drug store, corner of South Broad and East Main street.  Although Mr. Randall for some time past had not been in good health, he was out upon the streets in the morning and went to his breakfast as usual at the Stratton House.  Dr. Stuart whose office is upon the same floor heard groans in the room of Mr. Randall, and soon a heavy fall.  Upon entering the room, Mr. Randall was found dead upon the floor with several contusions about the head and face. The theory of the case is that he had an attack of vertigo, to which he was subject, more likely an apoplectic attack, induced by chloral which he was in the habit of taking, and which caused his death.

 

Mr. Randall was a son of John Randall, one of the earliest settlers of Norwich, and was born in this town in October, 1817.  Having arrived at manhood and becoming versed in the law, he went to Fulton, Oswego county, to practice his profession.  Subsequently removing to Oswego, where he continued practice for a number of years.  There he married a daughter of Dr. Hard, an old resident of that town, by whom he had one child.  Both died a number of years ago and were buried in Oswego.  upwards of twenty years ago Mr. Randall returned to Norwich, where he continued to reside.

 

With a competency of this world's goods, with a taste and leisure for the pursuit, Mr Randall devoted much time to the collection of the different varieties of insects, and left, probably, a larger private collection than can almost anywhere be found. The later years of his life were devoted largely to the collection of coin, his cabinet embracing the rare and curious issues of all nations, and of all varieties and combinations of metal, which, with medals, etc. of all description, renders the collection one of the largest and most valuable accumulated by a single individual in the State or country. The number of specimens, some of them very rare and costly, can not be less than 8,000 and will probably exceed that number.