San Jose Daily Herald (San Jose, California)
December 28, 1878 (Saturday)

"Burned to Death.

This forenoon an old man named [Henderson] Lewellyn, father-in-law of a Mr. [Henry C. ?] Wilson, who resides near the corner of Seventeenth and Taylor streets, was burned to death while out burning stubble near his residence. It is supposed that he fell in a fit and died, or was suffocated and burned while lying on the ground. An inquest will be held this evening or to-morrow." END

AND

San Jose Daily Herald (San Jose, California)
December 30, 1878 (Monday)

"Legal Inquiry. The Result of the Inquisition upon the Bodies of John Walters and Henderson W. Luelling [Lewelling].

[John Walters not copied].

A second inquest was held later in the evening [of Saturday, December 28] upon the body of Henderson W. Luelling, who was found dead and partially burned in the stubble field at the corner of Sixteenth and Taylor streets. The facts elicited went to show that deceased had been troubled with heart decease [sic] for several years and was subject to dizzy spells, and recently fainted near the corner of Second and Santa Clara streets, and was unconscious for some little time. Last Saturday morning he was as well as usual and rented the lot where he died; and in company with his brother-in-law M. O. Cadwell, was burning off the weeds preparatory to cultivating it. Cadwell left him at 11:30 A.M. to do chores at home, and came back about three quarters of an hour later to find him lying dead, with the stubble burned around him and his clothing on fire. The jury found that he died of heart desease [sic], and that the burning of the body was subsequent to death. Deceased was a native of North Carolina, aged 69 years. He leaves a wife and six children, the latter are grown. Mr. Luelling came to this coast in 1846 and is said to be the first man who grafted fruit west of the Rocky Mountains." END


National Park Service
Henderson Lewelling House in Salem, Iowa
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/ia3.htm