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- Daniel P. FREEBORN was born
in Lockport, N.Y., May 2, 1825, and died at his
- home in Lima, Wis., March 11, 1905.
Brother FREEBORN came to Wisconsin about 1845, Oct. 6,
1853, he married Amy A. BURDICK and settled in Utica,
Dane county, where he lived until 1855, when he moved to the
home where he died. Of his near relatives his wife, two sons,
one adopted daughter, two sisters and five grandchildren survive
him.
- Brother FREEBORN became a Christian
in his youth and united with a First-day
- Baptist church. One day he was conversing
with his employer about the Sabbath and asked him where he could
find the Bible authority for keeping the first day for the Sabbath.
The answer was, "Daniel, you can not find it." This
led to an investigation which resulted in his becoming a Sabbath
keeper. Soon after this he united with the Seventh-day Baptist
church at Milton, Wis., and in 1875 he became a constituent member
of the Seventh-day Baptist church in Milton Junction, Wis.
- He was a man of strong religious convictions,
sought in every way to be a consistent
- Christian; believed the teachings of
the Bible to be the rule of life, and that their teachings were
given by the authority of God; and therefore it was man's place
to implicitly obey. His character was formed upon this basis
and for that reason he was a devout church member, a good neighbor
and one in whom the people had confidence. "He rests from
his labors and his works follow him." [Thursday edition,
p. 1]
-
- Courtesy of Jon Saunders
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| 30 |
- Erastus P. CLARKE, one of the
oldest and most respected citizens died suddenly
- about 9:30 Friday night at the home
of his son, W. P. CLARKE, where he has made his home for
many years. He has been feeble for some time but still attended
to duties in his insurance office. He ascended to his office
twice Friday and also climbed the stairs to the Journal office.
He retired as usual that evening and shortly after nine he was
observed to breath unnaturally. The doctor was called at once
by telephone but Mr. CLARKE passed away before the doctor
arrived.
- The funeral was held at the S.D.B.
church Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock conducted
- by Prof. Edwin Shaw in the absence
of the pastor, Dr. Platts. The following obituary was prepared
by Prof. Albert WHITFORD:
- Erastus Patterson CLARKE was
born in Edmeston, N.Y., June 30, 1817, and died
- suddenly the evening of March 24, 1905,
in the eight-eighth year of his age. He was the last survivor
of a family of eleven children born to Oliver Pendleton and Nancy
PATTERSON CLARKE, and was of the sixth generation
from Joseph CLARKE of Newport and Westerly, R.I. He was
also a grandson of Rev. Henry CLARKE, pastor of the First
Seventh-day church of Brookfield, whose father and grandfather
also were clergymen and pastors of a Seventh-day Baptist church
in Rhode Island. He married April 7, 1841, at Unadilla Forks,
N.Y., Mary Jane, the daughter of Enos and Hannah WEST PECK,
all three of whom now lie buried in Milton Cemetery. To this
marriage were born two children, Willis Peck and Wm. Wallace,
who now survive, and with the eldest of whom, the father has
found a home since he was bereft by the death of his wife.
- Mr. CLARKE was a mechanic by
trade and for several years in company with two
- of his brothers was a manufacturer
of farming implements at Unadilla Forks. In 1853 he removed to
Plainfield, N.J., and for three years was the proprietor of a
hardware store in that city. Since 1856 he has been a citizen
of Milton working at his trade for many years and busy in civic
and other duties in the interests of his friends and neighbors.
For nearly a half of a century he has been one of our foremost
citizens, active in all enterprises for the public good. He was
an ardent supporter of the government for the maintaining of
the Federal Union during the Civil War and an unflinching opponent
of the liquor traffic in our town. For nearly all this time he
has been a teacher in the Sabbath School of the church of which
he was a member and a prompt and habitual attendant upon all
of its services. And for nearly a half of a century he has been
a justice of the peace in our town, for the duties of which his
more than ordinary intelligence and judicial mind especially
fitted him. In the discharge of the duties of this office and
also that of local insurance agent, it is safe to say that he
has more than any other one been in closer touch with the life
and business of his neighbors. His good judgment was everywhere
respected, and no one, I dare say, ever questioned his integrity.
- Erastus P. CLARKE was by birth
and conviction a Puritan of the New England kind,
- the land of his forefathers. He believed
in God and that the Bible was his only infallible guide in faith
and practice. So strong were his convictions, he was intolerant
even of liberal interpretations of the Sacred Scriptures. Their
literal statements to him were the end of all controversy. He
had no use for "The New Theology" or Higher Criticism.
In early life he became a member of the church of which his grandfather
had been pastor for a quarter of a century, and later transferred
his membership to the Seventh-day Baptist church at Plainfield,
N.J., then under the pastoral care of Rev. James BAILEY
and after his removal to Milton he became a member of the church
of like faith in this town. He leaves behind him but a few of
those who were associated with him in church relationship in
1856, but he has left to them and to a much larger number the
memory of a godly life and a sincere devotion to his highest
ideals of duty. [Thursday edition, p. 1]
-
- Courtesy of Jon Saunders
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