Obituary Record

Isabella (Poulson) Cruickshank
Died on 3/27/1929
Buried in Blair Cemetery

Enterprise 28 March 1929

Noted Character Called Home “Grandma” Cruickshank Passes Away on Wednesday Afternoon After Brief Illness. Visited at Home of Friends on Sunday.

BORN ON NOVEMBER 21, 1835

Isabella Poulson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Nov. 21, 1835 where she was reared to womanhood and in the year 1857 was married to James A Cruickshank.

Her family were people of education being professional people and her husband at the time of their marriage was connected with the banking business in Scotland.

After their marriage they continued to reside in Scotland for a time where one child died in infancy and was buried.

Later they decided to come to America, the land of promise and in the early seventies they landed in Omaha where for a time they made their home. The day after they landed in Omaha they buried another baby, the sorrow of which Mrs. Cruickshank never could forget. A friend of theirs from the same county in Scotland had homesteaded in the De Soto hills and Mr. and Mrs. Cruickshank purchased this farm on which they resided for a number of years and which became known the county over for the hospitality and kindly dealings of its proprietors.

To them a large family of children were born, nine of whom were born in Scotland and four in this country.

“Grandma” Cruickshank, as we all know her, was a general favorite. In her time she was a great reader and as long as her eyes would permit she kept well posted on all world happenings and it was always a great pleasure to visit with her on account of her keen and active mind and her general knowledge of things and her genial happy ways.

On last Sunday she entertained a number of friends and later in the afternoon called on a friend, having a real pleasant visit with all. On Monday morning she ate her breakfast as usual but later became indisposed and as her sickness continued she gradually faded away, the end coming on Wednesday afternoon.

Funeral services will be held at the Congregational church at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, in the “little kirk” which she had always loved dearly.

That at age of over ninety-three years ends a life that the world would do well to emulate and to the memory we bow our heads in deepest respect.

The living children who as times goes on will hold their mother’s memory always dear are: Mrs. M. A. Summers, Page, Nebr., Mr. James Cruickshank, Ft. Calhoun, Mr. John P. Cruickshank, Golden Valley, N. D.; Mrs. John S. Burnett, Little Medicine, Wyo.; Mr. Alec Cruickshank, Los Molinos, Calif.; Mrs. Leo Nickerson, Red Bluff, Calif; Mrs. Ora S. Marshall, Casper, Wyo.; Mrs. Sherry Moore, Blair, Neb., and Mr. Andrew Cruickshank, Florence, Neb.

Enterprise 11 April 1929

Obituary Of Noted Woman

Rev. Newell’s Brief Address of Most Widely Known Character of Community. Delivered at the Funeral Obsequies Mch. 30, 1929

CLOSES PAGE EARLY HISTORY

Funeral services for the late Mrs. Isabella Poulson Cruickshank were held in the Congregational church March 30, Rev. A. F. Newell, her pastor, being in charge. Music was furnished by a quartet made up of Miss Ethel Mead, Miss Mary Cook, Don C. Van Deusen and F. W. Arndt, Miss Jeanette McQuarie accompanying. Mr. Thomas Blanchard also sung a beautiful selection accompanied by Mrs. Blanchard.

Following a brief obituary, the pastor said in part: This is what the world will read in print – it is not what is printed on our heart. This is not the time to be conventional or formal; Grandmother Cruickshank was neither conventional nor formal. Indeed, she was somewhat of a law to herself. Whatever I may say about her will seem adequate and satisfactory neither to you nor to me. One might speak a long time and say many things about this very dear and Christian Scotch friend of us all, and at the end one would hardly have begun.

Nor is this a time to say trite and ordinary things, for she was neither trite nor ordinary. I am almost tempted to say she was in a class by herself – an extraordinary class.

Nor is it a time to say the sad and tear-provoking word; for this, while a solemn occasion, is not a sad occasion. Who would deprive her of her present peace-and sight? Who would ask her back to occupy her frail and breaking body?

Meeting Mrs. Cruickshank first as a stranger three years ago, I confess to having had a real curiosity to account for that eager, alert, restless, inquiring, original mind, in evidence even at the great ago of 93 and 93. Bit by bit I pieced together the elements which made up the background out of which she came. I found that her father was an Aberdeen physician and a Christian; that three uncles were also Scotch physicians, and another uncle a Presbyterian minister. She was thus reared in the thinking atmosphere of a professional and religious home, in which strong books were read; sound papers were taken and absorbed, and questions of weight and importance were discussed before the children; a home which added to its knowledge and soundness of character by constant attendance upon the ministrations of the kirk. Moral questions loomed large in this sturdy Scotch home, and Mrs. Cruickshank never lost the stamp thus fixed upon her in those impressionable years. Out of such an atmosphere in Aberdeenshire came the shrewd, inquiring mind, and the warm, religious heart of Grandmother Cruickshank.

One can but stand in patriotic reverence in the presence of these pioneers who broke the sod, faced the hardships, and made the Midwest and Nebraska what they are. It took a stout heart and boundless faith and a consuming love to break away from the beloved hills and yet more beloved kith and kin of her native Scotland, and sail with the man of her choice and a brood of little children to a new land. But this is what Isabella Cruickshank did- and we shall need to live long and well and gratefully and nobly to become worthy of such foundation stones upon which our western civilization, prosperity and culture are builded. Truly, holy homes lie beneath the superstructure of our western American life. They ought to inspire us to high and unselfish living. This county is richer in more than one way because James and Isabella came as pioneers. Why? Because to themselves, standing with scotch tenacity for an ordered society, law, justice, kindness, hospitality, charity, morality and religion, they, and those like them, became moulding influences and a chief asset of those early, formative days.

