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A call for help

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As winter approaches many demands will be made upon the people of Norfolk for assistance by the unfortunate men and women who are out of work.  All over the state the prominent citizens of towns and cities are beginning to organize relief associations which is the only practicable means of dispensing charity so that it will reach and relieve those who really merit the aid.  Is it not time that Norfolk was looking to the organization of a public aid society?  It has been suggested to The News that the churches might unite and by the united influence of their best workers, who have had experience in such work, bring the system to a condition, wherein they could reduce suffering and yet not spend the money to a disadvantage. Each church has its own to assist, it is true, but organized efforts are bound to produce the most good and then there will be no need of indiscriminate giving.  Each case of destition much by this means become generally known and all cases may be treated equally.

Source:  The Norfolk Daily News, Mon. Sept. 24, 1894, page 3.

 

Charles R. Edwards

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Edwards Funeral Here

Last Rites for Victim of Crash; Burial at Fairview Cemetery

Funeral services for Charles R. Edwards of Omaha who was killed in a car accident near Pilger November 30, where held Thursday afternoon.  Burial was at the Fairview cemetery southeast of Battle Creek, where the wife and children of the deceased were buried.

Mr. Edwards was born at Meadow Grove, Nebraska, June 13, 1890, and had reached the age of 58 years, 9 months and 15 days.  He was married to Miss Maude McDaniel in 10915 and lived on a farm near Meadow Grove until 1920, when he moved to Omaha and entered the government postal service and remained an employee of the government until his death.  His wife, a son, Maurice, and a daughter, Jean, had preceded him in death.

Survivors include a brother, Len, and three sisters Mrs. Karl Keyes, Mrs. Louis Fiedler, and Mrs. Claude Scott.  He was a nephew of the Misses Mollie Taylor and Emma Taylor and Mrs. Nannie Dugan of Battle Creek.     Source:  excerpts from Battle Creek Enterprise, Thur. Dec. 2, 1948, page 1.

 

Mrs. Mettie (Phipps) Hackler

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Last Respects Paid Mrs. Mettie Hackler Services Wednesday

Burial at the Osborn Cemetery

Mrs. Mettie Hackler died Saturday morning at a Norfolk hospital from complications due to injuries she received in a fall at her home Sunday morning.  Mettie Phipps, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Creed Phipps, was born in Grayson county, Virginia, September 27, 1873, and had reached the age of 75 years, 1 month and 13 days.  When a young girl, she came to Madison county, Nebraska, with her parents who settled on a farm southeast of Battle Creek.  She was married to Munsey R. Hackler October 21, 1902, and to this union were born a daughter, Virginia, now Mrs. W. E. Thomas, and a son, Howard, who died when a small child.  Mr. Hackler died June 14, 1940.  Only surviving immediate relative is one daughter, Mrs. Virginia Thomas.  L. V. Dufphey of Battle Creek is a nephew.            Source:  excerpts from Battle Creek Enterprise, Thur. Nov. 11, 1948, page 1.

 

Armistice Day — 1948

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Armistice Day—1948

Editor’s Note: The following was written by Jack Macdonald, a University of Nebraska senior whose home is at Bremerton, Wash.

I had known Slim only about six months but those six months were a thousand years long.  He was my friend.  We marched together, laughed together, talked together—about home and girls and after the war.  Together we sweated, inhaled dust, ducked bullets, cursed the Japs, the generals, the second lieutenants, the world and ourselves.

I can remember he used to tell about the way his mother made spaghetti and meat balls with a special sauce; about Mary, how he knew he loved her, and of all the plans they had made,  Or maybe the talk was about Skip, his little mongrel dog.  Sometimes it was about the lake eleven miles from his home where he and his dad went fishing.

Slim laughed and joked a lot.  I can see his eyes now.  When he laughed, they lit up from the inside.  Even at night they made a fellow think of a bright summer day.

Slim is dead now.  Why?

Plot six, row two, grave fourteen, Manila Cemetery No. 2.  That’s Slim now.  But why?—why?

Slim will never again see Mary or play with Skip or go fishing with his dad.  Slim was just a good-natured kid from a farm in the Midwest who was looking forward to going home.  He’ll never go home now.  And I keep wondering—-Why?

I remember he used to say to me:  “Freedom’s a great thing, Mac. If you haven’t got that, then nothing else in this world is worth much.  But freedom isn’t just something that some people have and others don’t have. It’s a lot more than that.  You have to work to get it and work to keep it.  You have to be willing to fight for it—even die, so that other people can have its benefits.  If a man isn’t willing to fight and die for freedom, then he isn’t worthy of having freedom.”

