Obituaries

Edith Lucille Mell
March 3, 1886-Jan. 4, 1966

Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI), Wednesday, January 5, 1966, page 2, col. 5, microfilm Niles District Library

            Burial in Silverbrook Cemetery Friday afternoon will follow last rites for Mrs. Edith Lucille Mell, 79, of 1202 N. 16th St. to be conducted by the Rev. Leon Manning for the First Methodist Church in the Pifer Funeral Home at 2 p.m.

            Mrs. Mell died in Pawating Hospital Tuesday morning, lass than a year after the death of her husband, Raymond, whom she married in South Bend in 1904.

            Born in Godfrey, Ill. March 3, 1886, Mrs. Mell came here from South Bend 50 years ago. She was a member of the Bend of the River Grange.

            Surviving are five children, all living in Michigan:  Mrs. Rodney Beckwith and M.G. Mell, both of Niles; Mrs. Paul Warner of Grand Rapids; and Alfred and Raymond Mell, both of Jackson.

            Other survivors include two sisters: Mrs. Enda Dawson of Lomita, Calif., and Mrs. Thelma Lightner of Englewood, Fla.; a brother, George Buck of Mishawaka, Ind.; 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Lucy Simmons
Feb. 5, 1837-Nov. 6, 1932

Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI), Monday, November 7, 1932, page 1, microfilm Niles District Library

MRS. LUCY SIMMONS, 95, DIES AT STITTS HOME,

NORTHWEST OF NILES

            Mrs. Lucy Simmons, 95, died on Sunday morning at 11:45 in the home of her daughter, Mrs. R.E. Stitts, one and a half mile northwest of Niles, after suffering for several years from ills attendant upon her advancing years.

            Mrs. Simmons was born in Bluffton, Ohio on Feb. 5, 1837. When she was a child she went with her parents in a wagon drawn by oxen to Iowa, then considered far west territory. She was the mother of four children of whom but one, Mrs. Stitts survives her. She came to Niles with Mr. and Mrs. Stitts when they moved her from Chicago 17 years ago that Mr. Stitts might engage in farming.

            The body is at the Rutherford Funeral Home.  The funeral services will be held in the Funeral Home tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock.  The Rev. M. R. Everett, pastor of the Evangelical church will conduct the services.  Burial will be made in Silver Brook cemetery.

N.B. Burial record says Lucy Simons; Mich. Death Certificate says Lucy Simmons, widow of Nicholas Simmons, daughter of William and Elizabeth Dilts.

William Franklin Earl
Nov. 17, 1864-December 10, 1941

The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN), Wednesday, December 10, 1941, page 26

OBITUARY
William Franklin Earl, Sr.

William Franklin Earl, sr., aged 78 , of 2501 West Sixth street, Mishawaka, who until last Monday resided at 329 North Taylor, died at 5:30 a.m. today in St. Joseph hospital, where he had been taken Tuesday.  He had been in ill health for four years. Born in Niles in 1863, he spent nearly all his life in this community.  Surviving are five sons,  Robert Earl, of South Bend; Gordon V. Earl, of Los Angeles, Calif.; William F. Earl, jr., of Mishawaka; George W. Earl of San Francisco, Calif.; and Paul L. Earl, of Cincinnati, O.; six daughters, Mrs. Anna L. Holloway, of Suth Bend; Mrs. Roy Butterfas, of New York city; Miss Ruth A Earl, Miss Mary Grace Earl and Miss Cecelia Earl k all of Chicago, and Mrs. Dick Davis, of Louisville, Ky., and a Sister, Mr. Lyda Strouts, of Superior, Wis.  Friends will be received Thursday night in the L.H. Orvis chapel, where the funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday.  Burial will be in Silverbrook cemetery, Niles.

Daniel Earl
1858-April 4, 1925

Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI), Wednesday, April 8, 1925, page 4, col. 1, microfilm Niles District Library

Niles News in Brief:  BODY BROUGHT HERE

The body of Daniel Earl, brother of Bruce Earl, East Oak street, who died in Toledo, Ohio, was brought here at noon from that city and was taken directly from the Michigan Central depot to Silver Brook cemetery for burial.  The widow of the deceased, and Bruce Earl, the brother, accompanied the body to Niles.

LaRue Hamilton Messenger
Nov. 8, 1898-Sept. 12, 1918

Niles Daily Sun (Niles, Berrien Co., MI) Monday, September 30, 1918, page 1, column 3, continued page 2, column 8 (Microfilm Niles District Library)

NILES BOY PAYS THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
LARUE MESSENGER, 6^TH INFANTRY, SON OF MRS. SCHUYLER MESSENGER, REPORTED KILLED
ENLISTED MAY 5, 1917
Had Been Overseas Since April 1—His Brother Arthur is Wounded and in a Hospital in France

Larue Messenger, aged 21 years, son of Mrs. Eva Messenger, widow of Schuyler Messenger is the second Niles young man to pay the supreme sacrifice in the great world war.  The sad news was received Sunday night a the Messenger home and was conveyed in a dispatch from the war department which reads as follows:

            Washington, D.C.

