The Carthage Republican
Carthage, Illinois
Wednesday
December 6, 1905
Page 1
Column 5Grandmother Mosley reached her ninetieth milestone on life's journey last Saturday, Dec. 2nd. Sorry to say that grandmother had a severe attack of pleurisy the first of the week and is still far from well.
The Carthage Republican
Carthage, Illinois
Wednesday
January 3, 1906
Page 1
Column 3AN OLD SETTLER GONE.
Nancy Ryan Driskell was born in Anderson Co., Ky., Sept. 2, 1815, and died at her home one mile east of Middle Creek, Hancock Co., Ill., at 6 o'clock a. m., Dec. 28, 1905, aged 90 years, 3 months and 26 days.
In 1831 deceased was married to Armstead Mosley, a native of Woodford Co., Ky., with whom she happily lived until his death, June 29, 1887, and by whose side in Oak Grove cemetery she was laid to rest.
Out of a family of ten children, all of whom lived to be grown and married, seven survive to mourn the loss of her who was a mother in all that that sacred word implies. These are in the order of their ages: Mrs. Martha Robinson, of Webster; Winston R., of Hancock township; Simeon A., of Carthage; Samuel T., of Hancock township; Mrs. Sarah Porter, of St. Marys township; Mrs. Ann Printy, of Dallas City, and Mrs. Amanda Meaux, of Carthage. The three who have passed away and the dates of their death are: Mrs. Mary Porter, in 1883; William V., in 1896, and John F., in 1901.
In 1839 the deceased, with the husband and three eldest children, Mary, Martha and William T., fell in with the tide of emigration which was then sweeping westward, and, after a long and toilsome journey by wagon, landed in this county ten miles southeast of Carthage. After a brief period of residence in each of some two or three places of the adjacent territory, the husband, after having looked the country over --- wilderness it was then --- bought and settled the southeast quarter of section 31, Hancock township, the same being the fine farm now owned and occupied by F. M. Smith.
Not long after the husband's death, the farm was sold to its present owner, and the children all being married and living to themselves, the widow, for the sake of companionship, took up her abode with her daughter Sarah, but in a house to herself, which had been moved from off the old homestead, just across the road, for that purpose. There in that little, humble home, cheerful though it was, the deceased passed the evening twilight of her long, eventful and useful life day, enjoying the constant society of the daughter at whose door she lived, and the frequent visits of the other children who lived in more distant parts.
Notwithstanding the almost untravelable condition of the roads, a large crowd was present at the last sad obsequies to pay that final tribute of love and esteem borne "Grandmother" Mosley by these her many relatives and friends.
The funeral discourse, based on passages contained in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians, delivered by Elder Elam, pastor of the Carthage Christian church, was exceptionally beautiful and appropriate. With this faith the deceased had been identified for the past half century, and though there be and have been christian lights which, by reason of opportunity and environment, have cast their rays to greater lengths, there have been few, perhaps, which have risen higher towards the zenith of pure, practical and unpretentious Christian faith and practice. In religious as well as in social matters, there was not in her the most remote semblance of pharissism; the quiet, unassuming sympathy, good will and good works in which her life abounded were the genuine, spontaneous emanations from a heart abounding in grace.
We of this progressed and progressive age know little of the privation and self-denial of our pioneer ancestry. Deceased was one of these pioneers, and ofttimes have we sat beside her an interested listener to her plain yet graphic recital of the hardships so heroically endured by our pioneer fathers and mothers. These accounts, interspersed as they were with digressions into the realms of the ludicrous, made a grotesque mingling of tragedy and comedy, the first phase of which is pathetically portrayed by the historian in the following words: "There is often a mournful side to the picture of pioneer life. The rains and storms come sometimes before shelter can be provided. Sickness overtakes the pioneer or his family. Away in the wilderness --- away from kindred or sympathizing friends --- beyond reach of medicines or kindly help --- no comforts --- perhaps unsuitable food --- the wife, the child --- another and another droop and die, and in the gloom and desolation are consigned to their lonely graves. No neighborly hand near to place the sod or strew a flower; no kindly voice to offer comfort. It is on this picture of pioneer life that we should ask the reader to drop a tear. Pioneer mother! sad and disconsolate in thy dreary cabin, to thee we drop a tear today. To thee we heave a sigh in this, our day of prosperity and richer enjoyments."
Yes, dear mother! though to thee the worst of these ills did not come; though life was spared thee to see "the day of prosperity and richer enjoyments," yet we have not forgotten thy martyrdom of the earlier day, nor thy devotion to thy loved ones in the later, better time; to thee we drop a tear; and to thee --- oh, how sad the word! --- we say farewell! farewell! Mo.
CARD OF THANKS.
To those of our friends and neighbors who so kindly gave their aid and comfort during the dark hour of our late sad bereavement in the loss of dear mother, we hereby express our gratitude and extend our sincerest thanks.
(MRS.) SARAH PORTER, AND
BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
Children
Mary E. Mosley 26-Nov-1833 19-Dec-1883 Martha Jane Mosley 26-Aug-1836 28-Jan-1934 William Virgil Mosley 1838 1896 Winston R. Mosley 27-Jun-1841 07-Jul-1911 Simeon Anderson Mosley 04-Nov-1843 27-Mar-1909 Samuel Taylor Mosley 04-Feb-1847 01-Nov-1916 Sarah Frances Mosley 07-Jun-1850 11-Apr-1925 John F. Mosley 13-Feb-1853 05-Apr-1901 Nancy Anna Mosley 1854 1914 Amanda Ellen Mosley 09-Dec-1857 09-Jun-1939
