Obituaries

Obituaries

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Chambless, Sanderson, Simmons

 

   

Mrs. Anne Glenday Durfee     Arthur L. Fawcett     Virginia Fawcett

    Anne Durfee Gauss    Charles W. Gauss    

Eugene Gauss    Henrietta Fawcett Gauss    John Montgomery Gauss

Mary Louisa Gauss     Robert Gauss      John Jay Johns   

  Thomas Glover Johns    Thomas Lindsay

 

 

1843

Thomas Lindsay

I close this history with the following Obituary

            Died at his residence near St. Charles on the 26th day of June 1843 at 2 1/2 o'clock p. m., Mr. Thomas Lindsay, Sen., after an illness of a few weeks, during which he experienced but little bodily pain.  From my diary I copy the following:  "June 21, Visited Father Lindsay, find him very low; he is evidently fast approaching the end of his mortal career.  Altho' reduced to a mere shadow, having scarcely any physical strength left, and no appetite, yet he sits most of the day in his easy chair, rests quietly at night, complains of no bodily pain, and retains his mental faculties in all their usual strength.   Monday, 26th, at 2 1/2 0'clk p.m., Mr. Lindsay departed.  He literally fell asleep in Jesus.  "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."
                Mr. Lindsay was born in Perthshire, Scotland, the 29th September 1771.  He lived many years in South Carolina, from whence he removed with his family to the place of his late residence, in the year 1816.  At the formation and organization of this church, 30th August 1818, he was chosen the first elder; and continued to serve actively in that office till disabled by the sickness that terminated his life.  His chief employments were literary, mostly theological; his business that of an agriculturalist; his habits peaceful, kindly, hospitable, unostentatious.  In his last Will he left the bulk of his estate to the American Bible Society and the two Missionary Boards, and directed his slaves (21) to be sent to Liberia.

August 30, 1849               Signed G. C. S.

From note at close of Major George Champlin Sibley's History of the First Presbyterian Church of St. Charles, Missouri.

1865

THOMAS GLOVER JOHNS, son of John Jay Johns, was born in St. Charles, August 20, 1865.  Attended Wabash College, Indiana, and Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. Taught the Boschertown school (St. Charles County) two sessions, while studying law under H. C. Lackland, Esq. He was licensed to practice In the spring of 1878.  For three years was a correspondent of the St. Louis Republic.  In January 18-- with his brother, George S., he started the St. Charles Journal, being senior editor. About three months before his death he gave up his position and went to Palestine, Texas, to seek an opening. Was a member of Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 1812, K. of N. He was a member of Company F, St. Charles National Guards. About two weeks before his death he reached Sedalia enroute home, but typhoid fever developed and be died at the home of his sister Elizabeth, Mrs. Charles Henry Gauss. [Thomas Glover Johns died about December 3, 1881]

1879

Charles W. Gauss

     GAUSS - Charles W. Gauss, on the 23rd inst at 3 o'clock A. M. in his 66th year.
      The funeral will take plac on Monday, August 25, at 2 o'clock P. M. from his late residence, California Avenue near Lafayette Avenue. Carriages will be waiting until 1:20 o'clock at the corner of fifth Street and Washington Avenue.
      Boston Post please copy.

Death of an Old Citizen

     Mr. C. W. Gauss, a well known and esteemed citizen, died yesterday of dropsy, at his residence on California Avenue, near Lafayette. He had attained his sixty-sixth year. He was a son of C. F. Gauss of Gottingent, Germany, the celebrated mathematician and astronomer. Mr. Gauss came to Missouri forty two years ago, and was for many years a farmer in Chariton County. He came to St. Louis in 1858 and started the wholesale boot and shoe business on Washington Avenue, where he continued up to the time of his death. He was regarded as a man of high sense of honor and integrity and was well known in the mercantile community. The funeral will take place from the late residence at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

