[192-7b] ABRAHAM WAGENER, same as above, m 2nd time, 1811, JOANNA (NORRIS) ED- MANDSON, b Apr. 3, 1781; d Jan. 16, 1854; widow of Francis Edmandson, and dan Henry and Ann (Howard) Norris.
Children (6): [192-30] 1. Abraham N., b Oct. 19, 1812; d Apr. 26, 1853; m Rebecea Barse. [192-31] 2. George, b Dec. 19, 1814; d Sept. 5, 1886; m Adelia I. Page:
[From the Dundee Record, January 14, 1852: Courtesy of Samuel Castner, Phila.]
“The Wagener family is a very ancient one, and its branches may be found in several States of the Union, and in our own State of New York, where it is distinguished by the omission of a letter, being written as Wagener or Wagner.
Abraham Wagener was born on the 29th day of November, 1774, in the town of Norriton, Montgomery County Pennsylvania, sixteen miles north of Philadelphia, and is consequently now in the 78th year of his age. His father, David Wagener, was a respectable farmer, and became in his own state one of the followers of the celebrated Jemima Wilkinson, and a member of the Society of Universal Friends, at an early period, and with that remarkable woman and her followers came to the State of New York, in the year 1791, and formed a settlement in the wilderness. The first location of the new society, was called the Friends Settlement, and was on the west bank of the Seneca Lake, in the south part of what is now called the town of Torrey, in the county of Yates. The new town was then called by the appropriate name of Jerusalem, and embraced all the territory in the present county of Yates (excepting Starkey and Barrington) and was then part of the then unorganized county of Ontario.
A grist-mill had been erected in the year 1790, on the outlet of the Crooked Lake, called the Friend’s mill, by James Parker, Abraham Dayton and Richard Smith, of which David Wagener, in 1791, became the owner of one half—and which continued for many years to be the only mill in the county—and was rather primitive in its construction; yet the mill house was the centre of business and the scene of the transaction of all the town and public affairs.
The subject of this sketch came to the settlement {Jemima Wilkinson], in October, 1792, and has since resided for a period of sixty years in the now county of Yates. At the time of his arrival, the settlement embraced about sixty-two families, all of whom belonged to the Society of Friends, and the names of the heads of which we here give, as a matter of interest to all the readers of the Record: Jemima Wilkinson, Sarah Reynolds, Hazard Potter, father Martha Reynolds, of John Potter, who Widow Gardner, sister of above married Patience a sister Remington Kenyon, . of Jemima Wilkinson, Elnathan Botsford, Mercy Aldrich, a sister Abel Botsford, of Jemima Wilkinson, Jonathan Botsford, Sam’] Heartwell, married Elijah Botsford, Elizabeth, sister of Thomas Hathaway, J. W. Benajah Botsford, Thomas Hathaway, Jr., married Deborah, sister Richard Hathaway, of J. W., who, after her Peleg Briggs, husband’s death, married Peleg Briggs, Jr., Elijah Malin, John Briggs, brother of David Briggs, Elijah Malin of Milo Centre, Enoch Malin } brothers John Lawrence, of Rachel and Margaret Anna Wagener, Malin. Jacob Wagener, Abraham Dayton, David Wagener, James Parker, Isaac Nichols, Richard Smith, Peleg Gifford, Benjamin Brown, Still Arnold Potter, living, Mary Bartleson, afterwards married Daniel Brown, Ezekiel Shearman, Daniel Brown, Jr. Thomas Shearman, Micajah Brown, John Supplee, Elisha Brown, Adam Hunt, Daniel Brown, of Ston- Silas Hunt, ington, grandfather of Castle Daines, Alfred Brown, Jonathan Daines, Silas Spink, Jesse Daines, Benedict Bobinson, John Davis, Amos Guernsey, - William Davis, Amos Guernsey, Jr., Nathaniel Ingraham, daughter married John Eleazer Ingraham, Mallory, Elisha Ingraham, Samuel Barnes, Jedediah Holmes, James Hathaway, Asahel Stone, . Elsie Hazard, George Sisson, Stephen Card, Daughter Loved Luther married Geo. W. Hazard Sheffield Luther Jonathan and Reuben Luther, resided with their mother.
