After long, weary months of great physical pain, Mr. John George Fell, of this city, quietly passed away to that unexplored region "from whose bourne no traveler returns." For months he suffered from cancer of the lip and face which finally killed him. Mr. Fell was born August 24, 1827, at Fautsbach, Wurtemberg, Germany, and was in his seventy-fifth year. He came to America in 1857, and settled in the town of Iosco, in 1858. In 1860, he married Miss Friedericke Schulz, in Iosco. Eight children were born to them, one of whom died young. Four sons, three daughters and his wife survive to mourn his loss. He also leaves nineteen grandchildren. In 1868 he became a member of the German Methodist church, continuing his membership to the last. He was a consistent Christian, an honorable, upright man, one who paid to the last cent for everything he had. He was a man of no pretenses or hypocrisy; always modest, unassuming and reliable. He encountered all the hardships, toils and privations of pioneer life without a murmur, and was always ready to assist those deserving aid. He accumulated a competency and left his family well provided for. His funeral sermon was preached by his pastor, Rev. Daniel Pfaff, Tuesday noon, at the German M. E. Church, in this city, and his remains were conveyed to the Woodville cemetery, followed by a large concourse of people. This is the second one of the "old settlers" called hence during the past week; and almost every week, of late, we are called upon to record the departure of some one of those who, forty years ago, commenced to lay the foundations of our present prosperity in the then wilderness, sixty five miles from the nearest wheat marker. How few, comparatively, remain to assure us that in 1854 there was not a white person residing in the counties of Dodge, Steele, Freeborn or Waseca, and that all the improvement we now see have been made here in less than fifty years. May their souls find peaceful rest.
Waseca Herald 5-30-1902
Contributed by S. R. Allen