Burroughs - Anfield Grigsby
Source: The Weekly Review, Crawfordsville, Indiana, Friday, October 2, 1908
While peeling tomatoes in the kitchen of her home in Fiskville Mrs. Hiram Burroughs dropped dead suddenly of heart failure about 3 o'clock Friday afternoon. Death came to her at a moment when she was alone in the house and it was perhaps a quarter of an hour or more before her body was found. Mrs. Burroughs was just starting to prepare some tomatoes which she intended to can when she was seized with the attack of heart failure. A few minutes before her death, Mr. Burroughs had gone downtown to purchase some cans. It was while he was down town that word reached him of his wife's death.
The body of Mrs. Burroughs was discovered by Mrs. Nannie Hyatt, a colored woman who came there with the washing which she had done for Mrs. Burroughs. Mr. Hyatt knocked at the kitchen door but received no response. Feeling certain that Mrs. Burroughs was home, as everything about the place indicated that she was there, Mrs. Hyatt peered in at the window. She saw Mrs. Burroughs lying on the floor.
Frightened half to death, the colored woman spread the news of her discovery. Mrs. Zuck, a neighbor woman, was soon notified and about the same time William L. Lee and William J. Courtney, neighbors were also informed of the discovery. They hurried into the kitchen and found Mrs. Burroughs lying on the floor. In one hand was the peeling knife and in the other hand the tomato which she had just peeled before her death. The pan of tomatoes was in front of her on the floor and the little stool on which she had been sitting had toppled over, allowing her body to fall to the floor. She had been dead but a few minutes, for her body was still warm. Then, too, Mr. Burroughs had been gone a very short time.
Mr. Lee hastened downtown to find Mr. Burroughs. He was traced to the grocery store, where he had purchased the cans in which to can the tomatoes. Mrs. Burroughs had the fire built in the stove and everything there was in readiness for the work. Mr. Burroughs having bought a bushel of tomatoes at noon. It was several minutes before Mr. Burroughs was found downtown. When notified, he hurried home, but his wife was dead before his arrival. She had probably never breathed again after being seized with the stroke of heart failure.
For the past year, Mrs. Burroughs had been in poor health. Twice in that time she had been seized with spells which indicated that her heart action was somewhat affected. She and her husband lived alone in Fiskville.
Mrs. Burroughs was born in Perry County, Ohio in 1843. She was 65 years, 9 months and 11 days of age at the time of her death. He maiden name was Anfield Grigsby and she was married to Mr. Burroughs in Ohio June 19, 1862. Five years later, in 1867, they removed to Crawfordsville and have resided here continuously ever since. They were the parents of eight children, seven of whom are now living. They are Arvilla Gwin, of Indianapolis; Mrs. Rosalind Wisner, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Mrs. Nellie McClelland and Mrs. Daisy Carpenter, both of this city; Charles Burroughs, of Saginaw, Mich.; Frank Burroughs and William Burroughs both of this city. Mrs. Burroughs was a woman of many fine traits of character. She was a kind woman, beloved by her neighbors and friends, and had been a good wife all these years. For more than fifty years her husband has been a blacksmith at the iron foundry of Lyle & Reynolds, and in that time he has hardly missed a day's work. He didn't work Friday afternoon on account of a slight injury to his arm sustained when a sliver of iron was in some manner embedded in his arm. The physician had told him he had better not work Friday afternoon. It was because he could thus help his wife can the tomatoes that he purchased them Friday noon, when he learned he was not going to work in the afternoon.
The funeral of Mrs. Burroughs will be conducted from the residence, on North Illinois street, in Fiskville, at half-past 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. George D. Harger of the First Baptist church. Rev. and Mrs. Harger will sing at the service. Interment at Odd Fellows cemetery, in the family lot. Members of the family will be the pallbearers at the funeral. – thanks to Kim H