1882

Virginia Fawcett

Died, at the residence of her brother-in-law, Samuel McCluer, of Dardenne, St. Charles County, on the 5th Nov. 1882, MISS VIRGINIA FAWCETT, in the 76th year of her age.  Miss Fawcett was born in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, and came to Missouri with her family in 1834.  She had been a resident of St. Charles for nearly half a century, and for more than forty years was a member of the Presbyterian Church.  She was buried from the residence of her brother-in-law, Eugene Gauss, Esq. in St. Charles, with whom she had long made her home, and where her blessed memory will long be chrished.  She was on a visit to Dardenne at the time of her death. (From St. Charles newspaper)

 

1890

Mrs. Anne Glenday Durfee

Died, at the residence of her son-in-law, John Jay Johns, in St. Charles, Missouri, on the morning of the Sabbath, April 20, 1890, Mrs. Anne Glenday Durfee, in the 81st year of her age. Thus has passed away one of the few that remain of the early settlers of St. Charles. She was born in New Rattray, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland, in 1809. She came with her father's family to this place in 1815. After remaining here several years (6), her father returned to Scotland with his elder daughter Helen. the mother having died.  But Anne remained here with her uncle, Thomas Lindsay, who was the father and founder of the Presbyterian Church in St. Charles.  Rev. Charles Robinson, of blessed memory, (who was a brother-in-law of Mr. Lindsay's wife), was, next to Rev. Timothy Flint,  the first  at preacher from the East who lived, labored, preached and taught school, until his death in 1828. Mr. Lindsay’s house was then the headquarters of the preachers who came from the East to labor as missionaries in this new and destitute field. About that time came the Rev. Thomas Russell Durfee,* from Fall River, Mass., a graduate of Amherst College and Andover Seminary. In 1828 he married Anne Glenday.  After spending a few years in missionary labors in this State, with such faithful and apostolic men as John F. Cowan, Cochran and MaAfee, he died in August 1833 at Mr. Lindsay's home near Elm Point, leaving his widow with two little daughters, Jane Amanda and Margaret Lindsay. Mrs. Durfee, with her children, remained with her uncle, Mr. Lindsay, until his death In 1843. Mrs. Durfee was a woman of great energy and firmness of character, and the great desire of her heart was that her daughters might have the best education that young women could get at that day. This she accomplished under great pecuniary difficulty and self-denial on her part. Her elder daughter, Jane, was educated at Lindenwood and at Monticello Seminary, the then pioneer female schools of the Southwest, and the younger, Margaret, at Bradford (Mass.) Seminary, spending much time with her father's kindred.  In 1847 her daughter Jane was married to John Jay Johns and ever after Mrs. Durfee made her home with them. Her second daughter, Margaret Lindsay Durfee, was married in 1862 to Mr. Edward Payson Borden of Fall River, Mass. (a cousin In some degree), for many years past a prominent merchant of Philadelphia.  Mrs. Durfee was an enthusiast on Christian education, and as soon as her grandchildren were old enough, she used all her means, even stinting herself, to secure to them a high Christian education. She succeeded in a great measure in accomplishing that object, and her grandchildren now rise up and call her blessed. Mrs. Durfee was a woman of great kindness of heart and her sympathies and aid went out cheerfully to the suffering and needy. She consecrated her heart and life a In early youth to the Savior and was one of the few venerable ladies who still abide with us who made the first little band of Presbyterians who formed the First Presbyterian Church of St. Charles, Trained to the straitest sort of Scotch Presbyterianism, educated by the sainted Robinson, and trained under the Influence and instruction of Thomas Lindsay, who was the very embodiment of Scotch Presbyterianism, she continued through life to hold with the greatest tenacity to the faith and doctrines of her Scotch fathers. She maintained a quiet, steadfast, Christian character, greatly interested in all the religious, missionary and educational enterprises of the Church. Now, after an illness of three months, surrounded by those who loved her and tenderly ministered to her, she gently passed away from earth to her heavenly rest. The funeral occurred at two o'clock and the remains were Interred In the city cemetery (Oak Grove). In her last days she described the scenes of her childhood in beautiful Perthshire, which she had not seen again in  after years, and her description was declared correct by her sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary Glenday, who had left Scotland when grown, after her marriage to James Glenday.  Mrs. Durfee said that the hills west of St. Charles, as seen from her bedroom window recalled to her the Scotch country.

