The Skaggs-Files

DEATH: from the Onaga Herald, September 1, 1938
Nancy Hannah Nevins was born on December 17, 1851 at Des Moines, Ia., and died August 28, 1938 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Clark Mumaw, aged 86 years, 8 months and 11 days. She was married December 25, 1870 to Levi McGuire at Valley Falls, Kansas. To this union were born eleven children, one dying in infancy. One son, Mark, died in 1910, and one daughter, Mrs. George Walker, died in 1938. The children surviving are as follows: the sons, Frank, Bert, Roy, and Marion; the daughters, Mrs. Ida Mumaw, Mrs. Daisy Johnson, Mrs. Mattie Jontra and Mrs. Susie Weinstroer; also 1 brother, John Nevins, of Valley Falls; 45 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. She and her husband were among the early settlers in Vienna township. He preceded her in death, 13 years ago. When she was a young woman she was a member of the Christian church and on moving to Onaga, she joined the Congregational church.
"God lent an angel to the earth
She came in lowly guise;
She was not even beautiful
To our unseeing eyes.
She swept, dusted, cooked and darned
For all the heedless throng;
And ever as she worked she hummed
A little tuneless song.
She always had a healing word
For people in distress;
And tho her hands were worn & rough
Their touch was a caress.
At last her hair grew thin and gray,
Her work took over-long
And oftimes we did not hear
That little tuneless song.
God lent his angel to the earth
To ease its frequent strain,
But when he saw how tired she grew
He took her home again.
We missed her almost everywhere
For with our opened eyes
We knew at last just who she was -
An angel in disguise."
Funeral services were conducted by Dr. Thos. C. Hinkle at the Congregational church, Monday afternoon. Burial was in the Vienna cemetery.

DEATH: cause of death: Generalized arteriosclerosis, chronic nephritis with hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage