Erwin Severns was the 6th child of Nye Severns & Magdelene Quick. He married on January 1, 1860, in Rock Island County, Illinois, to Almeda Ballard (1835-1904), daughter of Jesse W. & Phebe Ballard. Erwin & Almeda had one child: Erwin Myron Severns (1861-1951).
The 1860 census lists Erwin Severns as the superintendent of a steam saw mill. The 1870 census lists him as a farmer in Drury Township, Rock Island County, Illinois. Also in the household with his wife and son was his orphaned niece, Emma Shutes, 17.
On Wednesday, June 16, 1875, Erwin was returning home from a business trip to south central Iowa to buy livestock when a collision of two trains took his life at Chariton in Lucas County. He was one of about twelve men quietly sleeping in the caboose of a freight train when it was hit from behind by a speeding second train, both of the B&M Railroad Company. The second engine shoved the caboose under a heavily-laden car of hogs, tearing the upper portion into fragments and killing four men upon the spot, who in all probability never knew what hit them.
The first train had stopped at the Chariton depot to refuel with coal. A fierce driving rain had slickened the rails, making them impervious to the speeding second train's brakes. A coroner's jury returned a verdict exonerating the railroad employees from any negligence in the sad affair.
Elegant coffins were furnished for the dead at the expense of the Railway Company. Erwin's body was returned to Illinois---by train!---and buried with appropriate ceremonials by Patrons of Husbandry, Hazel Dell Grange #448.
Terrible as the tragedy was, we can take comfort in the knowledge that our sleeping uncle Erwin died instantly, and also, that his mother, our grandmother Severns, had died several months earlier, and so was spared this final grief. She had already buried four of her eleven children.
Erwin was likely buried near his mother. No marker exists today; but there are several unmarked gravesites between the gravestone of Magdalene Severns and that of her son John Severns, who died in a fall from a horse, leaving a pregnant widow, Amanda.
Almeda's mother, Phoebe Ballard, was 87 years, 11 months, & 27 days old when she died after suffering burns when her clothes caught fire while she was working around the kitchen stove. Phoebe suffered for five days before her death on 2 December 1897.
Erwin's only child, Erwin Myron Severns, was a lawyer and a real estate agent. He died at age 90 when he was struck by a car while he was crossing the street--he was in the crosswalk.
Many tragedies in one family.
The 1860 census lists Erwin Severns as the superintendent of a steam saw mill. The 1870 census lists him as a farmer in Drury Township, Rock Island County, Illinois. Also in the household with his wife and son was his orphaned niece, Emma Shutes, 17.
On Wednesday, June 16, 1875, Erwin was returning home from a business trip to south central Iowa to buy livestock when a collision of two trains took his life at Chariton in Lucas County. He was one of about twelve men quietly sleeping in the caboose of a freight train when it was hit from behind by a speeding second train, both of the B&M Railroad Company. The second engine shoved the caboose under a heavily-laden car of hogs, tearing the upper portion into fragments and killing four men upon the spot, who in all probability never knew what hit them.
The first train had stopped at the Chariton depot to refuel with coal. A fierce driving rain had slickened the rails, making them impervious to the speeding second train's brakes. A coroner's jury returned a verdict exonerating the railroad employees from any negligence in the sad affair.
Elegant coffins were furnished for the dead at the expense of the Railway Company. Erwin's body was returned to Illinois---by train!---and buried with appropriate ceremonials by Patrons of Husbandry, Hazel Dell Grange #448.
Terrible as the tragedy was, we can take comfort in the knowledge that our sleeping uncle Erwin died instantly, and also, that his mother, our grandmother Severns, had died several months earlier, and so was spared this final grief. She had already buried four of her eleven children.
Erwin was likely buried near his mother. No marker exists today; but there are several unmarked gravesites between the gravestone of Magdalene Severns and that of her son John Severns, who died in a fall from a horse, leaving a pregnant widow, Amanda.
Almeda's mother, Phoebe Ballard, was 87 years, 11 months, & 27 days old when she died after suffering burns when her clothes caught fire while she was working around the kitchen stove. Phoebe suffered for five days before her death on 2 December 1897.
Erwin's only child, Erwin Myron Severns, was a lawyer and a real estate agent. He died at age 90 when he was struck by a car while he was crossing the street--he was in the crosswalk.
Many tragedies in one family.
