Ohio History Journal

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FUNERAL OF ADAM WILLIS WAGNALLS

FUNERAL OF ADAM WILLIS WAGNALLS

 

September 24, 1843, Adam Willis Wagnalls first

opened his eyes to the light in the village of Lithopolis,

Fairfield County, Ohio. On Wednesday evening, Sep-

tember 3, 1924, at the close of a life rich in good works

and meritorious achievements, Adam Willis Wagnalls

closed his eyes for the last time on earthly scenes at

"Doremi Manor," Northport, Long Island, New York,

the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mabel Wagnalls Jones.

Lithopolis, the little village in which he was born,

has grown little in the past eighty-one years. Mr. Wag-

nalls was called to the metropolis of the United States

where in business achievement, philanthropy and the

promotion of education and literary enterprises he grew

much in the same period.

He never forgot, however, the modest village and the

humble home of his childhood days. His desire that

his own obsequies might be conducted in the little church

of the village and that there he might find his final rest-

ing place was fully realized in the funeral services at-

tending his return to his native village. It was also

his desire to build here a memorial that might testify

to the good people of Lithopolis and their children

through the years to come his never-failing interest in

their welfare and his desire to afford to others op-

portunities for education and culture that he did not

have in his boyhood days. This memorial was approach-

ing completion at the time of his death. In this work

he has had the cordial sympathy and devoted aid of

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