"She hath done all that she could"
When I have visited the Williams cemetery, there is a tombstone that has always stuck out to me. It is near the Wahlert headstones and it catches your eye. It is a tall cylinder shape and it looks very old. Everytime I see it, I can't help but wonder what happened in this family and what life was like for Ida. I had to write down the dates and think through the timing and ages. Ida Mae Talman Hurd was married to her husband Horace N Hurd and at the age of 20, she had her first child, Clara in 1890. Baby number two, Eva came along and was born when Clara was 13 months. Clara died a month later at age 14 months. Eva died at 14 months as well while Ida was pregnant with Preston. 4 months later, he was born. Preston lived only a short 6 months. 3 months later Ida's husband died. She has lost everything, her babies, and her husband in just 4 years.
Many questions and wonder, what was happening that took all her family and how did she survive? What life must have been like in the 1890's here in Iowa? What happened to her little children and her family? To have such young babies die and to lose so much.
I wanted to find out a little more information, so googled the name and year. It appeared that Ida did in fact have another son. Frank William Hurd, who was born in 1889 and lived until 1968. He would have been 7 when his mother died. I discovered that he was married to a woman named Martha Mergilene Joran Hurd who was in the army air corps. She lived to be 92.
Comments