* He was a descendant of Governor William Bradford  and of John Alden and Priscilla Molines.

1896

Eugene Gauss

        The venerable EUGENE GAUSS died last Saturday, July 4, 1896, at the family residence in Boone County, Missouri, near Columbia, aged almost 85 years.  The funeral took place from the First Presbyterian Church, St. Charles, Missouri, to the city cemetery (Oak Grove).  For many years Mr. Gauss was a leading citizen of St. Charles and was a prominent business man.  He raised a large family here and about nine years before his death removed to Boone County.  He came to this country from Germany when a young man, after being educated at the University of Goettingen.  He served an enlistment in the army (having declined any opportunities his father's influence could have secured for him), being stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.  Here his education was discoved and he was put in charge of the post library.  After this he engaged in the fur trade in the upper Mississippi Valley, having an adventurous life, agreeable to his naturally restless disposition.  In his early thirties he settled in St. Charles, where he married Miss Henrietta Fawcett.  The father of Mr. Gauss (Carl Friedrich Gauss) was an eminent scholar in Germany and was especially famous as a mathematician and astronomer.  The son, Eugene, inherited much of the father's scholarly tastes, and in his long life had read extensively and accumulated a vast fund of information.  Mr. Gauss became totally blind soon after moving to Boone County, but otherwise retained good health until about a year ago.  He leaves a wife and five children:  Henry, Robert, Eugene, Albert and Virginia.   A son, Theodore, died last October, and was buried in the family lot in the city cemetery of St. Charles.  A daughter, Theresa, died when a small child, many years ago.
(From St. Charles newspaper)


 

IN MEMORIAM TO JOHN JAY JOHNS

(Died April    1899)

 
        It has long been our purpose to write something to show our regard, our sincere appreciation of our late lamented friend, John Jay Johns, and it has only been deferred from time to time in the expectation that some other friend would do it who could do more justice to the nobility of his character, and do it far better than we possible could.
        The church, his family, this community, and especially his personal friends, have sustained a loss that will never be made up to them, for men of his class are growing more and more scarce in these degenerate days.  The writer of this feeble tribute to his memory has known him well and been his friend for over half a century, and while no man is perfect in all the qualities that go to make up the Christian gentleman, he in our humble opinion, was without a peer.  A gentleman of the "old school" - true, gallant, noble; he stands as a shining example to the young men of the rising generation bo emulate his example and imitate his sterling qualities and virtues, and his genuine politeness.  He was for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church, ready at all times to make sacrifices to advance its interest, yet withal no bigot, ready at all times to give the hand of brotherhood to all sincere followers of Christ.  An "Old Virginian", claiming the Old Dominion with just pride as his native State, he was one of her sons that did honor to his birthplace, holding to the traditions of family and blood as he had a right, he was coureous and considerate to all.  He was absolutely incapable of an ignoble act.  He acted upon the method of Noblesse Oblige as nearly as anyone we ever knew.  He was remarkable for his fidelity to his friends, not that they were perfect, but once having adopted them into his affection, he was slow to believe evil of them, did not for slight reasons cast them off.  In all the relations of churchman, husband, father, he fulfilled almost perfectly the varied duties, and as a true friend, never forgetting his obligations, he was perfect.  The world is poorer in the death of such men, the community has a vacancy which will never be filled. He has gone to his reward; he will not miss us, but we shall miss this true knight of the "old school", this friend of many years.  To his bereaved family what consolation can we offer?  We know of their great and irreparable loss, yet we cannot realize what they must feel in the vacancy it has made in their home.  This simple tribute to an old friend has been a labor of love.
An Old Friend.
(Miss Aurelia McDearmon)
(From St. Charles, Missouri, newspaper)
 

1909

Mrs. Henrietta F. Gauss' Funeral This Afternoon

--o--

Widow of St. Charles Lumber Merchant died Sunday night at Columbia, Mo.

