Magdalena Wyant's tombstone in the Chariton Cemetery is not in the best of condition. At some point it has fallen, broken into pieces, been reassembled and returned to its upright position. But it's still possible to see that this Lucas County pioneer died on Nov. 2, 1875, as she was approaching her 84th birthday.
Her death occurred at the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Margaret (Wyant) and Ebenezer Badger, just southeast of Chariton --- where a D.A.R. marker now marks the northwesterly turning of the Mormon Trail as it heads directly into what now is Chariton. They are buried here, too --- Margaret at Magdalena's right hand and Ebenezer just beyond.
Her death was noted briefly in The Chariton Leader of Nov. 6, 1875 --- at a time when all type was handset and lengthy obituaries were rare. The report reads as follows:
"Old Mrs. Wyant, known as Granny Wyant, died at the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Badger, her son-in-law, on Tuesday, the 2nd inst., aged 85 years. Mrs. Wyant was one of the earliest settlers of this county, she having lived here about twenty-five years."
When Magdalena's daughter, Margaret Badger, died some 20 years later --- on July 20, 1896 --- paragraphs about her mother were incorporated into her far longer obituary, published in The Patriot of July 30. That enables us to learn a good deal more about Magdalena.
The bond between Magdalena and Margaret was so strong that Margaret had asked specifically to be buried at her mother's right hand when she died in 1896, something that created a problem for her children. Magdalena was buried at the north end of the Badger family lot; her son-in-law, Ebenezer, who had killed himself during 1880, five years after Magdalena's death, at the south end.
The Badger children, after following their mother's instructions about her own burial --- then had Ebenezer's remains disinterred and moved a few feet north to rest beside Margaret although the Badger marriage had not ended especially well and Margaret probably would have been content to let her husband rest where originally planted.
It any case, here are the paragraphs from Margaret's obituary that tell us more about Magdalena:
"The mother of Margaret Badger was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and was married there (to Jacob Wyant), her husband dying when the youngest child, Isaac, was yet a babe. Alone, she took up the great work of making a living for her little ones, but soon the sons and daughters, as they grew to maturity, gave their services to the brave pioneer mother, who paid off the large debt overshadowing the home, and by hard work, good management and economy, saved money enough to provide a home for herself and family in the far west.
"She bade farewell to her Pennsylvania home and associates in the fall of 1834 and went to Grant county, Indiana, in a covered wagon, in which the family lived during the construction of a log house in the dense timber belt. The timber was soon cleared around the little cabin.
"In that neighborhood the good christian mother lived until the spring of 1850 when she and her son, Jacob, the eldest child, started for Iowa in a carriage, the sturdy son transporting the household goods in true freighter style. Locating in Lucas County, they purchased a farm of 160 acres, one mile east of Chariton.
"Mrs. Wyant added to her original purchase until she owned 700 acres. She afterwards disposed of her property and came to live with her daughter, Margaret Badger, where she died of paralysis at the age of 84 years."
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Online sources give Magdalena's maiden name as Diebert or Dibert and agree that she married Jacob Wyant in Bedford County Pennsylvania about 1810. He reportedly died in Bedford County during 1826, when their youngest child, Isaac, was 2 years old.
Son Jacob moved along soon after settling his mother in Lucas County and settled himself and his family in Taylor County, southwest Iowa, where he died on Aug, 18, 1868. The youngest son, Isaac, settled in Clarke County with his family and died there on Feb. 18, 1898.
Although daughter Margaret always was nearby during Magdalena's Lucas County years, census records suggest that she always lived independently on her own farm until old age made it necessary to move in with the Badgers.
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