Contra Costa County CA Archives Obituaries.....Elliott, Mark December 7, 1884 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Linda Hoffman lindaleehoffman@ix.netcom.com September 2, 2008, 11:53 pm Contra Costa Gazette (Martinez) Dec. 13, 1884 Mark Elliott. Another Well Known Contra Costa Pioneer Passes Away Mark Elliott, one of the oldest residents of this county, died suddenly at his home in Sycamore Valley last Sunday, after an illness of about twenty-four hours. Mr. Elliott came to this State from Ohio in 1850, and located in this county in 1852, where he resided up to the time of his death. He was a successful business man and possessed many warm friends who had known him since the early days of Contra Costa. He leaves a wife and two children. The following notice of his life and death is from the pen of an old Ohio friend and one of our pioneers; Notwithstanding that care and skill, good constitution and a healthy climate may prolong the life of individuals, yet sooner or later the end of life is reached and every being succumbs to the all conquering head of death. “It is appointed until all men once to die.” But when one of our oldest citizens who has rendered himself conspicuous by good deeds to himself, his family, his friends, to his order and his neighborhood, dies, it is fitting for us to record in tangible form his virtues as beacon lights to his surviving associates. Whoever will travel though our county and study closely its inhabitants will find it largely dotted with home of pioneers who settled here from ‘48 to ‘55, and who will be further struck with the similarity of their ages; ranging from 30 to 45 years now from 55 to 70. He will further notice how assiduously those men have toiled to build for themselves homes and reared their families and built up the county. Among these old inhabitants long life friendships have sprung up and as they meet each other in the walks of life and grasp the hand of friendship and look each other in the face, they see the impress of age in the silver hair and feeble step, while too frequently they are called to mourn the loss of one of their number. Joel Harlan, Oscar Fales, Wellington Boon, Dr. Smith and now Mark Elliott. These recurring evidences of our mortality remind us that we too are passing away and the homes we have made will be occupied by strangers or the coming generation. I have often thought if these old settlers would come together and form a County Pioneer Society it would serve to unite the bonds of friendship between old and honored citizens and its records would leave many pleasant reminiscences of the early history of the county. Mr. Elliott died at his residence on Sunday morning, December 7th, after an illness of thirty hours. Thus cut down amidst a life of usefulness his sudden death was a sad shock to the community in which he had lived for thirty two years, a community who will sadly and gladly join with me in bearing tribute to a hospitable, genial and honest man, a good citizen, a good husband, a kind father and good neighbor whose loss will be deeply mourned by his neighbors and friends and to his bereaved family will be irreparable, and to us who have know him long and well, the news of his death comes as a sad bereavement. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/contracosta/obits/e/elliott3711gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.6 Kb