This post was contributed to the Crawford County Chapter of OGS by Kristina Stearley as part of the Florence Siefert Scrapbook in 2010.
The scrapbook is compiled from undated, unidentified newspaper clippings involving events in the lives of Crawford County citizens living in or having connections to New Washington, Tiro, Shelby, Sulphur Springs, Chatfield, Bucyrus, Ashland, Mansfield, and other areas. Only minimal spelling or punctuation corrections were made. Unreadable areas are shown by underlines, dots &/or question marks. This collection has been scanned, “optical character recognized” (OCR’d), proofed, then coded for HTML by volunteers of the Crawford County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Since the copies are not of the best quality errors may have been made. Please contact us if you find corrections needing to be made or can verify any missing dates which could be added.
Mary Jane Bland, nee Willford, was born in Cranberry township, Crawford county, Ohio, May 17, 1855, departed this life September 11, 1891, aged 36 yrs., 3 mos., 25 da.
On December 25, 1872, she was united in marriage with John Bland. This union resulted in the birth of seven children, five girls and two boys all of whom survive her.
On the 2nd inst., she bade her family and relatives farewell and said she was going home, but life was prolonged until the 11th when she was relieved of her suffering. During her sickness she was calm and sensible to the last. She requested that her children be kept together. She bore her sufferings, with great patience and not a murmur was heard. Her mind was bright, being hopeful of a happy immortality. Funeral services were held on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 13, at Goodwill in the presence of a vast throng of people, Rev. Wolfe conducting the services.
Dearest sister thou halt left us,
Here our loss we deeply feel
But to God that hath bereft us,
He can all our sorrows heal.
Yet again we hope to meet thee
When the day of life has fled,
Then in Heaven we hope to greet thee,
There no farewell tear is shed.
` Unknown Author
