Subject: an old obituary Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) Message-ID: <136FB3F4E17@scifac.indstate.edu> To: the Sasser list From: Glenn E. Perry Someone suggested that we share obituaries we have in our possession. I have recently found a f ew, including that of my great grandmother, Susan Sasser Taylor, daughter of Jesse Sasser and sister of Wallace Sasser. She died in 1954 shortly before she would have turned 98. There is hardly any information in the obituary that we don't already have (and, in fact, as I will show below, there is some false information that should warn us anew not to accept something just because it is in print). She was my direct linkto the patriarch, Henry Sasser (her grandfather), as she knew him when she was a small child, while I knew her when I was a small child (I only saw her once, when I was six years old, at the time of her last visit back home in the Knox County/Laurel County area). Much of what I heard from my grandmother, Sarah Humfleet Taylor (Susan Sasser Taylor's daughter in law) came from my great grandmother as the two were in close proximity to each other between 1897 and 1911 (and were very fond of each other). (My grandmother--whose obituary I have also found--had presumably heard most or all of the same stories from her father, Arthur Humfleet, who too--like her mother in law--was grandchild of Henry Sasser.) This is the text of the obituary: SERVICES HELD FOR MRS. TAYLOR "BEATRICE, Neb. -- Funeral services for Mrs. Susan Taylor, 97, of Cortland, who died Thursday, were held here Sunday. Burial was in Beatrice Cemetery. "Born in Laurel County, Ky., Mrs. Taylor came to Nebraska in 1911. She was a member of the Baptist Church. "Surviving are her daughters, Mrs. Nancy McFaring of Blue Springs, Mrs. Sarah Day and Mrs. Rebekah Deming, both of Cortland; sister of Lexington, Ky.; 18 grandchildren; and several great grandchildren." This obituary contains two mistakes: (1) the daughter's name was Nancy (Nan) Hale (married to one of the Hales from Blackwater), not Nancy McFaring, and (2) there was no "sister of Lexington, Ky." (only a granddaughter). As for the other daughter, Mrs. Sarah Day, I don't think her home was ever in Nebraska, although she had often visited and helped care for her mother. The clipping that came into my hands does not give the exact date or the name of the newspaper. I hope eventually to write a short essay that will present what I have heard about my great grandmother that goes beyond the cold facts (and mistakes) of an obituary. Glenn ***************************************** Glenn E. Perry Department of Political Science Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN 47809 USA E-Mail: psperrg@scifac.indstate.edu (812)237-2505 (office) (812)234-5661 (home) **************************************** ***************************************** Glenn E. Perry Department of Political Science Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN 47809 USA E-Mail: psperrg@scifac.indstate.edu (812)237-2505 (office) (812)234-5661 (home) ****************************************