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Laid to Rest
Louisa Minott
The funeral services for the late Mrs. J.H. Minott were held Tuesday forenoon at her late home at 10 o'clock, the Rev. N. Pye of the Methodist church preaching the sermon. These services were attended by a large company of sympathizing friends and the beautiful flowers manifested the feeling of love and respect in which the deceased was held. Two of the children, Mrs. Wells and Loomis Minott, were unable to be present at these last services. Two brothers of Mrs. Minott with their families from Marengo were present and Mr. Ward from Chicago, an intimate friend. The remains were taken to Oak Hill for internment escorted to their last resting place by a long procession of friends. Rev. Pye in reading the obituary paid her a high compliment as a woman and mother. The obituary was as follows:
Louisa, daughter of Rachel and Andrew Stephen, was born Dec. 15th, 1840, at Iowa City, she being the first white girl born there. When a child her parents made their home on a farm four and a half miles southeast of Belle Plaine. She was married to John H. Minott June 10th, 1857. In 1881 she began a permanent residence in Belle Plaine.
Six children were born to her, one dying in infancy, while Mrs. Ida Weldon of Chicago, Mary Margie of Belle Plaine, Loomis E of Helena, Mont., Stephen Lee of Belle Plaine and Mrs. Maude Wells of Rochester, N.Y., mournfully survive their mother to give comfort to their sorrowing father.
Her sickness assumed a serious character in 1898. After being under medical care for a year she went to Chicago and consulted a specialist, from whom her daughter returned with the sad news that her case was beyond human aid, which was rigidly kept from the dying mother. Her sufferings were intense, which she bore with great fortitude. When asked by her daughter, who found her in tears, "Are you suffering so much?" She replied, "Oh, yes, but I don't want always to complain." Her sufferings lessened in severity during the last week of her life and she quietly passed away at 7:45 a.m. Sunday, Aug 5th. This last winter she said, I never thought of doubting that Jesus Christ was my Savior." She was not afraid of death, though she dreaded the suffering. She enjoyed the reading of the twenty-third and ninety-first Psalms. Her favorite hymn was "My Ain Countrie." She was domestic and retiring in disposition. She was the truest of friends and the best of neighbors. She thoroughly despised the unreal in life and character. She was an active worker in the Cemetery association. She has gone but her influence will remain as a benign force among those who knew her.
{Submitter comment: I am the great-granddaughter of Louisa Stephen Minott's daughter, Maude Wells (later Maude Wells Grosvenor), who is also buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Belle Plaine IA.}
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