It will be borne in mind, that these are all the names of heads of families, in 1792; many others of our oldest and most respected families came in shortly after, such as Richard Henderson, Samuel Kress, Andrew Robelier or Raplee, &c..
At this time, the Indians were still living, in large numbers, on the lands of the settlement, claiming their rights as lords of the soil, and the forests abounded with bear,.deer, wolves, and all other wild animals of a new region. The Indians retained possession of the lands, claiming that the white people had failed to pay for them, according to agreement. To remove this difficulty, Messrs. Phelps & Gorham, after much trouble, got their consent to hold a treaty, which they could only do by procuring the Quakers to unite with them, so great was the influence, and wide spread was the reputation of the integrity of the followers of Miquon (William Penn) amongst the savage owners of the wilderness. This treaty was held at Canandaigua in 1793 or 1794, there being present Red Jacket, Corn-Planter, Farmer’s-Brother and John Blacksmith, Chiefs of the Senecas, on the part of the Indians, and Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, the celebrated interpreter, Major Jones, and four of the plain and peaceful Quakers, on the part of the white, and the treaty was consummated and the Indians ever after quiet and peaceable. At this treaty Abraham Wagener was present and had the pleasure of listening to the powerful native eloquence of Red Jacket (Sa-ga-ye-watha, or Keeper awake).
On the 26th of May, 1796, he married his first wife, Mary Casner, sister of the late Samuel Casner, of Milo. When they commenced house-keeping, they brought all their worldly wealth on two Indian ponies, and first settled at Himrod’s Corners, in the town of Milo, where they lived three years.
In the year 1796, his father, David Wagener, became the owner of the land where the village of Penn Yan now stands, and built the first grist-mill at Penn Yan, in the same year, on the south side of the outlet, on the side where Jillett’s mill now stands. On the 26th of August, 1799, David Wagener died, and was the first person buried in the grave yard at Penn Yan. He left his lands at Penn Yan, (276 acres) to his two sons, Melchoir and Abraham; those on the south side of the outlet being left to Melchoir and his mother, and those on the north to Abraham. The first quarter of the 276 acres was purchased for four dollars an acre in 1796, of Lewis Birdsall, who bought of Robert Chissom and he purchased of George Wheeler, who derived his title directly from Phelps and Gorham. A most unpromising heritage it seemed to the subject of this sketch, being covered with scrubby pine bushes and underbrush, and large portion of it being low, swampy ground.
During the year 1796, Jemima Wilkinson removed from the gore where she first settled, in the permanent settlemént of the friends in the present town of Jerusalem.
Upon the death of his father, in 1799, Mr. Wagener came on the lands left him by his father, and erected the first frame building within the bounds of the village of Penn Yan, being a part of the tavern stand formerly owned by Miles Benham, and occupied, at the time it was burnt, in 1841, by Elijah S. Ryno, into which he moved on the first of January, 1800. At this time there were three log cabins on the banks of Jacob’s Brook (named for Jacob Wagener) occupied by Indians and their families. The second frame house was built by Doctor John Dorman, and was the Old Red House, a part of which is now occupied by Charles V. Bush, as a house-builder’s shop, on the east side of Main Street; it was built in 1800. The third frame house was the one now situated on the south side of Elm Street, nearly opposite the residence of Abraham N. Wagener, Esq.; and the fourth was the school-house still standing on the west side of Main Street, on the premises of the late Frederick H. Rhode. In this last named building, a few years later, the first religious meetings were held, and at a still later period, Rev. Richard Williams (Presbyterian) was first preacher.
