Connellsville Daily Courier April 24, 1903: Emigrated in Old Age. William Eicher, the oldest citizen of Upper Turkeyfoot township, near Confluence, and his good wife departed this week for California, where they go to make their home. Mr. Eicher is in his 86th year, and his wife is but a few years behind him, yet they have migrated to that far off state to make their new home. The strangest thing is that this aged couple had lived upon the place they sold ever since they were married, something over a half a century. They sold their farm to D.H. Hensel, and he has rented it to Walter Snyder, who will occupy it.

Mr. & Mrs. William Eicher. Connellsville Daily Courier Friday, July 24, 1903 Page 1. Died Far From Home. Mr. and Mr. William Eicher, aged residents of Upper Turkeyfoot township Somerset county, started West in May, and notwithstanding their advanced age, the former being 85 and the latter 83, wrote home that they had enjoyed the long journey across the continent to the uttermost, and were at the home of their son Marcellus, near San Francisco. A week or two after arriving at the home of their son Mrs. Eicher took sick and died on June 3. Mr. Eicher was so greatly shocked by the death of his wife that he immediately took to his bed. He died on June 28 of a broken heart, the attending physician Certified. The bodies were buried at Thermalito, Butte County, California.

"Eicher, Mary (Mrs.) – cauc., age 81 yr, 2 mo 11 da, b. Penn, d. 8 June 1903 in Thermalito, Ca., bur. in Oroville, cem.” Source: Earliest Death and Burial Records, in the Butte County Courthouse, published serially in the Paradise Genealogical Society's publication, The Goldmine, Vol 5 No. 2, pg 18.
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** Date of newspaper is not always the date of the incident - this was a weekly, and stories were written, set, and the printing was done after the facts were typeset, often days later.

Oroville Register, Thursday, June 11, 1903, pg 1 col 2: Funeral of Mrs. Eicher. The funeral of the late Mrs. Eicher, who died at the residence of her son in Thermalito day before yesterday, was interred in the Oroville cemetery yesterday morning. There was a large attendance at the funeral and many handsome floral ornaments. Rev. H.E. Beeks officiated at the funeral.
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Oroville Register, Thursday, June 11, 1903, pg 4 col 7: “ … the following obituary was furnished by one well acquainted with the deceased woman: Miss Mary Cunningham was born in Sommerset County, Pa., April 27, 1820. She was married at her father’s home July 6, 1843 to Mr. Wm Eicher of the same county. They resided at that place, where they began their married life, until last April, when they left for California to spend the remainder of their days with their oldest son, M.H. Eicher, of Oroville. Although they were of the patriarchal age, they stood the long trip remarkably well. Father Eicher is 86 years of age, while his wife was but three years his junior.

There were nine children born to them, three only of whom are now living – Mr. M.H. Eicher of Thermalito, Mrs. Gerheart of Millsford, Pa., who accompanied the aged couple, and was with them at the time of the death, and Mrs. Sadie Crammer, of Hardy, Neb…”