MARGARET ELIZABETH MARSH BURIED AT ROSE HILL JUNE 22ND

In the picturesque little village of Brooksdale, 40 miles north of Lake Erie in the Province of Ontario, Canada, there was born on November 16, 1863 a daughter to John and Dolene Innes. The baby was christened Margaret Elizabeth, and in the quiet, wooded hills of the Canadian countryside she grew and laughed and played with her brothers and sisters and the children of neighboring villagers.

At the age of 7 her carefree childhood days drew to a close as she moved with her family in 1870 to the sparsely settled plains of Nebraska into the Hill Creek District, four miles west of Herman. In this locality she attended school when she could, helping her mother and father in there struggle to establish a home in a new and lonely country.

At the age of 15, Margaret Elizabeth had then acquired enough education to qualify as a teacher, taking charge of a nearby rural school and contributing the major portion of her earnings to the family to assist in their support. One year after her teaching career began, her mother died, and two years later, when she was 18, her father passed away. This left her, with the help of an older brother, John, and a younger sister, Lydia, to carry the burden of a family of nine alone.

Through the years that followed Margaret continued teaching school, first in the rural districts and later in the schools of Blair, supporting herself and contributing to the support of her brothers and sisters.

While a teacher at the Spiker school she met Burt Marsh and on Christmas Day in 1890, just after her 27th birthday, she was married and became Margaret Elizabeth Marsh. From that day on throughout the remainder of their lives, Burt and Margaret Marsh lived on the farm just west of the Spiker store. On this farm six children were born through the years, one to die in infancy, a daughter Edith, passing away at the age of 25.

Here in the Spiker neighborhood were the friends and loved ones of Margaret Marsh. Here in this small community her life was spent, seldom going fifty miles away. Here she kept her modest home clean, cheerful and comfortable though never richly furnished. Her patient, kindly smile and helping hand was ever ready for her family and friends whenever need arose. Neither friend nor stranger from the dusty country road was ever turned away tired or hungry from the home of Margaret Marsh. She stood like a pillar of strength and dignity, living unselfishly and unwaveringly in the light of God’s laws, drawing her happiness and contentment through the giving of her wisdom, energy and love to those about her.

On June 29, 1939 Burt, the husband and father, passed away, and after his passing she spent her declining years on the farm with her son, William.

A year ago her health began to fail perceptibly, and in May of this year she was placed in the Dodge County Hospital at Fremont and later moved to the Blair Convalescent Home, and while she was spared from any suffering, she continued to decline, and at 6:45 on the evening of June 19, 1948, just nine years after the death of her husband, Margaret Elizabeth Marsh, surrounded by the family that she loved so well, passed quietly into the life beyond.

She is survived by four children, William and Stanley of Spiker, Albert of Omaha and Mrs. Jessie Holstein of Arlington; a brother, Fred Innes of Battle Creek, Michigan; two sisters, Mrs.Helen Morrison and Miss Lena Innes of Boulder, Colorado; eleven grandchildren, three great grandchildren and a number of other relatives and many friends.

So ends the story of an honorable and courageous woman.

Funeral rites were held at the Bendorf Funeral Home on Tuesday, June 22 at 2 p.m. with Rev. Sydney L. McCaig officiating, and interment was made in the Rose Hill cemetery.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #71042192