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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502
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
his daughter, Mrs. Mabel Wagnalls
Jones, a cultured
woman who has made an enviable
reputation for her-
self in literature and music.
In a future issue of the QUARTERLY we
hope to
give a fuller description of the
memorial to Mr. Wag-
nalls that is now approaching
completion. It is to be
dedicated on Memorial Day, 1925. Edwin
Markham,
the dean of American poets, is to
deliver the dedicatory
address. The memorial may be briefly
described here
as a building of pure Tudor-Gothic
type, made of
native stone. It will contain a large
library room, with
shelving space for about twenty
thousand volumes, a
large auditorium, with a capacity for
seating about five
hundred people. This auditorium will be
equipped with
a large Welte Philharmonic reproducing
pipe organ,
a Welte-Mignon reproducing piano,
moving picture
machines and other equipment.
In the basement there will be a large
social room,
equipped with tables, chairs, dishes,
kitchen and ac-
cessories for the holding of community
social meetings.
The tower will contain two trophy rooms
for paintings,
valuable manuscripts and autograph
letters from men
and women eminent in fields of
activity. The famous
collection of O. Henry letters,
reproduced in Letters
to Lithopolis, from O. Henry to
Mabel Wagnalls, the
well known volume from the pen of Mrs.
Mabel Wag-
nalls Jones, will be permanently
preserved there. The
manuscript collection left by Mr.
Wagnalls must be a
remarkable one and it will be a matter
of interest, not
only to Ohioans but to literary men and
women every-
where, to know that this collection is
to be permanently
preserved in the memorial building at
Lithopolis.
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504 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
This building and its contents will be
dedicated to
the perpetual use of the people of
Lithopolis and Bloom
Township, Fairfield County. It will be
free from all
encumbrances. An ample endowment will
be provided
for its perpetual maintenance. It
imposes no financial
obligation upon the local community or
the state. It
is in truth a free gift to Lithopolis
and Bloom Township
for all time. It will of course be open
for inspection and
reference purposes under proper
regulations to a much
wider patronage.
Reserving a fuller description of the
memorial for
the future, we here record the very
impressive obsequies
of this distinguished Ohioan in his
native village, Sep-
tember 6, 1924. The funeral was
characteristic of the
man as he lived, without pomp and show,
and was as
he would have wished it. The address
was delivered
by Edwin Markham, dean of American
poets, who
came from his home at West New
Brighton, New York,
to pay tribute to his friend in the
little church at Lithop-
olis. This eminent man of letters gave
expression of
his appreciation of the departed and
his message of
comfort to the living as follows:
ADDRESS OF EDWIN MARKHAM
MY DEAR FRIENDS: Adam Wagnalls honored
me with his
friendship for twenty-five years.
We are gathered here today to pay honor
to this great hus-
band, great father, great business man,
great citizen -- a man that
we mourn, a man that America mourns. He
was an honor to
American business and he was an honor
to American manhood.
I am here that I may gratify the noble
pleasure of praising.
What nobler and higher and finer
emotion than to, be able to, praise
those we have known for years, those
who have stood steadfast
in their places and who have been an
honor to life.
506 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Adam Wagnalls was born in Lithopolis in
1843. We bring
him back to his birthplace. He lived
well here, he will sleep well
here.
Adam Wagnalls was a religious man. He
believed in the un-
seen; he believed that there are powers
higher than man. He
believed that there is a world back of
this world, that there is a
soul of this world, which we may call
the spiritual world, the
world that receives all souls at death.
This good man was typical of the
mid-west. He was strong,
rugged, honest, frank, confiding. He had
faith in man; and in a
certain sense there is no greater faith
than faith in man; because,
in general, those who have faith in man,
have faith in God, and
those who have no faith in man have no
faith in God. The last,
and perhaps saddest of all infidelity,
is the utter disbelief of man
in man.
Mr. Wagnalls was educated at the
Wittenberg Theological
college. He acquired wide knowledge on
many serious questions.
He became a student and a scholar. Later
he organized the
Lutheran Church in Kansas where 'he
served the people for a
season, and about this time his aunt
appears upon the scene.
