Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1901-06-08
BEGINNING OF TEMPORAL DAY.
First Observed By rlrs. Geo. H. Evans,
A Sister OF v. o. BonsteeI.

A Sister OF v. O. BOnsteeI.
Mrs. George Fl. Evans, whose
maiden name was Miss Sarah
Nichols, a sister of Mr.. V. o. Bon
steel of this place, was the first with
three other to begin the custom o1
decorating the graves of soldiers
from which custom the holidays Of
DecorationDay and Memorial Day
were finally established.
The G.. A. r. have always recog'
nized their dept of gratitude to this
noble woman, and when she died at
Des Moines. Iowa, in February, 1884
her remains were escorted to- the
train by the members of the Ct. A. r
aud again at Hudson, Mich, when
the body was inferred, the members
of the G. A. r. of that city paid hel
the honor of an escort.
The story of the beginning OF
Memorial and DecorationDays D is thus
told in the Kalamazoo Gazette News
On the 13 of April, 1892, just one
year after the fall of Fort Snmter.
Mrs. Evans, with the wife and two
daughters of Chaplain May of the Sec
ond regiment, Michigan Volunteers,
decorated the graves of considerable
number of soldiers buried at Airing
ton Heights. Virginia. In May of the
next year the same ladies performed
the service again at the same place.
In May of the year following they
rendered the same attentions to the
graves of the soldiers buried at Fred
ericksburg. It is to Mrs. May that
Will Carleton refers in his poem,
"Cover Them Over"
"Cherish the name of that sister of
ours >
And cover her over with beautiful!
flowers"
The custom originated by these
ladies was enjoined upon the Grand
Army of theRepublic by General John
A. Logan, its commander in-chief, in
May, 1858. In 1874 congress took no.
tice of the ceremonials SO significant
of the nations obligations tosits dead
and madeth Both of May legal hol
iday.
Mrs. Evans was born August 13.
1841, in Erie county, Pennsylvania.
She was married at Hudson, Michigan,
August g., 1859, to George Fl. Evans.
Her maiden name was Miss Sarah
Nichols.
When her patriotic husband ans
wered to the call of President Lincoln
for $4,000 men for three months she
went with him to the camp, making
herself useful to the soldiers, we'll or
sick. For good part of the time that
the war continued she was in camp
or field, an ununiformed, sister of
mercy.
Her own husband, injured in the
battle of Bull Run, was twice the OBJ.
iect of her solictude and care as
skilled nurse. She went with her
husband after the war to Kalamazoo,
Michigan. She died in DesMoines,,
February l, 1884, at the age of AZ
years.
She was chrrter member of the
Crocker Post Of the G.. A. r. of Des
Moines. She was buried in Hudson,
Michigan, in Maple Groce cemetery,
where her grave is ever kept gre en-
by the comra les of the G.. A. r. Mr..
Evans lives in Chicago. He is mem
ber of Thomas Post, No 5, of the G.
A. r
Many people in Kalamazoo remem-
Der Mrs. Evans as a sweet singer who
occupied the position of soprano so
loist in the : irst Baptist church choir
and who often sang in public gather
ings in this city. While on visit
east one summer she was the victim
of runaway which resulted in al
fractured hip, from which she suffer
ed long and seriously. Her husband
was engaged in the sewing machine
business while here.
The Platonic Loye Letters of Charles