In 1801, Mr. Wagener took active measures, and assisted in cutting a new road from Canandaigua to Newtown, (now Elmira,) by the head of the Seneca Lake, which was made a mail-route, and a post office (the first in Yates county) was established at his house, and he was appointed post master, (the name of the post office being Jerusalem) and held the office for fourteen years.
The new village began now to assume her station, and, feeling her importance, began to look about fora name. By its citizens it was known as Unionville, and by the outsiders, by the more expressive but less satisfactory appellation of Pandemonium. Various conferences were held on the subject, by Mr. Wagener, the late Morris F. Sheppard, and others, as the little settlement in the neighborhood of the house of Major Thomas Lee, known familiarly as the ‘Tom Lee Stand,’ also put on airs and claimed to be a village. At length at one of those then important gatherings called a ‘raising,’ the Gordian knot was cut by the late Philemon Baldwin, (grandfather of P. H. Baldwin, of Penn Yan,) who, when the last rafter was raised, mounted the plate, and, according to ancient usage, swung the well-filled bottle round his head, and, after alluding to the selection of a name, observed that part of the inhabitants were Penn-sylvanians and part Yan-kees, and proposed the name of Penn Yan, and swung off the bottle with a hurrah! The name was greeted with universal approbation, and so the village was christened, and being expressive, so it remained and when a short time afterwards the name of the post office was changed to Penn Yan, it became a fixed fact.
In 1808, Mr. Wagener was appointed a Justice of the Peace, by the Council of Appointment, for the town of Snell (since Benton and Milo) and held that office for twenty-six years, having been appointed under the new Constitution, and subsequently for the two last years elected by the people for the town of Milo. Having alluded to elections we cannot omit noticing the account given by Esq. Wagener of the first election held for Governor in the Friends settlement in 1795.
The voters of the New Jerusalem assembled at their capitol, the Friends Mills, and after having been marshalled by Castle Daines, who was inspector or returning officer, they all gathered upon a fallen pine tree near the mill and there exercised the right of suffrage, being unanimous for one of the candidates before the people, and believed to be the late Chancellor Livingston.
In 1810, the grist-mill on the north side of Crooked Lake outlet, was built on the site where now stands the mill of Messrs. Casner & Scheets; and it stood till 1824, when Esq. Wagener built the present mill, John Spicer, Esq., being the architect.
In the year 1832, he bought his lands on Bluff Point, (1100 acres in one body) of the late Charles A. Williamson, for $4 an acre, all of which he still owns, together with 500 acres in the towns of Milo and Jerusalem, all in one body. In 1833 he erected his elegant mansion on Bluff Point, in the town of Jerusalem, where he removed and resided till 1840, when he purchased his present residence, formerly belonging to R. N. Morrison, Esq‘, near Penn Yan, on the Jerusalem line—and which continues to be the abode of charity and hospitality. From his own door, the venerable patriarch can see a thriving
village of about 300 inhabitants, with seven large churches, a court-house, jail, two large flouring mills and two banks, with a large number of stores and shops, and the proportionate number of private dwellings. Casting the eye over the Crooked Lake, a steamboat may be seen, in the season, performing its daily trips, while from its foot proceeds the Crooked Lake Canal, with its boats, the Canandaigua and Jefferson Railroad, with its trains of passenger and freight cars, and its line of telegraph wires, al] denoting the onward march of enterprise, improvement and civilization, and all existing in a spot which a little more than fifty years ago, was an unfruitful and apparently useless wilderness.
Abraham Wagener served as supervisor of the village of Penn Yan, and was also nominated to the legislature.
He is about five feet nine inches in height, still unbowed by time. with a clear eye, and exhibiting few marks of old age either in his appearance or actions. Perhaps something if not all of this exemption from the infirmities of advanced years may be traced to his habits; for he says of himself; that he never went to a dance or frolic; never was drunk in his life, and never laid abed in the morning when he was well, and his signature is as steady and clear now as it was twenty years since.
