Melissa Cousins

The following is an obitiuary from the Deer Isle Messenger Friday, October 22, 1920.

Mrs. Melissa Elmwood Cousins passed away at her home in Stonington, at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 13, 1920.

Melissa Elmwood Colby was born May 27, 1844, at Webb's Cove, the daughter of Mr. Oliver L. Colby and Abigail Knowlton Colby. Her ancestors were among the first settlers in this neighborhood, and included the Colbys, Thurlows, Knowltons, Buckminsters, and several others whose names are familiar to those acquainted with Deer Isle's early history.

Somewhat early in life she married Joseph Davis and they had four children, Floreston I., Charles B., Elizabeth V.L., and J. Carlton.

After the death of her first husband she married Samuel E. Holden, and they had one son, Amasa A. Holden. After Mr. Holden's death she was appointed keeper of the Deer Isle Thoroughfare Light in his place, and remained there for two or three years, during which time a change was made from lard oil to kerosene oil as a means of furnishing light, and she was the first to make use of kerosene for that purpose in the lighthouses along the Atlantic Coast.

Her third husband was Charles C. Cousins, and their children are Jennie D., C. Lyman, Robert K., and Ethel F., Willie E. Cousins, the son of Mr. C.C. Cousins by a former marriage, was always loved by her as a son, and she was looked up to by him and loved as a mother. The word mother, with all its fine, sweet meaning, is the word by which she will be best remembered. All her nine children lived to grow up and to marry. Two of them, Floreston I. Davis and C. Lyman Cousins, passed on before their mother, but her other seven children and sixteen grandchildren survive. Every one of her living children came home at the time of her death, although two of them did not arrive in time for the funeral. Charles B. Davis came from Vinalhaven, Maine, J. Carlton Davis and Mrs. Elizabeth V. Pierce from Boston, Amasa A. Holden from Hillsboro, N.H., Mrs. Jennie D. Muttart from Concord, N.H., and Mrs. Ethel F. Heath from Ambler, Penn. In addition to her children she is survived by two brothers, Alonzo and William Colby, and by a sister, Mrs. Joseph Eaton.

Mrs. Cousins had been in rather poor health for some months, but at the end her death was unexpected and somewhat sudden. The funeral was held from her late home in Stonington at 1:30 P.M. on Friday, Oct. 15th. Rev. Eugene V. Allen of the Stonington church officiated and the burial was at Woodlawn Cemetery.

A useful, helpful, sympathetic life was closed but her influence will continue and increase with time, and her host of friends will never forget her bright, cheerful self sacrificing disposition and her many acts of kindness. Her children, scattered as they are, in several states, deeply mourn their loss, and will miss the almost annual summer visit to their old home and their mother.

Return to Cousins Index
Return to Surname List
Return to Helene's Home Page