Posted on: Stanislaus County Obituaries Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ca/StanislausObits/10905 Surname: BICKFORD, MATTHEWS ------------------------- Obituary from the Modesto News Herald, Dec. 9, 1926, p 8 C.W.BICKFORD, 77, CALLED BY DEATH Aged Man Claimed by Heart Trouble; Funeral to be Held in Stockton Patterson, Dec. 8 - C. W. Bickford, a pioneer of California, died at the home of his son, U. M. Bickford, here Monday night. Heart trouble caused his death. He had not been well for the past year but was very active, taking long walks every day and on Monday he took a long walk in the afternoon. That evening he ate a hearty dinner, and later retired feeling well, but was taken with the heart attack around 11 o'clock and died just as medical aid arrived. The deceased was 77 years of age. He was born May 15, 1849, in Brownfield, Maine. In 1878, when 29 years of age, he came to California and located in Stockton where he lived until one year ago when he and Mrs. Bickford came to Patterson to make their home with Mr. and Mrs. U. M. Bickford. Bickford was a prominent member of the Charity Lodge of Odd Fellows in Stockton and was a past grand of that lodge. He had been a member of the Odd Fellows for fifty years. Immediately surviving relatives are his wife, Mrs. Mae Estelle Bickford, and two sons, U. M. Bickford of Patterson and Earl W. Bickford of Sacramento. Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 2:30 at the B. C. Wallace undertaking parlors in Stockton under the auspices of the Charity Lodge No. 6 of Odd Fellows of Stockton. Interment will take place in the family plot at Stockton by the side of his only daughter, Mrs. Lila Mae Matthews, who died a year ago last month. Transcribed by Judy Ewbank