Yesterday Mr. J. Van Buskirk received a letter from his son Stewart of Dawson City, Alaska, conveying the sad intelligence of the death of his wife, Ruth, (nee Ruth A. Dunn), after a short illness from typhoid fever.
Mrs. Van Buskirk was visiting friends some thirty miles from their home at Dawson, and it was several days after she was taken sick before Stewart was notified of her illness. She did not consider herself seriously ill and did not want to alarm her husband and friends unnecessarily. When Stewart was finally apprised of her condition he hastened to her bedside to find that she was dangerously ill. He at once dispatched a carrier to Dawson for the best physician in the territory and employed a trained nurse, so that with excellent friends she had the best of care and medical attention. But all to no avail; it was God's will that she be taken and to His will all must humbly bow.
Deceased's mother, Mrs. L. H. Dunn, returned yesterday from Mt. Clemens, where she has been under treatment in a hospital, and she is prostrated with grief.
Deceased was born and raised here and has a wide circle of friends and associates who will be greatly shocked to learn of her untimely death.
The Review will next week give a biographical sketch of deceased.
Newspaper:
Alcona County Review
NewspaperDate:
Thursday, August 29, 1901
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RUTH DUNN-VAN BUSKIRK.
Ruth Dunn-Van Buskirk was born in Harrisville township on July 16, 1873, died at Gold Bottom, Alaska, August 2nd, 1901. She attended the public schools of the township and village until she reached the age of 16 years, when she graduated from the Harrisville high school, being president of the class of 1890, under professorship of S. E. Schall. During the next five years she taught in the schools of this county and at Tawas. On June 30th, 1895, she was married to Stewart Van Buskirk of Harrisville. They lived here until the fall of 1897, when Mr. Van Buskirk went to Alaska. Mrs. Van Buskirk followed her husband to the gold fields in February, 1898, and remained there about a year, when she returned to Michigan. In August, 1900, she again joined her husband at Grand Forks, Alaska, where she had since resided. She was visiting friends at Gold Bottom, about twenty miles from home, when she was stricken with her last illness.
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The exact date of Mrs. Van Buskirk's death is not given in the letter announcing her death. The letter stated that she was buried on August 4th. Mrs. Dunn received a letter from Ruth dated August 1st and from this it is thought she died either the same day the letter was written or the day following. In her last letter Ruth complained of not feeling well, but there was nothing to indicate that she was seriously ill, and the news of her death was a shock for which her parents and friends were wholly unprepared.
Newspaper:
Alcona County Review
NewspaperDate:
Thursday, September 5, 1901
