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Obituary for Elmer Lewis Mattingly
15 April, 1867 - 13 March, 1931
From The Caldwell News-Tribune,
dated Monday, 16 March, 1931 
Contributed by Dennis McIndoo


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HOMEPAGE
 

DEATH CALLS
   BUILDER OF
      VALLEY FARM

                         __________

Elmer Mattingly Passes
Friday Morning at Wilder;
Built Home from Sagebrush
__________

                      (Special)
     WILDER - Death claimed another pioneer of this community when Elmer L. Mattingly answered the summons early Friday morning, March 13.  He had worked in the field all day Thursday and had told his house-keeper that he planned to get up early the next morning.  When he failed to do so Mrs. Whalen decided to investigate and found him lying as if asleep, but lifeless.  The physician called, pronounced it a case of heart failure and that the end had probably come soon after midnight.
     He was born April 15, 1868, in Batavia, Iowa.  On September 27, 1887 he was married to Artamisha Alameta Simes and the following year they moved to Missouri where they lived a few years, then on to Oklahoma for six years but returned to Missouri to remain three years longer.  Colorado was their next home and 1904 brought them to Silver City where he was engaged in mining until December, 1906, when he brought his family to this section and filed on a homestead one mile south of Wilder which has since been their home.  These twenty-five years have been anything but easy years, as together they toiled early and late clearing and levelling the land, raising crops and caring for livestock.
     For several years he was employed in construction work on this project, helping to change the vast desert into a section of homes.  Twice it was necessary for him to return to mining in Silver City in order to raise the money to carry on.  During these periods of absence Mrs. Mattingly and their three children continued clearing land and holding the homestead.
     No one but those who have experienced like trials and hardships can realize the debt the rising generations owe to the faithful pioneers.  Finally the entire eighty was under cultivation, was well stocked with livestock and machinery and the installation of electricity had lightened the burdens both in the home and of the farm work.
     On August 16, 1930, when Mr. and Mrs. Mattingly had driven to Wilder she suddenly passed away while sitting in the car.  He then disposed of his dairy stock but continued farming.  He is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Thurman Frank of Wilder, two sons, J. C. of Wilder and Melvin of King City, California, and seven grandchildren.  As he had been a member of the Masonic lodge for many years and at the time of his death held a membership in the Boise Shrine, the funeral service Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock in the Wilder M. E. church was in charge of the Masons.
     The Rev. Geo. R. Ellis preached the sermon and he was laid to rest beside his wife in the Canyon hill cemetery.




 
 

Full-sized headstone photo available upon request.