Erwin Severns was the 6th child of Nye Severns & Magdelene Quick. He married on January 1, 1860, in Rock Island County, Illinois, to Almeda Ballard (1835-1904), daughter of Jesse W. & Phebe Ballard. Erwin & Almeda had one child: Erwin Myron Severns (1861-1951).
The 1860 census lists Erwin Severns as the superintendent of a steam saw mill. The 1870 census lists him as a farmer in Drury Township, Rock Island County, Illinois. Also in the household with his wife and son was his orphaned niece, Emma Shutes, 17.
On Wednesday, June 16, 1875, Erwin was returning home from a business trip to south central Iowa to buy livestock when a collision of two trains took his life at Chariton in Lucas County. He was one of about twelve men quietly sleeping in the caboose of a freight train when it was hit from behind by a speeding second train, both of the B&M Railroad Company. The second engine shoved the caboose under a heavily-laden car of hogs, tearing the upper portion into fragments and killing four men upon the spot, who in all probability never knew what hit them.
The first train had stopped at the Chariton depot to refuel with coal. A fierce driving rain had slickened the rails, making them impervious to the speeding second train's brakes. A coroner's jury returned a verdict exonerating the railroad employees from any negligence in the sad affair.
Elegant coffins were furnished for the dead at the expense of the Railway Company. Erwin's body was returned to Illinois---by train!---and buried with appropriate ceremonials by Patrons of Husbandry, Hazel Dell Grange #448.
Terrible as the tragedy was, we can take comfort in the knowledge that our sleeping uncle Erwin died instantly, and also, that his mother, our grandmother Severns, had died several months earlier, and so was spared this final grief. She had already buried four of her eleven children.
Erwin was likely buried near his mother. No marker exists today; but there are several unmarked gravesites between the gravestone of Magdalene Severns and that of her son John Severns, who died in a fall from a horse, leaving a pregnant widow, Amanda.
Almeda's mother, Phoebe Ballard, was 87 years, 11 months, & 27 days old when she died after suffering burns when her clothes caught fire while she was working around the kitchen stove. Phoebe suffered for five days before her death on 2 December 1897.
Erwin's only child, Erwin Myron Severns, was a lawyer and a real estate agent. He died at age 90 when he was struck by a car while he was crossing the street--he was in the crosswalk.
Many tragedies in one family.
The 1860 census lists Erwin Severns as the superintendent of a steam saw mill. The 1870 census lists him as a farmer in Drury Township, Rock Island County, Illinois. Also in the household with his wife and son was his orphaned niece, Emma Shutes, 17.
On Wednesday, June 16, 1875, Erwin was returning home from a business trip to south central Iowa to buy livestock when a collision of two trains took his life at Chariton in Lucas County. He was one of about twelve men quietly sleeping in the caboose of a freight train when it was hit from behind by a speeding second train, both of the B&M Railroad Company. The second engine shoved the caboose under a heavily-laden car of hogs, tearing the upper portion into fragments and killing four men upon the spot, who in all probability never knew what hit them.
The first train had stopped at the Chariton depot to refuel with coal. A fierce driving rain had slickened the rails, making them impervious to the speeding second train's brakes. A coroner's jury returned a verdict exonerating the railroad employees from any negligence in the sad affair.
Elegant coffins were furnished for the dead at the expense of the Railway Company. Erwin's body was returned to Illinois---by train!---and buried with appropriate ceremonials by Patrons of Husbandry, Hazel Dell Grange #448.
Terrible as the tragedy was, we can take comfort in the knowledge that our sleeping uncle Erwin died instantly, and also, that his mother, our grandmother Severns, had died several months earlier, and so was spared this final grief. She had already buried four of her eleven children.
Erwin was likely buried near his mother. No marker exists today; but there are several unmarked gravesites between the gravestone of Magdalene Severns and that of her son John Severns, who died in a fall from a horse, leaving a pregnant widow, Amanda.
Almeda's mother, Phoebe Ballard, was 87 years, 11 months, & 27 days old when she died after suffering burns when her clothes caught fire while she was working around the kitchen stove. Phoebe suffered for five days before her death on 2 December 1897.
Erwin's only child, Erwin Myron Severns, was a lawyer and a real estate agent. He died at age 90 when he was struck by a car while he was crossing the street--he was in the crosswalk.
Many tragedies in one family.
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