Death of Geo W. Stickney

Notwithstanding the announcement of Mr. Stickney’s death had been expected for some time, when it was finally known that he was no more, old friends and business acquaintances especially, felt that for the first time in many years, their ranks had been broken, and that a good man had gone from among them. His funeral which was held at the Congregational Church at 2 o’clock on Sunday last, was largely attended by the people of the village together with residents from the surrounding country, and an evidence of the high regard in which he was held by all who knew him. Rev. J.T. Husted delivered the funeral discourse and paid a fitting tribute to the virtues and character of the departed. Strong Men were moved to tears, and old friends were made to feel that the gentle quiet influences of a citizen they respected and loved, had been fastened upon them, stronger than they knew. Geo. W. Stickney was in the 49^th year of his age, and was born at Buffalo, New York, where he for many years resided, his death occurred at his home here about 7 o’clock Friday evening last. He leaves a wife and three children to mourn his loss.

Mr. Stickney settled in Ovid in the spring of 1868 and became a member of the hardware firm of Andrews & Stickney, and although there have been several changes made in the firm, as originally organized, he has continued as one of the partners up to the time of his death. As a member of that firm, he became intimately acquainted and known to the people throughout this entire section of the country. As a man of the commercial world, he was kind, courteous, and winning; carrying the principle of “doing unto others even as he would that others might do unto him,” into the counting room and office, where for so many years he toiled and struggled at the accountants desk, faithful in the discharge of his duties as a business man. His respect and love for his fellow man, was as broad as the Universe, having been won early in life, to a support of those liberal views that are based upon the broad, comprehensive humane theory, that acts and deeds, as well as faith and grace, should go far towards establishing a character by and through which , we can justly estimate the value of human kind. He neither courted fame for the sake of policy, nor showered praise where it did not belong. Possessed of a positive character, he was not easily moved by undue or spasmodic currents of thought, which momentarily disturb or riffle the waters of the great channels upon whose bosom is borne onward to final destination, either a nations politics or a peoples morals. He never grasped at straws, but defended such principles of justice and right, as he believed consistent with reason thereby entertaining and presenting, the second sober thought.

As a citizen, he was ever to be found on the right side of questions pertaining to the prosperity, development, growth, financial well being of the village he had chosen for his home. Dispensing charity with the hand of secrecy, with a heart ever in sympathy for those in trouble or distress, he never turned a deaf ear to a call for aid, or suffered a creature human to fell that he belonged to the miserly or mean.

His family was his idol, his home his heaven. No biting or bitter blasts of words, of thoughts, of acts or deeds, were there allowed to enter; no bodings of evil permitted to mar or disturb its peaceful sanctity. As a friend he was generous and trustworthy; as a husband, tender and loving and true; as a father, kind, indulgent and affectionate. His life is a living example of the true husband, father and friend, and worthy of emulation, in so far as that he never forgot his duty to his fellow man. The Union extends sympathy to the bereaved family – peace to the ashes of one whom all who knew him can truly say, that in thought, act and deed, the world was his home, his fellow man his friend.

Notes and News from Duplain Hills

-John C. Scott has gone to Gaylord and taken a job of getting out railroad wood.

-G.W. Babcock has his new house so nearly completed, as to be ready to move into this week.

-Sneak thieves have lately been operating in this part of town, little dream of the hair-breadth chances they run of being shot.

-A.J. Crowner has built a new house on the pace that he purchase on the town line of Duplain and Greenbush, and move into the same.

-There is a considerable portion of the buckwheat crop still out on account of the wet weather and the same may be said of some of the clover seed.

-Watson Greeman who formerly resided here, but more recently has been shipping cattle from Texas, was lately home on a short visit, but has now returned to that sunny clime.

-In looking over the great ditches in the north-west part of the town, that are now being pushed through to completion, the beholder is struck with the vast amount of hard work and many obstacles have been overcome, and too much praise can not be awarded to the hardy, patient, and persevering men that have accomplished this great undertaking.