     The funeral of Mrs. Henrietta Fawcett Guass, who died at Columbia, Mo., Sunday night, aged 93 years, will be held at the first Presbyterian Church of St. Charles this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock and burial made in the City Cemetery. Deceased was a native of Virginia and came to St. Charles with her parents when a girl. In 1844 she married Eugene Gauss, a pioneer of St. Charles, who died in 1896. for many years he was a prominent lumber merchant. She is survived by one daughter, Miss Virginia Gauss of columbia, Ml., and four sons, Charles Henry Gauss of St. Charles, Robert Gauss of Denver, Colo., Eugene Gauss of Columbia, and Albert Gauss of Los Angeles, Cal. The funeral will be conducted by her nephew, v. Joseph H.Gauss of St. Louis, assisted by Rev. John E. Flow of St. Charles.

1913

 

BRAIN OF ROBERT 
GAUSS WEIGHS 62 
OUNCES SAYS PAPER
------
Brilliant Man, Well Known to Our 
People, Has Larger Brain Than 
His Grandfather.
------ 
    Robert Gauss, whose childhood was spent in St. Charles, but who died recently at Denver, Colo., developed a brain of greater weight than that of his grandfather, a noted German astronomer and mathematician.
    From a New York paper we clip the following information.
St. Charles, Mo.
    Denver, Col., Jan. 24.--In compliance with the expressed wish of the late Robert Gauss, his brain was removed for the purpose of weighing and examining the same and comparing it with that of his distinguished grandfather, Karl Frederick Gauss, the great German mathematician.
    The operation was performed by Dr. R. W. Arndt and the brain weighed and photographed.  As expected it was found to be unusually large.  Its weight with wrappings, which were very light, was sixty-two ounces.
    Mr. Gauss was a well known editorial writer.  The brain of his distinguished grandfather weighed 52.7 ounces. ------     The average mail brain weighs about 48 ounces and the average female brain 43 1-2 ounces.  In many men of great intellectual eminence the brain weight has been large.  Cuvier's weighed 64 1-2 ounces, Abercrombie's 63 ounces and Goodsir's 57 1-2 ounces.
    "Brains over 60 ounces," says the Encyclopedia Britannica, "are frequently found in quite undistinguished people."  The same authority says that, while idiots sometimes have brains that weigh as little as 8 1-2 ounces, "it is doubtful if normal intelligence is possible with a brain weighing less than 32 ounces." -----

[Robert Gauss died in 1913]

 

1925

     GAUSS -- Mary L. Gauss, beloved sister of Wm. T. Gauss and Rev. J. H. Gauss, departed to be with Christ on February 5, 1925at 11:30 p. m., in De Soto, Mo., aged 80 years.
      Funeral from Carondelet Presbyterian Church, Michigan and Bosen, Sunday, February 8, 2 p. m.   Interment private.

1932 - St. Charles, Missouri

Gauss:  Miss Ann Durfee Gauss, at the home of her mother, Mrs. C. H. Gauss, at St. Charles, Mo., on April 25, 1932, after an illness of several months. She had been a faithful member of the church for many years, and her life was crowned with the Christian graces.  Interment was in Oak Grove Cemetery, St. Charles. [Unknown publication, probably a religious monthly]

1932 - St. Charles, Missouri

Gauss: Mr. John Montgomery Gauss died suddenly of heart attack at the home of his mother, Mrs. C. H. Gauss at St. Charles, Mo., on May 12, 1932. Having served many years as a marine in the united States Army, he was buried with military honors in Oak Grove Cemetery, St. Charles. He had been a member of the Episcopal Church since childhood. [Unknown publication, probably a religious monthly]