She was romantic, and she asked him a
romantic question:
"Adam, are you looking for a wife?
What is your ideal?"
Adam answered that his ideal was a poor
girl working her way
through college. "I know her,"
shouted his aunt very gayly, "I
know her; she is in Xenia Female
College."
After a few preliminaries, these two
young persons were
made acquainted. Adam. went to see her
graduate, this young,
energetic, intellectual woman; and a
little later their fortunes
were linked together in marriage.
Adam Wagnalls married the right woman. I
remember her
well. She was one of the noblest and finest
women I have ever
known -- a woman of charm, a woman of
brains, strong, coura-
geous, a Roman matron, intelligent,
alert, devoted. She helped
her husband in every imaginable way. She
was the pulse of the
home; she was the fire that warmed the
house. She helped also
in all of Mr. Wagnalls' business
ventures. She was a counselor
and a guide, a woman of seasoned
character, a woman of ideas
and ideals.
Next we hear of Adam Wagnalls as a
lawyer. His darling
wife was on hand, even in this new
venture, and studied law with
him. They moved together like swan and
shadow.
Now, in 1876, with $5,000, the savings
of years, they moved
to New York City. There Mr. Wagnalls met
Isaac Funk, an old
college friend whom Adam had known in
Wittenberg. He found
Mr. Funk engaged in editing a magazine
called The Complete
Funeral of Adam Willis Wagnalls 507
Preacher. It was just beginning, it was struggling in its first
in-
fancy. Only two or three numbers had
been issued.
Mr. Funk invited Mr. Wagnalls to join in
the fortunes of the
new magazine; and at that time the great
partnership was formed,
the partnership that finally developed
into what is known as the
Funk and Wagnalls Company, now in
existence in New York
City, and one of the most powerful and
formidable companies in
America, perhaps in the world.
Adam Wagnalls put his little all, his
$5,000, into that maga-
zine. This was the foundation-stone of
the great publishing
house, the greatest of its kind in
America.
In the beginning the two men began
humbly. They had only
a small desk in the corner of an office.
They had only money
enough to pay for this one little desk,
one sitting on one side of
the desk and the other on the other
side. From that small be-
ginning grew the great house now known
all over the world.
That $5,000 was the acorn that produced
the great oak.
Funk and Wagnalls were a fine
combination. Mr. Funk was a
dreamer, an adventurer, a man of
imagination. Mr. Wagnalls
was the stabilizer, the pathfinder, the
man who furnished founda-
tions for dreams, furnished a ballast
for the imagination. Mr.
Funk called him "the genius of
caution". Moreover, Mr. Wag-
nalls was an encyclopaedia of facts. He
was crammed to the
brim with information about life, facts
that were important in
this business into which they had
entered. Thus he was invalu-
able; a man who could be appealed to on
all occasions. He
had wide information, and yet there was
in him no boasting, no
assumption of universal knowledge.
Finally, the company become book
publishers. Their idea
was to print good books at a small cost.
I have many of their
great little books on my library shelves
at home on Staten Island.
They also began to print great works,
colossal productions.
The Jewish Encyclopaedia was one; The Standard Dictionary was
another. This dictionary cost a million
dollars merely to pre-
pare the manuscript. Altogether, I
consider this the most useful
dictionary I know of, because I can find
many out-of-the-way
words in it, words that do not appear in
the other dictionaries I
possess.
It was these two men who established The
Literary Digest, a
most valuable weekly, perhaps the most
widely distributed and
read literary journal in the world. I
could not get on without it
as a weekly peep-hole into world affairs.
It was Adam Wagnalls who laid the plans
for financing all
these great undertakings.
But the greatest achievement of Adam
Wagnalls remains to
508 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
be spoken of -- I refer to his
distinguished daughter, Mabel
Wagnalls, now Mrs. Mabel Wagnalls Jones;
for she is married
to Mr. Richard Jones, a genial and
powerful personality, a man
who takes a deep and intelligent
interest in all of her many lines
of literary work. And she has many
lines, for she is a novelist, a
playwright, a musician, as well as a
great-hearted and most lova-
ble woman. She has won, and is still
winning, honors in all these
artistic lines of activity. Her finest
work the world will not
willingly let die.
