At her home in Albion, Wis., August 9, 1910, Mrs. Harriet Dates.
She was born in the town of Alfred, N. Y., March 17, 1832, and was the seventh in the family of twelve children born to Nathan Cheesbro Williams and Huldah Palmiter Williams. The mother of their large family died when Harriet was twelve years of age. And after this bereavement the responsibility of the home was felt in a special way by her and the sister Sarah, next older, afterwards the wife of the late Dr. Thomas R. Williams of Alfred. In her eighteenth year she was married to James Dates and in 1854 Albion became their home. She was baptized by Rev. Thos. E. Babcock and joined the Albion Seventh-day Baptist Church of which she remained a loyal and consistent member to the time of her death. She was early left with the sole responsibility of the two children that came to the home, and most courageously and successfully she met this duty. As a skillful nurse she labored for a period of years in Wausau, Wis., and afterward ministered to the students of Albion Academy by conducting a boarding establishment in the early days of that institution.
Her longing for the public worship of God in prayer and the Sabbath morning service, and the desire to live a little longer in the service of her loved ones was often expressed during a long and painful illness, but when she recognized the summons to depart and be with Christ she gladly welcomed it. A devoted son and family, three sisters and two brothers are left in their bereavement. A large circle of relatives and friends mourn with them the departing of this loved sister. T. J. V.
