Obituary

Welcome M. Shiplett

Shiplett rites will be Tuesday at Mt. Sterling

Funeral services for Welcome M. Shiplett, 56, who ended his life by hanging himself in a wagon shed at his home two miles south of Mt. Sterling, Saturday afternoon will be held at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon at Mt. Sterling M. E. Church. Burial will be made in the church cemetery
Ill health following an attack of influenza, suffered during the winter is believed to have made Shiplett despondent, although he appeared in fairly jovial spirits Saturday morning.

He had driven his team of horses into the shed for shelter from the heavy shower of the afternoon.

The body was found with the neck broken lying on the floor of the shed near the horse’s feet, a strap looped through a buckle and the noose around his neck. Relatives said it appeared as that Shiplett had been sitting on the horse and looping the loose end of the strap over the beam, had slid from the horse, holding to the strap in such a manner that his neck was broken.

Beverly Shiplett, 10 year old daughter of the deceased, found the body as she was calling him to the evening meal. She gave alarm and neighbors rushed to the aid of the grief stricken widow and children. The deceased was a member of the Mt. Sterling M. E. church and the I. O. O. F. lodge of Mt. Sterling.

Surviving are the widow and five children: Leroy, Beverly, Marjorie, Nellie and Kathryn at home; one brother, Edward Shiplett of White Cottage; Mrs. Nellie Van Allen of White Cottage; Mrs. Luetta Martin, Columbus; Mrs. Mary Hursey, Newark; Mrs J. A. Fay, Seattle Wash.; Mrs. Axie Hall, Belvidere, Ill.; Mrs. Edward Morton, Hopewell, and a large number of other relatives and friends.

The body was taken to the Van Allen home at White Cottage to remain until time for the last rites. Steele of Mt. Sterling is in charge.

(Probably) Published by Times Recorded, Monday May 4, 1931



Despondency over ill health leads to suicide of Welcome M. Shiplett

On May 2, 1931, Welcome Shiplett died at the old farm, which had for 99 years been the home of the Hughes and Shiplett families. His widow soon sold the farm and the house was destroyed by fire.

Nothing remains today, except for one small barn.

A few straggly scattered apple trees stand guard over this spot that know love and laughter for so many years.