Sarah Jane McCurdy Bixler Ponsler

 

Shelbyville Democrat - Thursday - 2 Oct 1919 - Aged Lady Passes Away - "Mrs. Sarah Jane Ponsler, aged 83 years, passed away at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Stace Devore, in Holland township, last Thursday afternoon.  Last February Mrs. Ponsler sustained a broken hip in a fall and since that time her decline was gradual until death came to relieve her sufferings.

 

Mrs. Ponsler was twice married.  By her first marriage to Henry Bixler six children were born, three of whom survive.  They are Mrs. John Rambler of Grand Ridge, Ill., Mrs. Jane Hahn of Shelbyville and George Bixler of Findlay. 

 

Following the death of Mr. Bixler, the widow was married to Solomon Ponsler.  Six children, three of whom are still living, were the fruits of this union.  The surviving children of the last marriage are Mrs. Charles Bartscht of Shelbyville, Mrs. John Slifer of Assumption and Mrs. Stace Devore of Holland township.  In addition to the above named children, Mrs. Ponsler leaves to mourn her loss three step-children, Mrs. Sam Roley of Stewardson, Patterson Ponsler of Seattle, Wash., and Mrs. Grant Arnfelt of Minnesota; thirty-one grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren also survive.  The surviving brothers and sister are C. H. McCurdy of Clarksburg, George McCurdy of Pennsylvania, and Anna Gerbrick of Pennsylvania.

 

Mrs. Ponsler was a woman of a kind and sympathetic nature, a good neighbor and kind friend.  She bore her suffering in a patient and Christian manner and her death leaves a vacancy felt by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

 

Funeral services were conducted from the Mt. Carmel church, south of Shelbyville, at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon, Rev. N. H. Robertson, pastor of the Christian church, delivering the sermon.  Burial was made in the Mt. Carmel cemetery."