Bridget Gettings

Monroe Weekly Times, page 4 11-18-1898 MRS. R. GETTINGS SUDDENLY EXPIRES Death Sunday Morning a Shock to Her Family. Heart trouble direct cause. End Came Shortly After 1 o'clock and a number of her children were about her. Mrs. Roger Gettings died Sunday morning at 1:10 at her home in the First ward after a sickness that none had expected would terminate fatally. She expired suddenly and her death was shock to her family as well as to her many friends in the community and country surrounding. A week ago she was taken ill as a result of a severe cold and suffered from lung trouble, but heart trouble was the immediate cause of her demise. At midnight she was feeling well but complained that she could not sleep. A physician was summoned for her, but it was just as he arrived that her life went out in a grasp. Several of her children, who were conversing with her a moment before, were about her when the end came, and the other children who were away from home were soon notified. Mrs. Gettings was the central figure in a home where the ties of love are closely woven. She was the mother of a large family, which by her own effort had been kept together until long after most families are widely separated, and now that death has broken the family circle, out of the completeness of which came so much comfort for her, there will be left in that home an aching void that can never be filled. Mrs. Gettings was a woman of great strength of character and was dearly esteemed by a very large circle of friends. She has made her home in Monroe since 1855 and in that time she had formed a vast and near acquaintance, that extends far out beyond the confines of the sphere of a life where the principal influence has been at home. Her maiden name was Bridget Byrne, and she was born in Dublin, Ireland, Aug 12, 1833. She left Ireland in 1848, arriving in Philadelphia in-May. She lived there until her marriage on Feb. 22, 1855, to Roger Gettings who now survives her. They came to Monroe immediately afterward and have since resided here. There were eleven children born to them, seven who are living being Mrs. Frank Norton, of Franklyn; Miss Kate Gettings, who is engaged in school teaching at Elk Point, S.D., and Misses Maria and Terera Gettings, and M. C. Gettings and James Gettings, all of this city, and Miles T. Gettings, of Manitowoc. For years Mrs. Gettings passed through a severe siege of asthma, but for a long time the malady seemed to have subsided entirely and was not noticeable in her recent illness, and she was carried away without pain or suffering of any kind. The funeral services were held Tuesday from St. Victor's church at 10 o'clock and the sorrowing friends who had gathered there to pay their last loving tribute to the memory of one who was widely esteemed made the seating capacity of the large edifice almost insufficient. Many friends met with the family and relatives at the home at 9:30 to accompany the remains to the church, where solemn high mass was celebrated. Rev. Thos. Dempsey was the celebrant, and was assisted by Rev. Dowling, of Argyle, as deacon, and Rev. Condon, of Janesville, as sub-deacon. The responses were sung by the church choir, which was assisted by Mrs. Mary Woodle and Roy Woodle. Mr. John Malia sang a special solo, the other selections being by the choir. Rev. Dempsey gave an eloquent tribute to the noble life that had just been closed and ho spoke feelingly. There were many flowers, among them being a wreath of chrysanthemums from the teachers of the public schools at Elk Point, S. D. Roger Gettings, who has been in poor health of late, attended the services at the church but was not able to accompany the remains of his wife to the cemetery. The interment was in the Catholic cemetery. The pallbearers were Ed. Carroll, F. W. Zimmerman, James Fitzgibbons, John Sullivan, James Nee and D. C. Ryan. There were over a half hundred carriages in the procession that moved slowly from the church to the cemetery as the church bell was sounding it doleful tones.