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.
Christians have a star of hope in the night of death. They can bid adieu to their loved ones, yea, they themselves can embark on that final voyage with cheerful hearts. The Lord Jesus is their salvation. It is this alone which affords consolation to such sad deaths like the one we are again called upon to chronicle.
Matilda Salome Gottfried, daughter of John Schwemley and wife Anna departed this life Tuesday Feb 7, 1888 at 3:30 a.m. She was born Oct. 29, 1863 in North Liberty, Chatfield township and was baptized shortly afterward by Rev H. F. Belser. In May, 1878, she was confirmed a member of the Ev. Lutheran St. John’s church of this place, of which she was a faithful member to the hour of her death. March 3, 1887 she was married to William Gottfried, with whom she has since lived in the vicinity of Bucyrus. Jan. 27, 1888, just ten days before her death, a healthy child was born to them. Their joy, however, was of short duration. Typhoid fever set in and it soon became apparent that the young mother must depart and leave the training of her boy to other hands. She expressly desired and witnessed his baptism, taking great comfort in the knowledge that her little one was dedicated to the Lord.
Deceased reached the age of 24 yrs. 3 mo. and 8 da. She leaves a sorrow stricken husband, a motherless child bereaved parents, two brothers and six sisters, besides many mourning friends. They have the sympathy of all. The funeral took place from the Ev. Lutheran church, a large concourse of people following the remains to the cemetery. The undersigned preached the funeral sermon, based on Luke 10, 20-22. Before her death, Mrs Gottfried chose the following hymn from memory, which she desired the congregation to sing at her funeral:
Jesus! be our guide
As through life we glide;
Faithfully in our behavior
May we follow thee, dear Savior,
Lead us by the hand,
Through to Fatherland.When the world is cold
Let us to Thee hold.
When the cup of sorrow draining,
May we do so uncomplaining
For through trials we
Find our way to Thee.Order thou our ways,
H P. DANNECKER
Lord! through all our days;
Though our path be dark and cheerless
Jesus with us, we’ll be fearless,
Open, when life’s o’er,
Lord! to us thy door!
