MRS. FRED HURDUM SUCCUMBS TO LONG ILLNESS MONDAY

Passes Away on Farm Where She Was Born. Illness Long Standing

Again the grim reaper has laid his mark. This time he takes from our midst Mrs. Fred Hurdum, a native of this county and a wife and mother of the truest sort.

Martha Alice Behrens was born and reared and has lived continuously on the farm where she passed away last Monday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock. The farm belonged to her father, Herman Mehrens, who homesteaded the land shortly after the Civil War, he being a Civil war veteran and one of the personal bodyguards of General U.S. Grant.

Her health had been in a precarious condition for the past seven years, but her final illness lasted but a week, becoming more severe until the end came. She had every care that human skill could give, and the attending physician was with her constantly, but with no avail. At her death she was 58 years, 9 months and 7 days old.

She was married to Fred Hurdum January 1, 1902, and to them five children were born, four of whom are still living. Besides caring for and rearing her own children, she took into her home and heart two orphan children, Ferdinand and Martha Mueller. These two latter grew to maturity and married and settled on farms in the neighborhood. Martha later passed on and left an infant son Howard Therkelsen. Howard was also taken into the family where he is now making his home, cared for as her own child.

Thus, her hands were always guided by the good intentions of her heart, and she did her part to make the world about her a better place in which to live, lending a helping hand to those in sorrow or need.

The funeral services will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the farm home, and interment will be made in the Blair cemetery with Rev. J. N. Lund of Blair officiating. The pallbearers will be her old neighbors, John Simonsen, Herman Kuhr, George Kuhr, John J. Jensen, Frank Soll and Byron Beard, all of whom knew her real worth as a true wife and mother and a very noble example of the Christian graces which we all would do well to emulate.

Besides the grief-stricken and lonely husband, she leaves her four children, Dr. Herman Hurdum of Binghamton, New York; Myrtle and Mary of Chicago and Birdie at home. She also leaves two brothers, John Mehrens of Modale, Iowa and George of New Mexico and three sisters, Mrs. Harvey Krogh of Blair, Mrs. Nell Mead of Seattle, Washington and Mrs. Eva Grimsley of Little Sioux, Iowa, all of whom grieve deeply their great loss.

#2-May 9, 1935- Herman Record-Martha Alice (Mehrens) Hurdum

MRS. FRED HURDUM IS VICTIM OF DEATH

RITES TO BE CONDUCTED FROM HOME NORT H OF BLAIR FRIDAY

Mrs. Fred Hurdum, long a Washington County resident, residing on the bottom road south of Herman, passed away at her home Monday afternoon at 4:30 o’clock following a week of severe illness with heart trouble.

Funeral services for the deceased will be conducted from the Hurdum home Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock with Rev. James Lund officiating. Burial will be made at Blair and pallbearers will be J.W. Simonsen; Herman Kuhr; Frank Soll; George Kuhr Jr.; John J. Jensen and Byron Beard.

As Martha Alice Mehrens, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Mehrens, she was born July 15, 1876, on the farm south of Herman where she spent her entire life. Following the close of the Civil War, her parents homesteaded the place which has for many years been the home of the Hurdum family. She was united in marriage on January 1, 1902, to Fred Hurdum at her home, and to this union five children were born. A son, Harvey, preceded his mother in death at the age of ten years.

Surviving are her husband; one son, Dr. Herman Hurdum of Binghampton, N.Y.; three daughters, Misses Mary and Myrtle Hurdum of Chicago, and Miss Birdie Hurdum at home; two brothers John Mehrens of Mondamin, Iowa, and George Mehrens of Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, and three sisters, Mrs. Rose Nellie Mead of Seattle, Mrs. Eve Grimsley of Little Sioux, Iowa and Mrs. Birdie Krogh of Blair.

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

FindaGrave # 115571263