Obituary Record

Mary Alta (Norton) Clark
Died on 8/12/1898
Buried in Blair Cemetery

Clark, Mary Alta (Norton) (Mrs. Perry J) 8/12/1898

1st obituary: printed in the Monday, Aug. 15, 1898 Pilot, Blair, Nebraska

Mrs. P.J. Clark

The sad news of the drowning of Mrs. P.J. Clark in Lake Quinnebaugh reached Blair last Friday noon. The story is not a long one. On Friday morning J.W. Selden and Jake Haller were bathing south of camp, when Mrs. P.J. Clark and Misses Anderson and DeGruff came down to take an early bath also. The five were wading breast deep, hold of hands, when one of them slipped and they all went under. Mr. Selden was the only one of the five who could swim. He at once caught one of the girls and landed her, and returned just in time to catch the second one as she came up. After a desperate struggle he landed her and returned for Mrs. Clark, but she failed to come to the surface. In fact, after going down the first time she never came up, and it is presumed that she died of fright. Diving for her body proved fruitless, and it was found necessary to drag that portion of the lake with trout lines. After searching for nearly three hours, the body was found forty feet from the shore. Mrs. Clark was about thirty-five years old and was a former Blair girl, graduating from our high school in the class with her sister and Melita Taylor. She has for the past four years made her home at Herman, where Dr. Clark enjoys a large practice. She leaves two children, one past three and the other past six years old. The body was brought to Blair on the evening train and taken to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Norton. The funeral took place yesterday. A large number of friends of the family from Herman and Tekamah were down to pay their last respects. The family has the deep sympathy of a large circle of friends in their sad bereavement, which has cast a gloom not alone over Herman, but over Tekamah and Blair as well. The services were conducted at the Norton home yesterday at eleven o’clock. Rev. Mr. Keister of Herman assisted by Rev. Mr. Poucher of Tekamah, having charge of the ceremonies both at house and at cemetery. The funeral was one largely attended, which simply bespeaks the popularity of Mrs. Dr. Clark.

2nd obituary printed in the Thursday, Aug. 18th, 1898 Republican, Blair, Nebraska, communicated by Cora B. Keister, Herman, Nebr.

Sad Death of Mrs. P.J. Clark, of Herman, at Lake Quinnebaugh

Last week Mrs. P.J. Clark with her friends at Herman entered heartily into the plans made for a camping party to go to Lake Quinnebaugh. She was the most enthusiastic of the party and regretted very much that she could not accompany them on Monday. She went Tuesday to Blair to visit her parents. Wednesday was spent in preparations and Thursday morning she happily started with her husband and family anticipating a most delightful time. She spent a happy day and in the evening the whole party gathered in the tent for a song service and prayer meeting. Friday morning a number of the party went some distance from the camp to fish while others took an early bath. In the water were Miss Andersen, Miss Myrtle DeGruff, Mrs. Clark of Herman and Messrs. Selden and Haller of Blair. The party joined hands and went out from the shore, supposing they were near enough to the shore to avoid all danger. There was no danger line or signal to warn them. In a moment there was confusion and they all disappeared into the water. In a few minutes Misses Andersen and DeGruff and the two gentlemen were saved and great effort was made to rescue Mrs. Clark. A number of the gentlemen dived where she disappeared but her body could not be found. It would seem that everything was done to rescue her but her body was not recovered until more than an hour after she went down. Her two children, niece and sister, Miss Norton, were upon the shore and saw her drown. Dr. Clark and her brother, Clyde, returned just before the body was recovered. Their grief was inconceivable. Mrs. Clark was a fine christian lady and no one in Herman and vicinity will be so much missed by everybody as she will be. She has not an enemy but many, many friends. She was a friend to everybody but especially to the children. If any were happy she rejoiced with them; if in sorrow she comforted them; if in need she ministered to them. She was a most loving wife, affectionate mother, daughter and sister. Her greatest desire was to be useful to God and to those about her. She never neglected her home but still she was never too busy to help others. Such beautiful characters are rarely found. “She hath done what she could.” “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

3rd obituary, printed in the Thursday, August 18, 1898 Republican, Blair, Nebraska

The sudden death of Mrs. P.J. Clark as related above, was a terrible shock to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.M. Norton and their family, also to a large circle of friends in this community. A few days ago the deceased and her now motherless children made one of their frequent, happy visits at her girlhood home in this city. How little her parents and friends realized that it was the last gladsome home-coming for the loving daughter, fond wife and affectionate and happy young mother. The Republican can add nothing to the tribute of praise paid to her noble, elevated character by Mrs. Keister. Words fail to express the sorrow and sympathy felt for the husband and family in their great and sudden loss.

The deceased was 34 years old, had been married nine years and leaves two bright, little girls, Nina and Gladys aged respectively six and three years. The funeral was from the Norton residence in this city last Sunday forenoon. Hundreds of sorrowing friends of Herman and from other parts of this county as well as Blair came to pay their last tribute of affection to the placid sleeper. The service by Rev. Keister, of Herman, and Rev. Poucher, of Tekamah, was appropriate and consoling as words could be. The music was by a quartette from Herman and a cortege of the K. of P. Lodges of Herman and Blair escorted the remains to Blair cemetery.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of Washington County Genealogical Association; newspaper clippings on file at the Blair Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

Find A Grave Memorial# 114257341

NOTE: Lake Quinnebaugh (historical) is in the Locales category for Burt County in the state of Nebraska. Lake Quinnebaugh (historical) is displayed on the Tekamah NW USGS quad topo map. Anyone who is interested in visiting Lake Quinnebaugh (historical) can print the free topographic map and street map using the link above. The latitude and longitude coordinates of Lake Quinnebaugh (historical) are 41.9527657, -96.1475168—source: Topozone, internet

Note: K of P Lodges (Knights of Pythias Lodges) “The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, DC, on 19 February 1864. The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress.”--Wikipedia

Printed in the Blair Pilot on 8/15/1898


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