Keziah Jane Yunker was born May 2, 1837, near Coshocton, Ohio. She departed this life, Friday night, June 23, 1916, aged seventy-nine years, one month, twenty one days. She was the eldest child of Henry and Emily Yunker. When a girl sixteen years of age, she came to Illinois in company with her father's family and her mother's sister, Aunt Mary Metham. They lcoated about two miles southwest of Moccasin. One year later they moved to the present Yunker home, a half mile east of Moccasin. It was from this same home that her spirit went back to God. She rode in a wagon and drove a team, from her native state, to her new home, upon the unbroken prairies of Illinois. She share with others the hardships and privations of pioneer life. The sickness and inconvenience attendant upon her, for one so young, but she assumed the tasks at hand, with a strong will and determination. Far and near was the influence of her kindly ministrations made manifest, in homes where dwelt sickness and sorrow. Her willingness to help others, relieve suffering humanity and comfort and sympathize with those in sorrow endeared Grandma Yerkey to everybody who knew her. She was united in marriage to Andrew Miller, October 31, 1857. For six years they lived happily together, then death took him from her. In November of 1882, she was married to Fredrick Yerkey. The past sixteen years, she made her home with her brothers, Richard and George Yunker, at the old home. Her devotion and attachment to "the Boys" was so marked it was almost pathetic. She united with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Grove in early womanhood and was one of the founders of that class, which now exits as the Methodist Episcopal Church of Moccasin. When her minister called upon her recently, she said, she had kept the faith, and all was well with her and she was not afraid to die. She is survived by three brothers, Richard and George of Moccasin and John of Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and one daughter, Mrs. Rosa Phillips of Altamont.
Funeral services were donducted from the Methodist Episcopal Church in Moccasin by the pastor Rev. J.E. Ewers on Tuesday. The extremely large number of people who came to show their last tribute of respect to one they loved attest the kind regard in which she was held. The flowers were many and beautiful."
We have a typed abstract of the above obituary, which appeared in the Wednesday, July 5, 1916 issue of the "Altamont News".
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