‘Since the above was first published, we have had the pleasure of a short conversation with Esq. Wagener; in which he mentioned afew additional incidents, which we esteem well worthy of preservation.
In November, 1796, William Eddy and Josiah Gregory, came to Mr. Wagener’s house at Milo, (he then resided near ‘Himrods,’ as it is now called,) in search of a lot of land belonging to an eastern gentleman named Jonathan Lawrence. Eddy was an Irishman, then about 30 or 35 years old, not very intelligent, but strong and robust. He had fallen in with Gregory accidentally, and an intimacy having sprung up, the latter had been induced to accompany him in search of the lot. Eddy stated that Lawrence had agreed to give him 50 acres of the land if he hunted it up, and sell him the balance of the lot at a very low stipulated price if he wanted it.
Mr. Wagener examined the papers produced by Eddy, and at once offered to show the land deseribed. All south of Wagener’s house, at Milo, was then a dense unbroken forest as far as the Head of the Seneca Lake, except that the old Indian Trail to Catharine’s Town, (at or near to Havana) had been partly cut out and cleared for a wagon track—-being the principal part of the road now running westerly from Russel A. Hunt’s, and thence through or near Dundee to Jefferson. The next day ‘Wagener, Eddy, and Gregory started south scoring a road through the woods, and about noon Wagener pointed out the corner described in the deed—being on the spring brook that now runs through the north part of Eddytown village, whereon, in later years, Benjamin Cheever constructed a grist-mill, the site of which is now owned by Seymour Hurd. On their return the party marked the road plain, and Gregory having been employed by Eddy, immediately proceeded to cut out the trees so as to render the route passable for a sled. This is the road now running from Himrod’s Corners to Eddytown. A few days afterwards Mr. Wagener took down to Eddy’s lot 400 feet of boards on an ox-sled. A log: house was immediately put up near the spring brook, close by where Smith’s Ashery was subsequently established. Gregory then went off. Eddy remained in the woods six weeks making a clearing— Mr. Wagener furnishing his supplies. He. then went east to perfect his title, and returned to his lot in the spring, soon after which several settled near him—-among the earliest of whom were Timothy Hurd and Matthew Royce, the latter probably the oldest resident of this town now living.
The road running north from Himrod’s Corners to the late Richard Henderson's residence (now occupied by James Longwell, Esq.) in Milo, was laid out under Mr. Wagener’s direction, and cut out by him, Henderson and others.
In regard to Jemima Wilkinson’s first acquaintance with his father, Esq. Wagener gives the following explanation:
‘In 1781, The Friend preached in Philadelphia. David Wagener’s wife’s brother, Abraham Supplee was a Methodist preacher, and had heard her preach several times during his visits to the city. He invited her and her companions to his house in Worcester, Pa. During her residence there she exhorted and proclaimed her mission. David Wagener became interested in her discourses and on a rupture or disagreement taking place between Supplee and the Friend, David Wagener invited her to his house, when he and his wife became her devoted friends and followers. The projected settlement in the wilderness discussed and during the subsequent visits agreed upon. David Wagener from time to time furnished for her and her traveling companions large sums of money, horses, carriages, &c.’
Some curious memoranda will be found in the following exact copy of a page of an old manuscript book in the hand writing of David Wagener, which we now have before us. The book contains nine sheets of the old fashioned water laid foolscap paper, each sheet bearing the british stamp, ‘G. R.’ surmounted by a crown—curious and valuable specimens of the odious Stamp Act, which so effectually assisted in precipitating the American Revolution. These sheets are fastened within an ancient, paste-
board cover, on which is written by the hand of David Wagener, in the peculiar style of ‘coarse hand’ characteristic of the period, the following words: ‘David Wagener his eyphering Book, who began January the 6th Day, 1768.’ The pages, with the exception of the two last, are filled with neatly written Arithmetical calculations, from ‘Numerations’ to ‘Double Rule of Three Direct.’ The last page seems to have been kept by David Wagener as a Family Record, and for noting what he evidently considered the most important events of his life. The following is an exact copy of the page:
“David Wagener was born of Melcher and Gertraut Wagener The 25th Day of January Ao. 1752.
