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Obituary. Mabel Della KEPHART Brown (1878-1899). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Died:-In Middletown township, May 17th, 1899, Della Brown, wife of Roscoe W. Brown, age 20 years, 6 months and 26 days.
Della Kephart was born at Cottage Hill, Dubuque County, Iowa, Oct. 22, 1878. In 1883 she came with her parents to Jackson County. On June 29th, 1898, she was united in marriage with Roscoe W. Brown, of Dickenson county, Ia.
For a few months after their marriage they lived in Spirit Lake, Ia., last fall moving to Jackson county where they have since made their home. Two years previous to her marriage she was engaged in school work in Jackson county where she made many warm friends.
In her life Della was kind, loving, loveable and loved, making many friends wherever she went. She leaves a host of relatives and loving friends to mourn her untimely death. A year ago last winter she gave her heart to God and has since striven earnestly to live a Christian life.
She died happy, fully trusting in the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ, for she said a short time before she died, "I am going home to Jesus." The she said to her husband, "I am going to leave you, but am only going before to make a home for you on the other side of the river."
Then she named over all of her absent relatives and sent some loving message to each, then bidding all those present goodbye, her husband last, bidding him a very affectionate goodbye, she sang two verses of that beautiful hymn, "'Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus." She soon closed her eyes in that last sleep that has no waking.
Everything was done that loving hands and kind friends could do to keep her here, but it was all of no avail. Her work on earth was done and the Lord called her home to that better land where sorrow and pain are not known.
Funeral services were held Friday in the church in Middletown, by Rev. Abbott, after which the remains were laid at rest in the Jackson cemetery.
Memorial. Della KEPHART Brown (1878-1899). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Memorial (Reverse). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Roscoe "Ross" and Clara (Vilmo) KEPHART (Date unknown). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Ross and Clara KEPHART (Date unknown). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Husband:
Roscoe Conklin KEPHARTBorn: 13 Mar 1881
Place: Dubuque Co., IA
Married: 7 Jul 1909
Place: Jackson, MN
Died: 9 Jan 1965
Place: Aitkin, MN
Buried: Jackson, MN
Husband's Father: Alfred Brunson KEPHART
Husband's Mother: Mary Brown MEYERS
Wife:
Clara Elizabeth VILMOBorn: 4 Feb 1889
Place: Manistee, MI
Died: 16 Feb 1964
Place: Lakefield, MN
Buried: Jackson, MN
Wife's Father: Otto VILMO
Wife’s Mother: Elizabeth OELKE
Children
1. Della Ella KEPHART
Born: 1 Sep 1909
Place: Lakefield, MN
Spouse: Lester NORGRANT
Married: 1 Sep 1928
Died: 26 Dec 1992
2. Gladys Pearl KEPHART
Born: 7 Dec 1914
Place: Lakefield, MN
Spouse: Harlan PETERSON
Married: 12 Jul 1937
Spouse: Harm IHNEN
Married: Unknown
Died: 16 Dec 2000
3. Seth Robert KEPHART
Born: 18 Jun 1920
Place: Lakefield, MN
Spouse: Gwen MALCHOW
Married: 12 Mar 1940
Died: 16 Oct 1993
Obituary. Clara Elizabeth (Vilmo) KEPHART (16 Feb 1964). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Kephart Rites Set Wednesday At LakefieldLAKEFIELD -- Funeral services for Mrs. Rose [sic, Ross] C. Kephart, 75, Lakefield, have been set for Wednesday.The family service will be at 1:30 p.m. at the Rost funeral home and the public service will be at 2 p.m. at the First Methodist church in Lakefield.The Rev. Russell Hubbard will officiate and burial will be in the Riverside cemetery at Jackson.Mrs. Kephart died in her sleep early Sunday morning at her home. She had suffered heart condition but death was unexpected.Mrs. Kephart was the former Clara Vilmo and was born Feb. 4, 1889, at Manistee, Mich. On July 7, 1909, she married Ross C. Kephart of Lakefield. Mr. Kephart was a blacksmith for many years.She is survived by her husband, two daughters, and one son. They are Mrs. Lester Norgrant of Spirit Lake; Mrs. Harm Ihnen, of Seal Beach, Calif. and Seth of Aitkin, Minn.Also surviving are two brothers, Edward and William Vilmo of Ada; two sisters, Mrs. Lillie Thies of Ada and Mrs. Lucy Griewe of Boyes Hot Springs, Calif.; eight grandchildren, twenty-four great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren.
Obituary. Ross C. KEPHART (9 Jan 1965). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Retired Blacksmith Succumbs
LAKEFIELD -- Ross C. Kephart, a blacksmith for many years at Lakefield, died early this morning in an Aitkin, Minn. rest home. He was 83.
Mr. Kephart, who had been living with a son at Aitkin until just recently, died of complications of old age.Mrs. Kephart died last February and he went to Aitkin to stay with his son, Seth.He was born March 13, 1881 at Cottage Hill, Ia., one of 12 children. On July 7, 1909, he married Clara Vilmo.They are survived by the one son, Seth, and two daughters, Mrs. Lester Norgrant of Spirit Lake, Ia. and Mrs. Harm Ihnen of Seal Beach, Calif. Two sisters, Mrs. R. R. Rost of Lakefield and Mrs. E. E. Pearson of Jackson, also survive. There is a brother Levi Kephart of Sanborn, Minn., eight grandchildren, 27 great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren.Funeral arrangements are pending at the Rost [funeral home . . . ].
Obituary. Ross C. KEPHART (9 Jan 1965). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Ross C. Kephart, 83, Dies at Rest HomeRoss C. Kephart, 83, who lived in Jackson County the greater share of his life, died at an Aitkin rest home Saturday, where he had resided only a short time. He was a Lakefield blacksmith for many years. Mrs. Kephart died last February and he later went to Aitkin to stay with his son Seth.
