Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, January 30, 1880
Marriage
JULIAND - COAN: Married in Guilford, Conn., January 28th, 1823, by the Rev. David Baldlwin, Mr. Richard W. Juliand and Miss Lucretia Coan.
When a husband and wife have seen their fifty-seventh wedding day, they may well be said to have reached the golden age of matrimony. The venerable host and hostess, who received a few friends at their hospitable home "on the hill" last Wednesday evening, have arrived at that period, and with the mellow light of life's declining sun shining upon their heads, they stood before the assembled guests implying by their actions that they were ready to repeat the pledge of mutual affection which they exchanged more than half a century ago. Time has not chilled their hearts, though it has scattered its snows of many winters in their hair, and with its rough hand traced here and there, its furrows on their brows. It was truly refreshing to look upon their bright, genial faces when we consider how many years have passed from Time into Eternity since they first plighted their troth at the altar.
Within the period of time which has elapsed since our dear friends were made one, nations have been divided, empires overthrown, kingdoms set up, and the very face of nature in many parts of the world, has changed. But there has been no change in the bridal couple who entertained us so handsomely the evening of their recent anniversary, save that which years produce on the outer shell of humanity. In soul and spirit the bride and bridegroom of that evening were the bride and bridegroom of fifty-seven years ago. This is an age of improvements; but there are some things which cannot be improved. One of them is old fashioned affection. It is most beautifully illustrated in the lives of the two esteemed friends of whom we are speaking. Though one, from infirmity and age, is deprived of a great deal of his own self-dependence, yet the other watches over him most tenderly and affectionately and administers to his every want. We see in them the picture of love triumphant over time, which Burns doubtless had in his mind's eye when he wrote that most touching of all ballads, "John Anderson, my Jo." For more than fifty years they have traveled together the pathway of life, through storm and sunshine, trusting and clinging to each other, and though they are now old in years, yet they are young in heart, and are happy in the love of one another. In the name of the guests present at their fifty-seventh anniversary, we wish them a safe and pleasant journey to the end of their earthly pilgrimage.
We trust that the remainder of the sea of life over which they may, by God's providence, be permitted to sail, will be tranquil and placid as an inland lake surrounded by mountains and that, as they draw nearer and nearer to the haven where they would be, and to which we are all bound, may "the peace of God which passeth all understanding" be theirs. E.L.J.
Deaths
Shortly before noon Thursday, Mr. Alpheus Finch, an elderly gentleman living on Oak Street in the First ward, and an employee of the Erie Railway, was struck by an engine about three and a half miles east of the city, thrown from the track and so severely injured that he died soon after he had been carried to his home. Leader, Binghamton, [Broome Co., NY]
Bennettsville, Chenango Co. NY: It is with pain I report the death of Mrs. Eli Seely this week. She was one of those persons whom God had endowed with the kindliest of dispositions and was loved and respected by all who knew her. Through her illness, which was an aggravated form of inflammation of the lungs, she bore all the suffering without murmur. She died with all her children around her. [Charlotte Cossaart Seely, 8 Jan. 1818 to 19 Jan. 1880, Aged 62y]
South New Berlin, Chenango Co. NY: Mary Robson was taken sick Saturday and died Monday morning. The doctor was unable to decide what the disease was.
South New Berlin, Chenango Co. NY: Mrs. Alice Owens buried her little daughter here Sunday.
South New Berlin, Chenango Co. NY: Albert Phelps died Saturday after a short illness. The funeral was held Tuesday.
Mt. Upton, Chenango Co. NY: Mrs. John Coon died Sunday afternoon. The funeral was held Tuesday at 1 o'clock, at her late residence. [Rose M. Spaulding Coon, d. Jan. 25, 1880, aged 36y]
Mrs. Hiram [sic] Place died at the residence of her son, Jarris Place, Monday morning, Jan. 20th. she had been sick some time with dropsy of the heart. [Betsey Thayer Place, d. Jan. 26, 1880, aged 71y]
Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, Feb. 12, 1880: As the proper names in the notice of the death of Mrs. Place have so far appeared in all the papers mangled almost past recognition, we esteem it almost a duty to attempt getting it in straight. She was the relict of Huron [sic Huram], whose death occurred about six years ago, and died on Monday morning, January 26th, at the home of her son, Jarvis Place. Her funeral was largely attended at the Union Church on the Wednesday following, after which her remains were taken to White Store [Chenango Co. NY] for interment.
Mt. Upton, Chenango Co. NY: Gracie [Owens] a little child of Mrs. Alice Owens, died Friday night with scarlet fever. The funeral was held at the Baptist church Sunday, at 11 o'clock, and the remains taken to South New Berlin [Chenango Co. NY] for interment.
