p. 231 | Death of a Pioneer by R. A. Underwood

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 6, 1913

Death of a Pioneer

By R. A. Underwood

ONLY the eleventh of last November we buried Father Locke, at the ripe age of seventy-nine years; and now death has taken our dear mother, Sally Underwood, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-six years. Mother was born June 28, 1817, in Williamsfield, Ohio, and died at her daughter's home in Youngstown, Ohio, Jan. 18, 1913. Mother’s maiden name was Morse. Her parents moved on an ox sled from Massachusetts to Ohio when the latter State was a wilderness. It required six long weeks to make the journey. She knew the hardships of a pioneer life of nearly a century ago. At that time the population of the United States was less than eight million. Mother recently told me of her oldest brother's going seven miles through a dense forest to the nearest neighbor to get fire, after they had tried in vain by the use of flint to light some punk that had become damp. Such a thing as a lucifer-match was not invented till mother was twelve years of age. The only pen used in those days was made from a goose-quill, and the postage of a letter was twenty-five cents and upward, according to the distance sent. Mother was about ten years old when the first railroad was chartered. She was twenty-seven when Professor Morse sent his first telegraph message.

Mother was married twice. Her first husband, Smith Allen, lived only two years. Her second husband was Alfred B. Underwood, a Baptist minister. She was the mother of nine children, eight of whom are living, and seven of her children were present at her funeral. She had thirty-two grandchildren, and forty-two great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

In my boyhood days mother spun and wove into cloth all our linen wear from the flax father raised. She took the wool from the sheep's back and made it also into garments for all her children and household. Mother's life was one of true heroism in spiritual ministry no less than in the care of her large family and the needy about her. She gave much time to nursing among the sick, especially among those who were unable to pay for any service rendered. Mother was a

great help to father in his public ministry, particularly was this so in his revival efforts, as she was especially gifted in song and as a personal soul-winner.

It was in 1864 that father and mother both attended meetings conducted in a tent by Elder J. H. Waggoner in Wayne, Ohio, where their minds were directed to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and the kindred truths of the third angel's message of Revelation 14. After earnest, diligent study and much prayer, father and mother called their children together and stated that they had decided to obey the light that God in his love had sent to them. Father soon resigned his pastorate of a large Baptist church, and united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to which both he and mother faithfully adhered till their death.

The last few weeks of mother's life were full of evidences of God's acceptance. She retained her faculties, both mental and physical, to a remarkable degree to the very last. Only three hours before she closed her life in a peaceful sleep in Jesus, she was able to walk across the room, supported by her daughter. The same evening that she died, she joined in a clear voice with the others in singing “Face to Face,” No. 861 in “Christ in Song,” and when she sang “Face to face in all his glory, I shall see him by and by,” she exclaimed, “Yes, I shall, praise the Lord,” and soon peacefully passed away.

Mother had recently spent some months in my home. She read the Bible and REVIEW most of all. She was awake to the current events, especially she read everything she could about the war with Turkey, and recognized it as a sign of the approaching end of that government and of the coming of Jesus Christ to take his kingdom. She often referred to the falling of the stars in 1833 and to the many signs of the end. The last chapter she read was 1 Chronicles 29, in which is given the closing acts of David's life.

Appropriate services were held at the residence of her daughter in Youngstown, Ohio, and also at the Congregational church in Williamsfield, Ohio. The local pastors and the writer took part in the services. We laid mother to rest beside our dear father, to await the voice of Christ, which will call them forth from death and the grave into immortal youth and glory at his soon coming. And may God grant that the earnest prayers of our dear parents may be answered in the salvation of their children and the large number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

R. A. UNDERWOOD.