I scarcely need to tell you that the
remarkable Library and
Social Center now being erected in your
town of Lithopolis is the
work of her hand. This work was conceived
in love. It rose out
of her love for her parents of blessed
memory, and also out of
her love for her people. She desires
that others shall have the
cultural opportunities that were denied
to her parents in those
early days in the Mid-West.
Now, let me say that Adam Wagnalls was
more than a busi-
ness man. He was a spiritual prince
among men. He was a gen-
tleman of the old order. One of the old
dramatists, back in the
time of Queen Elizabeth, called Jesus
"the first true gentleman
that ever lived." It is enough then
to say that Adam Wagnalls
was a true gentleman.
His character was an epitome of
well-nigh all the virtues--
sobriety and earnestness, unobtrusive
generosity, simplicity in
manners. Finally, let me say that he
nursed no grudges; he had no
rancor; he carried no ill-feeling
against people. He might be
somewhat on the lookout for rogues, but
all honest people had
his whole-hearted confidence.
Adam Wagnalls was the flower of
geniality. It is a feeling
of mine that no one has a right to be
morose or gloomy, always
throwing out dark clouds upon those
around him. It is our duty
to be genial as far as possible, and to
save others from the burden
of our gloomy moods. Adam radiated good
cheer.
This man was also humble. Perhaps his humility
was his
greatest characteristic. And let me say, in passing,
that humility
seems to me to be the greatest power in
the character. And by
humility I do not mean servility; I do
not mean the continual
statement that we are worms of the dust.
Humility is far more
dignified than that. Humility is the
greatest force in character.
Humility is self-effacement in the
presence of the truth. If you
have reached a point where you are
willing to efface yourself,
your ego, your self-importance, when you
come into the presence
of any truth, and say, "I will put
all my self-interest behind me;
I will look this squarely in the eye and
see if it is true; and, if I
find it true, I will accept it and live
by it -- then you are a humble
Funeral of Adam Willis Wagnalls 509
man. It takes power to do this. It takes
character, to do this.
If the acceptance of a truth causes us
to lose something, still the
true man, the humble man, will accept it
and live by it in spite of
all the worldly losses. Such strong
souls are sons of the Christ,
children of the Kingdom. And because he
was humble, he had the
power to listen. Only a few persons have
the power to listen.
Frequently, when two persons are
talking--and especially when
they get the least bit excited, and both
want to talk at once,--
neither listens. A doesn't want to
listen to B, because he is wait-
ing for B to get through so he can talk.
I takes power to be able
to listen.
Adam Wagnalls was a prince of courtesy.
And this courtesy
extended into his home. It was not kept
merely for public oc-
casion; for he was as courteous to his
wife and daughter as
though they had been distinguished
visitors, and that is quite
remarkable, to be as courteous to your
wife and daughter as to
visitors. That is quite notable. That is
as it ought to be.
He was courteous even to servants. He
assumed no supe-
riority over any one because he was a
mere helper. He remem-
bered perhaps that Jesus said, "I
am a servant," remembered
also that no greater thing ever fell
from these Divine lips than the
words: "He that would be the
greatest among you, let him be the
servant of all."
Love ruled the life of Adam Wagnalls,
love based on justice.
What is wrong with the world, my
friends? There isn't any-
thing wrong with the world, except that
it has only a very little
love and justice in it. You can have no
love without justice,
because upon justice stand the beautiful
feet of love.
This man had the power to love; this
great and benign soul
was a lover. So I am happy to say, what
you all know and be-
lieve, that those who love here on earth
go on to join those who
love in the world of immortal spirits.
The drama of life does not
end here on earth; the drama only begins
here; life is only the
beginning. The few little years we spend
on earth are only the
first scene in a Divine Drama that
extends on into eternity.
Death is not a catastrophe, is not a
final collapse of all the
forces. It is only an incident in the
long journey of the soul, in
the long career of the spirit.
And this is an appropriate moment to
speak briefly of the
great and anxious question of survival.