Rebeccah Wagener was born of Hance and Magdalene Supplee The 25th Day of November A. Do. 1749.
Married before Mr. Stringer at Philad. The 13th Day of January 1774. Moved to Norriton ye 6th of Aprill in the same year 1774.
Abraham Wagener, The first son born of David and Rebeceah Wagener The 29th day of November A. Do. 1774 in ye evening.
Mary Magdalene the first Daughter born of David and Rebeccah Wagener, the 14th Day of February 1776 in ye evening.
Anna Wagener the second Daughter born of David and Rebeccah Wagener The 10th Day of September A. Do. 1777.
Melcher Wagener the second son of David and Rebeccah Wagener born the 31st Day of January A. Do. 1779.
Elizabeth Wagener the Third daughter born of David and Rebeccah Wagener The 27th day of August A. Do. 1780, in ye morning, between 8 & 9 a clock.
Moved from Norrintown To Worcester again ye third day of April 1781.
David Wagener The Third son of David and Rebeccah Wagener was born The 27th day of April Ao. 1783 in ye morning about five a clock.
Rebeccah Wagener the fourth daughter of David and Rebececah Wagener was born the 1d day of ye 1d Mo. 1785 in 3d hour of ye year in the morning.
Elizabeth Wagener, Daughter, Departed this Life 12th Mo. 1784, In the Flux. E. W. aged 4 yr. 4m.
Rebeccah Wagener Departed this life here in time ye Id of ye 5th mo. 1787. R. W. 2 y. 5m. Small Pox.
David Wagener, (Son) departed this Life here in time ye 11th of ye 5th mo. 1787. Small Pox. D.W. 4 y.
Lament Wagener y. fifth Daughter D’d & Rebeccah Wagener was born y. 13th of y. 11th mo. 1787 in the morning about six o’clock.
Rachel Wagener y. Sixth Daughter of D’d & Rebeeccah Wagener was born y. 11d. day of y. 9th mo. - 1789 about midnight.
Rebeccah Wagener (2d) was born February the Ist 1794, Seventh Daughter.” “1782, October ye 19. Came ye. New England Friends to my House first, the same evening a meeting;
next morning on ye. first day of the week had Great and powerful meeting to the communing
and embellishing of my Soul—the same at my house again next day or second day, again at Bethel;
meeting rather more powerful than the Day before, at the Same Meeting house. that day afternoon
they took their leave from us and I and my father conducted them to Chris Funk that evening,
lodged there that night, next day I went with them to Bethlehem. The Publick Friends’ Names (the Universal Friend) or by name Chimima Wilkenson, Thomas Hatha-
way, Alice Hasard, William Potter, Arnold Potter, Sarah Brown, William Furniss all of New
England, and Jehue Eldridge public friend from Philadelphia. The God of all Grace preserve
their soul and body In perfect health. 1784, August 28. Came to my house the Universal Friend, Sarah Brown, Arnold Potter, Abraham
Dayton & Elizabeth Holmes from New England, Castle Dean & Jeremia Tabor. 1787 y. I d. of y. 12 mo.. came the Friend the third time to my House. D.W.” Two INTERESTING DEEDS
“George S. Sheppard, Esq., has in his possession a deed dated May 13, 1796, given by David Wagener to Ezekiel Sherman, conveying, for an expressed consideration of one hundred and fifty pounds, one hundred and fifty acres of lot 48, township 7, of the Second Range. Cleveland’s History states (page 455) that oue hundred acres of this land was deeded in payment for the early explorations made by Ezekiel Sherman for the Friend’s Society, and fifty acres for improvements made on their
first purchase in the original Friends Settlement near Seneca Lake. David Wagener built the first mill in what is now Penn Yan, and was the first person buried in Lake View Cemetery. The entire deed is in Mr. Wagener’s handwriting, and indicates that he was a man of much more than ordinary ability and business experience. This deed was witnessed by Samuel Castner and Melchior Wagener.
