Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Dye, Richard January 1886
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net July 7, 2010, 8:33 pm

The Ionia Standard, Friday, January 29, 1886
The city was shocked last night by the report of the sudden death of Richard 
Dye.  While on his way to supper a little after 5 o’clock, Mr. John W. Baldie 
discovered Mr. Dye lying in the yard at his coal bin.  He approached him to 
see what was the matter and discovered that life was extinct, or very nearly 
so.  He had evidently dropped dead while in the act of picking up a scuttle of 
coal.  The affair was the more startling, as he had not been complaining and 
had been on the street about his business most of the day.  

Mr. Dye was one of the pioneers of the county, coming here in 1836.  He was 
bout 75 years of age, and two years ago celebrated his golden wedding, an 
event that was one of the pleasantest affairs that ever occurred in Ionia.  
His wife and six children survive him.  He has always been actively engaged in 
business and always enjoyed rugged health.  He was a Democrat in politics, 
never wavering in his support of his party.  He was jovial in his nature, a 
man of strict integrity of the most exemplary habits, and of the most sturdy 
independence.  His loss will be keenly felt by all our citizens, and 
especially by the older settlers.  Bloom and Jas. K. Dye and Mrs. Will Hudson 
are in Colorado.  The funeral will probably not be announced until it is 
learned whether they can be here.

Subsequent Publication:  Friday, February 5, 1886

The funeral of the late Richard Dye was held a the Disciples church yesterday 
afternoon.  The services were conducted under the auspices of the masons, Mr. 
Dye being a prominent member of the fraternity, and was one of the largest 
ever held in the city notwithstanding the intense cold.  There was an immense 
gathering of old settlers.  Mr. Dye was born in Herkimer village, N.Y., in 
1810.  His father was a soldier in the revolutionary war.  He married Miss 
Polly Welch in 1832, and in 1836 came to Ionia in company with Simon and John 
B. Welch and Philander Hinds.  He located a farm in Keene township, where he 
resided three years, and set up in his house a lathe and did quite a business 
making furniture for the new settlers.  In 1839 he came to Ionia and engaged 
in cabinet work for a number of years, or until he entered the mercantile 
business with Nelson Dye, A.F. Carr joining the firm a little later.  He 
remained in this business for about seven years, when he retired.  

He was a Democrat of the straightest sort.  He held the Ionia post office 
during Polk’s administration, being appointed in 1845, his deputy being James 
M. Kidd.  He has been an active member of the Church of Christ (Disciples) 
since 1861.  It is the lot of few men to win the respect of his fellow men so 
universally as Uncle Dick.  Bluff, honest, plain spoken and Democratic to the 
utmost, with neither style nor pride he leaves a kindly memory behind as a 
precious heritage to his children.


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