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- AN OLD PIONEER CALLED AWAY SUDDENLY
"In the middle of living we are embraced by death." This unpleasant truth was confirmed anew through the sudden death of Mr. Friedrich Hake from North Prairie. Apparently he had left his home and had gone with his son Alfred to the Illinois Southern Railroad to go to Huegely where he planned to board the trin to Nashville. About 40 acres from the house of Mr. Wm. Brink, Sr., Mr. Hake suffered a stroke and fell to the ground. mr. Wm. aussieker, who had set out in the woods and likewise was going to the railroad, saw him fall and hurried quickly to the place, but the soul had already passed. the deceased had fallen backwards and lay with the right hand stretched out and the left hand on the chest. Without pain, without struggle, he went to eternal rest -- he would never reach his earthly goal but did reach the heavenly goal, which he had always anticipated.
As soon as Mr. Aussieker was sure that the life was gone, he lifted the departed from the track and notified Mr. Wm. Brink, Sr., who with Mr. Friedrich Neuhaus, brought the body home. The sorrow of his relatives from the heavy blow of fate which took from them their husband and father is more to be contemplated than described. He had already had two strokes from which he fully recovered; in the past year he enjoyed good health.
The post-mortem examination was held on Tuesday evening and the report read death by heart attack. The jury consisted of Dr. Walter Burgess, Henry Hake, Jr., J. H. C. Wiese, Friedrich Wacker, Friedrich Krughoff, Sr., and Henry Maschhoff. Mr. Hake was born on February 8, 1834, in the farming community Hordinghausen, the parish of Lindorf, (Post Office Wittlage) in Hanover, Germany, and came in 1848 with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Friedrich Hake, Sr., to the United States.
From St. Louis they moved to North Priarie about a year later. On the 12th of August, 1860, Mr. Hake married Miss Sophia Hartmann, daughter of Mr. Heinrich Hartmann, the union of which was blessed with 15 children of whom 3 sons and a daughter preceded the father in death. He leaves behind, besides his grieving widow, 11 children: Louis Hake, Mrs. Lizzie Huck, Mrs. Martha Krughoff, George, Edward, Frank, and Miss Sarah Hake, Alfred, Joseph, Albert ad Lorenz Hake, as well as 22 grandchildren, a foster son and two brothers, Heinrich and Ernst Hake.
Mr. Hake was one of the first German settlers of this county and from very modest beginnings he brought it to prosperity through diligence, caution and thrift. When he came to North Priairie, everything was still a wilderness, but the hard working hands of the good German changed forest and prairie into fine farmland. The hard work and the self-denial radiated the character, and in the rigorous school of life, Mr. Hake became a man of unbending will and energy. His fellow citizens proved to him their respect because they frequently bequeathed honorary offices to him. He was, therefore, repeatedly Township Assessor, Justice of the Peace, and for over 20 years a school trustee. In famly life he was a loving husband, a caring father and saw his children grow up to be useful, honest people.
As a young man, he attended the German Methodist Church and helped to establish the first Methodist parish in North Prairie. About 40 years he presided as Superintendent of the Sunday School there wand worked at the same time as a local minister. Just last Sunday he preached in the Methodist Church in Hoyleton, but the thought never occurred to his listeners that they had heard his voice for the last time. The Sunday School pupils whom he had instructed so many years in the scriptures and the parishioners to whom he showed the way to salvation will preserve fond memory of him and through him the promise will be fulfilled: "The teachers will give light as the splendor of heaven and they direct so many to righteousness as the stars, always and eternally."
The funeral will take place tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in the church in North Prairie, whereupon burial will follow at the cemetery there. Our sincere sympathy is extended to the sorrowing survivors.
(Illinois Volksblatt, 15 January 1903)
FRIEDRICH W. HAKE LAID TO REST
On Friday afternoon the funeral of Mr. F. W. Hake was held in the German Methodist Church in North Prairie. At the house of mourning a short funeral service was held under the direction of Rev. Miller. Rev. Pannwitt said the prayer. The exceptionally large funeral procession moved to the church here, which was filled to such capacity with mourners that many could not gain entrance. The Chorus sang the favorite song of the deceased:
"Eternally with the Lord,
Shall be my life's fate
These words shall always be my hope
It shall close heaven's gate."
Rev. Pannwitt gave the prayer after which the elder superior F. Mahle from Belleville gave a comforting message about the words: Christ is my life, dying my victory." The deceased had chosen these words as his life's motive. At the end of the service, the mourners sorrowfully looked for the last time upon the countenance of their friend lying in peaceful slumber. The pastors Eirich, Katthain and Schroedel were present at the funeral service. Because the deceased departed so suddenly and the possibility of an apparent death could not be excluded, the burial was postponed. After the service on Sunday morning, the deceased was buried at the parish cemetery. His grave site is near the church in which he worked with great blessing almost a lifetime as a local minister and Sunday School Superintendent. While he slumbers in teh narrow chamber toward resurrection day, he will live on in the memory of loving friends.
(Illinois Volksblatt 22 January 1903)
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1834 - 1903 (68 years)