It concerns us all. Does
man survive the grave? Does he pass
onward to some wonderful
existence beyond the Shadow of the
Valley? If he does, we ought
to know something about it, for that
fact would have a great deal
to do with our daily life. For it is a
beautiful thing to look far
ahead--to take the short step with a long look. I
believe there
are more revelations of life to come. I
believe that God is a
510 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Divine Dramatist; that He has created a
great drama with many
exits and many entrances; that life is only one scene
in this Ro-
mance of the Infinite.
Now it looks as though the footsteps die
out at the grave.
We see no footstep going beyond.
But the wise know that seemings are
often deceptive. We
see the stars set; but no star goes
down, but it climbs another
sky. So I believe that, when the soul
disappears from one world,
it disappears only to enter upon another
scene in the wondrous
Romance of Eternity.
So I bear witness to my faith in another
existence. That we
should survive death is not to me
incredible. The thing that is
incredible is life itself. Why should
there be any life at all? Why
should this world of stars have ever
come into existence? Why
should you be here, why should I be here
this afternoon? Why
should we be here in this sun-illumined
universe? Why should
there be green earth under our feet? How
did all this happen?
This wonder that we know, this is the
incredible thing. What
power projected it all into existence?
This challenges my faith,
excites my astonishment, lifts me to the
ineffable.
Well, but we are here. Some Power has
called us here out
of the unknown. We did not come of our
own wills. Some
Higher Power has evolved it all. And the
power that has caused
this revelation of wonder and mystery
can easily have prepared
for us another surprise beyond the
shadow of death. And I be-
lieve that this stupendous power we call
God has created a world
beyond this world, a world of spirit for
the spirit of man.
And there is a philosophy of spirit that
supports this view,
and Saint Paul gives us the key to it in
that great statement that
--there are bodies natural and there are
bodies spiritual;-- that
is to say, there are two kinds of
substances. There is a natural
or physical substance and there is a
spiritual substance. In other
words, we must keep in mind that
physical things do not repre-
sent all the kinds of substance in our
world.
We know something of material substance:
we see the forms
of matter all around us. But these forms
of matter in themselves,
are not living forms. They take on the
appearance of life -- these
plants and animals and men -- because
there are living spiritual
forms within them. Matter is dead; and
whenever a material
form seems alive, it is because a
spiritual form from the Spiritual
world is living and functioning within
that material form.
Why am I here speaking to you today? Not
because I am a
form of physical substance; not because
I am a form of dust; not
because I am a form of matter, because
matter cannot speak.
Matter has no life in itself. Matter
cannot talk; matter cannot
Funeral of Adam Willis Wagnalls 511
think; matter cannot see. If you want to
know what matter can
do, pick up a handful of dust on the
road. It does not think. You
think! Therefore, back of the human body there is a thinker--
something that is spirit, something that
is substance, something
that is deathless, something that has
the higher God-stuff in it.
What is this that is talking to you
today ? It is a spirit: I am
a spirit, My soul is talking to your soul.
In the light of this philosophy there
are no forces in the
world except spiritual forces. There are no such things as
material forces. The winds blow and the
clouds move and the
waves dash and the thinker thinks, all
through spiritual forces,
whose source is the spiritual world. For
back of this veil of
matter there is the living, pulsing
Spiritual World, living and
pulsing within all these physical forms.
All this wonder we call
Nature is only the time-vesture of the
Eternal.
So we are now spirits. You don't become
a spirit at death:
You are now a spirit. You are now a
soul, and a soul is an
organism. Hence every physical organ has a spiritual organ
within it, giving form and stability to
the physical. So when the
spirit-form leaves the body at death, the
body begins to crumble,
for nothing is left to maintain the
tissues of the body. The soul
is the form-maker; "the soul is
form and doth the body make."
So at this moment I do not look at you
with my physical eye but
through it. For I have a spiritual eye--a
spiritual hand, a
spiritual brain. Indeed, I am now an
organic spiritual man, com-
plete for all the purposes of our human
life.
Keep steadily in mind that I do not
think with my physical
brain but through it; that I do not feel
with my physical hand,
but feel through it; and so with all the
organs.
