Mary Blessing Hoover was born in Dauphin County, Pa., June 26th, 1837, and departed this life Sept. 21, 1912, aged 75 years, 2 months and 25 days.
She with her parents, Frederick and Elizabeth Blessing, came to Iowa in 1850, and located in Lisbon, her home at the time of her death.
She was the youngest of a family of eight children, four boys and four girls, all of whom with the parents have preceded her to the better land. She was one of the passengers of the ill-fated "Belle of the West" that took fire and sank in the Ohio river below Cincinnati. Most of the crew and passengers saved their lives by jumping into the river. Of this family Mrs. Hoover is the last to cross the river eternal, this time with a pilot whose ship knows no foundering. She had been well in sight, long before the voyage, of that beautiful shore of eternal deliverance. Her last days were not spent in preparation--she was well ready, but in perfect consciousness, amid the joys of assuring triumph. Her sufferings seemed to have been forgotten while she sang and shouted praises to Him whose she was and whom she had served so faithfully.
Around her bedside were gathered for days her children, that they might realize in part what Christianity means at an hour when otherwise all would be dark. None but the Christian, with the sweet presence of Christ so near abiding, are privileged to experience what she did just before embarking. It was no sad farewell, but a glorious awakening to all the celestial joys of eternal bliss. She most tenderly expressed a mother's intense interest in a family of children, long committed to God, whose spirits, she sincerely hoped and most earnestly prayed, would meet her in Heaven.
She was married April 8, 1855, to Jonathan Hoover. He with two boys, Henry and Samuel, have passed to the Beyond. Those living are Mrs. Elizabeth Runkle, Nancy, John, Clyde, Estel and Mrs. Mable Kynett, of Lisbon, Frank of Cedar Rapids, and William, of Mt. Vernon.
She had been a lifelong member of the United Brethren church, from which with tender services her body was laid to rest in the Lisbon cemetery on Monday at 2:30. The services were conducted by the pastor W. N. Roush, who used as a text "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Lisbon Herald: Sept. 26, 1912 Page 8

NOTE: We are using June 26th as her birthdate based on the obituary, versus June 28th that is carved on her headstone. OC