While not a charter member, Mrs. Cruickshank, with her husband, came into membership in the Congregational church here three years after it was organized in 1870, joining in 1873. Ever since, in a continuous membership of 56 years, through all its fortunes, “in fair and cloudy weather”, she has cherished the church, love it, prayed for it, watched its growth with pride, and attended its services with a fidelity most enheartening to its successive pastors. I never meet one of them but inevitable the question is asked, “And how about Grandmother Cruickshank?” Even up to last November she was still to be found with considerable regularity on Sunday mornings, despite the increasing weight of years and total blindness. To me it was always something of an event when she came up the aisle still bearing herself with a certain air of distinction which was all her own. Her life was a faithful echo of the line of David, “a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness”.

Her love and charity were as broad as her broad Scotch accent- and as delightful. The greatness of her faith and hope was in inverse ratio to her small, frail body. One wondered how so small a frame could hold so large a heart. It always is to be one of the very grateful and humbling memories of my whole ministry that so sweet and loving a servant of God has called me, and with such evident affection, “my minister”. Yet she ministered far more to me than I could minister to her.

And how that love she poured out upon this church and this whole community came back to her! Freely she gave of herself and freely has she received. No one questioned her first place in the affections of our people, and few in Blair have been more beloved. On the occasion of her 93rd birthday last November we prepared a special, flower-bedecked little table during a public dinner in the church, and made her the guest of honor. Every guest came to her table to take her hand and give her greetings, and her cup of happiness was full. It was her last public opportunity for showing her heart and receiving the love and reverence of her friends.

Hers was a glowing and vivid personality. One could never forget it. Whimsical, witty, vivacious, with an astounding memory and a wealth of experience and canny observation to draw upon, it was no wonder that she was engaging and rewarding in conversation, and was welcomed in any company.

You will expect me to speak of her religious life. As much as any person I ever have known she knew at first hand “the joy of the Lord”. Religion, with her, was no external wrapping, put on, like a fireman’s coat, for protection and safety. It was of her and in her “Faith” and “Life”, with her, were synonymous terms. “For me to live is Christ”. Life brought to her its full measure of trouble and sorrow, but she could say, with Paul, “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy”. Religion, with her, was not a dose to be taken for a sickness of her soul; it was vital air and joyful sunshine to be absorbed for the health of her body mind and spirit.

We judge an apple tree by the kind of apples it bears; and when the apples are good we do not worry about the quality or quantity of the sap, or the particular name of the tree. And when we find such fruits as love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, charity, meekness, and self-control, we may not bother to ask “But has she experienced religion?”, “Was she baptized regularly?” or “how much did she believe?”. Rather, we thank God and take courage, beholding how His Spirit can still invigorate, mould, sweeten and perfect a human life.

There is a certain fitness in the fact that Mrs. Cruickshank’s earthly life closed during Holy Week. Holy Week begins in the triumph of Palm Sunday, proceeds through the heaviness of sorrow, Trial and Crucifixion, and issues in the glory of the New Life. I think of Mrs. Cruickshank’s early, buoyant life of happy girlhood, joyous mating, triumphant young motherhood; of the long years of burdens, loss of children, falling hopes and cloudy weather all bravely met; and now, “Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, Jordan passed”. I think of her going forward to meet her Lord and to find those she has loved and lost awhile.

It has been said “the sweetest music is the child of strife”. Had hers been an easier life and a smoother path, one can but wonder if hers would have been so victorious a soul?

So we leave today in the hands, and in the garden, of a loving Lord and Master of the Garden, the sweet and loyal soul of this dear mother, royal citizen, and royal friend. How we all have loved her! With all the troubles life has brought to her, as to all who wear human flesh, she has lived happily, reveled in her friendships, done her full share of the world’s work, and been surrounded even to the very end by such care and loving ministration in the home as falls to the happy lot of few who beget children and then live to the time when weakness makes its inevitable demand upon these once carried in patient arms. “To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die.”

Pilot Tribune 4 April 1929

County Pioneer Dies in Blair

“Grandma” Cruickshank Dies at Age of Ninety-Three

“Grandma” Cruickshank died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. P. S. Moore, last Wednesday afternoon following an illness of but a short duration. As Isabella Polson she was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, November 21, 1835, where she was reared to womanhood. In 1857 she was married to James A. Cruickshank and later they came to America landing at Omaha in the early seventies. The family purchased a farm at DeSoto where they lived for many years.

“Grandma” Cruickshank, as she was known by her many friends, was possessed of a sunny disposition and spent much time in reading, keeping well posted on current events. She was the oldest living member of the local Congregational church having taken up membership in 1873. She was a general favorite and the members of the church set a ta? In honor of her birthday anniversary at a church banquet held last November.

The funeral services were conducted from the Congregational church last Saturday after the Rev. A. F. Newell, officiated after which interment was in the Blair cemetery. A large crowd, truly indicative of the high esteem in which Mrs. Cruickshank had been held, attended the services.

She leaves to mourn her five daughters, Mrs. M. A. ?mers, Page, Neb., Mrs. John Burnett, Little Medicine, Wy, Mrs. Leo Nickerson, Red Bluff, Calif.; Mrs. Ora S. Marshall, Casper, Wyo., and Mrs. P. S. Moore of this city; and four sons, James Cruickshank, of Ft. Calhoun,; John P. Cruickshank, of G? Valley, North Dakota; Alex Cruickshank, Los Moinos, Calif. and Andrew Cruickshank, of Long Beach, Calif. Find a Grave # 8594429, Blair Cemetery

~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

Printed in the Washington County Enterprise on 3/28/1929


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