MERCY S. CALFEE WISWELL

MRS. MERCY S. WISWELL WAS THE DAUGHTER OF REV. W. M. AND MARY S. CALFEE.  SHE WAS BORN IN CLARK COUNTY, IOWA, FEBRUARY 7, 1861. HER MAIDEN WAS MERCY STRONG CALFEE. HER FATHER WAS PASTOR OF THE MOUNT AYR METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH WHERE HE DIED JANUARY 7, 1868. MRS. WISWELL WAS ONLY SEVEN YEARS OLD WHEN HER FATHER DIED. SHE THEREFORE SPENT TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF HER EARLY LIFE IN RINGGOLD COUNTY, IOWA. SHE WAS EDUCATED IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COUNTRY NORMALS OF SAID COUNTY, WHERE SHE BECAME ONE OF THE GOOD TEACHERS OF THE COUNTY. IT WILL BE REMEMBERED BY THE OLDER RESIDENTS OF NORTHEAST RINGGOLD  COUNTY THAT SHE WAS TEACHING IN THE MOGAL SCHOOL HOUSE WHEN THE LIGTHTNING STRUCK THE SCHOOL HOUSE AND KILLED TWO MOGAL GIRLS. SHE LATER TAUGHT IN THE BEACONSFIELD NEIGHBORHOOD.

IN 1884 SHE AND HER SISTER FANNIE WENT TO YORK COUNTY, NE., WHERE SHE TAUGHT FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS. IN 1889 SHE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO W.H. WISWELL. THEY COMMENCED MARRIED LIFE ON A FARM THREE MILES WEST OF GRESHAM, NE., WHERE THEY LIVED FOR ABOUT 27 YEARS. AFTER MR. WISWELL’S DEATH, MERCY MOVED TO YORK, NE., WHERE SHE AND HER DAUGHTER MARY HAVE LIVED UNTIL  MRS. WISHWELL’S DEATH.

MRS. WISWELL WAS OF A CHEERFUL AND OPTIMISTIC DISPOSITION AND AN EARNEST AND DEVOUT CHRISTIAN, WHICH SHE TRANSLATED INTO PRACTICAL LIVING. SHE LOVED HER CHURCH, HER HOME AND HER CHILDREN. SHE IS SURVIVED BY TWO SONS, CHAS. J. AND WILBER H., BOTH OF GRESHAM, NE., AND TWO DAUGHTERS, MARY C. OF YORK, NE., AND FRANCES E. OF NEW ORLEANS, LA., ONE BROTHER, REV. W. M. CALFEE OF ADENA, OHIO, MRS. FRANK HUSS OF RAPID CITY, S.D. AND MRS. L.D. FEST OF MITCHELL, S.D.

THE FUNERAL WAS CONDUCTED FROM THE METHODIST CHURCH IN YORK, BY PASTOR REV. O. M. KIVE, DECEMBER 7TH. MRS. WISWELL DIED DECEMBER 5.