Washington County GaArchives Obituaries.....Ellafair (Ellaphare) Elizabeth Watkins Wiggins Salter August 18 1885
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Diane Gelder dgelder631@wideopenwest.com July 29, 2003, 4:04 pm

Newspaper Clipping in family possession - date unknown

IN MEMORIAM
Died at her home in Washington county, Ga., August (?)15th 1885, Mrs. Ellafair 
E. Salter, wife of Berry Salter in the 37th year of her age.
Again has the dark shadow fallen. The family circle is shrouded in gloom. 
Sorrow and silence reigns the household. In that bereaved and stricken family 
the name of wife and mother is spoken in whispers and tears. No occasion is 
more sorrowful than when a mother has finished her life's work; when she folds 
her hands in their final repose. No grief more bitter, no life more sad and 
solitary than when a wife departs and leaves a bowed and broken hearted husband 
to pursue life's journey alone. No mourning more profound, no heart more 
crushed and broken than the father and mother who weep over the grave of a 
beloved affectionate daughter; and mingle their tears with the orphan children 
she left behind. No loss, no bereavement like that which children suffer in the 
death of a mother.
The death of Mrs. Salter was in many respects remarkable. Her true and unshaken 
faith, her bright and beautiful testimony to the truth of divine help in the 
hour of need, her Christian resignation, her peace and composure in view of 
death, all make it wonderful and full of consolation to her friends. It was 
remarkable also in that she had a clear presentiment of her death months before 
it occurred. Frequently and confidently she spoke of it to her family and 
friends, and calmly and quietly she made full preparations (COPY UNREADABLE) 
seeming she was in perfect health. With her own hands she prepared her burial 
clothes and folded them away to be ready when the occasion came. Every thing 
had been thought of and arranged by her. There was no hurry, no confusion when 
she died, she had prepared all "against her burial," even the slightest details 
had been attended to. She gave her full directions on her burial and resting 
place, and requested that her pastor, Elder (?) M. Harris should preach her 
funeral sermon: her wishes were in every way respected. Her body now rests in 
the old family graveyard. And then veiled in floral loveliness her children 
will keep their "Angel mother's grave."
But not only had she with great fortitude and composure prepared her tempered 
affairs, but she had not neglected her higher and spiritual interest. Those who 
were permitted to attend her bedside in her last illness will never forget her 
perfect and unwavering trust in the Lord she loved. Death had no terrors for 
her. Her constant talk was of Jesus and his love. When her friends would beg 
her not to talk so much but to try and be composed and rest she would say: "O! 
do let me praise my dear Savior." She seemed to be standing on some lofty 
summit looking out into a land "where there be no night."
"Where everlasting spring abides
And never withering flowers.
Happy triumphant death! None who saw her die would call her back. The members 
of his bereaved and stricken family can say:
Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee;
Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb;
The Savior has passed through its portals before thee,
And the lamp of his love in thy guide through its gloom.
Peace to her sacred shade."
                                                       T.M.H.


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