Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Ramsey, John R. 1916
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net May 21, 2011, 5:11 pm

The Portland Observer, Thursday, January 6, 1916

A business career abounding with the brightest of prospects was blasted in its 
infancy, late Tuesday evening, in the untimely death of John R. Ramsey, son of 
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ramsey, at the family residence on Pleasant street.  It 
was only a few hours prior to the new year’s dawn that the young man was 
seized with the attack of pleural pneumonia that led to his death, and though 
given the tender care of a young wife and mother and the treatment of a 
physician who many years had been intimately associated with the family, Mr. 
Ramsey’s case gave but scanty foundation for hope from the start.  The shock 
of a young man’s death was universally felt and is mourned in common by entire 
town and countryside.

Mr. Ramsey’s illness developed from a severe cold contracted from driving his 
father’s automobile to Portland from Grand Rapids last Friday afternoon in an 
unseasonable rainstorm.  At the outset there appeared to be but little cause 
for apprehension but the night brought on an abrupt change for the worse.  
Crazed by an intense fever, Mr. Ramsey grew irrational shortly after midnight 
and was admittedly in a serious condition when Dr. R. W. Alton, the family 
physician, called amd little relief could be afforded him and at 11:30 o’clock 
Tuesday evening, after an illness of only a trifle more than four days, the 
young man breathed his last.  The case is one of the saddest The Observer has 
been called upon to chronicle in years.

Singularly enough, Mr. Ramsey’s death took place while his father, Robert 
Ramsey, was confined to St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Rapids suffering from the 
same disease.  The parent had been taken ill just a few days previous, having, 
like his son, contracted his cold as the result of an automobile trip 
overland.  John and his passenger brother, Fred, had taken an active part in 
their father’s care and it was only a few hours after leaving his bedside that 
the former contracted the disease which has been epidemic over the entire 
country at a cost of thousands of lives.  Some maintain that his illness is 
traceable to the care he gave his father.

The father was overwhelmed with grief when hospital attendants informed him of 
his son’s untimely death Tuesday.  Though feverish and weakened, he insisted 
upon leaving for his home immediately, and realizing that under the sad 
circumstances it would be cruel to deny him the privilege, hospital physicians 
lost no time in preparing the sick man for the trip.  Mr. Ramsey reached here 
on the 1:23 train Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by a nurse and G. I. Hallock, 
his son’s brother-in-law.   He is being cared for at the home of Dr. R. W. 
Alton.  While his general condition is much better, his presence at the 
funeral Friday afternoon will depend altogether upon developments that take 
place between now and that time.

The young man’s mother is bearing up well under the terrible strain, but his 
young wife, formerly Miss Ursula Samaine, of Sebewa, a bride and a widow 
within one and the same year, is almost prostrate.  Her condition, too, has 
been weakened by illness, though she bore up bravely throughout her husband’s 
illness and it was not until life ebbed away that she collapsed under the 
nervous train.

John R. Ramsey was a schoolmate of the writer and in his death we feel a keen 
loss.  He was born on Pleasant street, less than a stone’s throw from the 
scene of his untimely end, 26 years ago the ninth of last November.  He 
obtained his early education in the Quarterline street school and upon 
completing the four grades there was promoted to the central building.  Eager 
to shift for himself, he left the High school before completing the course and 
was assigned to a job in the Ramsey-Alton factory, of which is father, Robert 
Ramsey, is president.  Seeing the need of a better business education, he 
entered the Cleary Business College in Ypsilanti and later studied at the 
Ferris Institute, in Big Rapids.  Upon his return he was placed in charge of 
the Ramsey-Alton offices and from that time on had always filled a position of 
responsibility in the plant.  At the time of his death he held a supervisory 
position over one of the company’s buildings and in fact was the medium of 
efficiency between the office and the factory.  He was a good man in the place.

On February 27, 1915, he took as his bride Miss Ursula Samaine, of Sebewa, who 
became a widow within the same year that saw her happily married.  Her sad 
plight has brought her the universal sympathy of the community.  Besides the 
widow, Mr. Ramsey is survived by his parents, a brother, Fred, and a 
grandfather, Charles Hastings, of Portland.

Friday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock is the hour set for the funeral service at 
the late residence.  Rev. John H. Stewart, pastor of the Portland Baptist 
church, who officiated at the young man’s wedding less than a year ago, will 
deliver the sermon.  Members of Portland lodge No. 31 F.&A.M., will act as 
escort to the body on the way to the cemetery and will take charge of the 
burial.  Clyde A. Moore, past worshipful master of the order, will interpret 
the last Masonic rites.  Messrs. Frank L. Jenkins, Arthur L. Francis, 
Sylvester S. Jenkins, Burton D. Smith, Roy W. Dawdy and Charles A. Selleck, 
all members of the Masonic order, will act as pallbearers.


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