Mr. Sheppard also has a deed dated June 8, 1797, given to Mary Sherman, the wife of Ezekiel Sherman, by Rachel Malin, ‘lawful heir to the last will and testament of Sarah Richards, deceased,’ and conveying, ‘in consideration of eighty dollars of good silver coin,’ one hundred and sixty acres in Lot 47. Cleveland’s History states that this deed was given on behalf of the Friend in payment of money advanced to aid in moving the Friend’s effects to the new settlement. This deed was witnessed by Lucy Brown and David Wagener.
Both deeds are the property of Mr. Warren S. H. Wright, a great-grandson of the original grantees.” ABRAHAM WAGENER, THE FOUNDER OF PENN Yan
‘‘The founding of a village where Penn Yan now stands was the outgrowth of necessity, and not of design. It was a natural consequence and not the result of speculative schemes. David Wagener bought the lands because they were desirable and not that he contemplated the building up of a village. But Mr. Wagener did not live to enjoy the substantial fruits of his purchase. He died in 1799, and his estate in lands, on which the village stands, was inherited by his sons, Abraham and Melchior. In area the estate embraced 276 acres, lying both north and south of the outlet; that part north of the stream fell to Abraham, while his brother became owner of the Jands on the south side. Eventually Abraham succeeded to the ownership of the whole tract.
“To Abraham Wagener therefore attaches all credit for taking the initial steps that resulted in a substantial village corporation. In 1801 he took active measures in having surveyed and constructed a highway leading from Canandaigua to Newton (now Elmira). This road soon became an established mail route, and a postoffice was located soon afterward at Abraham Wagener’s house. He was the first postmaster, and the name of the office was Jerusalem, being as this locality then was, within the district called Jerusalem.
“On the Ist of January, 1800, Mr. Wagener moved into ‘town,’ and occupied a dwelling built the year before for his use. This was the first frame building erected on the village site, and stood where later was the Miles Benham tavern. The building was burnedin 1841. When Mr. Wagener came here to reside there were three log cabins within his tract, all standing on the stream called Jacob’s brook [named for Jacob Wagener], and oceupied by Indians and their families. These primitive inhabitants were tenants by the sufferance of Mr. Wagener, they having no title nor claim to the land they occupied. They are said to have remained for a time, but the constant arrival of white settlers caused them to retire from the neighborhood.
“For fourteen years after his appointment Abraham Wagener held the office of postmaster at his little village, but he was otherwise honored in public affairs. In 1808 he was appointed justice-of-thepeace for the town of Snell, which then included all that afterward became Benton and Milo. This office Mr. Wagener held for about twenty-five years, and from his long continued incumbency thereof, he became generally known as ‘Squire’ Wagener, by which name he was called as long as he lived.
“Abraham Wagener, the founder in fact of the village, was in all respects the honorable, straightforward public-spirited citizen, a man of large means and much influence in the town. The land on which the Court House was built was his voluntary gift, while also the main thoroughfare of the village was donated and laid out by him. Of course, these things greatly enhanced the value of his property, but at the time they forwarded the interests of other persons who perhaps were less able and less inclined to give than he was. ,
“Squire Wagener continued to live in Penn Yan, as the village afterward was named, until 1833, in which year he moved to Bluff Point, where he occupied an elegant stone mansion which he had erected during that year. However, before his removal to Bluff Point, Squire Wagener built a second residence in the village, which stood on the land now in part occupied by the Knapp House, about where the dining room of that hostelry is located. This dwelling is believed to have been erected in 1816, and to it was given the name of Mansion House. This name was preserved in after years when the building was changed in character and occupancy and put to hotel use.