            Mrs. Eva Messenger:

Deeply regret to inform you that Private Larue Messenger, infantry, is officially reported as killed in action on Sept. 12.

                                                                                    HARRIS

                                                                        Acting Adjutant General

The announcement of his death brought sadness to the many friends of the young soldier, who was widely known throughout this community, having been born on the farm southwest of Niles, and had grown to young manhood there, engaging in the pursuit of agriculture after completing his schooling, until the call of his country led him from his home and to death for the cause he held most dear.

Larue enlisted at South Bend on May 5, 1917.  He was sent at once to Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and one month later was sent from there to Camp Forest, Chickamauga park, Georgia, where he was stationed for nearly a year.  about the first of last April, he was sent overseas.

For two months the family received no word from him until about three weeks when three letters came from him.  In one of them he stated that he was on the front lines in a dugout and the letter was in a hopeful, cheerful strain and indicated the brave spirit that has characterized the letters of many of the stalwart young men who have gone forward with high courage and love of democratic principles in answer to their country’s call to arms.

Larue’s brother Arthur is in a base hospital in France suffering with a chest wound, as reported a few days ago and the word of the death of a son and brother in the family’s hour of anxiety concerning Arthur’s condition came as a shock for which they were unprepared and the sympathy of the many friends of the family are extended in their sorrow.

Larue would have been 21 years of age had he lived until the 8^th day of next November.  He is survived by his mother and by the following brothers and sisters:  Misses Anna, Carrie, Genevieve and Eva Helen, Arthur, Charles Simmons and William, all of whom are at home except Arthur.

Eva Helen Messinger
Sept. 22, 1905-Aug. 7, 1996

The Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co, MI) Thursday, August 8, 1996, page 1, column 5-6 (Microfilm Niles District Library)

Last surviving member of Niles’ Messinger family dies

NILES—Eva Messinger, member of a pioneering Niles family, died early Wednesday at the age of 90, following an extended illness.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Halbritter Funeral Home, Niles, with the Rev. Dr. Ronald H. Wakeman of the First Presbyterian Church, Niles, officiating.

Burial will follow in Silverbrook Cemetery, Niles.

Miss Messinger was born Sept. 22, 1905, in Bertrand Township to Schuyler Colfax Messinger and the former Eva Beard.

Miss Messinger’s grandfather, Samuel Messinger, established a 160-acre farmer on Portage Prairie in Bertrand Township in 1844.  The farm was passed on to Miss Messinger’s father, and to his children.  Miss Messinger and her brother Simmons, maintained the farm until the 1970s.

She recently donated a 30-acre parcel to the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, which was established as the Topinabee Lake Preserve, along with a 41-acre parcel given by friend and neighbor Duane Masten.

 “It was really an immense pleasure to get to know Eva. She had an incredible memory, and hearing her stories of her youth were both entertaining and fascinating. She will be dearly missed,” said Conservancy executive director Renee Kivikko said.

Nearly 50 of her friends, family and Conservancy members gathered a the Portage Road site on June 1 for the dedication of the preserve, Kivikko added.

Nephew Joel Gillette remembered his aunt as a “good person” who “didn’t like to sit around.”  He recalled plentiful candy when he was young, and the she grew a “Victory Garden” during World War II and would sell vegetables from it.

She worked on the farm with her brothers, baling hay in the summer and cutting and husking corn by hand in the fall.

She continued to work on the farm after her brother LaRue was killed in France in 1918.  LaRue Messinger was the first man from Niles to be killed in World War I, succumbing to machine gun fire in the Mihiel Drive on Sept. 12, 1918, at the age of 21.

After LaRue Messinger’s death, the Niles American Legion Post was named in his memory, and carries that name to his day.

Miss Messinger would always host Christmas dinner at the farm, Gillette recalled. “It was always Christmas at the Messingers’.” He said.  “She was the organizer, and would always make sure that everyone got dinner.”

Gillette said that his aunt “wouldn’t let anything slow her down,” and until recently would go to club meetings in South Bend and other places, and continued to attend church.

“She kept as busy as she could for her age,” he said.

 Miss Messinger was a farmer and a homemaker, and only recently moved into Niles from the family farm on Portage Road where she lived her entire life.

Miss Messenger was member of the First Presbyterian Church and is S.A.G.A. group, the Berrien County (see page 2) Farm Bureau, the Schuyler Colfax chapter of the D.A.R. of South Bend and the Fort St. Joseph Historical Society.

She was a charter and life member of American Legion Post 26 Auxiliary, and was honored as a Gold Star Sister, a designation given to anyone who lost a loved one in World War I

She is survived by a sister, Genevieve Champion of Roseville, Minn.; caregiver Barbara Opfer of Niles, and several nieces and nephews.

She was also preceded in death by her brother Samuel Arthur Messinger and by her brother Charles Simmons Messinger in 1986.

 Friends may call for one hour prior to the services at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to the Niles Community Library or to the Fort St. Joseph Museum.