"WELL KNOWN PIONEER LADY PASSES AWAY—Mrs. Nancy E. Lamb, Pioneer Resident of Bloomfield died Wednesday—WAS NINETY YEARS OF AGE—Was the Sole Surviving Charter Member of Local Christian Church
Mrs. Nancy E. LAMB, one of the best beloved women of Bloomfield, died at her home Wednesday morning at four o'clock. Death was due to heart trouble from which she had suffered for the last few years, but not until about two weeks ago did her condition become alarming. She was born near Owensburg, Jackson township, February 4, 1845; died in Bloomfield, May 22, 1935; aged ninety years, three months, eighteen days. She was the youngest of four daughters born to Thomas DUGGER and Sabra (FLOYD) DUGGER, to whom were also born three sons. She was truly a pioneer and the township in which she was born was at that time largely a wilderness. Her parents were among the earliest settlers of Jackson township into which they came to carve out a home for themselves and their children, probably more than one hundred years ago. Her father, whose ancestors came from Ireland, came into this county from Tennessee; and her mother came into the county from Virginia. Her grandmother FLOYD taught her grandfather FLOYD, who was born in Germany, to speak English after they were married. That grandfather met his death in a bridge accident in Virginia, leaving that grandmother with four small children and slender means. Catching the migratory spirit of that time she determined to go West. With her four children and with all her earthly possessions in a one-horse wagon she set out on that long and dangerous journey. The conditions were such that part of the family had to walk all of the time and they endured great hardships. It was in the fall of the year and, it is related, that as they crossed the mountains they came upon many chestnut trees, and in order to add to their meager food supplies they set fire to the leaves under these trees in order to find the chestnuts, which were all the better for a little roasting. At the time of this journey, Sabra, one of the children, who was afterwards to become Mrs. Lamb's mother, was eight years old. She was unite in marriage to John Thoms LAMB, son of another pioneer Jackson township family, January 5, 1865, more than seventy years ago. To them were born two sons—Dainey, who died in infancy, and Marion D., who was killed at the age of seventeen by being caught in the machinery at the Bloomfield mill; and four daughters—Mrs. Nora A. MADDOCK, who died November 20, 1922, and Mrs. Litta L. Adams, Mrs. Walter T. Brown, and Miss Mary Lamb, all of Bloomfield. She and her husband removed to Bloomfield sixty-two years ago. They were then living at Hobbieville and he was appointed deputy sheriff under Francis M. DUGGER, sheriff. Here they spent the remainder of their lives. In 1874 she and her husband and eleven others joined in organizing the Bloomfield Christian church. The other charter members were: Francis M. DUGGER, Abigail DUGGER, Maggie KISSEL, Riley S. QUILLEN, Almira QUILLEN, William TEMPLETON, Elizabeth TEMPLETON, Jennie TEMPLETON, George W. UPFOLD, Sarah UPFOLD, and Hannah UPFOLD. For years she had been the sole surviving charter member. At first the members met at their homes for worship, but she lived to se two church edifices, one outgrown by an increasing membership, and a new one, the present building dedicated January 7m, 1912. And she was happy in seeing the membership increase more than twenty fold in her lifetime. Her husband, who had come to be one of the best known residents of Greene county from having served as deputy sheriff and afterwards as county superintendent of schools, and still later from being one of the publishers of the Bloomfield News, died after a lingering illness August 18, 1911. Two of her brothers, Francis M. DUGGER, now deceased, and William R. DUGGER, became pioneer coal operators in Greene and Sullivan counties. They opened up the first mine in the Dugger field and laid out the town which now bears their name. She came of sturdy stock, a long lived family. Of the two brothers, Homer DUGGER and Francis M. DUGGER, and the two sisters, Mrs. Sarah Ann OLIPHANT and Mrs. Martha RICHESON, who preceded her in death, three were upwards of eighty years of age. And surviving are a brother, William R. DUGGER, who is eight-three, and a sister Mrs. Hester MEREDITH, who is past ninety-five. Both live at Dugger. For almost forty-six years she had been indirectly connected with the Bloomfield News. First, as the wife of one publisher, John T. LAMB; next, as the mother-in-law of another publisher, William B. MADDOCK; and finally, as the grandmother of the present publisher, Paul Lamb MADDOCK. All of that mother's affection which she lavished upon her own children she showed again as a grandmother when the grandchildren came into her life. Between grandmother and grandchildren there was mutual tenderness and devotion. She kept constant track of their doings; and their achievements and successes filled her with joy. The grandchildren are: Josephine ADAMS, now of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Paul Lamb MADDOCK, Walter Francis BROWN, Robert Lamb BROWN, and William Samuel BROWN. And there are two little great grandchildren, William B. and Nora Ann MADDOCK, whom she loved tenderly. She was a woman of very positive nature. She had strong convictions and she was utterly frank and outspoken in maintaining her convictions. Sincerity and honesty she held to be great virtues, and she exemplified them both in her own life. With her there was no compromise between right and wrong—there was no middle ground. She believe that it was a duty she owed her country to pay her taxes even if she had to go hungry to do so; and she still steadfastly believed in and practiced that commandment which says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Coming down from a generation that was hampered by superstitions she lived to almost wholly outgrow those superstitions. She had a superior intellect, and a craving for knowledge that stayed with her till the very end of her life. Till her eyesight began to grow dime she read much, and in recent years she had acquired a breadth of information that was remarkable by listing in over the radio. She could join intelligently in a discussion or consideration of any present-day subject, whether it touched upon the political or economic condition in America, or the war-threatened situation in Europe. She was forward-looking—she did not live in the past. She marveled at the changes which had come into the world in her lifetime, and she had great happiness in living in this up-to0date world. Often she expressed the wonder if the next generation would see as marvelous changes brought about by invention and science as she had seen in her lifetime. She was a great lover of nature and the out-of-doors. Gardening was one of her hobbies. The smell of unturned soil was a joy and an inspiration. Her faith in the Heavenly Father, in the divinity of his Son and in the immortality of the should never wavered. She was industrious, of high ideals, patient and kind. And as a final tribute, she was a good mother. The body will lie in state at the Christian church tomorrow afternoon from 1 o'clock til the hour of the funeral, 2:30. The burial will be in the family plot in Grandview cemetery.
