Obituary for Sarah Adams, Porter Township, Van Buren County, Michigan


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OBITUARY

MRS. SARAH ADAMS FLETCHER

Mrs. Sarah Lucina Adams Fletcher, who was buried last Friday afternoon, was of
pioneer stock, and she possessed in marked degrees all the charms and virtues
which come from the strong blood that blazes a path for civilization. Her
father, Horace Hale Adams, was born at Brattlesboro, Vermont, of which state
his family was among the earliest settlers. Her mother, who before her
marriage was Laura G. Kinney, came from an old New York family. Both her
father's father and her mother's father were American officers in the
Revolutionary War.

Soon after the marriage of her parents they acquired a large farm in what is
now Sandusky county, Ohio, on which they prospered. It was on this farm that
Mrs. Fletcher was born, on August 23, 1835. A year and a half later her
parents sold their farm and started for Michigan, which then was in the
western wilds. The long trip was made in a covered sleigh, as they were far
ahead of the railroads.

They carried with them the money which Mr. Adams had received for his Ohio
farm and it was left in the sleigh at night, guarded only by a dog.

The family reached their destination early in the spring of 1837 and settled
in the virgin forest in what is now Porter township. They first lived in a log
cabin, hurriedly constructed as a temporary residence, but soon afterwards
moved into a large frame house built close to their first home. They were the
first white settlers in that section, and their only neighbors for their first
summer and winter in the new country were Indians.

In the following spring Uri and Hartwell Kinney, brothers of Mrs. Adams,
arrived and took up farm near by. They were soon followed by other relatives
and old friends of the first settlers. All of the newcomers as they arrived,
were entertained at the hospitable Adams home unti they had built homes of
their own. Relatives, friends, and strangers were alike made welcome. They
were freely given supplies for their new homes, feed for their horses and
cattle, and grain and potatoes for planting, and Horace H. Adams and his wife
became known and loved far and wide for their kindness and exceeding
generosity.

Mr. Adams died in 1847 and two years later his wife followed him. They left
five children: Two boys, Franklin B. and Uri M., and three girls, Sarah
Lucina, Emily Lorania, and Mary Calista.

On December 3, 1856, Sarah Lucina married Dorsey Fletcher and they went to
live on a part of the old Fletcher farm, about a mile southwest of the Adams
place. They made the new home as famous for its hospitality as the old one had
been. Twins were born to them, Julius Horace and Julian Thomas, but the last
named lived only six months. Besides their son they raised three girls who,
though never legally adopted, were brought up as their own.

Mrs. Fletcher was of an unusually kind and cheerful dispostion. Though she was
deaf from the time she was about twelve years old, she never chose to regard
it as an affliction. No matter what the provocation she was never known to
speak an unkind word of any person, even to members of her own family. She was
always seeking opportunities to help people and her kind deeds were without
number. She was never too tired or too busy to assist anyone in trouble.

Mrs. Fletcher and her husband were converted at a wonderful manifestion of
God's power at a meeting held under the pastorate of Rev. M. C. Daniels in the
Kinney schoolhouse in the winter of 1893 when many heads of families were
converted. The following year they assisted in the erection of the beautiful
little church called Harmony Chapel, with which they united on August 5, 1894.
This membership both of them held to the end.

They remained at the farm until November 30, 1897, when they moved to
Marcellus. Mr. Fletcher died the following July and his widow took up her home
with her son Julius and his wife, at whose residence, she died on Tuesday
afternoon, January 6, aged seventy-eight years, four months and thirteen days.

Besides her son she leaves one sister, Mrs. D. F. Smith, of New York, four
grandchildren and three great -grandchildren, and a great many other relatives
and friends without number.

Her body was borne to the grave by six of her nephews, Chester and Archie
Adams, Clarence and Hale Thornton, and H. H. and Franklin Adams, all of Porter
township.

Funeral services were conducted at the U. B. church by Rev. J. A. Morey of
Edwards Corners, an old family friend and Mrs. Fletcher's pastor. This service
was preceded by a prayer at the house.

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