The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-03-10
Obituary.
Mrs. Clarissa Willard, relict of Will
liam Willard, departed this life at
Williamsport, Pa, at one o'clock,
A. NJ, Feb. 16, 1881, at the age of

Mrs. ClarisSa willard was the
daughter of Cad and Jerusha Lamb
and was born in Springfield, Mass.
April &c, 1893, She came with her faith
er's family in 1876, and settled near
Mansfield then in Northumberland
county afterwards in Lycoming and
now in Tiosa, they being the first
settlers. The Indian title to that Sec
ton of Pennsylvania became ex-
tinct by purchase in Oct. 1884, but all
that region was claimed to be part of
Connecticut and disputes arising from
this mixed state of affairs were fire.
quently settled with the shotgun.
The farm which they cleared up was
surrounded by an unbroken wilder
ness in which the bears, wolves, pam
theirs and Indians roamed at large and
in force, and whose prowling and
bowling visits were of daily occur
renee. Accustomed during her in fancy
TO these surroundings she developed
more than ordinary masculine cour-
age. No sudden emergency unnerved
her and she shrank from no necessary
danger or difficulty. Their isolated
situation compelled the family to
draw largely'upon home talent and
she thus acquired a variety of attain
ments that would perhaps astonish
some more modern maidens. She
thoroughly understood cookery as
practiced among the white settlers
and also the preparation of many
dishes peculiar to their Indian neigh
bors; she w rs well posted in the rails.
ing and rotation Of farm crops, as
well as garden products and fruits; she
thoroughly understood the care of live
stock, and excelled in horseman-
saip; she was an adept at spinning
and weaving and for years she took
the raw wool from the sheep and
the flax from the field and by her EN-
ergy and skill carried them through
the various processes until they were
transformed into all manner of under
and outer wear for herself and family.
During the war of 1912 she made
great deal of clothing for the army
besides spinning large quantities of
yarn which her aged and infirm father
learned to knit into socks for the
"hoys in blue She could tan a deer
skin to perfection and make it up into
gloves, moccasins and slippers, and
the writer has seen more than one
creditahle specimen of her cobbling in
heavier leather. Besides these and
various other accomplishments which
nowadays are not considered orna-
mental she became proficient in fancy
needle work, painting and music, and
her education, though confined to her
mother tongue, was more general
and thorough than was usual in those
times, covering Il wide scope of Eng
lish literature. TO the last she was
great reader and kept herself ac-
quainted with all the important politi-
cal and other movements of the day,
and aided by very retentive memory
she was good Itliority in regard to
public occurrences during the last
sevelty-five years, and her letters in =
Guiding those of the last year show Il
refined education, u brevity and di-
rectness of expression and clear COM
prehension of the exact force of each
word, rarely to be found in combi
nation with so many useful and COM
mon place attainments.
On Dec. 81, lsl7she was married to
William Willard, Esq. of Tioga, whose
family came from Lenox, Mass, with
whom she lived rs years having ten
children, of whom five only survive
her. Iii 1889 the family moved from
Tioga to Williamsport, where her
husband died Oct. rs, 1913 leaving a
large estate principally in Tioga Co.
but i'm such confusion that the whole
of it became scattered to the four
winds Eight of her children were
then living and only the oldest one was
able to provide for himself. With the
bravery of Spartan and the devotion
only to be found in a loving mother
she undertook the task of keeping her
family together and giving them a
fair education. During season OF
great privation she furnished her
young family with the necessaries OF
life by the sale of little useful articles
and toys which her early training en-
abled her to make out of nothing and
even her most intimate friends were
astonishes to see so much determine
ton, skill and ingenuity when they
expected to find only feminine frailty.
With such mother success was GER
tain and she lived to see every one OF
her children decently educated and
occupying positionsof trust equal tO
the more favored. She died Christ
ian at the ripe old age of SO and could
say with st. Paul II have fought Il
good fight"
The largest line of samples fol
pentlenlen's spring suits you ever saw