River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-11-18
OBITUARY
MRS. HA &IET W. WELD

On Friday night, November y,
there passed from our midst the
oldest person in the city and prob
ably in the county. Mrs. Harriet
w. Weld died of paralysis at the
home of her son, A. P. Weld, at the
ripe age of ninety-fve years, one
month and twenty-five days. She
was born September II, 1914, in
Lebanon, New Hampshire, and
there grew to womanhood. She re-
ceived the larger part of her educa-
ton at Mt. Holyoke Seminary. AT "a
years of age she was married to
Allen H. Weld, and to them two
sons were born, George H., who
died in early childhood, and Allen
P. Weld of this city. Judge Weld,
with his wife and daughter, Laura
H. Weld of Platteville Normal, and
son, Lyman P. Weld of Longmont,
Colorado, survive her. Her hus-
band died 26 years ago. OF her own
family she was the last member,
her brothers and sisters having
passed away some years ago..
During the first twenty years of
her married life she was closely as
sociated with her husband in school
work, first in Maine, then at Cum
berland, Maryland, and later at
West Lebanon, N. H. From there
the family moved to this locality
when she was is years of age, SO
that for half century she has beer
identified with the life of this COM
munity and has seen the town grow
from ESQ people to its present pop
ulation; our stores increased from
one general store, kept by the Pow
ell Bros, on the site of what is now
the Drewke building, to the number
we now have; our school system Elk
tended from little district school in
a building where Professor Clark S
former home stands, to our present
high school, with its efficient corps
of teachers, and our Normal school,
that we owe quite largely to the un-
firing efforts of Mr.. Weld, who was
one of the first regents of this
vicinity. Mrs. Weld taught several
terms in what is known as the Old
Academy and many of the middle
aged men and women of River Falls
have learned their letters at her
knee. At the time of her death she
was an honored member of the So
ciety of Old Academy Girls. The
larger part of these years, however,
have been spent in the quiet of her
own home-for rs years on what is
known as the Weld farm, just north
of town, and the past twenty-four at
the home of Judge Weld. For the
past twelve years she has been
closely confined to the house on ac-
count of a fall that fractured her
left hip. To those who were privi-
legged to know her intimately, she
revealed herself as a woman of
strong mentality. One of the diver
sions of her later years was the
writing of verses that showed strong
talent in that direction.
In talking with man she was
fully his equal in her keen insight
into the affairs of the world, and
she never lost her enjoyment of a
political argument or discussion
of the problems of the day. To her
lady friends, she could always give
good advice on domestic problems,
for it was a part of her nature to do
we'll and ie possible in a scientific
way whatever she undertook. Her
love of the beautiful in the home
was exemplified by the designing
and making of several beautiful
rugs after she had PASSED her 85th
birthday. Her love of books led her
to join the Tuesday club after she
was 70 years old, and while she was
connected with it she was one of the
most thorough and painstaking OF
its members.
If we pause to think, it seems
wonderful that we have had in our
midst one whose life has spanned
so much in our country's history.
While she has lived, we have grown
as a nation from 100000 to over
80, 900, 900 souls; from Is stars in
our flag to 48. When she was born
the rumblings of the war of 1872
had scarcely died away, and she has
lived under all but three of our
presidents At the time of her birth
our state of Wisconsin was still
part of the western wilderness-ln-
diana having just been admitted
and being the frontier state. When
she was child the great question