Since I started to research my family history, I've held a strong affinity for my great-great-great grandmother Abagail Howes Kelley. She lived such a long live filled with much loss and hopefully much happiness. I wrote about Abagail in a previous post which you can view here.
Sturgis Library in Barnstable has some digitized newspapers on its website and over the years I have found some wonderful information in the Barnstable Patriot. I heard that the library has added the Yarmouth Register, which is where I found Abagail's obituary. Working five days a week means I have little time to research in person at Cape libraries, so Sturgis Library's online collection is a true gift!
Below is a transcription of this obituary. For 19th century ancestors, I feel fortunate if I find a one-sentence death notice in the local paper, so I am thrilled her obituary gives a glimpse into how beloved she was in her village. And it showed that "Nabby" was exactly the kind of person I had imagined her to be all along!
Yarmouth Register, Friday, October 21, 1938
Fifty Years Ago
Mrs. Abagail, widow of the late Hiram Kelley of West Dennis, passed away on Oct. 17th, at the ripe age of 88 years, 1 month, 20 days. She was born at Dennis Port in 1800, and was the daughter of David and Rebecca Howes. She was the mother of ten children--seven of whom have gone before and were waiting to greet her beyond the river. Not only will she be missed by children and grandchildren, but friends and neighbors will miss the pleasant face and kindly words of greeting that Aunt Nabby always gave so lovingly. She leaves two aged brothers, three children, 37 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.
I think the date of the Register article would be 1888, not 1938.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I get it, the date of the article was 50 years on 1938.
ReplyDelete