Obit: Washburn, Eugene (1857 - 1936)

Contact:  Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Washburn, Putman, Barkley, Lund, Crane, Gahlgren, Eberly, Horel

----Sources: Humbird Enterprise (Humbird, Clark County, Wis.) Sat., 21 March 1936

Washburn, Eugene (13 June 1857 - 12 March 1936)

Eugene Washburn, oldest one of the five children of William H. and Amanda Putman Washburn, was born in Winona County, Minnesota, on June 13, 1857. The parents were pioneer settlers in that section, coming from New York State. When the son Eugene was about ten years old they moved to a farm south of Alma Center, and a short time later the father purchased a farm opposite the John Andrew’s place in Garden Valley. This was their home until 1880. In that year the family moved to a homestead at Ashton, Dakota Territory.

In the fall following, Mr. Washburn returned to Marshall, Minn., and on Sept. 23, 1880, he married Sarah Ann Horel, in that city. They lived at Watertown, S. Dak., for a number of months; during that time he was brakeman on a freight train, of which his brother-in-law, Mr. Crane, was conductor. For eleven years their home was on a homestead at Ashton, S. D., and then they moved to Tomah, where until 1904, they moved to a farm west of town, and five years later into this village, engaging in the hardware business with Geo. Barkley, under the firm of Barkley & Washburn, and alter he conducted the business alone, until his death last Thursday morning, March 12, 1936, lacking three months of being 79 years of age.

Mr. Washburn is survived by three children, Claude, and Mrs. Mahlon Lund, of this village, and Dr. Roy B. Washburn, of Augusta. One sister, Mrs. Mary Crane, who has made her home here since the death of Mrs. Washburn, Jan. 29, 1934, also survives.

Mr. Washburn was a member of the Methodist Church, and served the congregation in an official capacity in different ways. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and of the Eastern Star for many years and served as treasurer of the latter for a long term. One of the happy events of his life was the celebration of their golden wedding anniversary, Sept. 23, 1930.

Funeral services were held at the M. E. Church Sunday afternoon, and the esteem with which Mr. Washburn was held was shown by the large number who came from a distance to attend. Beautiful flowers covered the casket and were banked about the altar. The sermon was preached by Rev. F. C. Fahlgren, and Rev. W. J. Eberly read the scripture lesson. Burial was in the Mentor Cemetery.