Great Grandmother Couchman, aged nearly 89, was buried in the Ft. Calhoun cemetery today beside the grave of her husband. When we first became a guest of the family over thirty years ago, she was the strongest, busiest woman in the whole town, and had the most beautiful flower garden. The beautiful flowers that line their street in summer she brought from Kansas, and a dwarf box that only grew four inches in twelve years and died when she could no longer tend it, she brought in a flower pot from Virginia. For years life has been a burden to herself as she could not read, sew or even knit, and to sit all day with folded hands was certainly hard to bear, but never had a mother a more faithful son that H. H., and her nurse and companion the past five years, Miss Harbinger of Council Bluffs, has seldom left her forty eight hours at a time in all those years. She leaves one son and two grandchildren, one the wife of Rev. Arnold of Schuyler and the other Mrs. Henry Roberts of Tekamah, and one great grandchild, little Frances Roberts. The funeral was held at the house, Rev. Arnold and Rev. Primrose officiating, assisted by the Christian Endeavor choir. The pallbearers were Sammons, Aut. Beales and Hans Schwager and among others present were David Couchman and Mrs. Wm. Reed, Lyons; Dr. Houghton and wife, Council Bluffs; Fred Clark, Wahoo; Rice Arnold, Blair; E. H. Clark and wife and J. B. Kouny, Omaha and Veteran Thomas Ritchie, Briggs. The Coachman’s came to Ft. Calhoun from Indiana in 1868 and have added a full share to the beauty and good of the town.

#2-12 Apr., 1905 - Blair Courier - Mary Eliza (Hannan) Couchman

Mrs. David Couchman died of old age at her home in Ft. Calhoun last Wednesday night, and the funeral service was held at the residence at 2 o’clock Friday afternoon, Rev. Wm. Primrose officiating. Mary Eliza Hannan was born at Richmond, Ind. August 24, 1817, and was married to David Couchman Dec. 27, 1838. Some thirty years ago they moved to Ft. Calhoun where Mr. Couchman died in 1882. H. H. Couchman of Ft. Calhoun, who is well know here, is the only surviving member of the family, two children having died in infancy and a daughter in middle life.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #18175327