OBIT OF MARTHA JANE BROOKS STEPHENS (MY GRANDMOTHER) WRITTEN IN THE CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE, CAMBRIDGE, ILL. AUG. 15, 1930.

FUNERAL SERVICES FOR MRS. MARTHA STEPHENS, AGED RESIDENT OF THIS COMMUNITY WHO DIED AFTER A LONG ILLNESS FRIDAY, WERE HELD AT 2 O'CLOCK, MONDAY AFTERNOON FROM THE HOME OF MR. AND MRS. E. F. NOLLE AND AT 2:30 FROM THE METHODIST CHURCH. THE RE. M A. BEGER WAS IN CHARGE ASSISTED BY REV. M. S. SWISHER
OF PEORIA AND REV. W. H. WITTER OF TOULON. MRS. GEORGE ANDERSON SANG, ACCOMPANIED BY MISS CORA MALCOLM. A LARGE CROWD OF RELATIVES AND FRIENDS ATTENDED THE SERVICES.
PALLBEARERS WERE GEORGE BROWN, B D. WRIGHT, JOHN DOUGLAS,
W. F. FLOYD, WILLIAM METZ AND L. L. OTTO. BURIAL WAS IN ROSEDALE CEMETERY.

THE FOLLOWIND OBITUARY READ AT THE SERVICES WAS WRITTEN BY MRS. PATIENCE WRIGHT.

