Another Pioneer Passes Away.
With the death of William H. Cottew, another of the Peabody pioneers goes to join the fast increasing list of those who, having served their community through years of hardships and toil, are passing on leaving to their children and grandchildren the heritage of their labors.
Mr. Cottew was born in England, July 28, 1840, and died at his home in Hutchinson, June 3, 1913, age seventy-two years, ten months and five days. His parents located in Illinois when he was but a boy, and it was from this state that he enlisted in Company H, 36th Illinois Cavalry [sic] afterwards to Company H, 4th Regular Artillery. He did valiant service and was wounded during the battle of Chickamauga. Soon after coming home from the war he was married to Margaret Bastian, who with four children, survive him.
It was in 1871 that he brought his family to Peabody, living on the old homestead until 1909, when he moved to Hutchinson where two of his children lived. Of the four children, Charles H. lives in this city, Fred F. in Halstead, Mrs. Gertrude McElvain, and Leo H. in Hutchinson. Five grandchildren, two brothers and one sister also mourns his departure. Rev. M. C. Brooks conducted the funeral services at the Methodist church, the remains being interred in Prairie Lawn cemetery at this place. The deceased was a worker for the best interests of the neighborhood in which he lived and was a member of the Christian church at Hutchinson.
– Published in The Peabody Herald, Peabody, Kansas, Thursday, March 18, 1909, p. 8