“In the rear of the house stood the famous old Wagener apple tree, so called from its owner, the one who planted the seed, nourished and cultivated the sprout, and distributed its seed in return throughout the vicinity, the yield of which has always been known as the ‘Wagener’ apple. Now the old Mansion House has become a part of the more modern Knapp House; the apple tree has been cut
down, that the land may be used for other purposes and the founder of the village, its pioneer and most influential citizen lies buried in the old cemetery which his father gave to the people for the interment of their dead.
‘Abraham Wagener died May 21, 1853. Descendants of his still live in this village and throughout the county, and the name is an honored one. So common has been the error in the spelling of the apple in question, that probably the great majority of those living today do not associate it with the founder of the village of Penn Yan. To the credit of the official reports of fruit growers’ meetings throughout the State, the correct spelling has been maintained. Publishers of catalogues also usually use the middle ‘e’. ” [ Newspaper clipping; courtesy of F. R. Taylor, Owego, N. Y.] A TRIBUTE oF RESPECT “In Memory of Mrs. Mary Wagener, consort of Abraham Wagener, who died on the 3d of June, 1811, in Benton, On-
tario County, aged 37 years; with Address to her parents and relations.” ‘The Widower’s Lamentation. “Phe Address
“Come all my friends both far and near, “Mysterious are the ways of God,
My lementations you may hear; His works, his providence and world;
Come, lend an ear and I'll relate All, in conjunction do declare
The sorrows of my present state. His majesty we ought to fear.
T was once blest from Heaven's hand Both life and breath are in his hand;
With a kind wife and bosom friend; The powers of death he doth command,
She was the partner of my cares; And when his sentence we do hear,
But now her loss I mourn with tears, We must obey, we can’t forbear.
The God of mercy gave a call— When he gives life or takes the same,
She heard the same and gave up all, We ought to bless his holy name;
And freely left all things below, Submit unto his righteous rod,
And bid adieu to pain and woe. Not question, but adore our God.
She now lies mouldering in the ground, The dispensation he’s display'd,
Till the last trump shall give the sound, Of late by death, which he hath made,
And call the saints of God to rise, Abundant cause for you to mourn,
And meet King Jesus in the skies. The loss of her who'll ne’er return.
And thus bereft of consort dear, Her ling’ring sickness, pain and death,
Who in my troubles used to share; At last destroy’d her vital breath;
But now for ever from me gone, While weeping friends stood round her bed,
And left me here to grieve and mourn. Without a groan, her spirit fled!
I'm like a dove who seeks in vain Brothers and Sisters, very near—
For his lost mate, but can’t obtain; Tender Parents, and Husband dear,
O, whether shall I go, to find In coalition now may join,
Deliverance from a burden’d mind. In lamentations all combine.
How deep the wound! how keen the dart; To aged Parents this I'd say—
The stroke of death hath reached my heart; Though God hath call’d your Child away, ‘My loss is great, which makes me mourn; Submit and say, ‘They will be done
I weep in vain—she'll ne’er return. In all things here below the sun.’
My hopes cut off, my joys are gone, To Brothers and to Sisters too,
I'm left with my dear Babes alone; The same advice I'd give to you,
My anguish and my sore distress Unto the will of God comply,
No tongue nor language can express, And thus prepare to live and die.
My dear Relations, mourn with me, \ To him who’s left with tender Babes,
My deep distress you here may see; \ (Who seeks in vain their Mother's aid!)
In tears of sympathy now join, The Lord now calls, O hear his voice,
And thus you'll aid a troubled mind.’ And make his grace your happy choice. ’ Lord, give me grace to bear me up; O, may God’s grace assist us all,
May I have faith—may I have hope, To do his will and hear his call!
And worthily pursue the way That we may live in peace and love,
That leads the soul to endless day." And then receive a crown above!” (Courtesy—-Samuel Castner, Phila.]