Fellows Family

Stephen Fellows (1782-1855)

Source: Unknown

Stephen Norris Fellows (1830-1908)

The Iowa City Citizen, Wednesday, June 3, 1908

DR. FELLOWS CALLED - DIED EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING - HIS LIFE A NOTEWORTHY ONE

Beloved Pastor and Teacher – A Noted Temperance Worker and Religious Writer – A Man of the Highest Type

A feeling of sadness spread over the city yesterday morning when the word was passed around that early, in the morning the life of Dr. Stephen Norris Fellows had ended. The news was communicated to points more distant speedily and there again was sorrow that the life of one so good had ceased to be.

Last Saturday Dr. Fellows was receiving the congratulations of his friends at having reached his seventy-eighth birthday. Though he had not been in the best of health this spring he had nevertheless been active and the past three weeks the Methodist Church had practically been in his charge as Dr. Clark, the pastor, was absent from the city and in that time Dr. Fellows had preached in the church and conducted several funerals and also had officiated in a ceremony of marriage. Thus his life ended in the work, which he had spent his life, that of an earnest Christian advocate.

The immediate cause of death was diabetes.

A Varied Life.

“Dr. Fellows was great, not in one line, but in many,” said one who knew him closely. “His work in temperance lines is pre-eminent. As a speaker and writer he upheld the cause and served in the capacity as President of the Temperance Alliance and Anti-Saloon League.

“As a teacher he has an enviable record. Upon his graduation from college in 1854 he was elected to a position in Cornell College and remained there until 1860. He spent seven years as a pastor thereafter and in 1867 he was unanimously chosen Principal of the Normal Department in the State University. Here he spent twenty years of notable work.

“His record in the Church is indeed unique. He joined the Upper Iowa Conference at its organization in 1856 and at the celebration of the semi-centennial of the conference in Maquoketa in 1906 he gave the semi-centennial address. He also wrote the history of the Upper Iowa Conference, which is the best conference history ever written and stands as a remarkable monument to him and is a treasure for the conference. He was personally acquainted with every bishop at the Church prior to the general election recently. He was seventy years in Sunday School and for sixty years was a teacher. He held charges in this conference in Dyersville, Tipton, Lyons, Marshalltown, Waterloo, Manchester, Toledo, Fayette and Grundy Center. At the time of his death he was agent of the conference fund.

“While at Toledo he became interested in the Indians near that place and largely through his efforts the Indian Rights Association was formed and a training school was established for Indians with an endowment of $435,000 from Congress.”

This is enough to show that Dr. Fellows was indeed unique in his work accomplished but this does not tell all nor do him complete justice. His labors were always conducted in a high-minded manner, which did much to set a good example for those about him. He enjoyed to an exceptional degree the esteem of his neighbors and friends and was always interested in civic betterment. The local church owes him a great debt, as does the community in general. The completion of the beautiful new church was a great consolation to him.

His Family History.

Dr. Fellows was born in North Sandwich, New Hampshire. He was next to the youngest of a large family of children. Most of his childhood was spent in Dixon, Illinois, and his education was acquired with much personal privation. He was married in 1852 (1856 according to Jones County, Iowa records) to Miss Sarah Matson who now survives him. Of their six children, three are living, Albion N. in New York City, Olin S. in Middletown, New York and Ora N. Fellows of this city.

The Funeral.

The funeral services will be in charge of Dr. Clark and will be held in the Methodist Church Friday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. There will be several speakers, Dr. Parsons of Cornell College, Dr. Miller of Des Moines, Dean A. N. Currier, Reverend A. B. Leamer, and possibly others, who will say a few words with reference to their special relationship to the deceased.

Contributed by Sheila Simpson