DEATH OF A VERY
RESPECTED RESIDENT
On Tuesday
morning, while day began to dawn, [the spirit of the] oldest resident of
Townsend Township and the Village of Waterford, Mrs. William McMichael, in
her [95th] year, winged its flight [to the pearly] gates of Heaven.
During the whole of her life, the
deceased hardly knew what is was to be ill, and at the time of her death
had been confined to bed scarcely two days. The immediate cause of death
was congestion of the lungs.
Mrs. McMichael, the ninth and
youngest daughter of the late John Kern, one of the pioneer settlers of
Long Point, who came to this country from New Jersey, was born in this
county in the year 1811, and thus had the distinction of living during the
reigns of five British sovereigns.
At an early age she was baptized
along with many others during the time of a revival at Forestville, bu the
late Elder McDomand [sic], who also united in the holy bonds of
matrimony at the same village, the late Mrs. McMichael and her former
husband, the late William Cunningham of Boston.
This union was blest by a family of
two sons and one daughter, Mr. Wm. Cunningham of Boston, the late Samuel
Cunningham of Waterford, and
Mrs. B. L. Chipman of Ridgetown.
Subsequently, Elder McDomand [sic]
solemnized the marriage of the deceased and the late Mr. William
McMichael, who predeceased her by about 18 years.
Mr. and Mrs. William McMichael
moved to Waterford in the year 1859. This union resulted in a family of
four sons -- Oscar, Walter, Romaine A., Albert E., -- and two daughters,
Mrs. Oliver Beemer of Townsend and Dora, at home, all of whom survive
their mother.
Mrs. McMichael was the sole
survivor of her generation in this part of the country, and was on of the
few whose parents settled in Norfolk County before the dawn of the 19th
century.
She was the grandmother of
seventeen and had six great-grandchildren.
Mrs. McMichael's girlhood days were
spent in a time when bears carrying off domestic animals, two yokes of
oxen hitched to a plow, and girls raking and binding after a cradler were
common sights and idleness was an unknown quality.
Whenever anyone for miles was
seriously ill, Grandma McMichael was always sent for and never refused to
go. Yea, more; whenever the grim monster death entered a sorrowing home
Grandma McMichael never refused to lend her assistance to do any and
every thing in her power.
As a church member she was a
wonderful worker and a tower of strength to the late Elder Slaght.
Up to within the last few days
previous to her death, Mrs. McMichael could knit or sew and even thread
her own needle, and it was most surprising to hear her sing snatches of
familiar hymns in a tone clear as a bell.
The funeral takes place on Friday
at 2 p.m. from her late residence, Main St., to Greenwood cemetery. Rev.
F. C. Elliott will conduct the services at the house.
