Obituaries

Estella Davis
Jan. 16, 1879-Aug. 5, 1956

Niles Daily Star, Monday, August 6, 1956, page 2 col. 6, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Estella Davis, 77, of 1215 Bybee Court, died at 12:25 a.m., Sunday in Pawating Hospital.  She had been ill since July 27.

Mrs. Davis, a member of the First Baptist Church in Niles, was born Jan. 16, 1879, in Knox, Ind., and moved to Niles in 1916.  Surviving are: five sons, Harley, Hal and Bert Davis, all of Niles, and James and David Davis, both of Jackson, Mich.; four daughters, Mrs. Charles Humphrey, Mrs. Stanley Suridge and Mrs. Albert Priebe, all of Niles, and Mrs. Ivan Minderhout, of Benton Harbor; 11 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; four brothers, William Clements, of Iowa, Abner Clements, of Bertrand; Andrew Clements, of Toledo, O., and Marvin Clements, of South Bend, and a sister, Mrs. Rebecca Alexander, South Bend.

Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Pifer Funeral Home with the Rev. Ray McCoy; pastor of the First Baptist Church, officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home.

Emma Fitzgerald
Aug. 20, 1884-July 12, 1972

Niles Daily Star, Thursday, July 13, 1972, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

NILES--Mrs. Emma Fitzgerald, 87, 0f 1474 Barron Lake Rd., died at 7 a.m. Wednesday in Pawating Hospital, where he[sic] had been a patient for three weeks.

Born Aug. 30, 1884, in Cass County, Ind. Mrs. Fitzgerald had lived here since 1922. Her husband, Nathan L., died in 1943.

Surviving are four sons, Ray, Charles and Harvey, all of Niles and Cecil of Syracuse, Ind.; four daughters, Mrs. Nellie Houghteling, Mrs. John Hopper, Mrs. Alvin Weiderman and Mrs. Charles Robbins, all of Niles; two brothers, Joseph Toothman of Marion, Ind., and Edward Toothman of Hoover, Ind.; two sisters, Mrs. Mary Thorrington of Logansport, Ind., and Mrs. Erma Walls of Logansport, Ind., 12 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday in the Pifer Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ray Cunningham of the First Baptist Church officiating.  Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.

Friends may call after 4 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Eva M. Fitzgerald
Sept. 18, 1912-Jan. 18, 1980

Niles Daily Star, Saturday, Jan. 19, 1980, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

Eva M. Fitzgerald, 67, of 625 Chicago Rd., Niles, died at 10:45 a.m. Friday in Pawating hospital following a long illness.

She was born Sept. 18, 1912 in Brohman, Mich. and had spent most of her life in the Niles area. She was a homemaker.

Survivors include her mother, Mrs. Anna Robbins of Niles; two sons, Cecil of Nappanee and Edward of Fort Wayne; two brothers, Floyd and Frank Robbins of Niles; four sisters, Mrs. Helen Kline of Niles, Mrs. Isabell Dittmar of Niles, Mrs. Arnetta Bjorkley of Grand Rapids, Minn., and Mrs. Mable Robbins of Joliet, Ill.; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Pifer-Smith Funeral Home. Officiating will be Elder Ola D. Robinson of the Niles Westside Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.

Friends may call at the Pifer-Smith Funeral Home after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Frank Fitzgerald
abt. 1850-Jan. 12, 1868

Niles Weekly Times, Thursday, January 16, 1868, page 3, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

In this city on the 12th inst, of consumption, FRANK, son  of Lucy and the late General Thomas Fitzgerald, aged 18 years.

Frederick T. Fitzgerald
July 4, 1855-Oct. 6, 1865

Niles Republican, Thursday, October 14, 1865, page 3, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library

DIED

October 6th, FREDERICK T., eldest son of JEROME B. and ISABEL FITZGERALD, age 10 years, 3 months and 2 days.

Isabel Fitzgerald
March 28, 1826-Oct. 26, 1898

Niles Daily Star, Monday, October 26, 1896, page 3, col. 3, microfilm Niles District Library

Mrs. Isabel Fitzgerald, widow of the late Jerome B. Fitzgerald, died at her residence at 1 o'clock this morning. The funeral will be from Trinity Episcopal church at 11 o'clock Wednesday forenoon. Interment at Silver Brook Cemetery. Obituary in these columns tomorrow.

Niles Daily Star, Tuesday, October 27, 1896, page 2, col. 4, microfilm Niles District Library

Obituary

Once more the summons has gone forth! Once more a soul has been called by tits Maker, out of the church militant, unto Himself.  Once more a home has been shorn of that which made it a home! Once more a mother has been taken away, and that dear reality is transformed into a sacred memory!

The Lord Jesus sanctioned, and sanctified the love of all humanity, for mother.  In the early morning of Monday, October 26, after a brief illness, Mrs. Isabel Fitzgerald passed peacefully away  from this life, into the spiritual. 'Tis hard indeed to realize that she who was so full of life, is now stilled in what we call death. That her energetic activity, in all good works, for which she was so justly noted, is over, here.  Those willing hands, so eager to do for others, are folded and resting.  Mrs. Fitzgerald was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, March 28, 1826, and married to Jerome B. Fitzgerald June 5, 1848.

Mrs, Fitzgerald has been well known in Niles, as the wife and widow of the late Jerome B. Fitzgerald.  When first married he took his bride to his home in St. Joseph, Michigan, from whence they removed to Niles, and after an interim of months only, to New York city, where they resided for several years.  A longing for western life then led them to Granby in southwestern Missouri, and in a few years more, the disastrous results of the civil war, again drove them north, to find a temporary refuge in Muscatine, Iowa.  But, true to nature's first pleadings, Niles once more received them; and here they journeyed down the pathway of life, together meeting sorrows as time mostly brings them, culminating in Mr. Fitzgerald's sickness and death; and here together now, they sleep with their own.  One loving daughter and three sons were with their mother, ministering to, and comforting her last hour.  But not these alone will mourn for her, others there are to whom she has been almost a mother. Her church will sadly miss her constant, ready help, her hopeful nature, her faithful attendance. Her guild, from whose work she was rarely absent; the friends and neighbors of nearly half a life time.

There was a beautiful element of self sacrifice running all through Mrs. Fitzgerald's life, even to its very close. While her husband lived, she lived for him first, and made his home, also a home for his friends.  After he was taken away from her, bravely taking up her burden of heart loneliness, she strove to live for her children, her church, her neighbors and friends. As one of these dearest friends tearfully said, "she was so fond of serving others that you could never do anything for her without she, in some way, turned it into a benefit for yourself."

Taken in the midst of her usefullness, and in the fullness of her capacity, it will be long ere her place is filled, or her aid supplied.  Truly it may be said, that hers was a well spent life, and full to the brim of kindly words and deeds. May the welcome words greet her ears--"Well done thou faithful one, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."  F.L.