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SAYRE: Entered into eternal life at Bainbridge [Chenango Co. NY] very suddenly of apoplexy, Tuesday, January 20th, 1880, William Strong Sayre, Esquire, in the 77th year of his age.
Although several notices of the death of Mr. Sayre have been given to the public, in which were mentioned some of the principal historical points of his early life, yet we deem that a few more words in regard to his character and long life of usefulness in our midst will be acceptable and appropriate at this time.
Mr. Sayre was one of our oldest and most esteemed citizens, as the large attendance at is funeral testified. After graduating at Hamilton College in 1824, he began immediately the study of law at Norwich [Chenango Co. NY], and in 1827 was admitted to the bar as a practitioner. In the same year he selected Bainbridge for his home and entered upon the practice of his profession in partnership with the Hon. John C. Clark, at one time a Member of Congress from this congressional district. By a close application to business and a faithful discharge of all trusts committed to him, he soon won the confidence of his fellow citizens and built up quite a remunerative practice. On the 9th of September 1829, he was united in marriage, by the Rev. Norman A. Adams, to Miss Leaphe Bush, sister of the Hon. Joseph Bush, of this village, and for more than twenty years he was blessed with the companionship of a delicate, but true and devoted wife. She brought to him eight children, five of whom died in infancy, and three now remain to mourn the great loss so suddenly brought upon them in the death of their honored father. After a lingering and painful illness, this faithful wife and loving mother bid farewell to the dear ones of earth and entered into the paradise of the saints gone before.
In 1851, he was married to Miss Sarah McMurray of New York City, a most estimable lady, and one who, for nearly thirty years, has been all that any husband could expect of a wife. Loving, gentle, kind and forbearing, a solacer in his troubles and sorrows, and a sharer in his joys and pleasures, she now remains in her widowed loneliness, to mourn the sad loss which has fallen with such a shock upon her. May the Father of All Mercies send His holy spirit to comfort her in her bereavement with the assurance that He is ever the widow's God! As "in each life some rain must fall, some days be dark and dreary," so Mr. Sayre's life was no exception to this general rule or sentiment. But after he had passed the meridian of life trouble came upon him, and yet, through it all he carried himself like a Christian gentleman, and finally emerged into the sunshine of a quiet life, broken in earthly fortune, it is true, but with a character "unspotted" from contact with the world and worldly things, and filled with the "unsearchable riches of Christ." The highest eulogy which can be paid to him is to describe his character in the plainest terms. His whole life, private and public, was marked with modesty, purity, unblemished integrity, a firm and sound judgment, and an unostentatious hospitality. He possessed a highly cultivated mind and was a faithful and judicious expounder of the law. He never encouraged one neighbor to go to law with another for the sake of getting a case; but always, if he saw no just cause for action being brought, advised them to settle the differences between each other without the aid of the law; and the confidence with which he inspired men, by his noble and unselfish advice and counsel was unbounded.
For more than half a century, he was not on an humble communicant of the Episcopal Church, but was also for all those years, a true and faithful officer, either as a warden or a vestryman, in St. Peter's parish in this village and was the junior warden of the parish at the time of his death. He was an earnest, zealous churchman, and was always ready and willing to do the duty of a Lay reader when the Rector happened to be absent, or when the parish was without a clergyman. Faithful in every trust, constant in his attendance upon the services of the church and the holy communion, and in all his duties as a churchman, he leaves behind him the memory and example of one who "showed his faith by his works."
All classes and all denominations loved and honored the church in him. For such sons the church may well rejoice and give thanks, even while she mourns that her earthly courts shall know them no more. His loss and absence we must lament deeply, and yet, when we consider his eternal blessedness in the translation, for such it surely was, from this world to a life of never ending joy and peace, it seems almost a selfish mourning, for, like the good Cornelius, his prayers and his alms have gone up for a memorial before God, and while his name was echoed with sorrow here, it was whispered and carried upward by angels, embalmed and kept ever fresh in that realm of eternal day. He has gone to join an innumerable company of angels and the spirits of the just men made perfect; and above all he sees His face, and His name is written upon his forehead by whose most precious blood he has been redeemed.
Knowing so well the true Christian life our dear departed friend led while on earth; yea, that he was almost snatched from his knees (while kneeling around the family altar pouring out his soul in prayer to God) up into paradise, can we mourn as those who have no hope? No1 No! Far from it! On the contrary we confort ourselves with soul-comforting words: "They which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
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