I recently found a 200-year-old article about a family member
who died in 1810. She was a daughter of my 4th-great
grandfather, making her my 4th-great aunt. I offer her story, written by her husband, as
an example of how to live, and how to die.
I look forward to meeting her some day!
Words in [brackets] were added by me. The spelling and punctuation have been left
as they were originally written in 1813.
I added a few comments at the end.
Memoir of Mrs. Ruth Roach, [maiden:
Dixon, daughter of Charles Dunbar Dixon III and
Susanna (Coats) Dixon], Of Cumberland,
Nova Scotia. written by her husband. [Thomas Roach on the
passing of his wife, Ruth Roach. Published in the Wesleyan-Methodist Journal,
London, VOL. XXXVIII. May, 1815, p.
359ff]
My late dear partner was the third daughter of Charles Dixon,
Esq. who removed from about Hutton Rudby, in Yorkshire, to Nova Scotia, in the
year 1771, with many others, several of whom, as well as Mr. Dixon, were
members of the Methodist Society, and were among the first fruits of the
labours of that man of God, the Rev. John Wesley.
My dear wife was brought up by her parents in the fear of
God, and in a strict observance of the duties of religion. In her youth she manifested a love to the
ways of God, and to his people, especially to his ministers, as the heralds of
salvation. When about eighteen years of
age, she joined the Methodist society, and soon found the Gospel to be the
power of God to her salvation. Being of
a very diffident [distrustful, reserved, hesitant] disposition, and afraid of
deceiving herself, she was for a long time, previous to her joining the
society, in great distress of mind; at
length, after many months of sorrow, chiefly spent in tears and prayers, she
was enabled wholly to trust in the Lord Jesus, as her God and Saviour [some versions have those last 9 words blotted out, probably due to horrible Mormon influence].
Her upright and exemplary conduct was manifest to all; and she was considered by all who knew her,
as “an Israelite indeed.”
After some years acquaintance, during which time many prayers
were offered up to God for his blessing and direction in the most important of
all steps in life, we were married on the 30th of October,
1798; and during more than sixteen years
that we lived together, I never once had cause to think otherwise than that our
union was of the Lord. I found her to be
what I had always thought her, a humble, modest, meek, and sincere follower of
the Lord Jesus; attentive to her whole
duty, not only to her God, but to her family and children. She was indeed a most affectionate wife, and
a tender, indulgent mother; attentive to
all her relative duties, even to an
extreme. She was always industrious and
diligent in her family, and in attending constantly to her domestic concerns,
and to that apostolic direction, to be not only “chaste,” but “a keeper at
home.” Yet she always attended the
ordinances of God, and the means of grace, as far as her health and the cares
of her family, would permit. Many were the afflictions which my dear partner in
life endured; being of a very delicate
constitution, and for some time previous to her death, almost constantly
visited with a severe pain in her breast, accompanied with a cough and
shortness of breath, which at length terminated in her death.
On Saturday, the 24th of March [1810], my dear
wife complained, in the morning, of a severe pain in her side, but endeavoured
to attend to the concerns of the family as usual; (her father and mother were at that time with
us on a visit;) but before noon of that
day, she was oblidged to take to her bed, being attacked with violent pain,
chiefly in her left side. The only
physician in that part of the country, (Doctor Rufus Smith, who married her
sister) being from home, she was without any medical aid till Sunday evening,
at which time being bled, and taking some medicine, she appeared better; but in a few hours the pain returned with
greater violence, accompanied with a fever, so that she had a restless
night. The next morning, the doctor
visited her again, and took from her more blood; but still the pain in her side, and her
disorder continued and increased through the night. But though her pain was excruciating, she
endured it with the greatest patience and resignation to the divine will.
On Tuesday, the doctor bled her a third time, and left a
blistering plaister to apply – indeed every means was used, in order to
preserve a life so truly valuable and desirable to her family and numerous
friends; but her disorder had taken too
deep root, to be removed by any medicine.
I then, for the first, began to fear that God was about to take from me
my greatest earthly comfort. I inquired
of her the state of her mind, and she informed me, with her usual sweetness of
temper, that she lamented her not having lived more devoted to God; yet, said she, “I find him a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother. The Lord
is the portion of my soul, and I trust he will never leave me nor forsake me.”
– My whole soul was in an agony, which she observing, in the most tender and
affectionate manner, requested me not to be distressed; expressing, at the same time, how near her
heart my happiness lay; and adding, “I
trust God will spare me a little longer, for the sake of my dear little
family;” for all of whom she then prayed
most fervently. Indeed the happiness and
salvation of her children were, at all times, deeply on her mind. Often in the night, when she supposed all
were asleep, have I heard her, with tears, earnestly intreating God to bestow
his grace and blessing upon each of them.
On Wednesday she grew much worse, and the pain, at times, was
so excessive, that she had to be bolstered up in a chair, not being able to lie
in bed; and hot cloths, sand, &c.
were constantly applied to her side, to remove or mitigate the pain; but all the means made use of, were
ineffectual. That night she was so ill,
that we often thought she was dying: her
pain through the night made her, at times, a little delirious. After having, on our knees, implored God on
her behalf, she said to me, “My dear, will not God give me some relief from
this pain, before he takes me hence?”. – I endeavoured to console her mind, by
assuring her of God’s goodness and faithfulness, in taking care of his
people; and that God, no doubt, would
make all his dispensations work for her ultimate good. She then expressed a great desire to see her
children that were from home; the three
eldest, a son and two daughters, being at a boarding school, the former at the
distance of forty miles, and the latter at Windsor: from which it was then impossible, either to
receive or convey information, as the bason of Minos [now called Minas Basin, map] was
filled with ice, and all communication stopped.
