Jump to content

The Souvenir of Western Women/A Brave Life and a Useful One

From Wikisource

A Brave Life and a Useful One

THE LATE MRS. JOHN MINTO

The announcement of the death of Martha Morrison, wife of Hon. John Minto, will be heard with regret by those who have known, loved and honored her from the early settlement of Oregon down to the present time.

Martha Morrison came to the Pacific Coast with her parents in 1844, by the slow and primitive means of conveyance in those times. She was then a girl of but 13 years, and three years later became the wife of John Minto, from whom, after fifty-seven years of happy and helpful wifehood, she has now been separated by death. An exemplary housewife, a wise and kind mother, a helpful neighbor, a sympathetic friend, she left no duty unfulfilled.

Martha Morrison represented an intelligent, capable womanhood in its truest, because its most helpful and tenderest sense is honored by such life. In circles which for many years she has stood for the typical pioneer woman — fearless, cheerful, capable, willing, resourceful—she will be greatly missed. As for the rest, it may be told in the words of the wise man: "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."