Genealogy Pages for Northern Middle TN
Obituary for Mrs. Harriet HENRY
(two obituaries)
Following is a transcription of the above person's obituary from the Springfield Record,
Springfield, Robertson Co., TN, dated 01/19/1888:
Death of Mrs. HENRY
Mrs. Harriet HENRY, wife of Mr. Daniel HENRY, this place,
departed this life at noon, last Sunday. She was in the 61st year of her age.
Leaves a devoted husband with a strangely painful void in his heart, which this world can
never fill. Also two sons, J. T. and G. A. HENRY, of the firm of Henry Bros. &
Anderson, sorely afflicted over this sad dispensary. Mrs. HENRY was a quiet
christian lady, a most affectionate wife, a gentle, tender, loving mother, and a neighbor
to all who needed sympathy and encouragement. Our language furnishes no two words,
lived to their full meaning, that carry more of love than wife--mother. Mrs HENRY
lived them to perfection. Who would not make an extra effort to be re-united at the
end of time with "Mother?" The subject of these remarks now enjoys the
bliss of a happy home, to which she invites loved ones. This community deeply
sympathizes with the family.
Following is a transcription of the above person's obituary from the Springfield
Record, Springfield, Robertson Co., TN, dated 01/26/1888:
Sister Harriet HENRY was born May 7, 1827, and was married to Daniel HENRY, April 5, 1848.
She was converted in 1847, and sometime after her conversion she joined Hopewell
(Baptist) church in this county and lived a consistent member of the same until Jan. 15,
1888, when she went up to the church triumphant, where she will be forever free from
sorrow and tears, pain and death. Sister HENRY had not enjoyed robust health for
twenty-five years, though most of the time she was able to see after her household
affairs. She was a woman of strong will and great courage and yielded to her disease
only when her strength was gone. Often I've seen it written of the afflicted that
they bore their afflictions with patience and christian fortitude, but it has never been
my priviledge to visit one who suffered sore affliction with more patience and resignation
than did Sister Henry. For several weeks I visited her every day and I never heard a
murmur escape her lips, nor saw an indication of impatience. In speaking of her
eternal life, she went back to the time and place of her conversion, and told me of the
great joy that filled her soul when she "passed from death into life." It
was so refreshing to hear her tell her chrisitan experience, and witness the courage with
which she endured pain and faced death. About three weeks before her death she had a
very severe spell of palpitation, and while she was grasping for breath, and, as we
thought grasping with death, I pointed upward and said"Sister Henry, is all
well." She said "Yes, and I would be glad to go to-night." So
often she said to us " I have no fear as to my future, I am just waiting till it is
God's will to take me. I feel it is my duty to bear with patience what God wants me
to suffer." The last time I talked with her she told me of the sweet spiritual
comfort she had, and said "I am very weak this morning, and am not able to talk much;
I want to talk with you again on this subject when I have more strength." But
the next time I saw her she could not talk much, but she has more strength now, and we can
talk all about the glories and joys of the religion of Christ after a while.
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." God shall wipe all tears from
their eyes, and there'll be no more sorrow nor crying, neither shall they die any
more. Thank God for the good hope of eternal life which is given to all the true
followers of Jesus Christ. God grant his blessing to her husband who is feeble and
lonely, and to her children who have lost a mother indeed, and to the faithful one who
watched by her side so constantly and patiently day and night. May they all meet her
on the bright and better shore.
A friend.
Jan. 17, 1888