Mount Morris Index, Mount Morris, Ogle, IL

Thursday, October 11, 1928

John W. Dierdorff Is Laid to Rest Friday

Final Rites Held at Home for Respected Resident of This City for Past 24 Years

Funeral services were conducted Friday afternoon at his late home on West Main Street for John W. Dierdorff, brief mention of whose death was made in last week's Index, by Rev. G. L. Wine. Interment was made in Emmert Cemetery near Franklin Grove.

Death was due to a complication of diseases caused by advanced age and relieved the suffering to which he had bee subjected for several years. For many years a member of the Church of the Brethren, he was a man who held the respect and friendship of all with whom he came in contact and the city in which he had resided for the past 24 years mourns with his family in the loss of an upright citizen in every sense of the word.

John W. Dierdorff was born near Gettysburg, Pa. August 18, 1848. Died in Mount Morris, October 3, 1928, aged 79 years, 1 month, 18 days. He came to Franklin Grove with his parents when he was one year old, where he grew to manhood.

On Dec. 22, 1872, he was married to Hannah Slifer. To this union were born eight children one of whom, Stella Viola, died in infancy. The others are Charley, of Riverside, California; Vinna and Mrs. Mabel Allen, who reside in the home and cared for him in his illness; Mrs. Flora Plum of Polo, Mrs. Olive Miller of Syracuse, Ind., Virgil of Mount Morris and Russell of West Milford, N.J. There are 13 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Also one brother, Daniel Dierdorff, of North Dakota. Three sisters preceded him to the glory world, Sue Rief in 1918, Matilda Buck in 1925 and Mary White in April, 1928.

At the age of 23 he joined the Church of the Brethren and was a loyal and faithful member from that time until the Master called him higher. In 1894 he was elected to the ministry. He was rather reserved in his manner and never took an active part in the ministry, but his quiet exemplary life was more powerful than his sermons. He served as Sunday School Superintendent in a most efficient way for a number of years in the West Branch Church. He lived 10 years in Kansas but spent most of his life in Northern Illinois, having lived in Mount Morris the past 24 years. Though quiet and unassuming, he will be missed by his family, friends and neighbors and most of all by his wife, to whom he was a constant companion and comfort since her affliction over 2 years ago.

Contributed by Peg Allen Arnold

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