Obituary Notices | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 20, 1876

Obituary Notices.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”

Died, in Burke, Vt., Dec. 26, 1875, of inflammation of the stomach and bowels, sister Mary L. Bourdeau, daughter of Eld. A. C. and Charlotte Bourdeau, aged, 17 years, 7 months and 16 days. Sister Mary had for a time worked in the Review Office, and was considered one of our most healthy and active hands. Little was it thought when a few weeks ago she left for her home to assist her uncle, Eld. D. T. Bourdeau, in preparations for his departure for Europe, that she was marked as a victim for the grave.

In the meetings held in Battle Creek last fall by Bro. and sister White, just before their departure for California, she made a new start in the service of God and was baptized. Upon hearing of her death, after the first feeling of regret at her loss, the next thought was one of gratitude that she took her stand last fall so fully on the Lord’s side. The influence of that revival went with her to the time of her death. In a letter just received from her father, we read the following hopeful and encouraging words in reference to the close of her life:—

“During her short stay at Bordoville, on her way home, she spoke many words of encouragement to her young friends, which they will long remember. In the last meeting that she attended at my house in Burke, two weeks before she died, she gave a testimony which affected all present, and filled our hearts with deep solemnity. During her sickness she gave every possible evidence that she was accepted of God, and that all was well with her. Her strong hope, and the desire she expressed to have her parents, sisters, and brothers, meet her in the kingdom, greatly increased our desires and determinations to serve the Lord, and prepare for Heaven.

“Last Tuesday night, just three weeks after she came home, she was carried out of our house a lifeless corpse. Six of us accompanied her by car to Bordoville, where, yesterday, the 29th inst., the funeral was held, and a comforting discourse was given by Eld. L. Bean, to a large congregation of mourning and sympathizing friends.” U. S.

The following lines were written by a dear friend of the deceased, on the day of the funeral.

IN MEMORY OF

MARY L. BOURDEAU, WHO DIED DEC. 26, 1875.

Our hearts with deep sorrow and anguish are torn; For death to his mansion a loved one hath borne. The circle is broken, and vacant the chair— Lonely the dwelling; for one is not there.

She is gone from our number; no more can we hear Her voice so familiar to welcome us near. No more through the room will her footsteps resound, For now she is lying beneath the cold ground.

O death, thy sad summons was quickly obeyed, And in thine embrace our sister was laid; The last farewell spoken, her last tear is shed; Oh! oft shall we miss her who sleeps with the dead.

While parents, and sisters, and friends, now are weeping, She heeds not their grief; it disturbs not her sleeping. No more can earth’s sorrows her slumbers molest; Her work is now finished, and she is at rest.

Yes, sleeping in Jesus a blessed repose; Secure from life’s conflicts, its cares, and its woes. But short is her slumber, within the dark tomb; For Jesus hath lain there, and scattered its gloom.

And soon he is coming, death’s portals to ope, And release all his captives now resting in hope. Triumphant, immortal, she then will arise; Shouting victory o’er death; where, O grave, is thy prize?

Oh! then may we meet, in that glorious morn, The loved and the cherished, who from us are torn; In Heaven, where all is immortal and fair, No parting, no sighing, no death, will be there.

V. O. Cross.

Bordoville, Vt., Dec. 30, 1875.

Died, of slow paralysis, in Cedar Springs, Mich., Dec. 27, 1875, Benjamin Stiles, aged sixty-nine years. Bro. S. was a strict and conscientious observer of the Sabbath. As his disease progressed, the goodness and mercy of God were manifest. The faults and sins of his past life, many of them innocently committed, were wept over and confessed. He was thus enabled to prepare for the solemn Judgment before the disease reached the brain, after which he had no rest from his sufferings except in unconsciousness. Funeral discourse by Rev. A. Rogers (Methodist) from 1 John 3:2. M. P. Stiles.

Died, of lingering consumption, in Locke, Ingham Co., Mich., Dec. 10, 1875, Chancy P. Faulkner, aged twenty-nine years. His last expressions were full of consolation to those who heard them, and he calmly fell asleep, we trust, in Jesus. Funeral discourse by the writer from Job 14:14, to a large and attentive audience. D. W. Milk.

Died, at Beaver Dams, N. Y., Dec. 28, 1875, in the thirty-ninth year of her age, sister Mary E. Johnson, wife of Daniel Johnson. Sister J. was afflicted with what was supposed to be goiter; but it proved to be a tumor. The best surgeon in the vicinity was secured, and she submitted to have it opened, and a seton introduced. To all appearances, she was in a fair way to survive, until the morning of her death, when she suddenly expired. Being assured by her surgeon that her chance of life was small, she gave directions concerning her funeral and the disposition of her things, and resigned herself into the hands of God. There is hope in her death. Sermon by Eld. Mallory (Baptist), from Job 14:14; John 14:2. D. T. Fero.

Died, of scarlet fever, in Smithland, Iowa, Dec. 30, 1875, Ernest M., only son of D. A. and E. F. Butler, aged three years and eight months. Funeral discourse by the writer, from Job 14:14. “If a man die shall he live again?” J. Bartlett.

Died, near Papinsville, Mo., Dec. 15, 1875, after an illness of three months, Jesse C., only child of Enos and Emma Terry, aged eleven months. While we mourn the loss of our little one, we are made to rejoice by the thought that he will “come again from the land of the enemy.” B. F. Terry.

Died, in Portland, Maine, Dec. 2, 1875, my dear sister, Lucy J. Dunscomb. When she was 14 years of age, she was stricken down with rheumatic fever, which terminated in heart disease and dropsy. She was never well after. Four years ago she was baptized by Eld. Haskell, and became a member of the church in Deering. Funeral discourse by Eld. Stockman, from Rev. 22:1-3, 6. E. F. Dunscomb.