Charles C. Gruwell 1853-1911

GRUWELL, OLIPHANT, LANGSTAFF, STEVENS, TIDD, THOMAS, EDMUNDSON, ENLOW

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 5/24/2018 at 08:24:24

21 September 1911 - West Branch Times

On Sunday night at Pretty Rock, N.D., occurred the death of C. C. Gruwell. The remains were brought to West Branch this morning and the funeral will be held from the Friends church at 3:00 o'clock this afternoon.

Those in attendance at the funeral from a distance were: Mrs. Mary Gruwell, his wife, Hilda, a daughter, and Edward and James, sons, from Pretty Rock; Herbert and wife from Ortonville, Minn., and Perry Faggie and Mrs. Foulkner of Whittier.

28 September 1911 - West Branch Times

Charles C. Gruwell was born September 8, 1853 near Marlboro, Stark county, Ohio, and died September 18, 1911, at Pretty Rock, North Dakota, where he had recently removed to engage in breaking prairie with a steam breaking plow and to operate a threshing outfit at which business he was engaged in at the time of his death.

He was called from work to reward without any warning, having retired to rest at night in usual health. About four o'clock in the morning his wife was awakened by some noise. She spoke to him but received no answer. He had passed from natural sleep to his eternal rest.

The remains were brought to West Branch for burial. Services were held at the Friends church last Thursday afternoon, of which church he had been a life long member. The subject of this sketch came to Iowa with his parents in 1854, when they settled on a farm near Honey Grove and here he grew to manhood. He was married to Annie Oliphant, March 24, 1875, and settled at West Branch. To this union were born five children, Wm. Gruwell and Ada Langstaff of Pasadena, Calif., Edward and James of Pretty Rock, N.D., and little Annie, who died when quite young.

His wife, Annie, died in 1885. On November 20, 1887, he was married to Mrs. Mary Stevens, who with their son Herbert of Ortonville, Minn., Hilda Tidd of Pretty Rock, N.D., and Blanch Stevens Thomas (step daughter) of Canada, are left to mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband and father. He is also survived by two brothers, Hiram I. Gruwell of Riverside, Calif., and S. C. Gruwell of West Branch, also two sisters, Mary Edmundson of Coopville, Wash., and Cynthia Enlow of West Branch.

Mr. Gruwell was always very much interested in education, having served as a member of the school board in West Branch for twenty years and part of the time as president of the board.