Keep also in mind that--The soul is an
organism complete
in all its parts. What was the ground of
the old skeptics? They
said that the physical brain secretes
thoughts: therefore, when
the physical brain crumbles the whole
man crumbles. If there was
nothing but a physical brain in us, the
old skeptic would be right;
because as soon as the physical brain
disappeared there would be
no thinker left. But it is the spiritual
brain that thinks. Hence
death has no power to destroy man.
Now, where is this Spiritual World that
a man goes into after
death? It is not in some far away place.
It is not in the sun,
nor in any star. The spiritual world is here,
here all around us,
but invisible. It is back of this
physical world, just as your soul
is back of your body. Indeed, you may
think of the Spiritual
World as the soul of our globe. The
Spiritual World is the world
that gives life to the physical world.
This physical world is not
dead. If it were dead no tree would rise
out of it, no grass would
512 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
spring from the ground. The globe is not
mere matter. There is
a Spiritual World; a world of spiritual
substance living and puls-
ing within the physical world, just as
the soul lives and pulses
within the body.
And at death, what happens? The
spirit-man simply rises,
the real man, the only man that did any
thinking or acting in life,
the real man rises out of the physical body. This is
the Resur-
rection.
Where does he go? He doesn't have to go
anywhere. He is
immediately in the Spiritual World,
because it is behind or within
the physical world.
It is only through our physical bodies
that we get knowledge
of the physical world. What then is the
use of a physical body
since a man can function without a
physical body. For you don't
need a physical body any more than a
hand needs a glove. You
use the glove but you don't need it.
Whey then is a man given a physical
body? Because the
Divine Father of the Universe wants to
give us infinite kinds of
experience; and in order that we may
have an experience in this
physical world, in order that we may
take part in this scene in
the drama of the universe, we are given
a physical body as an
actor is given a mask for his part.
While we take our part in this earthly
scene, the Spiritual
World is shut off temporarily. We come
in contact only with the
physical world. Our physical eye
projects our spirit-sight only
into the physical world. This is the
reason we do not now
see the World of Spirits that is around us.
As soon as the mist of matter is cleared
away for us at death
we look at once into the next world with
all its wonders. And I
believe that we are received by blessed
angels, and are made to
feel at home as you feel at home here.
The soul of the man has
passed into the soul of the world.
He is soon joined by those who are
kindred to him in spiritual
quality. For the thing that is universal
in life is spiritual affinity,
spiritual gravitation. You go to the
kind of people you are your-
self. This is a terrifying fact: we go
to those who are kindred
to our souls. How necessary then that we
chasten and purify
our souls so that we shall have lofty
and noble associates.
I am giving you my judgment based upon
my study of the
Bible and upon knowledge of the nature
of life. You will go to
those who are kindred to your soul,
whether they be good or
whether they be evil. Millions can be
gathered together by spirit-
ual affinity, by spiritual gravitation.
This law is the basis of the
idea of Heaven and Hell we hear so much
about. Heaven is
simply the gathering together of those
good men and women,
Funeral of Adam Willis Wagnalls 513
those consecrated men and women, who
believe in love and jus-
tice, who believe in subordinating
private interest to the public
welfare, who believe in brotherhood.
All men and women of this noble sort
will naturally gravi-
tate toward God, organize themselves
into society under the in-
spiration and leadership of the Divine
Christ; and that is Heaven.
It is all founded upon the logic of
life. What happens here gives
the key to what will happen hereafter.
The next world will have
lofty realms for lofty souls. We may
also be sure that in that
better land men will still be men and
women, women. We may
be sure also that we will find there a
great and beautiful field
for the exercise of all our powers.
Here on earth we are circumscribed. Here
a few get edu-
cation, some get partial education,
others get no education. We
have only a very imperfect organization
of life for soul-educa-
tion. But there in that better land
where the noble men and
women of this world are congregated
under the inspiration and
leadership of our Christ, there everyone
down to the lowest and
the least, will receive all the
education that love can suggest or
that wisdom can execute.
