I enjoyed a visit at the museum yesterday afternoon with cousins --- somewhat distant but cousins none the less --- descended from a couple I've always known as Uncle Rial and Aunt Bitha Miller, following in the footsteps of my mother (Rial's and Bitha's grandniece) and maternal grandfather (their nephew).
Uncle Rial was Gerial Trescott Miller (1865-1932; brother to my great-grandfather, Joseph Cyrus Miller) and Aunt Bitha, Sarah Tobitha (Carson) Miller (1865-1949). The borrowed photograph of their tombstone in the Chariton Cemetery here was lifted from from Find A Grave.
Aunt Bitha's obituary, published in The Chariton Patriot of Feb. 17, 1949, is a memorable one, to my mind mostly because of its graceful first paragraph: "Not bound with affliction and disease except the infirmities of old age, but like a shock of fully developed wheat, Mrs. Tobitha Miller came to the terminal of her earthy life at one p.m. Monday, Feb. 14, at the home of her son, Chester Miller, east of Williamson."
When I turned to Find A Grave at the museum yesterday to find the obit --- amazing volunteers have added photographs and obituaries when available to nearly all of the Lucas County Find A Grave entries --- it wasn't there, so I couldn't share it. I'm rectifying that situation by posting the complete obituary here. After the introductory paragraph, it continues:
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Tobitha Carson, daughter of Isaac Newton and Margaret Carson, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, March 3, 1865, and departed this life February 14, 1949, at the age of 83 years, 11 months and 11 days. When a small child she came with her parents to Pleasant township in Lucas county, Iowa, where she grew to womanhood and lived until her marriage. She was the eldest of four children, two of whom, Frank and Birdella, having preceded her in death leaving one brother, John Carson, surviving.
She was married to G. Miller March 1, 1896, and they settled on a farm in Englsh township. They were the parents of two children, Chester Miller, east of Williamson, and Blanch Myree Spiker, of Des Moines. Besides the two children she leaves three grandchildren, Ellsworth Miller, of Russell, Iowa; Naomi Miller Bennett, of Alhambra, California; and Norma Spiker Cole, of Des Moines; one little grandson, Byron Boyd Spiker, having gone on before. There are also left five great-grandchildren, Michael and Jo Ann Miller, Janice Lee and Sharon Kay Cole and Tommy Bennett.
Mrs. Miller united with the Belinda Christian church in early life, later transferring her membership to the Central Christian church in Williamson where she maintained a lively interest in all its activities throughout its history and never lost interest in all things spiritual in the years since its dissolution.
In 1918 (actually January of 1919), Mr. and Mrs. Miller left the farm and took up residence in Williamson. Here Mr. Miller died in 1932 and Mrs. Miller maintained her home for the most part in Williamson until the past year and a half it seemed advisable for her to sell her home and move to the home of her son where she would have better care and less responsibility.
Mrs. Miller was a woman of strong convictions and always dared to be true to her convictions. No one could meet her and know her without being impressed by her great love for truth and righteousness and her abject abhorence of anything that savored of sham and pretense. She was a loving mother, a good neighbor and a true friend and she leaves a large circle of friends and relatives who are saddened by her passing.
Funeral services conducted by Rev. Bloom, of the Chariton Christian church, were held at the Miley funeral home Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock with burial in the Chariton cemetery. Mrs. Hilma Webb and Mrs. Alex Wallace sang favorite hymns of the deceased. Pallbearers were six nephews, W.A., Jerry and Clair Miller and Francis, Leo and Emory Carson (W.A. Miller was my grandfather; Jerry and Clair, his brothers).
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While consulting Find A Grave, I discovered that whoever created Aunt Bitha's memorial page had gone astray. The creator was not one of the Lucas County volunteers involved in the page, but apparently a Carson relative who lives in Chicago.
Instead of giving her name correctly as "Tobitha," the entry shows the name as "Tabitha." While Tobitha is a variant spelling of Tabitha, it's not quite the same.
Then I went to the family history files at Ancestry.com to see what mischief the mistaken Find A Grave entry was responsible for. There are 77 Ancestry.com entries for Aunt Bitha, about 60 of which give her full name incorrectly as "Sarah Tabitha." Two list it correctly as "Sarah Tobitha" and the rest, as "Sarah T."
Considering Aunt Bitha's great love for truth and righteousness, I feel called to warn you-all about the hazards of accepting as revelation everything found on Find A Grave or at Ancestry.com.
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