Person:William Steel (7)

Obituary - Front Page Chillicothe Daily Gazette, March 10, 1899, Headline reads: "FOUND DEAD IN A PASSENGER CAR - THE HORRIFYING SPECTACLE WHICH MET THE GAZE OF MR. WILL HAYNES - PROSTRATE BY THE STOVE - THE BODY OF WILLIAM STEELE, OF LAURELVILLE, FOUND BY A K. & A. EMPLOYEE

A horrifying spectacle was that which was witnessed yesterday morning by Mr. Dill Haynes of Adelphi, an employee of the K. & A. R.R., who upon entering the passenger coach at the depot saw the inanimate form of an aged man lying by the stove.

A second glance sufficed to inform him that the corpse was that of Mr. William Steele, a venerable resident of Laurelville, and a prominent member of the I.O.O.F. Dr. Hemmeger was speedily summoned in the hope that something might be done. The physician discovered that his presence could avail naught and pronounced death to be the result of heart disease.

Mr. Steele walked from his home to Adelphi with an idea of boarding the morning train for Circleville. He had been ill for some time and it is presumed that the exertion superinduced the fatal attack.

The funeral will be held at the Adelphi M.E. church on Sunday morning at ten o'clock. Rev. Dent will deliver the funeral sermon and the services will be under the auspices of the Odd Fellows lodge, of which the deceased was a member."

Also, published in The Hocking Sentinel., March 16, 1899: "-- William Steel, an old citizen of Laurelville, and known to many of our readers, while on the train, last Thursday going from Adelphi, to Circleville died with no one near, at the moment. The funeral was at Adelphi under the direction of the Odd Fellows on last Sunday, Rev. Dent conducting the religious Services."

The walk from Laurelville to Adelphia in good weather is quite a trek up a long hill. In February of 1899, a cold wave caused a massive East Coast blizzard and induced bitter cold temperatures across two-thirds of the Nation, from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean.

In a diary kept by Allen Roose of Adelphi or Laurelville (a copy is in the Spangler History notebook at the Pickaway Co. Gen. Library):

"Mr. William Steel droped dead at the depo at Adelphia March 9, 1899."

Also in Mr. Roose's diary for the beginning of 1899, he refers to deep snow as "Dep Snow" and "Depest Snow", along with a record of the temperature:
"The thermometor read on the
8 of Feb: 10 Below Zero
9 of Feb: 16 Below Zero
10 of Feb: 30 Below Zero
11 of Feb: 4 Below Zero
12 of Feb: 4 Below Zero
13 of Feb: 12 Dep Snow
14 of Feb: 10 Depest Snow

It is referred to as the storm of the 19th Century. "In a sense this is probably the first and only time true blizzard conditions existed in the state of Florida. In fact, Florida probably experienced their only blizzard in history with this particular storm," says Paul Kocin, Winter Weather Expert for The Weather Channel.

--RWMeyer 20 August 2014

Steel Family - Clara, William, Tom, Barbara (Julien), Lodema

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   William Steel