Sunday's Obituary - George is struck by lightening!
My second great granduncle George Washington Poundstone's obituary. This is one of my favorite obituaries.... (is it wrong to have a favorite?)
Saturday 1 June 1918
GEORGE W. POUNDSTONE KILLED BY LIGHTENING; ANTICS OF DOG TOLD STORY
George W. Poundstone, well-to-do and widely known farmer of the community four miles northeast of Deer Creek, was instantly electrocuted last Friday evening at 7:30 o'clock when struck by a wicked bolt of lightning. When a terrific storm approached, in company with his faithful dog he had gone back to a pasture field to get up the cows for the evening. He had gotten the cows and starting back to the barn when a load clap of thunder emitted a streak of lightning that struck an umbrella he was carrying. The electric current ran down the steel handle of the umbrella and struck him on the breast, running down his left leg and into the ground, his body being badly burned. When he had been gone for several minutes Mrs. Poundstone noticed the dog standing in the field beside the umbrella and as it was acting queerly she at once perceived that something had happened to the husband. She called Harry Nelson, a neighbor over the phone, and he went to the Poundstone farm to make an investigation and as he reached the middle of a clover field in which the cows had been grazing, he came upon a gruesome find. There lay the aged farmer cold in death. Dr. Cooper of Deer Creek was immediately called, but upon reaching the scene found that the death had taken place even before he had been summoned. Coroner Stewart of Cass county held an autopsy Saturday morning.
The funeral services were held Monday morning at eleven o'clock at the Center U.B. church, of which deceased had for years been a member. Rev Sickafoose officiated. Interment was made in the Center cemetery.
George Poundstone, son of John Nicholas and Magdalene (Hampshire) Poundstone, was born in Cass County on a farm near Young America, in 1844, and at the time of his death was almost 74 years of age. He was one of seven children, only one of which, a brother Richard Poundstone, of Bement , Illinois is left. In 1872 he was united in marriage to Sarah Henderson and about four years later, or 42 years ago, moved to the farm where he met his tragic death. To the union six children were born, all of whom, with the widow, survive. They are Allen Franklin Poundstone, and Mrs. Ellen May Lenon, of the Deer Creek vicinity, and Misses Estella, Dora, Lena and Bess, all yet at home.
George W. Poundstone, well-to-do and widely known farmer of the community four miles northeast of Deer Creek, was instantly electrocuted last Friday evening at 7:30 o'clock when struck by a wicked bolt of lightning. When a terrific storm approached, in company with his faithful dog he had gone back to a pasture field to get up the cows for the evening. He had gotten the cows and starting back to the barn when a load clap of thunder emitted a streak of lightning that struck an umbrella he was carrying. The electric current ran down the steel handle of the umbrella and struck him on the breast, running down his left leg and into the ground, his body being badly burned. When he had been gone for several minutes Mrs. Poundstone noticed the dog standing in the field beside the umbrella and as it was acting queerly she at once perceived that something had happened to the husband. She called Harry Nelson, a neighbor over the phone, and he went to the Poundstone farm to make an investigation and as he reached the middle of a clover field in which the cows had been grazing, he came upon a gruesome find. There lay the aged farmer cold in death. Dr. Cooper of Deer Creek was immediately called, but upon reaching the scene found that the death had taken place even before he had been summoned. Coroner Stewart of Cass county held an autopsy Saturday morning.
The funeral services were held Monday morning at eleven o'clock at the Center U.B. church, of which deceased had for years been a member. Rev Sickafoose officiated. Interment was made in the Center cemetery.
George Poundstone, son of John Nicholas and Magdalene (Hampshire) Poundstone, was born in Cass County on a farm near Young America, in 1844, and at the time of his death was almost 74 years of age. He was one of seven children, only one of which, a brother Richard Poundstone, of Bement , Illinois is left. In 1872 he was united in marriage to Sarah Henderson and about four years later, or 42 years ago, moved to the farm where he met his tragic death. To the union six children were born, all of whom, with the widow, survive. They are Allen Franklin Poundstone, and Mrs. Ellen May Lenon, of the Deer Creek vicinity, and Misses Estella, Dora, Lena and Bess, all yet at home.
Janet Hall, "Called Home" Death in Carroll County Indiana Five Decades of Obituaries taken from local newspapers 1880's-1930's (Delphi, Indiana: Janet Hall self published, 2008), 404.
Comments