I supposed that is why Slim is dead.  Because men think so little of their greatest possession—freedom, they let it get away from them and good guys like Slim have to die to get it back.

Source:  Battle Creek Enterprise, Thursday, Nov. 11, 1948, page 1.

Francis E. Dover

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Madison Pioneer Dies in S. Dakota; Services Sunday

Francis Dover, 92, Madison county farmer and pioneer, died at the home of his son in Martin, S. D. on March 22.  Francis E. Dover was born at Silver Creek, Delaware County, on August 21, 1857.  He was educated in Massachusetts and when yet a young man came to this state.  On December 24, 1881 he was united in marriage with a cousin, Miss Jane Dover of Madison.  To this union four children were born, two sons and two daughters, three of whom preceded him in death.  Mrs. Dover died on October 19, 1905.

On May 23, 1911 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Rose E. Emery of Sansarc, S. D. She passed away on May 19, 1934.   Source:  excerpts from Madison Star-Mail Thursday, March 30, 1950 on page 1.

Mrs. Otillie Kyncl

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Church Funeral For Mrs. Knycl Sunday

Rev. B. A. Phillippi of Clarkson helped to conduct the funeral service for Mrs. Otillie Kyncl at the First Presbyterian church on Sunday afternoon.  The pastor, Rev. Hal E. Schenck, led the service and gave the sermon with the Rev. Phillippi adding the obituary and brief eulogy in the Bohemian language.

Mrs. Anton Kyncl passed away at Norfolk last Wednesday and would have been 42 years of age on May 21.  She was born at Colome, South Dakota, to the Kucera family and grew up in that vicinity.  She married Anton Kyncl on February 4, 1930 at Winner, South Dakota.  Source:  excerpts from Madison Star-Mail Thursday, May 4, 1950 on page 1.

Nickolas Peter Christiansen

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Christiansen Rites At Funeral Home

The funeral for Nickolas Peter Christiansen was held at the Resseguie Funeral home on Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock.  Burial was at Crown Hill Cemetery.  He was 82 years, 2 months and 22 days old.  He had lived in Madison as a retired farmer for many years.

Nickolas P. Christiansen was born in Schleswig-Holstein February 8, 1868, and came to America when 14 years of age, living almost continuously in Madison county ever since.  He married Carolina Scheer on January 30, 1894.  To this union six children were born, all of whom survive their father’s death.    Source:  excerpts from Madison Star-Mail Thursday, May 4, 1950 on page 1.

Anthony Robinson

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Anthony Robinson, 87, Dies

Anthony K. Robinson, 87, one of Madison county’s oldest citizens, died Sunday afternoon at the home of a daughter in Newman Grove. He had been in failing health for some time.

Mr. Robinson came to Madison county when a young man.  He was the husband of Mary Bickley Robinson, who died in 1941.  Burial was in Crown Hill cemetery at Madison.   Source:  Battle Creek Enterprise, Thursday, May 11, 1950 on page 1.

 

Thomas E. Farrell and Mrs. R. F. Wilson

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Farrell Obituary

Thomas E. Farrell, whose funeral was held at the First Presbyterian church on Thursday, April 6, was a true son of Erin, born at Scotstown, County Monaghan, Ireland, the 17th of September, 1887.  His father William also had been born in Scotstown and his mother, Jane Gilbert Farrell, in the same county at Castleblainey.  Coming to this country at 21 years of age, he was united in marriage with Miss Elsie M. Farnsworth and set up his home.  The Farrells had three sons and a daughter.  Mr. Farrell found employment with the Union Pacific railroad and had been stationed at Stromsburg and at Platte Center in addition to his sixteen years here in Madison.  Many railroading friends, including the assistant division superintendent from Omaha, were present at his funeral.             Source:  excerpts from Madison Star-Mail Thursday, April 13, 1950 on page 1.

Sister of Tom Farrell Dies in Lincoln Hotel

Mrs. T. E. Farrell accompanied her husband’s brother-in-law, R. F. Wilson, to Minneapolis Saturday for the funeral of Mrs. Wilson sometime this week.

The death of Mrs. R. F. Wilson of Minneapolis occurred just nine days after she had attended the funeral of her brother, Tom Farrell, here at Madison.  With her husband she had gone on to Lincoln and was taken by a heart attack while staying at the Hotel Cornhusker.    Source:  Madison Star-Mail, Thursday, April 20, 1950 on page 1.