The Yale expositor., 1905-11-03
OBITUARY.
BE still prepared for death and death or
life shall thereby be the sweeter.-
Shakespeare.


At the home of her daughter, Mrs.
ThOs. McGrettan, in BrOckway village,
on Friday afternoon, Oct. 9th, 1905,
there drifted to the other side one Of
the townships most respected old
ladies in the person of Mrs. Margaret
Downs, nee Cotter, whose early history
is closely connected with that of St.
Clair county.
In the early days when a tote road
and blaZed trees were the only marks
for the guidance of the hardy pioneer,
as then everything was a wilderness in
this section of the country, Margaret
Downs came a blushing bride from
County Glare, Ireland where she was
born hundred years ago last January,
and in Emmett township among kins-
men she settled Gown. After q short
residence in that township, she and her
husband moved to Brockway and clear
ed up a new farm one mile west of the
school house. This farm is now owned
by Thomas McGrettan, son-in-law of
deceased.
During her life Mrs. Downs saw many
and hard sorrows, especially the acct
dent some fifteen years ago that bereft
her of her husband, David Downs, who,
falling from wagon on the Memphis
road, received injuries from which he
eventually died. Scarcely had the earth
closed over her husband than her son,
Michael contracted a fever and was
brought home from Ishpeming to find
grave amid the rolling hills of st.
Clair county. After this the old lady's
health failed fast, she gradually grow
ing weaker, until the past two years she
was confined to her bed continually.
Like her late lamented brother, Patrick
Cotter, ST., she was Irish and Catholic
to the core, making many friends among
the people who TUNED out in goodly
number to the funeral, which was held
on Monday morning last from st.
Joseph's Catholic church, Brockway,
Rev. =. j. Cullinane, pastor, singing the
Requiem High Mass.
After the mass the Rev. Father de-
livered a short address on the almighty
power of God, to emphasize which every
creature was made, and who gave all
the commands that we are bound to
obey. "We," he said, "but exemplify
the power, majesty and glory of God if
we obey his commands, or in other
words obey that most infallible of all
teachers, the church, which Jesus Christ
established on earth, and that church
which is the pillar and ground of truth
will last forever, for He is always with
it in that symbol of infinite love-the
Blessed Euchrist." He stated that life
was only probation, any period in
which the metal of our intentions are
tried, and that woe betide the person
that rejected and neglected this means
to attain grace when it lay in their
power.
The church services concluded with
the dissolution, after which (under the
direction of undertaken Cough of Yale
the sad procession reformed and moved
to Our Lady of Mt Carmel cemetery,
Kenockee, where the interment was
made.
Among those in attendance at the
funeral we noticed her step-daughter,
Mrs. NJ. Sheehy and family, her daugh-
ter. Mrs. McGrettan and family, her
nephew, Patrick Cotter and wife and a
numerous number of other relatives
and old pioneers, all bent on paying
the fullest honor and respect to her who
was gone.
Reaching the century mark, Mrs.
Downs lived a well-spent life, beloved
by everyone, and often as child we
were the recipients of kind words and
noble example which moves us as the
circle naTOws to place wreath on her
grave not born of pride or avarice, but
respect, nay love, for she who through
many tribulations has done her duty
and gone TO her rest, full of years and
honor. May she rest in peace. JOE.
The musical part of the mass was in
charge of MAY Fitzgerald, the talented
Yale musician and Mrs. Matt Irwin.