Ann Sheton

A Pioneer Gone

Died, at the residence of M. Freeman Hall, Friday, March 9 1888,
Mrs. Ann T. Hall, age, 80 years, 4 months and 18 days of
pneumonia. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to be
intimately associated with the strongly developed characters of our
pioneers who are so rapidly passing away, appreciate the extent of
the loss to the younger generations. To establish and maintain a
home, to encourage the growth of schools and churches, to meet
with endurance and firmness the privations of those times, is
something our present generation would shrink from. In fact be
incompetent for. Yet Mrs. Hall established the nucleus of a home
near Carlinville in 1829, coming here from Kentucky for that
purpose. Then lived and labored. There her grandchildren grew
up and around her and her great-grandchildren enjoyed her tender
care and wise counsel.

She endured all sorrows and burdens with Christian fortitude,
even uncomplaining when blind for several years. We could
imagine how heavy that burden had been by the depth of her
thankfulness and praise to God when her sight was restored. She
was expert in all housewifely accomplishments and in fine needle-
work and laces, and made a set of knotted lambrequins when 75
years old, to show the young people what the macram�' work of her
younger days was. She was for many years a member of the
Methodist church at Carlinville, and only for an effort to start a
church at Oak Hill, her membership would have been the same at
her death. She maintained her interest in improvements and
reforms and always kept up with the times. This trait of her
character together with her gentle Christian graces, made her
companionship delightful to young and old. She rests from her
labors and her works do follow her. L.H.C.