STRAWN

CENTRAL ILLINOIS OBITUARIES


STRAWN, PHEBE GATES MRS.
Jacksonville Daily Journal
February 7, 1906, Page 5, Column 4

ENTERED INTO REST
Long and Useful Life of Mrs. Phebe Gates Strawn Brought to a Close - Summons Came Tuesday Morning - Funeral Services Will Take Place Friday.

Mrs. Phebe Gates Strawn, widow of Jacob Strawn, entered into rest at her home on West College avenue Tuesday morning at 7:20 o'clock, at the age of 92 years. She had been in poor health for some time, but up to within a few months ago was able to ride out occasionally. She had recently been much worse, and her death was not unexpected.

The demise of Mrs. Strawn removes from the state one of the most interesting personages in its history. So closely identified was her life with the growth and development of this commonwealth, especially of Morgan county, that to tell the history of the one is to relate the leading facts in the history of the other. The active helpmeet of perhaps the greatest farmer the state has ever known, to her no less than to him, was due in a large measure the rapid reclaiming of the richest farming district of the country from its native wildness, and bringing it to minister to man's needs.

Born in Deerfield, Washington county, Ohio, Oct. 28, 1814, the daughter of Samuel and Susan (Emerson) Gates, she removed to this state with her parents when two years of age. The family first settled in Calhoun county but shortly afterward removed to Greene county, where she first met Mr. Strawn. To quote a biographer of the '70's, �Having met in that year ('31) a lady of Greene county, Miss Phebe Gates, the daughter of Samuel Gates, Esq., he (Mrs. Strawn) was attracted by her rare beauty and commanding figure, and to give his own language, he determined to win her as his bride. On the 8th of July following (1832) the happy nuptials were celebrated at the residence of Mr. Gates It is enough to say that Mrs. Strawn is in every way worthy of being the wife of the Great American Farmer; but it was one of those unions founded upon good sense and good judgment, and forcibly demonstrated in the subsequent life of the parties.

Mrs. Strawn was descried by those who knew her as �a woman of fine colloquial powers, of rare amiableness of character, and her suave and affable manners endeared her to all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.� She was possessed of a strong Christian character, having been a member of the First Presbyterian church of this city, now the State Street Presbyterian church. Her father was a native of Maine and her mother of Vermont and from such sturdy stock did she inherit the strict sense of duty and strong determination which characterized the whole of her long and useful life.

Mrs. Strawn was the mother of six children: Daniel, who died at the age of 6 years; Julius E.; Jacob Jr. who died in 1869; at the age of 30 years; Gates; Dr. David G., and Amelia, who died at the age of 22 years in 1868. The three remaining sons reside in this city. She also leaves a half sister, Mrs. Sarah Elliott, of Sacramento, Cala., and a brother, James Gates, of Bayard, Iowa. Her husband died Aug. 23, 1865, at the old homestead, five miles southwest of the city, and since 1882 she has lived with her sons at her West College avenue home.

Funeral services will be held at the home Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Dr. A. B. Morey will be in charge of the services and he will be assisted by Dr. W. F. Short. Interment will be made in Diamond Grove cemetery, where the remains of her husband now repose.

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