1933 - Del Rio, Texas

Rites Held for "Bob" Fawcett, Texas Pioneer

     Funeral services for robert McMahon, "Bob" Fawcett, 74, were held Wednesdday at 4:30 p.m. from the home of his brother, E. K. Fawcett on Spring Street. Mr. Fawcett died at a local hospital, where he was rushed following a heart attack at his home in the Comstock country early Tuesday.  Rev. H. Conger Jones of the St. James Episcopal Church officiated and interment was made in Westlawn Cemetery.
     Death of Mr. Fawcett marked the passing of one of the pioneer ranchmen of West Texas. He came to this country 35 years ago from Gonzales County to engage in ranching in the Devil's River country. Several years ago he retired from the ranching industry and took charge of the Comstock water works.
      He was a native of Mississippi, coming to Texas with his parents, the late Mr. And Mrs. E. R. Fawcett, when a young boy. He was married before coming to this section to Miss Elizabeth jane Aldridge of Gonzales County.
     Surviving Mr. Fawcett are: His widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Jane Fawcett of Comstock; one son, Arthur L. of Sanderson; four grandchildren, Miss Mildred Fawcett of Sanderson, Ruth, Leslie and Fred Ratliff of Comstock; three brothers, F. S. of Johnson City, J. C. of Abilene and E. K. of Del Rio; one sister, Mrs. J. W. Carson of Cheapside, Texas.
     Those serving as pallbearers were: Lyle S. Almond, R. T. Hunicutt and Austin Waller, all of Del Rio; A. A. Baker, Ben Billingsley and Richard Smith, Comstock.
     Among those from out-of-town here for the funeral were:  Mrs. J. W. Carson and son, Keyes, of Cheapside; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carson and Mr. and Mrs. Roger Carson, Eagle Pass; Arthur L. Fawcett of Sanderson; Miss Mildred Fawcett, Sanderson; Fred, Leslie and Ruth Ratliff of Comstock; A. A. Baker, Ben Billingsley and Richard Smith, all of Comstock.

marked Val Verde County Library
contributed by Ruth Ratliff

1959 - Sanderson, Texas

Funeral Rites Saturday for A. L. Fawcett

     Arthur L. Fawcett, 73, died suddenly at his home early Friday morning following a heart attack.
     Judge R. S. wilkinson conducted brief services in the chapel at the Janes Funeral Home and also the commital service in Cedar Grove Cemetery, where he was buried.
     Mr. Fawcett was born October 30, 1886, in gonzales. He was married to Lelia McFaddin of Rocksprings in Del Rio on April 18, 1918. they resided Comstock and Pumpville before coming to Sanderson 30 years ago.  He was in the water service of the T&NO Railroad and was an oil pumper at the time of his retirement here in 1952.
     Survivers, besides the widow include a daughter, Mrs. R. R. Brooks of Copperas Cove and three grandchildren, Barbara Jean, Charlotte Ann, and Charles Lee Brooks;; also a niece and two nephews; numerous cousins, including five at Del Rio, Mrs. O. D. Finnegan, Mrs. Emma Whitehead, Elmer, and Walter Fawcett. [handwritten here: "Lee"]
      Amonf out-or-town relatives here for the funeral were Sgt. and Mrs. Brooks of Copperas Cover; Mrs. Fawcett's sisters, Mrs. John Disler of Del Rio and Mrs. J. T. Schwartz and husband of El Paso; her niece, Mrs. Thomas Glasscock of Rocksprings; her nephew, Johnny Drisler and wife of Del Rio.
     Pall bearers were B. G. Maples, Bob Allen, Jack Harrell, Troy Druse, Clarence Chandler, and H. W. Chamberlain.

contributed by Ruth Ratliff

 


 

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Last modified:Sunday, 09-Nov-2003 16:37:09 MST