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BATTLE CREEK BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
The boat on which she embarked at Buffalo was five days in crossing Lake Erie, but without any serious accident she joined her dear family in their rude western home. And here, during the pioneer period, which has truthfully been called "the heroic age, " she managed the affairs of her household, and by her prudence, cheerfulness, fortitude, and untiring efforts, greatly aided her husband in converting his wild lands into clearings, which, after his death, she by her wise management still further assisted to make one of the best cultivated farms in Calhoun county. A large part of the time for the first four years of their life in the new settlement in South Battle Creek, she was sole manager of the affairs on the farm, as Dr. Beach was called away from home so often to attend the sick in the settlements about them. So much was his aid sought as a physician by the settlers during the "sickly seasons, " that at times he was not at home three nights in a month. Thus this excellent man, this kind-hearted, able, and skillful physician literally wore himself out attending to the sick and suffering settlers during that period. At one time he was taken ill away from his home, and was found lying unconscious by the roadside, his faithful horse, "Doll" standing by his side patiently waiting. Dr. Beach died in 1840.
If at first the old log house was so well known for the medical aid, kindness, and hospitality ever found beneath its roof, every settler felt that the spirit of neatness, womanly energy, and thrift also pervaded that household. Christian fortitude was a marked feature of her character. Amid all the hardships of the early settlement, the sorrow, the sickness, and death of her loved husband, and that of her lovely daughter just budding into womanhood, she was the patient, resolute mother sustaining herself and her children with true Christian solace, and turning to her labor with such a courageous and inspiring duty that she seemed the impersonation of the Spartan mother.
Michigan
Page 63
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