Quakers formed a significant component of Iowa's pioneers, including the West Branch Hoovers, who produced Iowa's only native-born president, Herbert.
But Friends were few and far between in Lucas County, never arriving in sufficient numbers to gather a meeting --- the nearest were at Smyrna, just across the Clarke County line to the west; to the north in Warren County; and to the northeast, in Mahaska.
A majority of Lucas County's Quakers joined congregations of other denominations, but the most influential did not. The Lewis family, editors and publishers of The Chariton Patriot from the 1870s until after the turn of the 20th century, held on to their Quaker beliefs and practices until the end.
Which is why dates on some of the family tombstones in the Chariton Cemetery are inscribed in the unique Quaker way, including that of Hettie Lewis, who died 4th Month, 16th Day, 1880 (or April 16, 1880), age 39, of tuberculosis.
Quakers, from the earliest times, had objected to the pagan linguistic roots of the words used to represent days of the week, Sunday-Saturday, and all of the months except September-December. After 1752, Quakers worldwide began to use a consistent numbering system for those words --- 1st Day through 7th Day for Sunday-Saturday; and 1st Month through 12th Month for January-December.
Some Quakers still use the traditional numbering system, but many do not --- and the transition from one system to another is evident on the Lewis family tombstones. Later stones are inscribed in the more common way.
Three Lewis brothers, Elijah, Evan and Joseph, arrived in Chariton from Chester County, Pennsylvania, immediately after the Civil War. Trained as millers, in addition to other skills as teachers and farmers, they purchased the Phoenix Flouring Mill. During 1873, they were joined by their parents, Thomas M. and Susanna Lewis, and sisters Lucretia and Hettie.
Joseph moved on, but Lucretia, Elijah and Evan formed a company and purchased The Chariton Patriot, which remained in family hands until after the turn of the 20th century.
Hettie was the first to die in Lucas County. Here's her brief obituary from The Patriot of April 21, 1880:
DIED
LEWIS --- At the residence of her mother, Susanna Lewis, in this city on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock of consumption, Hettie M. Lewis.
She was attacked with the fatal disease some months since, and has been confined to the house a greater portion of the time. During her long illness she was never known to utter a word of complaint, and bore her suffering with a resignation rarely equaled. She was the pet of the household and admired by all of her acquaintances for her warm hearted, generous good nature, and will be sadly missed. The afflicted family are almost inconsolable for their loss, and will receive in their trying hour, the utmost sympathy of the entire community.
1 comment:
Quaker burial beliefs are very interesting in general. In their earliest days, they didn't believe in erecting any kind of tombstone to mark graves. They didn't want to get into anything that could be perceived as one person being superior to another (large stone vs small stone, ornamentation on the stone vs being plain), so they just kept away from it for about 200 years. Eventually attitudes began to change and they would allow a very simple small stone, sometimes with only initials. This change came about around the middle of the 1800s. This particular stone is perhaps a little bigger than the average Quaker stone in 1880, but of course this burial was not in a Quaker cemetery.
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