Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1911-04-26


The sunbeamS lie across the parting sea,
And no farewells are spoken hopelessly.
Oh men and women, be no more afraid:
Our spring time in garden Christ was laid;
But death could never keep him in it's power.
And He, the living Savior, every hour
is Will US, strong in blessing, swift to aid
Let not the Lords beloved be afraid"
Sophia Hannum was born at Sher-
man Chatauqua Co. New York Novem-
Der 4, 1918. In 1887 her father
Warren Hannum brought his family
Of eight children from that county to
Wisconsin, journeying by team and
settling at Jamestown, Grant county.
on March 7, 1850, Sophia was mar
ried to James A. Kilbourn, who had
just returned from California having
been one of the gold seekers there in
1849. Soon after the marriage Mr..
Kilbourn returned to the golden state
remaining about year. Having Sc
cured competence for the establish
ment Of a home he returned to Wis.
consin and with his young wife moved
to the farm on Blake's Prairie and
there lived with the exception of a
three years residence in Lancaster,
until he entered into the better home
April 1st 1879. leaving to his family
a name untarnished, and to the COM
munity the example of character be
yond reproach.
The union had been perfect in it's
mating. There we're trials to meet,
crosses to bear. The birth and loss of
several little ones brought keen sor-
rows. But theirs was Christian
home, they had something the world
had not, and, living together in the
higher realms of light and peace, they
knew that sorrow could not shadow
all their years. The wife counted
motherhood as crown of blessing and
lived to enjoy to the full, even with
the end of her eighty years, the
tenderest care, the most devoted love
and reverence of the children God had
spared to comfort her when the earth
ly anchor was taken away. Mrs.
Kilbourn was endowed with that
beautiful virtue serenity Whether
it was natural endowment or whether
it came Of the faith in a higher Will
that knew best what should come TO
her we know not. If turbulent
thoughts or passions had ever disturb
ed her peace of mind she had IN early
experience learned to subdue them.
Hers was the hand
Whose touch could ease life's ache and fret
full strain:
The comfortable voice that in sad hours
Rang out the even song of all our pain"
Kindness and gentleness, patience,
and pity for distress, love that under
stood the sweet charity for all were
the distinguishing traits that endear-
ed her to all who came within the
circle of her benign influence.
"Ah! ask me not how such reward is won.
How sparp the harrow in former years,
Or meIlowed in what agony of sun,
Or Watered by what tears.
Like the psalmist she had said
Zone thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after; that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life to behold the
beauty Of the Lord, to inquire in His
temple.
Of this venerable friend it can be
truly said. Heaven was in hers be-
fore SIZE was in heaven. One year
after her beloved husbands departure,
Mrs. Kilbourn came to Lancaster to
reside. After the marriage Of her
daughter Laura, to Geo. P. Goble she
relinquished her own and since then
every moment Of her dear presence in
theirs has been regarded as. bene-
ficence. Often she had said she never
had regretted the change. And she
never out-lived her usefulness nor the
affe ctions Of all who knew her.
At the close of a beautiful day,
April II, 1911, just as the sun Went
down, her white soul went home to
God She had folded her work away
had spoken, not complainingly, of
WEAKNESS; the soft cadence OF the
sweet old voice was unchanged except,
may be, the last words we're more
gently spoken. A futtering sigh,
closing Of the eyelids, and as she had
lived SO in sweet serneity she fell
asleep.
1.-THE stream is ca1mest as it nears the tide,
The flowers are sweetest at the override,
Birds most melOdiOus at the close of day,
And saints divinest when they pass away"
Could angels have wished an end
ing more sweetly fitting to so lovely
life. The sunshine in that beauti
full home is dimmed so close and
tender were the ties, and sorrowful
will the missing be. Yet how thank
full are the bereft ones that the dear
grandma did not languish on a bed of
pain. There is but one regret, that
she could not have lived just one