Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Heydlauff, Mary B. Rounds 1926 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: LaVonne Bennett lib@dogsbark.com April 26, 2010, 6:37 pm Ionia County News HEYDLAUFF, MARY B. (ROUNDS)(MRS. JOHN GEORGE): *****THE IONIA COUNTY NEWS; MI, Thursday, May 13, 1926, front and 4th pages, with inset and photo on front page: "Oldest Resident of County Dead - Mrs. Mary Heydlauff - Ionia county mourns the loss of its oldest resident in the demise of Mrs. Mary Heydlauff, 97, Ronald resident, away Tuesday. This picture is a likeness of her with a grandson, Russell Burtraw of Muir. RONALD LADY 97 YEARS OLD PASSES AWAY - Mrs. Mary Heydlauff - Well known Pioneer, Succumbs While Sleeping - COUNTY RESIDENT OVER 78 YEARS - Funeral Held Thursday Afternoon: Lived in Fifth Generation - Mrs. Mary Heydlauff, 97, oldest resident of Ionia county, a pioneer of Ronald township, passed away in her sleep Tuesday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Frank Helmer. She was a well known resident of the county, having lived in Ronald for 78 years. Her death was due to infirmities of old age and she had been ill but a short time. The funeral was held on Thursday afternoon from the late residence with interment in North Plains cemetery. For three-quarters of a century, Mrs. Heydlauff resided on the place where she died. Her husband homesteaded 400 acres of land from the government, but only twenty acres were in the possession of Mrs. Heydlauff when she died. In an interview with the News a few months ago she said: "I am living in the fifth generation. There is my oldest son, Charles, 73, his daughter Mrs. Floy Brown, of North Plains, her daughter, Mrs. Russel Holcomb, of Ronald township, and her son, Murl. I used to make all my own clothes by this contraption," she said as she pointed to a crude antique spinning outfit of six decades ago. "I like to make quilts, too", she added as she displayed some of her handsome and most exquisite conforters as the result of her handiwork. "I am not old yet---I was born in 1828 and I don't think I am getting old. I never look very far back into the past except on occasions of this kind. I like to live in the present and (continued on Page 4) see things today as they really are. Why bother with the things that have already happened? I came to Michigan from New York state in 1847 in a covered wagon over all sorts of roads---mostly blazed trails, and we would dodge the Indians here and there. I settled with my parents at Rockford, where they bought a home. I later came to visit relatives in Ionia county and fell in love with George Heydlauff, who owned 400 acres of land he obtained from the government. We were married in 1847. I am the mother of nine children and four are alive today. My oldest is 73 years old and then comes my daughter, Mrs. Frank Helmer, 68; another daughter, Mrs. Benica Lawrence, 61, and my youngest son, Fremont, is 59 and lives in the state of Washington. I have many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild." THE IONIA SENTINEL-STANDARD, IONIA, MICHIGAN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1926, front page: "OLDEST WOMAN IN COUNTY IS DEATH VICTIM - Mrs. Mary Heydlauff, of Ronald, to be Buried Thursday Afternoon from Home Where She Lived for Over 70 Years. - Funeral services for Mrs. Mary B. Heydlauff, 97, Ionia county's oldest resident, will be held Thursday afternoon from the residence near Palo and burial will be in North Plains cemetery. Mrs. Heydlauff died late Tuesday, her extreme age being the primary cause of her death. Mrs. Heydlauff was born on November 5, 1828 and came by wagon with her parents in 1846 to Rockford where they bought a home. In 1847 she married George Heydlauff, the owner of 400 acres of land in the southern part of what is now Ronald township. Mrs. Heydlauff still lived on part of this farm at the time of her death. They began housekeeping in a log cabin in 1848. In the early fifties they lived for three years in California, returning in 1854. She has been in good health and spirits during the latter years of her long life, which have been passed with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Helmer, of Ronald. In her eightieth year Mrs. Heydlauff husked one and three-quarters acres of corn, tied up the stalks and stood them up. Three children besides Mrs. Helmer survive, Charles, the eldest, Mrs. Benecia Lawrence, and Fremont. Five other children and her husband preceeded her in death." THE IONIA SENTINEL-STANDARD, May 13, 1926, page 7: "Case District - (From a Sentinel-Standard Correspondent) - Mrs. Mary Heydlauff, aged 97 years last November, who passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Frank Helmer, early Tuesday morning, lived to see several children born in the fifth generation of her race, having recently been photographed with her son, Charles Heydlauff, her granddaughter, Mrs. Mason Brown, her great-granddaughter, Mrs. Russell Holcomb and her great-great-grandson, Merle Holcomb." File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/h/heydlauf5104gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb