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The Widower
- University of Michigan Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
“Gone Home” was the title of Anna’s obituary in the Benzie Banner. It read, “Mrs. Anna Spencer Thacker, wife of W. H.Thacker of this place, died quite suddenly of nervous prostration Wednesday forenoon. Although she has been quite sick the past few days, yet the end came more suddenly than was expected. The funeral occurred this (Thursday) afternoon at the residence, Rev. O. B. Waters conducting the services. Mrs. Thacker was an earnest and conscientious Christian and always took an active part in church matters. A more complete article will appear next week.” The following week a lengthier obituary was given for Anna: “In Memoriam. Died at Benzonia, May 16th, 1894, Mrs. Anna Spencer Thacker, a few days short of 45 years old. She was born at an Indian mission in Minnesota, near the head waters of the Mississippi, May 24, 1845. Her father, Rev. David Brainard Spencer, a descendant of David Brainard, the famous Indian missionary of early New England times, went in 1847 or thereabouts far beyond the white settlements of the day to Leech Lake, Minn., where his daughter Anna was born. In 1862 occurred the great Indian uprising and massacre in that region, at which time the missionaries were driven out. Mr. Spencer came then to Grand Traverse County and settled ‹rst in Homestead, from which place he removed a few years later to Benzonia. Here Miss Spencer attended college several years. In May 1874 she was married to W. H. Thacker; her last sickness began just twenty years from the date of her marriage. She leaves ‹ve children. “From early childhood Mrs. Thacker was an earnest follower of Christ, and from young womanhood an active Christian, interested in missions and in all good causes. She had an earnest and self-sacri‹cing spirit despite the burdens of her home, by reason especially of the long illness of her second mother, and an invalid sister, Miss Charlotte Spencer, who survives her; but she bore these burdens with steadfastness and unfailing cheerfulness. She gave distinct testimony to the presence of her Savior with her last hours.” The Widower henry brooded at the dressing table. Anna’s things were still here, the plain comb, the wooden-backed hairbrush, handle polished from 135 years of use. Elvira had left her good tortoiseshell set, comb, brush, and hand mirror, to Charlotte.“It’s right that she do so,” Anna had said gently . “Charlotte’s always been the pretty one.” Henry recalled saying, “You’re pretty enough for me,” meaning it as a compliment at the time; now he was not sure it had sounded all that ›attering. Anna hadn’t been a beauty, and somehow that hadn’t seemed to matter. They’d been a team; privately he had thought of them as a pair of good working horses, neat but not fancy, doing the day’s work without fuss or bother. Then the children had come; what matter if Sam or Sarah’s parents were plain or pretty? He sighed, ‹nished dressing, and left the room, nearly tripping on Will’s wooden pony that lay on its side in the hallway. “Have to get someone in now, to help with the little ones,” he thought. Brainard Capitulates charlotte was livid. “I cannot believe it. I will not believe it. Even our brother-in-law would never do such a disgusting thing, with our sister not yet cold in the ground!” Brainard made no attempt to hide his impatience. “Henry Thacker never had a bit of sense, Charlotte, we both know that. Anyway, I suppose he’ll just say that he needed someone to keep house while he’s away, and of course he’s right about that. I don’t suppose the daughter knows much about housekeeping at her age.” “Having a housekeeper and having that housekeeper are two entirely different things. You’ve been away too long, Brainard, you can’t know the extent of the talk about Orah Bunker. And the way Henry behaved around her, it was the most sickening thing I’ve ever observed. Brainard, I’m absolutely certain that he had something to do with our sister’s death.” “I know, I know, he’s been trying to poison you,” Brainard shook his head. Why, if one of his sisters had to die, did it have to be the one that wasn’t unstable? “I want you to go and talk to the sheriff. Tell him everything I’ve told you; take...