Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-03-06
THE PASSING OF PIONEERS.

Three old citizens of Ottumwa have
passed away in the last few days. Fol
lowing close upon the death of Will
Ham lDaggett on Monday, came the
death of Rev. Anthony Robinson and
of Mrs. Martha Gebhart. Both Mr..
Robinson and Mrs. Gebhart were pion-
GERS of Iowa. and Mrs. Gebhart was
. one of the earliest settlers of Wapello
county.
Rev. Anthonv Robinson came TO To-
wa in 1857 and held his first meeting
! in this city. He was Methodist min
lister and travelled about from place to
place preaching the gospel after the
manner of the itinerant pastors of
those days who were known as circuit
riders. The greater number of these
+ noble men who brayed the hardships
fof frontier life, and endured the rough
ness Of the elements in ministering to
the needs ofastheir widely scattered
I fiocks, have passed away. Rev. Rob-
inson, at the age of 80 years, was one
of the last to go. He was a fine type
of the class to which he belonged. A
true nobleman of nature; earnest, un-
selfish and Christian gentleman. The
, good that these men did is almost past
the comprehension of us who live sur
rounded by religious and educational
Influences. The greatest hardship the
j early pioneers found was the lack of
. schools and churches in the new coun-
ties to which they went to live. They
were bringing up children, and the fear
that these dear ones must grow up in
ignorance and without religious inf1u-
4ences, was appalling. This, fear the
circuit riders and missionaries, by
their rnselfsh, painstaking efforts, to
lay great degree, allayed. They
good shepherds, looking after the well
j fare of their charges, spiritually and
intellectually. 1t would be difficult to
do too much honor to these noble men.
OF whom Rev. Anthony Robinson was
. one.
The chief helper of the minister of
the early day was the pioneer woman.
< what she did in building up out of the
/, wilderness q civilized community and
/; rearing noble race of men and wo-
men, can never be over-estimated. 1t
4 WAS the mother who retained amid all
the roughness and newness Of pioneer
i life, measure of the enlightening and
ennobling influences the early settlers
had known in their former homes.
Strong and healthy in body, and kind
of heart, she made a real home of the
cabin in the wilderness and raised her
children to fear God and love their
country. Had it not been for the pi-
cneer woman, this great land Of ours,
{ fertile as it is, would never have be-
come the permanent abiding place Of
rich md prosperous people.
Mrs. Martha Gebhart, whose death
occurred Yesterday, was one of these
women. She came, with her husband,
to this country in 1874, one year after
the lands had been opened to settle
Inent by white men. In the coun-
~ she has lived ever since, and has
raised family Of sons and daughters
ia bless her memory. "A quiet, unob-
tr,isiVe woman, she performed well her
part in building up this thriving city
from the elemental conditions which
existed upon her arrival. She saw the
city rise from it's very infancy. She
saw 1t pass thru all the stages of its
existence. Great changes occurred,
not only in her home town, but in the
country during her lifetime. War was
waged, and one of. her sons was killed
upon the battlefield. fighting for his
country. She saw times of prosperity
and times of calamity, yet thru it all
she did her duty, quietly and unob-
truslvelv, as a true and noble woman
should.
u is sad to see these pioneers pass
away, and YET it is a pleasure to look
pack upon their noble lives and learn
from them how much we ourselves can
4 do for our town and our country.