PIONEER VICTIM OF STROKE

Came to County in 1860. Member of Blair O.E.S. and W.R.C. Mrs. Ellen Foss passed away last Thursday afternoon at the Pershing hospital, the infirmary at the Soldiers and Sailors Home at Grand Island, following a stroke of apoplexy which she had suffered the preceding Monday.

In her passing Washington county has lost another of her territorial pioneers and a woman of remarkable ability. At her bedside at the time of her passing were her three children, Mrs. John Dingman of Denver; Bryan Foss of Omaha and Dan Foss of Sioux City.

She was born in Rome, Adams county, Ohio February 7, 1855, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Carter who came to this county in 1860 and took up a homestead just south of Blair. Her uncles, Jacob, Marion and Alec Carter had settled here in 1854, and had homesteaded the land which was later sold to the railroad company and sold out as town lots for the city of Blair in 1869.

After her family arrived here, Mrs. Foss attended school at DeSoto until the log school house erected by her father and uncles was completed, the site of which is marked by a D.A.R. marker in the city park at the southwest entrance to Blair.

At the age of sixteen years she began teaching, being one of the youngest teachers in the county. She taught at the McCarthy, Bono, Vacoma, New England, Maney, DeSoto, Long Creek, York Creek, Herman and Glendale schools and when the new Bono school was dedicated two years ago, she was the guest of honor and had the pleasure of meeting a number of her old pupils.

In 1886 she was married, her husband being a Civil war veteran and a farmer. To them four children were born, one of whom, Mrs. Mary Stansbury, died at Crawford, Nebraska several years back. The husband died in 1898.

For the past twelve years she has been a guest at the Soldiers’ Home, but she was very active and made numerous trips to her old home here and to the homes of her children.

She was, up the the very end, of a cheerful, kindly disposition and for one of her age she was an exceptional reader, keeping herself continually in touch with the happenings of the present time.

She retained her membership in the local O.E.S. chapter and also of the W.R.C. and was a member of the Baptist church from childhood, and in keeping with her faith, her body was brought to Blair, and funeral services were held in the church of her faith with Rev. Hamilton officiating, and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

Of the original Nathan Carter family of eight, only two remain, Mrs. Ann Hinkle of Blair and Mrs. Will Campbell of Helena, Montana.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #76646438