J. W. Childers Is Taken By Death
Resident of County for Many Years Crossed Plains In 1865.
James W. Childers died early Friday morning, Oct. 4, 1929, at the Wallowa hospital where he had been taken on Thursday for an operation for cancer of the bladder, an affliction with which he had suffered for years, and for which he underwent an operation about 20 years ago.
Mr. Childers had been in poor health for years but always refused to give way to his ill health and kept active in the management of his farm until a few weeks before his death, and not until the day before his death did he consent to enter the hospital, when he was taken to Wallowa and an operation performed from which he was unable to rally.
Mr. Childers was born near Memphis, Scotland county, Missouri, Oct. 24, 1828, and crossed the plains in 1865 with his parents who settled near Summerville, in Union county. He lived with his parents until June 5, 1870 when he was married to Miss Emma J. Tice, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Q. A. Tice, who came from Iowa in 1843 in the second wagon train to cross the plains to the far west. Mr. Childers father, James L. [sic – P.] Childers, died in Summerville in 1896 and his mother passed away in 1901.
Mr. and Mrs. James W. Childers lived on a farm near Summerville until 1892, when they moved to a farm near Elgin, later moving into town where they lived until 1899 when they came to Wallowa county and settled on the farm north of Enterprise which has since been the family home, and where he farmed and raised some stock.
Mr. Childers was one of the earliest pioneers of the Grande Ronde valley and always worked for the advancement of the country and for the cause of education and better facilities. He was a man of high character and moral worth. He was a charter member of Enterprise lodge, No. 154, I.O.O.F., and affiliated with the Masonic order.
Mr. Childers leaves to mourn their loss his widow, Emma J. Childers, and six children: Mrs. Everett Breshears of Los Angeles; Mrs. Lillian Carswell of San Francisco, Calif.; William F. Childers of Enterprise; Mrs. Dora E. Beoker [sic – Becker] of Portland; Albert L. Childers of Enterprise; and Earl Childers of Enterprise; besides several grandchildren. One son, Charles L. Childers, preceded his father to the great beyond. All the living children, except Mrs. Carswell, who is ill in a sanitarium [sic – sanitarium] in Los Angeles, were present at the funeral, which was conducted Sunday at the Methodist church, of which Mr. Childers had been a member.
Card of Thanks
We wish to thank our friends for the beautiful flowers and for their kind expression of sympathy during the sickness and death of our beloved husband and father, also Rev. Wallis and the I. O. O. F. and Rebekah lodges and Mr. Booth for his many favors. – Emma Childers and family.
Enterprise Record Chieftain, Thursday, October 10, 1929, Front Page & Page 4