Mrs. Miles W. Abernathy died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. T. W. Francis, Monday evening, and was buried in Jacksonville Thursday.
 

Jacksonville Republican, Jacksonville, Alabama, 9 March 1889, page 3, column 1.

Entered into eternal rest, on the 4th of March 1889, at 7:15 P.M., from the residence of her son-in-law, Maj. T. W. Francis, Cane Creek, Calhoun county, Alabama, Mrs. Anne Hoke Abernathy, relict of the late Miles W. Abernathy, of Jacksonville, Ala.

The deceased was born the 6th of October 1812, in Lincoln county, N. C., married there and removed to Alabama about 1837, where she remained to the time of her death.

The testimony of those who knew and loved her well is that from childhood to old age purity of thought; word and deed characterized her life.

The last of a family of eleven, she herself was spared to see a lovely group of seven children grow up around her, attain to man and womanhood and most of them married and happily settled in life and conscientious and devoted member's of Christ's body on earth. An All-wise and ever-loving Father visited her with two of his His saddest dispensations in removing from presence for a time, first, her only son, who fell gallantly fighting for his States' rights and the cause of the Southern Confederacy, and then the beloved partner of her life, who had been as a staff upon which she leant and the great salve of her declining years. But he who doeth all things well evolved good out of this seeming evil; for it brought her to lean more completely and confidingly upon, and take counsel with, and receive strength from Him, who is the source of all our comfort.

Although of fragile physique, she devoted her time and attention to her family, never too weary to attend to their comfort and even willing to spend her life strength in ministering to their wants. Yet, engrossed as she was in the cares of the earthly household, she did not forget that she had "a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens," and she was dilligent in fitting herself for that blessed mansion, using all the means of grace appointed to that end, and adding to her faith virtue; and to her virtue knowledge; and to her knowledge temperance; and to her temperance patience; and to her patience Godliness; and to her Godliness brotherly kindness; and to her brotherly kindness charity; so that, when after years of patient suffering as an invalid, borne with unmurmuring faith, she heard her Father's loving summons bidding her "come up higher," she heralded it as an angel of mercy calling her to exchange a troubled, cross-bearing, thorn-strewn pilgrimage for a home of eternal rest and a crown of eternal joy.

Her last days were spent in praising God, the psalms were her glory and she would have her children constantly read them to her, and her last words were a triumphal song as she marched through the dark valley of the shadow of death to the farther shores of the chrystal sea. The remains were intered at Jacksonville, Ala., by the Rev. J. F. Smith.

"There is no death! the stars go down

To rise upon some fairer shore;

And bright in Heaven's jeweled crown

They shine for evermore.

There is no death! an angel form

Walks o'er the earth with silent tread;

He bears our best loved things away,

And then we call them "Dead."

He leaves our hearts all desolate

He plucks our fairest, sweetest flowers;

Transplanted into bliss, they now

Adorn immortal bowers.

And ever near us, though unseen,

The dear immortal spirits tread;

For all the boundless universe

IS LIFE—there are NO DEAD."

W. T. Allen
 

Jacksonville Republican, Jacksonville, Alabama, 23 March 1889, page 2, column 3.

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