Anna Bonsall 1849-1934

BONSALL, BARNES, GIDDINGS

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 4/20/2018 at 09:10:42

5 April 1934 - West Branch Times

Anna Elvira Barnes was born near Fredericktown, Ohio, January 20th, 1849, and died at the home of her niece, Mrs. Ada B. Giddings at Laguna Beach, Calif., March 12th, 1934. The deceased is survived by two brothers, G. L. Barnes of Pasadena, Calif., and J. V. Barnes of Wapello, Iowa.

At the age of twenty years she moved with her parents and two brothers to West Branch, Iowa, to join other pioneer friends who had preceded them from Ohio.

On May 27th, 1880, she was united in marriage with William Thorne Bonsall, who passed on to the Homeland, November 20th, 1931.

Although both had been reared in the Society of Friends, they joined the Methodist Episcopal church early in their married life. Together they always enjoyed church life and each one served in official capacities from time to time. Mrs. Bonsall served as secretary-treasurer of the Ladies Aid society for several years at What Cheer, Iowa, where they resided for about twenty-five years.

From the age of fourteen the deceased sustained delicate health but she learned to guard her strength and use it well within her limited sphere. She always "looked well to the ways of her household" and to the welfare of her husband.

Wherever she lived it was her delight to participate in neighborliness and, as she grew older, she longed for visits with relatives and friends of days gone by. But with innate fortitude she realized that "our sorrows are no higher than our hedges" and she contemplated distant views which revealed "vistas edged with Heaven."

In a little book she kept a record of all the automobile rides which were made possible for her husband and herself by friends and relatives during the fourteen years of residence in Pasadena, Calif., and she deeply appreciated the refreshment of soul which came to her in that way.

During the last nine months of her life which were spent near the ocean, it was her custom to sit at evening watching the sunset and the evening star over the mysterious sea and, no doubt, communing with Him whom she had served through the past years and thinking of her beloved husband whom she longed to be with.

With our inward eye we see a vision fair,--two lovers reunited, standing before their Redeemer reflecting His smile and the radiance of Heaven. A.B.G.