Heirology

Ancestors

Della Doner

1866-1909 · Illinois
Born 1866, Illinois
Died 1909
Father: Christopher Doner
Mother: Jemima Stewart
Children include Naomi

Della Doner was born on 8 September 1866 in Illinois, the daughter of Christopher Doner and his wife Jemima, called Emma, who had come from Ohio. She was one of their fourteen children. The family settled at Saybrook in McLean County the year she was born.

On 15 April 1888, at twenty two, she married James T. Kerr, twenty five, at Saybrook. They had seven children: James, Theodore, Leona, Naomi, Helen, Charles and Carl.

Her husband was a brick mason who came to the ministry of the United Brethren church in 1907. His first charge was Joslin in Rock Island County, with the churches at Rose Hill and Enterprise. Della joined the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the women's movement against drink. She gave the report of the Joslin union at the county conventions of 1907 and 1908, and was at one time its president.

In April 1909 she fell ill. By mid July the Zuma column of the Rock Island Argus wrote that her recovery was doubtful. She died at her home in Joslin in July 1909, after several months of suffering, at forty two. Her youngest child was five and her daughter Naomi was thirteen. At her own request she was buried in the small Mount Moriah cemetery near Hillsdale, and James was laid beside her in 1933.

Parents

Christopher Doner 1820-1893

Jemima Stewart (1823-1908)

Children

Naomi Evelyn Kerr 1896-1961

Sources

Gibson City Courier, Gibson City, Illinois, 18 May 1933, page 3. Clipping posted to Find a Grave memorial 76895400.
obituary of Rev. James T. Kerr, Gibson City Courier, 18 May 1933, page 3; Find a Grave memorial 76895702
Illinois, McLean County, marriage records 1885-1892, return for James Kerr and Della Doner, 15 April 1888. FamilySearch, film 007625297, image ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L924-R43F.
"Work of the Reaper. Mr. Christopher Doner Passes Away This Morning, Aged 72", The Weekly Leader, Bloomington, Illinois, 8 June 1893, page 8, reprinted from the Tuesday daily. Clipping posted by Rand Veerman, 2026, to Find a Grave memorial 26735215.
Mount Moriah cemetery, near Hillsdale, Rock Island County, Illinois. Photograph by Paula Schave, 2011, Find a Grave memorial 76895702.
The Argus, Rock Island, Illinois, 29 April 1909, page 2, Hillsdale column. Chronicling America, Library of Congress, sn92053934.
The Argus, Rock Island, Illinois, 17 July 1909, page 2, Zuma column. Chronicling America, Library of Congress, sn92053934.
The Argus, Rock Island, Illinois, 28 July 1909, page 2, Hillsdale column. Chronicling America, Library of Congress, sn92053934.
The Argus, Rock Island, Illinois, 30 July 1909, pages 2 and 9, Zuma column. Chronicling America, Library of Congress, sn92053934.
The Argus, Rock Island, Illinois, 14 September 1907, 15 September 1908 and 23 September 1908, convention programmes and report. Chronicling America, Library of Congress, sn92053934.
McLean County marriage return, 15 April 1888 (FamilySearch image ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L924-R43F); obituary of Christopher Doner, The Weekly Leader, Bloomington, 8 June 1893; The Argus, Rock Island, 14 September 1907, 23 September 1908, 29 April 1909, 17 July 1909, 28 July 1909 and 30 July 1909 (Chronicling America); obituary of Rev. James T. Kerr, Gibson City Courier, 18 May 1933, page 3; Find a Grave memorial 76895702

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Cite: Heirology, "Della Doner (1866-1909)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/della-doner-1866-1909-ccd31c.