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Edward Edmundson 1843-1909

EDMUNDSON, KEELIN, THISTLETHWAITE, CROSBIE, WOODS, WARRINGTON

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 5/22/2018 at 18:13:08

4 March 1909 - West Branch Times

The name of Ted Edmundson is known far and wide. Well I remember when he was a young man of sterling worth living among us in the early days of this settlement, admired and loved by all of us. No association, no picnic, or party was complete without Ted. He was always in his place at church and his services were sought after by farmers and business men. After Ted had been away from his old English home for sometime and won the affections of a large circle of friends we were all surprised by the news, which rapidly spread among us that a lovely young English lady had left her home and was crossing the briny deep to become the bride of our friend and every one waited with anxious hearts the arrival of the brave and truehearted lady. Soon after her arrival the preliminaries were arranged for the wedding in the good old Quaker style, under which few divorce cases ever disturb the peace of happy homes. I had the pleasure of seeing them joined in the bonds of matrimony.

Ted and his wife settled down among us, he taking a part in all the business interests of the place. Five lovely children were born in the home to claim the care of the faithful, loving wife and mother, but the palefaced messenger entered the joyful home and three little cherubs dropped from the parent stem and were transformed in the heavenly kingdom above. Drinking the bitter cup as only faithful Christian hearts can, they went forward in life's pathway.

Ted engaged in mercantile business for a few years and then went as a traveling salesman amid the dangers and temptations that meet such men everywhere, but true to God and his wife and the remaining two lovely daughters, he shunned the snares and pitfalls; laid up his money and settled on a farm of his own near Ida Grove and never did a husband and father more fully enjoy a home; never did a husband more tenderly cherish and care for a wife and children than did our dear friend for a number of years, until affliction came like a beast seeking for its prey. Against this grim monster Ted fought with the same determination, yet with patient submission until on the twenty-fifth of February, in this 66th year, having gone to Des Moines with his wife to be with his daughter, he yielded to the inevitable and fell asleep in Jesus, leaving a feeble wife and two daughters to mourn his loss, while a large circle of friends drop a silent tear to think Ted's cheerful face will be seen no more.

His remains were laid by his children at West Branch. The funeral services were conducted in the good old quiet way by the conservative Friends on South Second St., on the 28th of February. J. Y. Hoover

11 March 1909 - West Branch Times

Edward Edmundson was born at Leeds, England, July 31, 1843, and departed this life February 25, 1909, at his home at 1109 Des Moines St., Des Moines, Iowa, after an illness of a little more than a year.

Edward Edmundson, in company with one brother, two sisters and one little niece, Lille Bland, now Mrs. Keelin of Lake View, Iowa, came to America in 1866 and spent that winter in Philadelphia, coming west the following spring to the home of Joel Bean and located at West Branch, Iowa. He was married at the home of William Townsend, July 2, 1868, to Mary M. Thistlethwaite, also of Leeds, England. To this union was born five children, two sons and three daughters. The three youngest died in infancy leaving the two eldest daughters, Alice Crosbie of Ida Grove, Iowa, and Sophia J. Edmundson of Des Moines, together with the loving wife, to survive him.

For many years he was engaged in the mercantile business under the firm name of Miles, Townsend & Gill and later Miles, Townsend & Edmundson. In 1881 he entered as traveling salesman for the dry goods firm of J. S. Cook & Co of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In the fall of 1892 he, with his family, left the old home at West Branch and removed to a farm near Ida Grove, Iowa, where he lived until four weeks before his death, when, on account of failing health he leased the farm and removed to Des Moines, Ia.

Funeral services were held at West Branch, Iowa, where a number of old time friends assembled to pay the last tribute to his memory and he was laid to rest beside the three little ones who preceeded him. The love and tenderness shown by those who had known him deeply touched the hearts of his bereaved ones.

He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends and his daily life gave evidence of his firm faith in his Redeemer. Beside his wife and daughters he leaves to mourn his loss two brothers, two sisters and four little grand children; Chas. Edmundson of North Shields, England, Jas. H. Edmundson of Salem, Oregon, Eliza B. Woods of West Branch, Iowa, Sophia E. Warrington of Webster City, Iowa, and Florence, Edward, Jessie and Sidney Crosbie of Ida Grove, Iowa.


 

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