IN MEMORY OF A GOOD WOMAN

Mrs. Nancy J. Starcher, the subject of this sketch, was born in Gilmer county, now Calhoun, near Arnoldsburg, June 27, 1831, and died at her home on Henry?s Fork in Roane county, near Pink post office, September 24, 1918, aged 87 years, 3 months and 27 days.

Her home, in which she was brought up, was one of those good nurseries of young life in which duty and love made daily life vital and essential; so that good sentiments and good deeds distilled good results in her young soul. She possessed a pleasant and loving nature, which gave her an admiration for the good and beautiful. The very things to be seen in nature around her, became dear to her and taught her of God and love.

On Nov. 10, 1853, she married a very worthy man, Mr. Josiah P. Starcher, by who she had nine children. Three of these, Columbus, George B. McCleland and Willie were transplanted when young to the evergreen fields above. Since her death one daughter died, Mrs. Anna Dillon, who possessed the reputation of a true woman. The five living, Mrs. Manda Ellison, Mrs. Luverna King, Mrs. Bell Bissell, Miss Lucy and Mr. John Starcher were king, gentle and loving to their mother. They went with her to the very brink of the cold river that rolls between this and the unseen world, but she passed in under the deep shadow of death with no human hand on which to lean ? trusting in God whose rod and whose staff comforted her.

Her married life was one of confidence and love. She was gentle and considerate to her husband. The influence which she possessed over him arose from the mildness of her manner and the discretion of her conduct. Whilst she was careful to adorn her person with new and clean apparel ? for no woman can preserve affections if she is careless on this point ? she was still more attentive in ornamenting her mind with meekness and peace with cheerfulness and good humor. She lightened the cares and chased away the vexations to which her husband was exposed in his dealings with others by rendering so far as was in her power, his home pleasant. She kept at home. Her employment and pleasures were domestic.

As a mother, she had the courage and stood for rectitude in her children with all her might. She demanded good habits, good manners and good morals as her right at the hands of her children. She exacted respectful conduct towards herself, the helpful hand the ready foot, the obedient muscle that she should be obeyed and tenderly treated by her own.

She believed and taught that it is a great mistake for mothers to become slaves to their half-grown and grown-up children, to work for them while they sleep and play and idle away their time; to wait upon them when they should wait upon their mothers; to give away to them when it is proper for them to give way to their seniors. She believed it is a sad mistake to have children heard first and have the first place and the first service when it is their duty to wait and serve and be second. In the training of children she believed that mothers are often at fault to the injury of their children. By mothers failing in these things their grown-up young men and women often set them aside, count them old-fashioned, regard them as family drudges and servants and forget their true relation to the family. She labored to hold herself up to the true dignity of her position as heart and life of her home. She did hold her true place as mother and her motherhood has been honored by her family.

Sister Starcher?s life of usefulness and honor, her sense of kindness to others and her conscientious discharge of duty leads so surely to heaven?s brightest gate as the sunbeam to the bosom of a flower. Her highest aim was to be a true woman, one determined to do right because it is right; willing to accept such measures of present happiness and success as results from obedience to truth. She was careful to see that she had enough little virtues of life, to do the little duties she saw before her and she did not mourn because she was neither a renowned heroine nor a saint.

Life, with her, whether in this world or in any other, is the sum of our attainments, our experiences and our characters. That the course of life is a rugged diagonal between duty and desire; that it lies through true manhood and womanhood; through true fatherhood and motherhood; through true friendship and relationship of all legitamate kinds and of all natural sorts whatever. That it lies through pain and poverty and all earthly disipline; through unswerving trust in God; through patient and self-denying heroism ? she walked therein and she is sure of a prize in the world to which she is gone.

Appropriate religious services were conducted at the family home by the writer, after which her remains were taken to the Wayne cemetery where it was laid to its final resting place.

