Dies In Columbus

Mrs. Sadie Swanson of Columbus, Nebraska, died Saturday, April 8, of a heart attack. She had been ill for the past two months before the attack which ended her life.

She was born in O’Neil, Nebr., and at her death was seventy-one years of age. She was married to Harry Higley in 1900 and following his death she married Axel Swanson, then in business in Blair. The second husband died in October of 1939 after they had moved from Blair.

One adopted daughter, Ms. John Sutherland of Blair, survives. Mrs. Swanson was a member of the Episcopal church and of the Order of the Eastern Star of Blair where she retained her membership as long as she lived.

Funeral services were held on Wednesday, April 12th at the Campbell Mortuary at 2 p.m. with Rev. Stillwell officiating and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

The following taken from Find a grave record:

Sadie A. Cain Higley Swanson, was born ca 1878 in Nebraska to immigrant parents; her father hailing from Ireland and her mother from England.

Sadie A. Cain and Harry Higley were married on June 8, 1904 in Washington County, Nebraska. (Washington County Deed Books, Book 6, Page 288). Harry lost his wife, Mary E. Cain Higley, in the previous year.

The Higley's were residing in a home located at 513 South 16th in Blair. This home was built in 1904, and at the time it was part of a dairy and also included a home in what is now 599 16th Street.

By 1910, Harry and Sadie A Higley were sharing their home with Eva E. Cook, who was Harry's daughter and Sadie's step-daughter, and Eva's daughter, Mary W. Cook.

Sadie was widowed in 1919, and by the following year, she had taken on two lodgers and was still residing in the home she shared with Harry on 16th Street in Blair, Washington, Nebraska.

Sadie Higley; 42; and Axel Swanson; 32; were married in March of 1921 at the Trinity Cathedral in Omaha, Douglas county, Nebraska (Omaha Marriages; entry 54518)*. After their marriage, the two resided in the 16th street home in Blair.

Axel Swanson was born around 1890 in Sweden and immigrated to the United States around 1915. It appears he initially settled in Omaha, but by 1920, he was residing as a roomer at a residence in Blair, Nebraska.

By 1930, it seems that Axel and Sadie may have sold the Blair home and were residing in East Hinman, Lincoln, Nebraska. The only other occupant of the home was a servant, Henrietta Pearson.

Sadie was interred beside Harry in an unmarked grave on April 12, 1950.

*NOTE: The announcement of Sadie's marriage to Axel Swanson appeared in the Omaha World Herald on 6 Apr. 1921

Block 59, Lot 3: Sadie Higley Swanson, -1950, grave 1 (b ca 1879)

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