SALATHIEL WHEELER ERION

I have to admit the name of this man fascinates me. Salathiel was a younger brother of my maternal paternal great great grandfather.  I also like his name because he has be relatively easy to research through the years, although he appears sometimes as Wheeler Erion or Wheeler Salathiel Erion.  Salathiel was a forward thinking man.  He wrote his own obituary in 1943, three years before he died.  Salathiel and his wife farmed in Linn County, Iowa

In April 2009 the Genealogical Society of Linn County, Iowa sent me the following information about Salathiel:

Original found in Central City Newsletter of 19 Dec 1946

" OBITUARY WHEELER ERION

The following obituary was written by Mr. Erion in 1943:

"Springville, Iowa, '33. Salathiel Wheeler Erion was born on a farm near Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, March 20, 1855. He was next to the youngest of nine children born to Philip and Matilda Latham Erion, all of whom preceded him in death. In 1864 he came with the family and others to Iowa, settling on a farm near the Linn Grove church. He was married at New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, to Mrs. Mary Magdalene Johnson of Dundee, of same county, March 13, 1879. They came back soon after to the home where he grew up, and their whole married life was spent in Linn and Brown townships. For the last several years the home has been in Springville.

They have one daughter, Mrs. S. G. Pearson (Elsie M. Erion) of Whittier, and five grandsons and seven (now in 1946 nine) great-grandchildren. In early manhood he became a member of the Presbyterian church at Lin Grove. He served on the financial committee for several years, but resigned when he moved some distance away from that neighborhood.

The seven grandsons mentioned above are Jay S. Pearson of Atlantic, Adrian E. Pearson of Cedar Rapids, Wayne J. Pearson of Cedar Rapids, Pearl K. Pearson of Lisbon, Kenneth E. Pearson of Central City. These with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. G. Pearson, survive. Mrs. Erion died Feb. 7, 1944.  

Funeral services were conducted at the Hunte Funeral Home in Sprinville Sunday afternoon by the Rev. Charles B. Willming and burial was in Mt. Zion cemetery."

(Note: I have also posted this obituary on www.findagrave.com.)