?Mother, they spirit has flown,
I look above ? thy image is there;
I listen and thy gentle tone is on the air.?
Wellington Lester


REFERENCE: STARCHER, Nancy Jane (Nichols) (1831-1918)
Obituary ? Newspaper Clipping (Copied exactly as written with no corrections to punctuation or spelling errors)
Unknown Source ? Believed to be Times Record, Spencer, WV, Date ? 1918
(Submitted by Carol Cronin)

Jessie Lee Hutchison

Jessie Lee, age 39 years, of 13 Manila Pl., daughter of Jefferson Davis Stewart and Dora Elizabeth (Board) Stewart . Passed away at Peoples Hospital Tuesday a.m. Survived by husband, E. Curtis; two daughters, Janet and Patricia; two sons, Eugene and Glenn at home; mother, Mrs. Dora Elizabeth (Board) Stewart; two sisters, Mrs. Beulah Britton and Mrs. Tressie Francisco of Reedy, W.Va.; three brothers, Harley of Reedy, W.Va.; Claude of Akron, and Harry A. (Dick) in U.S. Army, overseas. Services from Prentice & Co. Funeral Home, 858 Coburn Str., Thursday, 3 p.m., Rev. James Moore officiating. Burial Greenlawn Cemetery, Akron.

Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. this evening.

Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, June 29, 1943
(Submitted by Jack D. Stewart, Rootstown, Ohio)

Mrs. Florence Radabaugh

Mrs. Florence Radabaugh, age 76, died at 3:00 p.m. Friday, July 14, at her home in Akron, Ohio. she was born in Roane County, the daughter of Hugh and Emily Jane Ingram, and was a member of the Methodist Church, Eastern Star and Rebekah Lodge.

Survivors include her husband, I. N. Radabaugh of Little Hocking, Ohio; two daughters, Mrs. Sarah Jackson of Charleston and Mrs. Jennie Goodwin of Akron, Ohio; one step-daughter, Mrs. Edith McCoy of Little Hocking; four sons, C. H., Forest and Clarence Mathews of New Matamoris, Ohio, and Owen of Spencer; two brothers, John Ingram of Albany, Ohio, and C. H. Ingram of Spencer; and two sisters, Mrs. Rosa Kelly of Spencer, and Mrs. Alma Johnston of Akron, Ohio.

Funeral services were held Monday, July 17, at 2:00 p.m. at the St. John's Methodist Church with the Reverand Orland Reynolds officiating. Burial was made in the Spencer Cemetery with the Vandale Funeral Home in charge.

The Times-Record, July, 1950
(Submitted by Jo Ann Stephens)

FORMER RESIDENT DIES AT CHARLESTON

Arthur Ingram, 61, former Roane County resident, died at his home in Charleston at 3 o'clock Wednesday morning. Death resulted from a sudden heart attack.

Funeral rites will be held from the Central Methodist Church at Charleston at 1:30 this afternoon with Rev. Myron S. Collins and Rev. W. M. Castle in charge. The body will be brought to Spencer where Rev. P. D. Fisher will conduct short rites at the Spencer Cemetery. The Bartlett Mortuary of Charleston will be in charge of interment.

Mr. Ingram was born in Roane County, a son of the late Hugh and Emily Jane Board Ingram. He has resided at Charleston for more than 25 years where he has been engaged in the building contracting business.

Surviving are his widow, Myrtle Litton Ingram; three brothers, C. H. Ingram and John Ingram of Spencer, and W. T. Ingram of Baltimore: and three sisters, Mrs. Rosa Kelly and Mrs. Florence Radabaugh, both of Spencer, and Mrs. Alma Johnston of Akron.

The Times-Record, Jan. 1940
(Submitted by Jo Ann Stephens)

Hardman, Young - 88, of 115 Cody St., St. Albans, died yesterday at his home after a long illness. A native of Roane County, he had been a Kanawha County resident for the past 40 years. He was a retired railroad employee and a member of the St. Andrews Methodist Church of St. Albans.

Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Annie Hardman; a son, William W. of St. Albans; a daughter, Mary Rutherford of St. Albans; eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Service will be at 2 P.M. tomorrow in Simpson Church near Summersville, Nicholas County, with Rev. Fred Baker officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery under the direction of Alley-Casdorph Mortuary of St. Albans. The body is at the mortuary and will be taken to the church one hour before the service.

Charleston GAZETTE, Oct. 12, 1955
(Young Hardman was s/o Ben Hardman and Isabel Argabrite)
(Submitted by Jo Ann Stephens)