PIONEER WOMAN IS CALLED

Settled In DeSoto In 1854. Lived Through Pioneer Days. Witnessed Development Of New Country In Which She Lived

FEW PIONEERS ARE LEFT

Marie Paros Seltz was born in Belle Fourche, France on February 8, 1844, and died in Omaha, Nebraska on October 5, 1933 at the age of 89 years, 7 months and 28 days.

She came to Washington County with her parents in 1854, settling in DeSoto, then a thriving city. In 1861 she was married to Charles Seltz, a pioneer merchant of DeSoto who died in 1905. To this union 8 children were born, three of whom, Edward, George and Charles, Jr., preceded her in death.

She leaves to mourn her passing three daughters, Mrs. Lee Smith, Mrs. Nettie Thoelecke and Minnie, and two sons, Harry and Will, 12 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren; also a nephew, Edward J. Natter, whom she raised in her home from his infancy.

Mrs. Seltz had a part in the development of this territory from raw prairies and wooded hills to fertile fields and improved farms. She saw the transition from roaming bands of Indians to settlements of white men. During her lifetime she saw means of transportation change from the ox team and the stage coach to the railroad, and the automobile and the airplane. She saw the telegraph system, the telephone and the radio take their places as modern means of communication.

Grandma Seltz, as she was familiarly called, was loved by all who knew her. The active years of her life were spent wholly in service to others - to her children and their children, and to her friends and neighbors. Her thoughts and deeds were ever to help others. Many remain to mourn her passing who have been the recipients of her kindness. For the past ten years she has lived with her daughters, Mrs. Vickie Smith and Mrs. Nettie Thoelecke.

Funeral services were held last Saturday afternoon from the Bendorf funeral home, and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

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

FindaGrave #118859775