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Newspaper: Unknown - possibly from Geneseo, Henry Co., IL

Date of Newspaper: Unknown - about Nov. 1894

Mrs. Sarah (Osborne) Ayres was born Sept. 2d, 1816, at Oxford, New Haven county, Conn. She died of infirmities of age, at her home at Knoxville, Iowa, Thursday, Nov. 1st, 1894, aged 78 years and 2 months. She was united in marriage with her now bereaved husband at Kirtland, Geauga county, Ohio, Sept 1st, 1833. They came west in 1853, settling at Cambridge March 4th of that year. In the fall of the same year they moved to the farm in Munson which was their home till Feb. 1877, when Mr. Ayres retired from active life and they settled in Geneseo. It was here, Sept. 1st, 1883, that they celebrated their golden wedding, it being one of the happiest social events of the kind that ever took place in the city.

In 1891 they moved to Knoxville, Iowa, which has since been their home. Mrs. Ayres was the mother of eleven children, nine of whom survive - S. H. Ayres, of Olathe, Kansas; O. B. Ayres, of Des Moines, Iowa; S. P. and R. O. Ayres, of Knoxville, Iowa; R. W. Ayres of Bussey, Ia.; J. C. Ayres, of Munson, and Mrs. J. D. Hill, of Geneseo. Sixty-one years of happy married life in which she saw these children grow up honored and respected and find homes and responsible positions of their own, gave her a pleasure that would make any mother justly proud. She saw that her life's work had borne good fruit, and with her faculties clear to the last calmly planned for the summons that she realized was soon to come. Her remains were brought here for interment at Oakwood; funeral services being held at the residence of J. D. Hill at 2 p. m. Saturday. Rev. Dr. R. F. Sweet, of Rock Island, an Episcopal clergyman, officiating. She united with the Episcopal church prior to her marriage and remained a steadfast and consistent member through her long life.

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NOTES BY TRANSCRIBER:
Transcribed by Gloria ODOM, July 1997, a descendant of Sarah (OSBORN) AYRES. Sarah died on 1st Nov. 1894 in Knoxville, Marion Co., IA, and her body was taken by train to be interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Geneseo, Henry Co., IL, where her husband was also buried.