The Byron Express
Jan 12, 1883
Obituary
Died in the town of Byron, Ogle county, Illinois, December 28, 1882, Mr. Thomas Linn, of organic disease of the heart, of many years standing, and the cause of much suffering.
He was born in Pique, Ohio, Nov. 29, 1825; was united in marriage with Elizabeth Bennett of his native town, May 7, 1851, removed to Illinois May 12, 1855, where he and Mrs. Linn united by letter with the Middle Creek Presbyterian Church a few Sabbaths after its organizations, and where he continued to worship regularly as an honored and worthy member to the time of his death. He proved his faith by his works, in dedicating his oldest son, E. B. Linn, to the Ministry of the church, whom he lived to see as a licentiate in the sacred desk. On the 2nd Sabbath of September last, after listening to the first sermon his son preached in the Middle Creek Church, he said to the pastor, with much feeling: " I can now says with good old Simeon, Lord now lettest thou, they servant depart in peace," and he added: "My work is done I have seen and tasted its fruits, and am satisfied."
He was out but seldom after that, declining rapidly until the Christmas Holidays, when with his children all around him, he gently fell asleep in Jesus, and instead of being the center of the accustomed family gathering, to do the honors of the host, that were his upon that Christmas time, he found himself an invited guest in the company of "the general assembly and Church of the First Born," who were celebrating their celestial Christmas jubilee in the Presence chamber of the Glorified Christ.
What a joyful surprise! What a glorious welcome awaited him there! What a thrill of delight must have swept and vibrated along every chord of his whole being, as he looked upon the scene, and tasted its perennial joys.
How different the reality of his Christmas joys to what he had planned, but oh how sweet the rest to his tired spirit. How welcome the company of the Saints. How satisfying the feast to his hungry soul. How rapturous the song that like the sound of many waters rose and fell and rose again to fill all Heaven with the sweetness of its melodies. How transcendently glorious the King in His beauty, who is the light and the life of all the Heavenly guests; as well as the theme of their songs and the fountain of their joys. The onward flow of whose being is numbered by cycles, and not by years, in the eternal celebration of that Heavenly world.
We would not call him back if that were possible, nor may the joy he reels by one complaining thought or word of ours. 'Tis well, God knoweth best.
He leaves a wife and five children, three sons and two daughters, the oldest son, Rev. E. B. Linn, of the present senior class in the Northwestern Seminary at Chicago, a large circle of relatives and friends to mourn his loss to them. J.S. BRADDOCKReturn to Ogle Co. Genealogy Site