This is worth thinking about. This shows
what they have
and what we lack. The next world is not
a figment. The next
world is something as practical as
wood-chopping. It is the real
thing. There we will enter into our real
happiness, for there we
will enter into the social joy, the joy
of the holy brotherhood.
For we will enter into a life in which
selfishness will be eliminated.
That is the practical purpose of
religion--to help us to eliminate
our selfishness and to make us ready for
the Divine society, which
is Heaven.
There, O friends, we enter the path of
eternal progress.
There will be a field for the
manifestations of all our dreams.
If you are an artist, there you can
practice your art; if you are a
gardener there you can practice your
art; if you are some great
political leader with a pure heart, you
will find there opportunities
for political and social leadership in
this Divine world toward
which we are.moving.
Yes, there will be opportunity for the
development of all
there is in us under the direction of
the Divine Man of the
Universe.
Isn't that something worth while? I tell
you, friends, that
it is the only thing worth while.
Therefore, I come to tell you that it is
no misfortune for the
good to die. We sorrow for the departed, but they have
gone
on into a blessed land, of which the
earth is but a shadow.
If we are faithful to our ideals, we
will pass onward into
Vol. XXXIII--33.
514 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
that same better country, where we will
meet again our lost dear
ones. They have only been called back,
only called back. We
will follow them. Then there will be a
glad reunion in some
blessed paradise, where life will be
based at last wholly and
utterly on love, labor and loyalty.
This is not an hour therefore, for
unavailing sorrow, for
hopeless longing; for we are here to
celebrate the passing of a
great soul to his reward. A great career
has been finished nobly.
He was faithful to his ideals to the
last.
I am sure that he would say with the
poet, Robert Louis
Stevenson, what Stevenson said of
himself:
"Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
'Here he lies, where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the
hill'."
THE FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY
It may be of general interest to recal
the fact that
the builders of the great Funk
and.Wagnalls publish-
ing house of New York City were both
Ohioans by
birth, formative influences and
education. Brief
sketches from Who's Who in America are here given:
Isaac Kaufman Funk, author and
publisher, was born at
Clifton, Ohio, September 10, 1839. He
was educated at Witten-
berg College, Springfield, Ohio, from
which he was graduated in
1860 with the degree of A. B. Later he
received the degree of
A. M., He was graduated from Wittenberg
Theological Sem-
inary in 1861 and later received the
degrees of D. D. and LL. D.
He married Eliza Thompson of Carey,
Ohio, in 1864; was or-
dained to the Lutheran ministry in 1861;
he served in different
pastorates from 1867-1872. He entered
the publishing business
in 1876 and two years later was joined
by Adam Willis Wagnalls
in the partnership that grew into the
well known firm of Funk
and Wagnalls Company. He was
active in the cause of prohibi-
tion and was editor-in-chief of the
various periodicals of that
Funeral of Adam Willis Wagnalls 515 company and the Standard Dictionary; chairman of the editorial board that produced the Jewish Encyclopedia; founder-editor of the Metropolitan Pulpit (now the Homiletic Review.) In con- nection with his publishing house he founded The Voice, a popu- lar prohibition paper, in 1880, The Missionary Review, in 1888, and the Literary Digest in 1889. He was editor of the following works: Tarry Thou. Till I Come, 1901; The Widow's Mite, and Other Psychic Phenomena, 1904; The Psychic Riddle, 1907. He died April 4, 1912. We here give also the following from the modest sketch in the same work of Mr. Funk's partner in this great publishing enterprise. Adam Willis Wagnalls, publisher, was born at Lithopolis, Ohio, September 24, 1843. He was the son of Christopher C. and Elizabeth (Schneider) Wagnalls. He was educated in the public schools and at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1866 with the degree of A. B. Later he received the degree of Litt. D. and in 1915 the degree of LL. D. He married Anna Willis of Lithopolis, June 4, 1868. He was organizer, in 1867, and pastor of the First English Lutheran Church in Kansas City; city clerk of Atchison, Kansas, 1871- 1873; in publishing business at New York since 1876; one of the original founders and president of the Funk and Wagnalls Com- pany. He died at his home on Long Island, September 3, 1924. |
|
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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