Onondaga County New York Obituaries Extracted From The Northern Christian Advocate, Syracuse, NY, 1897

1897 Obituaries from the Northern Christian Advocate in Syracuse, Onondaga County New York.

BACON, Cynthia, Obituary

Mrs. Cynthia Bacon departed this life on Wednesday, October 13, 1897. She was born in June, 1811. She was born in Canada, but her parents came to this country when she was quite young and settled in Candor, Tioga county, NY, where they spent the rest of their lives. There she became a member of the Methodist church when about fifteen, and ever since that has been a faithful Christian woman. Her maiden name was Ward, and she was a sister of Hiram Ward, who was so long an active member of the Methodist church in Candor, and who went to his heavenly home last January. She was the last of twelve brothers and sisters. She was married in Candor to J. B. Bacon, in 1828. He was for several years a local preacher, and she was always glad to help him in his spiritual work. He left this world when they were living in Elizabeth, N. J., in 1874 and now she has met him. She was the mother of Mrs. W. J. Judd, and lived with her for several years after the death of her husband. She loved the Bible, she loved prayer and was constantly preparing for the end of life that has now come to her. She died trusting in Jesus, and it was to her a time of glorious victory. [Northern Christian Advocate, (Syracuse, NY), November 24, 1897]

MARKS, Imogene Knapp, Obituary

Mrs. Imogene Knapp Marks was born at Wheeler Center, Steuben county, N.Y., Oct. 11, 1852, and died in Canandaigua, N.Y., May 1, 1897. During her early girlhood the family moved to Dansville and from thence to Naples, where most of her life was spent. In 1874 she was married to William R. Marks, living in Naples until 1889, when Mr. Marks being elected county clerk they moved to Canandaigua, where they have since made their home. She was the mother of three sons, who with their father, looked to her as the one to comfort and help and adore in every emergency. She became a Christian at an early age and was an earnest and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Always cheerful, hopeful, full of sunshine, kind, and most thoughtful of others, she was greatly beloved not only by her family and immediate friends and relatives but by all who knew her. She was a woman of strong character, and its impress is indelibly stamped upon the communities where she lived and worked so faithfully, upon her devoted husband and three sons grown to manhood who survive her, and upon all who enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with her. Hers was a self-sacrificeing life. Like her beloved Lord she was here not to be ministered unto but to minister. Her works do follow her. D. D. CAMPBELL. [Northern Christian Advocate, (Syracuse, NY), Wednesday, July 14, 1897, P.15]

STILES, Anson, Obituary

Anson Stiles was born in East Troupsburg, N.Y., Feb. 26, 1822, and died in the same town April 13, 1897, aged 75 years. He was married to Miss Caroline R. Hayes Feb. 14, 1850. They resided a few miles from their birthplaces until he died. He had been in ill health for some years and for several months he was very frail. Last fall on account of sickness they were kindly invited to the home of his nephew, Collin Stiles, where he quietly and peacefully passed to the better home. He was able to sit up the day that he died, and on the morning of the 12th he led in prayer at family worship. In the evening, as his wife was assisting him in preparing to retire for the night, his head drooped and in a few moments he breathed his last. Uncle Anson, as he was generally known, was a devout man of God, well known for his sterling integrity and righteous life. He was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in early youth. At his marriage he established the family altar and the altar fires never went out. He was for years steward, class-leader of trustee of the church, and though he ever shrank from publicity, he was always true to his office and work. After such a life it is needless to say that his end was peace, for it is always so. Calm resignation and peaceful trust in God were his unto the very end. The funeral services were conducted by his pastor, the Rev. J. Morrow, who used as his text Acts 11:24: "For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." At the services the chair which he usually occupied when at church was dreaped in mourning. His body was tenderly laid to rest in Chenango cemetery to await the resurrection of the just. His widow tarries in loneliness and sorrow. But it will be but for a few years then there will surely be a glad reunion. They had no children, but in their early married life they took a child whose mother had died and reared him to manhood. He is a member of the North Nebrasa Conference and is now sationed at South Omaha. Brother Stiles welcomed the weekly visits of the Northern Christian Advocate to his home for nearly fifty years. D.C.W. [Northern Christian Advocate, (Syracuse, NY), Wednesday, June 23, 1897, P.15]

WHITNEY, Stella I., Obituary

Stella I. Whitney was born in Pulteney, Steuben county, N.Y., Dec. 24, 1872, and died at the same place Jan. 7, 1897. She was the oldest of six children of Mr. and Mrs. John Prentice. When eighteen years of age she made an open profession of her faith in Christ during meetings conducted by Evangelist Scoville, S. A. Brace the pastor. She soon afterward joined the Methodist Episcopal church of Pulteney, N.Y., and became an active worker in the same. She was much interested in church work, especially in the Sunday school. On Feb. 14, 1893, she was married to Eugene Whitney. In her home life she was pleasant, cheerful, Christlike, having the faculty of looking on the bright side of things, and of having a kind word for every one. She scattered smiles and sunshine wherever she went. God gave to the home two little ones, who are left motherless - Florence, aged sixteen months, and Clifford E., aged one month. As she saw the end drawing near she had no fear. The arms of Jesus, upon which she leaned while in health, were beneath her in sickness. The twenty-third psalm was very precious to her. She made complete preparations for her funeral, intrusted her loved ones into loving hands and unto God, then sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. Besides her immediate family, she leaves a large circle of friends to mourn her departure. What is our loss is her gain. The funeral was held from the residence Jan. 9, 1897, the Rev. L. A. Davis, her pastor, officiating. She was interred in Glenview cemetery, Pulteney, N.Y. L.A.D. [Northern Christian Advocate, (Syracuse, NY), Wednesday, February 10, 1897, P.15]

WARD, Hiram, Obituary

Hiram Ward died in Candor, NY, Dec. 26, 1896. If he had lived until Jan 16, 1897, he would have been ninety-five years old. He was the oldest resident of the place and had lived in the same house seventy years. His parents moved from New Hampshire to Kingston, Ont., where he was born in 1802. At the beginning of the war of 1812 his father was required to swear allegiance to the crown or have his property confiscated. He chose the latter, and moved to Candor, where he spent the rest of his life. Father Ward, as he was called, was converted when he was seventeen years of age and united with the Freewill Baptist Church. The Methodist church was organized in Candor in 1827, and he joined it soon after and retained his membership for over sixty-nine years. He had held all the offices of the church, was Sunday school superintendent and class leader for a number of years. He attributed his long life to his temperate habits, never having used tobacco nor liquor. About four years ago his sight and hearing became impaired; otherwise he retained his faculties to within a few days of his death. He attended church and class meeting until within the last year. He died as he had lived, trusting in the merits of Christ. He had a family of ten children, eight of whom are now living; one is the wife of the Rev. R. S. Rose, of the Wyoming Conference, and the Rev. O. W. Rose, of the Upper Iowa Conference, is his grandson. The funeral services were held in the church. The large attendance, the draping of the chair which he occupied in the church, and the potted plants around his coffin, were touching indications of esteem. The Rev. T. E. Warnock preached a very able sermon from a part of the twenty-fourth verse of the twentieth chapter of Acts -- "That I might finish my course with joy". The honorary pallbearers were the Rev. S. E. Walworth, the Rev. David Personens, the Rev. A. G. Bloomfield and the Rev. Stephen Galpin. [Northern Christian Advocate, (Syracuse, NY), January 20, 1897]