Obit: Merwin, Emily #2 (1861 - 1961)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Merwin, Swan, Ouimette, Henalich, Loucks, Clements

----Source: ABBOTSFORD TRIBUNE (Abbotsford, Clark Co. Wis.) 01/05/1961

Merwin, Emily #2 (25 AUG 1861 - 2 JAN 1961)

Funeral services for Mrs. Emily Merwin, who died Jan. 1, 1961 at the age of 99 years, will be held Thursday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the First Presbyterian Church, Abbotsford.  The Rev. L. F. Faivre will officiated and burial will be made in the Colby Cemetery.

Mrs. Merwin died Monday afternoon at the Golden Age Rest Home at Rib Lake where she had been a resident the past year.

The body will lie in state at the Polnaszek Funeral Home until noon on Thursday when it will be taken to the church.

The former Emily Swan was born at Clarandon, N.Y., Aug. 25, 1861.  When she was two eyars old her family moved to Michigan and later to Wisconsin Rapids.  In 1875 they moved to Clark County, near Dorchester.

Her marriage to Ben Pierce Merwin took place April 21, 1873.  The couple settled on a homestead in the town of Holton and were among the first to come to that area.  Mr. Merwin died July 29, 1917, and in 1922 Mrs. Merwin and family moved to Stevens Point and lived there a year, and a year at Curtiss, prior to coming to the village of Abbotsford.

In 1929, Mrs. Merwin sold the homestead to her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. I. F. Loucks, who operated it until last May, when they sold it to their son, Charles.

Mrs. Merwin purchased a house on Second St. and lived there until Dec. 10, 1959, when she went to Rib Lake.

She was active in church and community affairs.  She served as clerk of the school board of the joint district of the towns of Holton and Johnson, she was a charter member of the Riverside Church and the ladies’ aid.  She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Abbotsford and attended meetings of the Women’s Association regularly until about the past year.  She also served as president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for many years.  She was a member of the Abbotsford Women’s Club for a number of years.

For the past 22 years the Merwin descendants have met annually for a reunion, near her birthday in August, and Mrs. Merwin has attended each one except the last one.  She has enjoyed excellent health through the years, but the past three years has suffered intermittent attack of heart failure.

She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. William (Maryette) Ouimette of Park Falls; Mrs. A. A. (Ina) Henalich, Curtiss; and Mrs. I. F. (Rosalie) Loucks, Abbotsford; five sons, Howard and Ben, Abbotsford; Arthur and Roy, Wausau, and Ernest, Fort St. John, Canada; 33 grandchildren; 95 great-grandchildren, and 20 great-great-grandchildren.

She also was preceded in death by a son Claude, a brother, John, and a sister, Lucy Clements.