Ross Kephart was born March 13, 1881, at Cottage Hill, Ia. On July 7, 1909, he was married to Clara Vilmo.
Survivors are one son, Seth; two daughters, Mrs. Lester Norgrant of Spirit Lake and Mrs. H. Ihnen of Seal Beach, Calif.; two sisters, Mrs. E. E. Pearson of rural Jackson and Mrs. R. R. Rost of Lakefield; one brother, Levi Kephart of Sanborn; eight grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.Funeral services were held on Tuesday afternoon at the Lakefield Methodist church. The Rev. R. Hubbard officiated and interment was in Jackson Riverside Cemetery.
Descendants of Roscoe Conklin KEPHART (1881-1965).
Earnest and Ella KEPHART Pearson (1906). Jackson County Pilot (22 Dec 1976). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Earnest and Ella KEPHART Pearson. Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
Husband:
Earnest E. PEARSON Born: 11 May 1880
Place: Hardin Co., IA
Married: 26 Dec 1906
Place: Lakefield, MN
Died: 24 May 1979
Place: Jackson, MN
Buried: Riverside Cemetery, Jackson, MN
Husband's Father: Jesse George PEARSON
Husband's Mother: Samantha Jane CAMPBELL
Wife:
Mary Ella KEPHARTBorn: 1 Mar 1886
Place: Jackson Co., MN
Died: 15 Mar 1981
Place: Jackson, MN
Buried: Riverside Cemetery, Jackson, MN
Wife's Father: Alfred Brunson KEPHART
Wife’s Mother: Mary Brown MEYERS
No Children
Deb Chapdelaine, "So we let the mule roll down the hill," (1980). Image courtesy of Verla Williams.
"So we let the mule roll down the hill"
BY DEB CHAPELAINE
Ella Pearson, 94, remembers the town of Jackson back in the horse and wagon days. Jackson wasn't so populated then. "It was hills, mostly," says Ella. "I remember one time when father and I were on top of a real steep hill with the wagon. It was spring and real muddy. That hill was so steep and so slippery we couldn't get down any other way, so we just let the mule role down." I asked Ella if that mule was still alive after that incident and Ella said sure, it didn't hurt 'em.
Ella was born March 1, 1886, and has lived all her life in Jackson County. She had five sisters and six brothers, and she was third from youngest child. They never had a telephone in her childhood home.
Teens had taffy pulls and went on hayrides or sleighrides for fun. On Sundays, families would go visiting. The men used to play cards, while the women sat and talked and the kids scattered outside to play.
Didn't the women play cards, too? No, says Ella, they didn't care for it much. Back then playing cards was more of a man's game, said Ella.
On Saturdays, everyone would make their weekly trip into town, where you met all your neighbors and everybody truly knew everybody else. At the stores everything was in big barrels and you bought it in bulk, said Ella. "You'd never see anybody buy any bread," said Ella. "In those days, everybody baked their own."Ella was 12 when Jackson celebrated the turn of the century. She remembers the settlers picnic held in Ashley Park. "Everybody came. And lots of them camped right there because they'd come too far to go back home for the night." The Civil War veterans marched in their uniforms, making a wonderful parade for all the settlers to see, she said.
Barn dancing was another way Jacksonites of old used to have fun, said Ella. "Square dancing and waltzes ... oh, how I loved to waltz," she said with a happy look in her eyes. "Every Saturday night there'd be a barn dance with the old and young together and lots of good dancing." She sees the new kind of dancing on television's "American Bandstand" and laughs. "It tickles me to see those young people hoppin' up and down and thinking they're dancing.
To cool off at those dances, young people drank water or lemonade. Soft drinks like soda pop just weren't there. As for beer, "the old folks drank beer, and usually in the house. Even if there was a keg in the corner of the barn, you seldom saw a young person drink beer," said Ella. The barn dances started dying out in World War II when, as Ella puts it, "if you had a dance, you had to have a cop."
Ella was married in 1906. "I married my kid sweetheart," she says with a smile. She and her husband Ernest, lived and worked on a farm out in Middletown Township. She says a farm wife "had to be a hired man as well as a housekeeper." Ella and Ernest were married for 72 years and had no children.In 1910, four years after her marriage, electricity came to the Pearson farm. "I thought it was a big help," says Ella. "Before that we just had oil lamps."
Automobiles were another new-fangled thing. "I remember when the first car came into Middletown," says Ella. "A man by the name of Webb was driving it. I thought it was a crazy idea, it scared our horses."
I asked Ella if she thought automobiles were an improvement over horses. "Well, yes, it was faster," she said. "Still, I liked the horses. They were slower, but you'd see more. You could pay more attention to what's going on around you."
When Ella sees some of today's fashions, she thinks "what crazy styles!" But she also recognizes styles that were the rage in her day. "Women might just as well kept the old dresses and wear them today," she laughed."We never had too many dresses at one time," she remembered. "If you had one of those new percale dresses, with the rick-rack around it, why that was nice," said Ella, emphasizing the 'nice'.She like the hair style that was popular for women then, the pompadour. Sweeping the hair up and out of the way just seemed so practical for her. "That way when you're cooking, it doesn't fall in your face." Her used to be down to her waist. Each morning she would put it up, using what she called "snarls" or "rats" to give the necessary height to the hair. Sometimes she would just back-comb her own hair to give it that puffed out effect. And every night she would faithfully comb that waist-length hair out.Ella makes her home at the Good Samaritan Center now and in her 94 years, she has seen a lot of changes. She went from oil lamps to electric bulbs; from horses to automobiles. And all those years have not marred her mind. Her memory is still sharp; sharp enough to recall in detail the old days and the old ways.
