Gillespie, Margaret I. (Palmer) 1834 - 1911

GILLESPIE, PALMER

Posted By: Cindy Maust Smith (email)
Date: 10/2/2020 at 11:38:14

The Essex Independent, Friday, April 21, 1911, Essex, Iowa, Page 1

AN OLD SETTLER GONE

Mrs. Chas. Gillespie Passes Away at Her Home Southeast of Essex Sunday, After an Illness of Several Weeks

Margaret I. Palmer was born in Vermont, August 15, 1834. At the age of 8 years she moved with her parents to New York, and from there to Carrol County, Illinois, here she grew to womanhood. She was married to Chas. Gillespie March 14, 1861 and moved to Page County in 1870, and settled on the farm that was her home when she died. She was the mother of eight children, one of these dying several years ago. The others were all present at her bedside when she passed away.

Mrs. Gillespie can well be mentioned as one of our oldest citizens coming to this country when it was a wild waste of prairie, she has done her part to make it what it is today. All these years of living in the one home, knowing that she had had a hand in the making, content with her surroundings, a neighbor beloved by all, she will be missed. Yes, she has spent a useful life, always looking after the welfare of home and children, and as she had attained to that age to which few live, we cannot help but say, she lived her alotted time, her years were many and full of usefullness and as we shed a parting tear we can realize that the world was made better and brighter by her having lived in it.

The funeral was held at the home Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, conducted by Rev. Mitchell of Shenandoah and the remains laid to rest beside those of her husband in the Essex Cemetery. The Independent joins with all Essex in extending sympathy to the sorrowing relatives and friends.