She then said to me, “My dear, you must be both a father and a mother to
my dear children, especially the two youngest;”
repeating, “take care of my dear little Edward, (then about two years
old,) and my poor little Tommy. He was
then about four years old, and lame.
She, at the same time, prayed earnestly for the salvation of all her
children, and mentioned, with concern, her leaving them in such a sinful and
wicked world. I endeavored to relieve
her mind on that subject, by reminding her of the special goodness and
providence of her heavenly Father towards her
all her life, and that he would also care of her children in like manner. To Mrs. B------, a christian friend, who had
continued with her during most of her illness, she expressed her hopes of a
happy immortality, and her confidence in God her Saviour.
I could not bring my mind to the idea of parting with her,
and still, at times, entertained hopes that God would spare her to me; but on Thursday morning, she grew so ill,
that all my hopes failed; and I sent a
man and horse for her eldest son, who, alas! came too late to see alive, one of
the most tender and affectionate of mothers, though she had expressed a great
wish to see him.
Mr. Knowlan, the missionary, who had been several times to
see her during her short but severe illness, came this day, to whom she spoke
freely respecting the things of God, and the concerns of her soul, saying, with
peculiar emphasis, when he first entered the room, “I want dying faith!”
In the afternoon of that day, seeing evidently that she soon
would take her leave of all earthly things, her disorder having terminated in
an inward mortification, my distress became insupportable; my heart was harrowed to the bottom; and I could only intreat of God, to prepare
me for the awful event. I could not bear
to leave her for a moment. She
repeatedly mentioned to me her prospect of glory, and the preciousness of
Christ; and again prayed for her
children; and intreated of me, that I
would continue to bring them up in the ways of God; saying, it was a consolation to her, that she
was leaving them with a father who had so diligently instructed them in the way
to heaven: and then said, “My dear, tell
Susannah (her eldest daughter, then in her fifteenth year) she must be a mother
to my little children; and give as my
dying charge, to her and her sister Jane, that I intreat them to love and fear
God, and walk in his blessed ways.” She
then intreated God to bless all her children;
to give them his heavenly grace;
and to guide them to the end.
Seeing she was dying, my soul sunk in grief, and my distress
was beyond description. I brought her
four children that were at home, to her bedside, (the youngest in my arms,)
whom she embraced, and lifting up her dying eyes to heaven, she begged of God
to bless him with his grace and salvation.
The same she did to her little Tommy;
and taking the other two (Charles and Mary) by the hands, she exhorted
and intreated them to be loving to each other, and obedient to their
parent; and prayed for God’s blessing
upon each of them. After this, summoning
all her strength and resolution, she begged of God to open her mouth, and
enable her to speak for him, and praise him with her latest breath. And, blessed be his holy name, he granted her
request, so that she spoke of God to all present, in such a manner as
astonished every one. To her sister,
Smith, (whom the doctor had brought that day, as he expected her sister was
dying,) she said, “My dear sister, you also must pass through this same dark
valley and shadow of death; and exhorted
her to prepare for it. After this, she
took her dying leave of all present, saying to each, in a manner, and with an
emphasis that went to my very heart, and which I can never forget, “Farewel
! farewel !” and then, with uplifted
eyes, added, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
Seeing my dear wife was just departing, taking her cold dying
hands in mine, which she pressed with all her remaining strength, I asked her
if Jesus will still precious, and if her views of glory increased? She with some difficulty answered in the
affirmative, and took her last dying leave of me, and, without a struggle or
groan, resigned her happy spirit into the hands of that gracious God whom she
had so many years loved and served! Mr.
Knowlan, and all in the room at the time, were improving the mournful event on
their knees. Thus did this saint of God
take her everlasting flight from this world of sorrow, to the paradise of God,
about six o’clock in the afternoon of Thursday, the 29th March,
1810, in the thirty-eighth year of her age [meaning she was what we’d call 37
years old], leaving an afflicted husband, with seven children, to deplore her
irreparable loss. But their loss is her
eternal gain. May I die the death of the
righteous: may my last end be like hers!
On the Sunday following, Mr. Knowlan endeavoured to improve
this severe dispensation, to the greatest number of people ever before
collected on the like mournful occasion in that part of the country [some
records indicate 500 attended her funeral];
from Psalm cxvi. 15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of
his saints;” and after sermon he
consigned her mortal remains to the grave, amidst the tears of her numerous
relations and friends.
[The End]
If you don’t have Ruth’s faith – if you can’t really
comprehend what Mr. Roach wrote about his godly wife – if you haven’t been born
again, been made a new creature in Christ, and found complete forgiveness of all
your sins by faith alone in Christ alone (not by works!) – then please!, read
my little “gospel” (good news) page at www.RUforgiven.org . For
the glory of the risen Son, Dave.
Including open 365 days No gclub public holidays And most customers trust. And if you find the word
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