Cornelius Banta passed away at 10 o’clock Monday night at his home on east Lincoln Street from the affects of gas from a gas stove, which was partly turned on in some accidental way. He went to bed Friday evening as well and as cheerful as usual and his condition wasn’t discovered until about 10 o’clock Saturday morning. He was unconscious but still alive, death resulting Monday night. A short funeral service will be held at the house by Rev. E. J. Hancock at 1 o’clock today and the body taken to his old home at Lyons, Nebr., where the funeral service will be held at the Methodist Church and interment made by the side of his wife, who passed away December 1, 1908. Mr. Banta was born at Milo, Mo., May 5, 1855, so was nearing his 71st birthday. He was married to Rebecca Jane Shepard in the fall of 1885 at Bancroft, Neb. To this union four children were born, one daughter, Ethel, died in 1902 at the age of 12 years, of diphtheria. The surviving children are Harve and Jack of this city and Pearl, Mrs. Jos. Noyes, of Sioux City, Ia. He leaves three brothers, Charles, of Walla Walla, Wash., Elias, of Cornelius, Oregon, and D. M., of Milo, Mo. Also, one sister, Mrs. Sarah Deputy of Selma, Calif. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and I. O. O. F. Lodge at Woodbine, Ia., and of the Modern Woodmen Lodge at Lyons. Mr. Banta was a kind and loving husband and father, an ideal neighbor and therefore a worthy and useful citizen whose passing will be deeply mourned by all who knew him.

Rebecca's FindaGrave # is 60827850. There is no entry of Cornelius. Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clipping on file at the Blair Public Library.