Clipping from The People's Banner, David City, Butler County, Nebraska, Wednesday Nov. 20, 1895
Tabitha Vander Kolk WOOD (Mrs. James V. Wood) (11 Jan 1846-14 Nov. 1895)
A Good Woman Laid to Rest.
Died, of cancer In the breast, on Thursday afternoon Nov. 14th, at two o'clock
p.m. at her residence
three miles northwest of David City, Tabitha Wood wife of Mr. James V. Wood. The
funeral service, was held in
the Congregational church on Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. The church was filled
to the overflowing with
sympathetic friends. The Rev A. W. Ayres preached the sermon from Psalm 90,
verse 1, and he was assisted in the
service by Rev. Dillow. The interment was made in the David City cemetery.
The deceased was born in Friesland, Holland; January 11th, 1846, and was 49
years, 10 months and 3 days
old. Her parents came to this country when she was two years of age and settled
in the state of Iowa. In the
spring of 1867 she removed with her brother Mr. Vanderkolk into the State of
Nebraska, taking up her residence
in Butler county, in which county she resided till the day of her decease. She
was married by the venerable
Father Dresser to the husband who mourns her loss on March 13th, 1878, and four
children remain as the blessed
fruits of the marriage.
The .... .... [possible missing text]
The deceased was a devout Christian woman. She became a Christian when she was
19 years of age of age
and affiliated with the Baptist church in Pella, Iowa. From the time of her
conversion to the time when God
transferred her to the Church above, her faith never lost its grasp of
spiritual things. It was ever firm and
steadfast. It was a star always shining in her life and casting its light on
those about her. When she came
into the State of Nebraska in those early pioneer days of '67 she saw at once
that work needed to be done for
God and for His Christ. She saw her opportunity of confessing her faith. The
significance of the Sabbath day
did not seem to be fully realized by the majority of the settlers in the county.
It was generally spent in
visiting friends and neighbors. Stopping with some friends one Sabbath she
suggested the idea that
a Sunday school be organized. The suggestion was immediately taken up and the
first Sunday school in the county
was started in the name of Christ, in which the deceased taught not only by
precept but also by Christian
example which is far better. In a few months preaching services were held by
Rev. J. B. Chase a Congregational
minister in charge of Work at Columbus. In the winter of '67 he crossed the
Platte river on the ice to hold the
first preaching services in Butler county. Upon his removal to another point
Father Amos Dresser, so well known
and so beloved by Butler county people, took charge of the work. Out of these
preaching services grew the Butler
county first Congregational church, of which the deceased was a charter member.
The deceased became a charter member of the Congregational church of David City
when it was organized
in May, 1878, and she was a devoted and consistent member of it until God took
her to himself, She was a
faithful wife and mother and her prayers were joined with her husband's that
her children might be kept and
preserved from evil.
That they might be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was ever the burden
that seemed to be laid
upon her heart. She was a patient sufferer. During the weary and painful months
when her frame was the seat of
the most excruciating pain not a word of complaining escaped her lips. Her trust
was in God and her will was
perfectly submissive to His. She sought relief in the Great Physician and his
presence in the sick chamber was
made manifest. Now she has fallen on sleep. Her light affliction which has but
for a moment worked out for
her a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. May the God of Grace be
preciously near to the bereaved
husband, children and relatives and sustain them in this hour of darkness and
sorrow.
We await the time when the Master shall come and call for us, so that we may
join our loved ones in the
realms of light, in the Christian's heaven. |
