Clara Dawson Fountain

1801 - 1922  (121 years)

• Name	Clara Dawson Fountain
  Birth	7 May 1801	, Culpeper, Virginia, USA   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Residence	1880	Chesapeake, Elizabeth City, Virginia, USA   [2]
  Residence	18 Jun 1885	Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA   [3]
  Residence	1900	Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA   [4]
  	Marital Status: Widowed; Relation to Head: Mother
  Residence	1910	Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA   [5]
  Residence	1920	Waco, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA   [6]
  Death	9 Sep 1922	Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA   [1, 7]
  Burial	Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA   [1]
  Person ID	I50928	Master
  Last Modified	6 Mar 2024

  
  

  Family	Nelson Briley,   b. 1800, , Culpeper, Virginia, USA d. 1863, , Culpeper, Virginia, USA (Age 63 years)
  Children	1. Dawson Briley + 2. Nelson S Briley, Jr,   b. Apr 1842, , , Kentucky, USA d. 23 Dec 1920, Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA (Age 78 years)
  Family ID	F11475	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	6 Mar 2024

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 7 May 1801 - , Culpeper, Virginia, USA Residence - 1880 - Chesapeake, Elizabeth City, Virginia, USA Residence - 18 Jun 1885 - Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA Residence - 1900 - Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA Residence - 1910 - Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA Residence - 1920 - Waco, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA Death - 9 Sep 1922 - Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA Burial - - Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Negro Star, Friday, September 15, 1922, Page 1 CENTENARIAN PASSES AWAY AT THE AGE OF 121 YEARS OLD Leaving Children To The Fourth Generation High Tributes Paid Her By Ministers Of The City The funeral services of Mrs. Clara Dawson Fountain was held Tuesday afternoon at the St. Matthews C.M.E. Church at 2:30 o'clock. Rev. H.H. Edmonds, pastor, conducted the services, and was ably assisted by other ministers of the city, all of whom paid her the highest tribute of esteem and honor. Long before the hour for the funeral services, men and women from various walks of life had gathered at the church and taxed its seating and standing capacity. Men, women and children stood motionless to catch the last word of the solemn funeral rites. School children lingered outside to watch the funeral procession. The funeral of this old sainted Centenarian took an unusual form and a seeming touch of grief possessed the audience during the service. Each speaker portrayed the good and the beautiful life lived by Mother Fountain and on this particular and unusual occasion death was clothed in beauty. For one hundred years, she had lived a devoted Christian life. Her favorite passage of Scripture was the 23d Psalm and her favorite songs were "Savior More Than Life To Me" and "He Knows it All." Rev. Edmond chose as his text Proverb 31:110. Nor could a more fitting chapter have been chosen to emulate the life of Mrs. Fountain. She has not only been faithful to her immediate children, but was loved by her children of the third and fourth generation because of the pure, sweet, serene life she had lived. The tenderness and sweetness of her soul radiated thru the long life of toil, sacrifice and service. It was said that "She never complained of life and that even though she had lived thru the horrors of the wars of the 19th century she was glad to give her great grandson during the World's War, with the hope that peace and good will for all mankind might be perfected. Rev. Fishback Pays Highest Tribute. Rev. E.T. Fishback paid mother Fountain the highest possible tribute, as a woman, a mother and a Christian. He attributed her long life of usefulness and service to the fact that she feared and loved her Creator. Meek, and lowly, she lived in humble submission to her Father. This together with her purity and simplicity of habits prolonged her life to six score years and one according to God's Word." Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Clara Dawson Fountain Mrs. Clara Dawson Fountain was born in Culpepper County, Virginia May 7, 1801. Died September 9, 1922 at 9:45 a.m. She was borned of a slave mother, and her father was her mother's master. When fifteen years of age she married one of her master's slaves, Andrew Gath, he died shortly after their marriage. Later she was married to Nelson Briley. Several children were borned to her, and her husband die while yet a slave. When the Civil War came, Mrs. Fountain had spent over half a century in slavery, and gave her two oldest sons to the cause of freedom. After the Emancipation Proclamation was declared she moved in Charlestown, S.C., with her children. A few years later she went to Louisville, Ky. In 1884 they made their way to Hasting, Nebraska, here she resided until four years ago, when she came to Wichita, Kans. She joined the C.M.E. Church, February 1921. Mrs. Fountain worked hard on her master's tobacco plantation and learned to smoke a pipe at the age of 12 years old. She attributed her youthfulness and long life to simplicity of habits, out of door work and Christian faith. She is survived by one son, Dawson Briley, 72 years old, of this city, 19 grand children and 10 great, great grand-children, one of her grandsons Dr. N.D. Briley, is a practicing physician of this city. The record of her birth was sent to her a few years ago by her former master's children, and this record verifies the statement that she was the oldest citizen of the State of Kansas and among the oldest in the United States. Other ministers, who spoke of this beautiful character were Rev. Douglass, Rev. Brown and Rev. Hancock. The body was buried in Highland Cemetery. "She sleeps in peace and all is well."

  
  

• Sources

  [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.). [S230] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1880 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.), Year: 1880; Census Place: Chesapeake, Elizabeth City, Virginia; Roll: 1363; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 013. [S169] Ancestry.com, Nebraska, State Census, 1885, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002.). [S233] Ancestry.com, 1900 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.). [S234] Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.). [S232] Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.), Year: 1920; Census Place: Waco, Sedgwick, Kansas; Roll: T625_548; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 115. [S1322] Ancestry.com, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), The Minden News; Publication Date: 15 May 1914; Publication Place: Minden, Nebraska, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/726815420/?article=c0fed16b-d5df-4ec9-b953-2eef1753cb60&focus=0.36758143,0.31157798,0.5243844,0.4335518&xid=3355.