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- Newspaper Obituary - Thursday, September 30, 1875 Pulaski Democrat - Pulaski, New York - The funeral of Mr. Eli Weed was held in the Baptist Church on Thursday of last week, Rev. J. Douglas preached the sermon. There was a large attendance.
Newspaper Obituary - Thursday, September 30, 1875 Pulaski Democrat - Pulaski, New York - Casket -Weed - In Pulaski, September 21st, 1875, Eli Weed, aged 87 years. The deceased was born in Southeast Dutchess County, in this State. When twelve years of age with his parents he removed to Rupert, Vermont. He first came to this place in 180_, and the next year returned to Rupert and was married January, 1811, to the wife who now survives him, they having lived together for sixty-four years in unbroken domestic alliance and happiness, a longer period _ is often recorded in the annals of married life. In the fall of 1811 he came with his wife to this place, with the intent of making it their permanent home. Of the toils and perils of travel, of the privations and hardships endured by these early settlers, we in this day know little, and the very recital of their experiences sounds to us like tales of romance. But the deceased and his wife found, almost as soon as they had set foot upon this virgin soil, that they were surrounded by other and more formidable perils than those of the wilderness. War was declared the following June by Great Britain, and here alone the lakes, separating the British Province of Canada from this county was the distinct line of assault and warfare. The deceased promptly responded to the call of his country, and entered the ranks of the army then summoned for defense. He was stationed first at Sacketts Harbor, and afterwards at Oswego. This he found to be a mode of life quite congenial to his brave and active spirit, and in after years and especially in his old age, he often reverted with peculiar pleasure to this portion of his life's history. Fortunately this war was of short continuance, and he soon returned to his home and to the labors of his calling as a carpenter. He erected the first framed dwelling in the town, and was himself the first possessor in the neighborhood of the luxury of a window set with glass, others using for this purpose oiled paper. Naturally sympathetic, active and helpful, he was especially distinguished for his kindness among his neighbors, watching night after night with the sick while obliged to labor regularly and constantly during the day. He was equally kind in his services of sympathy and condolence to the bereaved, and was seldom absent from the house of mourning or the funeral procession. He attended the first funeral which took place in this town after it became settled by the colony from Vermont, which was that of a stranger traveling through this portion of the country, and made and furnished himself the coffin for that occasion. He was a member of the first committee that selected the grounds for the village cemetery, and frequently performed the duties of undertaker and often gratuitously. In December, 1813, he united by letter with the Congregational Church in this village but subsequently united with the Baptist Church, of which he has long been a zealous active and honorable member. His long relations to that church as sexton, has so identified itself with their house of worship that to many, at least, his very name seems to be recorded in its vestibule and along its aisles, and to be rung out in every note of the sounding bell so often rung by his own hands. Age came at last with paralyzing faculties and the light of intelligence and life but feebly flickered toward their last, expiring gleam, yet, at times, he beguiled his soul as with "a song in the night" with passages of scripture learned in early days. Thus passed away the last one of these earliest settlers and first pioneers, who, with their brave hearts and strong hands first began the work of clearing for us through this p_val wilderness the path of a Christian civilization. Let their memories be cherished with gratitude and reverence.
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1789 - 1875 (86 years)