MOTHER'.S PICTURES NEATLY FRAMED, STANDS UPON-OUR MANTLE SHELF, AND THEY SEEM TO SMILE AT US, JUST AS MOTHER DID HERSELF. ONE WAS TAKEN MANY YEARS AGO, WHEN A GIRL OF TWENTY-ONE, BEFORE HER HAIR WAS TOUCHED WITH SNOW. CAN YOU WONDER THAT ONE STOPPED TO WOO THAT PRETTY LASS, MARRIED HER, LIVED AND LOVED THRU ALL THE YEARS, SHARED WITH HER HIS EVERY JOY, SHARED WITH HER HIS PAIN AND TEARS, AND WHEN CAME THE JOURNEY'S END, WAITED FOR HER ACROSS THE STRAND, KNEW THAT SHE WOULD JOIN HIM SOON, FACE THEIR MAKER HAND IN HAND. THE OTHER PICTURE OF HER IS CROWNED WITH HAIR OF SILVER WHITE, YET THE SAME OLD SMILE IS THERE,
NEVER DIMMED BY ALL THE FIGHT, ALL OUR OWN CARES SEEM THE LESS, RUNS THE PATHWAY TRUE AND STRAIGHT, WHEN WE LOOK AT MOTHER, THEN TWENTY ONE AND NOW CLOSE TO EIGHTY FIVE.
IT IS NOT EASY TO PEN THE FITTING WORDS TO THE MEMORY OF A NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND, AND EXPRESS THE RESPECT YOU FEEL. FOR SIXTEEN WEEKS, GRANDMA STEPHENS HAS BEEN IN DECLINING HEALTH.
IT WAS JUST THAT CONDITION FOR WHICH MEDICAL SCIENCE COULD RENDER LITTLE OR NO HELP. MARTHA JANE BROOKS, THE DAUGHTER OF ADAM AND NANCY, WAS BORN IN CLEVELAND, IND. ON DEC. 8, 1845 AND WHEN JUST A MERE GIRL OF ELEVEN YEARS TRAVELED: IN A COVERED WAGON WITH HER PARENTS TO KNOXVILLE, ILL., TAKING THREE WEEKS TO MAKE THE TRIP. IN THOSE DAYS, THERE WERE NO BRIDGES AND THEY WERE NECESSARILY COMPELLED TO FORD THE RIVERS, WHICH WERE THE WABASH, SANGAMON AND ILLNOIS. HER HOME REMAINED AT KNOXVILLE UNTIL ON DECEMBER 13, 1864, SHE WAS MARRIED TO JOHN MILTON STEPHENS, AND IN 1868 THEY CAME TO HENRY COUNTY MAKING THEIR HOME. ON THE OLD HOMESTEAD AT ULAH, AND A FEW YEARS ON A NEARBY FARM, THEY LIVED FOR 49 YEARS. IT WAS IN THIS NEST THAT THE ELEVEN CHILDREN CAME TO BLESS THAT HOME, AND IT WAS HERE THAT THE FATHER ON AUGUST 26, 1905, PASSED ON. TO THAT BEAUTIFUL HOME NOT MADE WITH HANDS.
FOR THE PAST FOURTEEN YEARS SHE HAS MADE HER HOME IN CAMBRIDGE, FOUR OF THEM WITH A SISTER, AND THE LAST TEN OF THEM WITH HER YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, MRS. LULU NOLLE, WHERE SHE HAS BEEN MOST TENDERLY CARED FOR BY BOTH MR. AND MRS. NOLLE.
SHE WAS A WOMAN OF BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER, SHE HAD EVERY ACQUAINTANCE FOR A PERSONAL FRIEND. HER ILLNESS DATING BACK SO MANY WEARY WEEKS ONLY FOUND HER WITH A SMILE. THE KEYNOTE OF HER LIFE WAS SERVICE, THE SACRIFICES SHE UNDERWENT FOR THOSE SHE LOVED WERE MANY AND DIFFICULT, BUT, SHE PASSED OVER THEM WITH A WILLING AND CHEERFUL SPIRIT. ONE OF HER GREAT SORROWS WAS THE ILLNESS AND DEATH OF HER SON WILLIAM, WHO PASSED AWAY JUST A FEW YEAGS SINCE. ALSO A SON CURRY, THIRTEEN YEARS OF AGE, WHO WAS TAKEN AWAY BY THAT DREADED DISEASE, DIPHTHERIA, THEN THE LITTLE SON, FRANK, WHO PASSED AWAY AT A VERY EARLY AGE. HER HOME, HER EIGHT CHILDREN, HER THIRTY-TWO GRANDCHILDREN, AND HER EIGHTEEN GREAT GRANDCHILDREN WERE HER CHIEF DELIGHT AND COMFORT. IN THE METHODIST CHURCH OF ULAH OF WHICH SHE WAS THE LAST CHARTER MEMBER, SHE ALWAYS STOOD FOR THE RIGHT. HER PASSING WAS BLISSFUL AND SERENE. WE SHALL MISS HER, BUT WE HAVE THE FOND HOPE THAT SHE WAS ENTERED UPON THE LARGER LIFE IN THAT CITY WHOSE BUILDER AND MAKER IS GOD. AFTER AN UNUSUAL BUSY LIFE OF 84 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AND 7 DAYS, HER EIGHT CHILDREN WERE AT HER BEDSIDE WHEN SHE SLIPPED SO PEACEFULLY AWAY. MRS. NETTIE METZ, MOLINE; MRS. BESSIE MALCOLM, SILVIS; MRS. LULU NOLLE, MRS. CLARA VINCENT, HERMAN J., HALLIE, ARTHUR AND MERTON, ALL OF CAMBRIDGE. TWO SISTERS, MRS. MARY SUNDERLUND OF NEW ORLEANS, AND MRS. SARAH COX LINCOLN NEBR. ALSO THREE HALF BROTHERS, JOHN, FRANK AND EDWARD BROOKS, ALSO OF LINCOLN.
BACK TO THE HAND THAT FASHIONS ALL OF MANKIND, STRAIGHT UNTO GOD, HER SOUL HAS FLOWN, AND WE MAY SAFELY LEAVE TO HIM THE FUTURE, FOR HE SHALL KEEP AND CHERISH ALL, HIS OWN, AND TO THE CHILDREN WE WOULD SAY GRIEVE NOT TOO DEEP, FOR YOU STILL HAVE THE MEMORY OF ONE WHO LINGERED A LONG, LONG TIME WITH YOU ON THE WAY, AND OF A LIGHT THAT SHONE WHILE FROM HEAVEN, AND LEFT WITH YOU SERENE ITS PUREST RAY.. MOTHER'S LIFE BOOK IS CLOSED ON EARTH, HER MANY DEEDS OF LOVE REST LIKE A SWEET AND HOLY BENEDICTION UPON THE HEARTS OF HER FAMILY.

GRANDMOTHER STEPHENS WAS A TRUE PIONEER. 1845 - 1930