Mrs. Mary Ann Thompson died at her home in
Hopewell township, Friday, Jan 22d, at 11 a.m., of pneumonia, aged 76 years
10 months and 25 days, after an illness of ten days.
On Sunday
morning an impressive though brief service was held at the home, surrounded
by her family and friends, conducted by her eldest son, John S. Thompson,
with prayer and reading the 90th Psalm, from the dear old time-worn bible,
marked in so many places.
The remains were then borne to the Lacon M.
E. church, where R. H. A. Ewell preached from the text, "I bowed down
heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother, Psalm xxxv, 14. Rev. Long of
the Congregational church assisted in the service, the music rendered by the
M. E. choir. The text and sermon were peculiarly appropriate, and the
pall-bearers were five sons and one grandson, Epley Fisher, who was
substituted for his departed mother.
The floral tributes were most
beautiful and choice. The remains were interred in the Lacon cemetery.
Truly her death was like the gathering home of a ripened sheaf. Her
years had been full of good deeds and high aims.
There is no death. The stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore,
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
They shine forevermore.
There is no death. The leaves may fall
And flowers may fade and pass away;
They only wait through wintry hours
The coming of the May.
There is no death. An angel form
Walks o'er the earth with silent tread;
He bears our best loved things away,
And then we call them "dead,"
And ever near us, though unseen,
The dear immortals spirits tread;
For all the boundless universe
Is life – there is no death.
"Transplanted into bliss, they now
Adorn immortal bowers."
Mary Ann Strawn Thompson was born
Feb. 28, 1820, at Chillicothe, Ohio. She was the daughter of Col. John
Strawn and Mary Strawn, early settlers of Central Illinois, and in pioneer
life experienced many dangers and privations, yet also by this discipline
acquired the grand character and fortitude that helped her in after years to
overcome hardships, and which was transmitted to her children, five sons,
all of whom have attained success to a high degree, and who today feel that
it is largely due to this gifted and religious mother's principles that they
became men of influence and means. Truly she embodied the bible ideal of
womanhood, as found in Prov. 31.
In the early days help was scarce,
and the daughters of Col. Strawn performed many arduous duties. When Col.
Strawn surveyed for the present site of Lacon, Mary A. Strawn and Rachel,
her sister, rode horses dragging a heavy pole to level the high grass,
marking for the surveyor to lay out the town.
The "Records of the
Olden Time" state that the two daughters were the first girls to follow an
Indian trail from the old Strawn home 3-1/2 miles to the Illinois river,
before any town exlsted named Lacon.
On Dec. 20th, 1838, when but 18
years of age, Mary Ann Strawn was married to James H. Thompson, at the old
Strawn homestead, by Rev. Zadoc Hall, a pioneer M. E. pastor.
Mr.
Thompson was a man of exemplary character, and a scholar for those days of
no small degree. They settled in Hopewell township in a log cabin in 1838,
where four of their children were born. Afterward they removed to a new farm
near Phelps's Chapel, removing from thence to Lacon in 1852, where Mr.
Thompson engaged in the grain and lumber business until his death, which
occurred on Jan. 21st, 1857.
Mrs. Thompson remained in her town home
until 19 years ago, when she went to sepnd her declining years in the old
homestead in Hopewell with her son Robert.
She was conscious of her
condition, and spoke with composure of her approaching change. For that
change she had prepared all her life. She had been an invalid for more than
50 years, yet brave and cheery, and rejoicing in the Lord.
To Mr. and
Mrs. Thompson were born seven children: William Strawn Thompson, who died in
infancy; Mary McClish T. Fisher, who departed this life 10 years ago; and
five who now survive her, and who have been her comfort, John Strawn
Thompson, Samuel Hamilton, James Henry, Robert Gray and Stephen Douglas.
Mrs. Thompson was led to profess her faith in Christ at 15 years of age,
and was a consistent member of the M. E. church. Just 40 years ago from the
day of her funeral, Jan 24th, her husband's funeral sermon was preached on
the same hour and day, his death occurring one day previous to hers.
He was one of the first subscribers to the fund for building the present M.
E. church in Lacon.
Forty years of widowhood was to bring out her
heroic character. She was left with a large family of children, the eldest,
John S., but 16 years of age. With but limited means, in times of great
depression, she held her family together, and with a brave heart overcame
many obstacles. She was a kind and tender woman, of great intellectual
capabilities, and faithful in all that makes a wife and mother. She spoke
ill of no one. She studied her bible as few people do. Surely of her it may
be said, "A good woman has gone to her reward." C. V. T.
Transcribed 19 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Henry Republican, 28 Jan 1897.
| Bureau Putnam La Salle | |||
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