Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-02
sEloVEp WOMAN CAME TO OF
TuMWA WHILE THE INDIANS
WE'RE YET HERE. .
WAS OVER 96 YEARS
Time Had Not Impaired in Great
Measure the Faculties Of This ~
4 Pioneer-Funeral Held This
n III. 54 Afternoon. so ..... r

Mrs Lavinia Caldwell, age 96 years
and ten months, the Oldest pioneer or
Ottumwa and Wapello county and the
last charter member of. the First
Methodist Episcopal church. died Sat
urday evening at o'clock at her home
1916 West Second street. Pneumonia
developing from slight cold a month
ago, removed this lovable woman to
her heavenly home. The weight OF
almost century of years bore heavily
upon her physical being In her illness
but not upon her mental brightness as
she was cheerful until the last, receiv-
ing upon Christmas day with keen
pleasure and enjoyment the congratu-
lations and best wishes Of her loving
friends. u -
Over that legion of friends to whom
her love had gone out many years ago
as we'll as those of the present years,
l pail Of gloom has been cast. To
Ill she was Grandma Caldwell, respect
ID and revered because of her anna
Sic disposition and sunny influence
Her quiet and unassuming nature won
aer the friendship OF all and her de-
yotion to her home, which she believed
70 be her place through all the years
II her life and to which conviction she
lad always held with firmness, gained
.or her the esteeming commentator
# all. Although she had been very
eeble at periods during the last few
rears OF her life, she never became
lowncast in spirit and when her
strength would permit she delighted
10 delve into the history OF Ottumwa,
# which she had been a witness, and
:eminiscently relate to her friends,
he occurrences attending the growth OF
i.:kis city since 1t was mere village OF
about 100 inhabitants. As woman
Of the home, she had done her duty to
his home. Besides rearing her own
children, she guided her step children
With a motherly hand and when her
grand children came to her household
through the untimely death of their
mother, when they We're very young,
Mrs Caldwell guided them through
their childhood. She was truly a
grand old woman. -t1 .f5..
Was Born in Pennsylvania.
February 20, 1916 Mrs. Lavinia
Caldwell began her life on the parental
farm, near Carlyle, Penn: There she
resided for the first twenty-five years
of her life laying that foundation OF
health that gave her more than ninety
six wears Of life. In the early forties
she came to st. Louis and a short
time after her arrival, entered into the
holy bonds of wedlock with Joseph w.
Caldwell, carpenter by trade. After
q residence Of several years there, the
family removed to Ottumwa in the
year Of 1849, thus giving the city one
OF its highest types of citizenship.
When the great civil struggle came, the
war OF the rebellion, the husband re.
spond ed to the call of his country
When the preservation of the union
was secured, Mr.. Caldwell returned
home. with the shoulder straps of a
colonel. He became q leading citizen
OF ...umwa and his death in 1873 was
q loss to the community that was keen
" felt. When Mr.. and Mrs. Caldwell
first arrived in the city, they lived IN
q little brick house at the corner OF
Second and G-eea streets, which re-
Gently gave piace to an auto garage.
Later they moved to the corner OF
Marion and Fourth streets. A.. =.
ottunnwa Was Village. ..
Ottumwa was a village of the most
primeval nature when Mrs. Caldwell
began her life here sixty.two years ago.
Two taverns, a store and a grocery
constituted the business district OF the
Ottumwa and the inhabitants number
ed no more than one hundred. It was
/ backwoods village, nothing more.
That Mrs. Caldwell possessed an
admirable neighborly disposition is