IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
PHOEBE KELLUM MERICLE
(1820-1893)
OBITUARY, 1893
1 item
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ACQUISITION: |
The obituary
(donor no. 413) was donated by Pat Baker in 1997. |
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ACCESS: |
The obituary
is open for research. |
|
PROCESSED BY: |
Kristen Rassbach, 1997. |
Biography
Phoebe Kellum was born on November 11, 1820, near
Binghamton, New York. She married Jacob
Mericle in 1841; they had four children before deciding to move west in 1849
because of Jacob Mericle's health. The
family settled in Pleasant Valley Township, about six miles from what is now
Fort Dodge. The area was completely
wild, and their only neighbors were Indians.
Mericle gave birth to the first white child born in Webster County. When Jacob Mericle proposed to the
government that the white people of the area needed protection, two companies
of soldiers were sent to establish Fort Clarke, which was later named Fort
Dodge. Mericle died in her home in 1893
after having been sick for about six weeks.
Scope and
Content Note
The Phoebe Kellum Mericle obituary is from
the Fort Dodge newspaper of October 24, 1893.