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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
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Emigrant Families of the
Tri-Counties
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Henry Dorsett - Mansfield
to Illinois
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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DORSETT - Saturday, March 9, 1867, The Waukegan (Illinois) Gazette:
Henry W. Dorsett is dead. He was a man of positive character. He had some
faults and many virtues. The Democratic party of Lake County lost in him
their best worker. He was a large brained, high souled, great hearted man.
Inveterate in his animosities, he was true to his personal friends. Able
to distinguish between the substance and the shadows, Mr. Dorsett, unfortunately,
like the majority of Democrats failed to grasp the better future of the
Republic. But if he was our political opponent he was nobody’s enemy, clandestinely.
His likes and dislikes were never concealed. With boundless sympathies
and strong prejudices, the strong passions of the man never made him blind.
If he hated well, he loved well. He had energy and enterprise. No young
man ever asked aid from him, and if deserving was denied his assistance.
Born in Peekskill, NY in 1811, Mr. Dorsett came to this state in 1844 from
Mansfield, Pennsylvania. He was engaged for a time in commercial business
and in 1846 was elected coroner. In 1848 he was made sheriff and performed
his duties faithfully, as well as in 1850 when he served the residue of
a term. The circumstances attending his death are briefly these: on Friday
week, March 1st, Mr. Dorsett was in his usual health. He had an iron constitution.
Within the past five years he had been west as far as Pikes Peak and expected
to return there in the coming spring. Early in the day he returned to his
residence on State Street, and about 2 o’clock complained of feeling unwell.
It was considered a mere billary derangement and no serious apprehensions
were entertained. About 5 o’clock Mr. Dorsett grew worse and his physician
was summoned. Unfortunately the apparently trivial nature of his ailment
failed to bring his personal presence on the second call. Mr. Dorsett retired
about 5’clock and expired at a quarter to 12 o’clock. The announcement
of his demise took our entire community by surprise, and created a feeling
of profound sadness. He was so widely known and so generally esteemed,
of so impressive a vitality and of such an intense nature that his death
naturally caused a deep gloom in the streets where his manly form and strong
personality were so well known. The funeral services were held at the Methodist
Church last Tuesday, at 2 1/2 o’clock, every seat being occupied. The number
of elderly persons present testified to the respect in which Mr. Dorsett
was held by our old settlers. The funeral sermon was delivered by the Rev.
J.L. Harris, who took his text from the 20th Chapter of the 1st Samuel:
3rd verse. “There is but a step between me and death”. The discourse was
impressive and interesting. The speaker reviewed the uncertainty of life
and the morale involved in the grave. The life of those who reject God
was a ghostly blank at best. The chronicles of the long lost dead recounted
half our recollections. He spoke eloquently and earnestly and evidently
had perused with profit some of the best efforts of Paschal and Massilon.
Brief, but to the point, the sermon made a profound impression. The allusions
to the deceased were pertinent and in good taste. At the conclusion of
the discourse the 1059 hymn was sang, and amid the sobs of the afflicted
family, the coffin bearing the inscription “HENRY W. DORSETT, died March
1st, 1867. Aetat 56”, was borne to the hearse and the long train of carriages
followed. A more solemn scene we have seldom witnessed. In the glinting
sunshine, in the early March, which looked so much like May, the mortal
remains of Henry W. Dorsett went to their final resting place in our Oakwood
Cemetery, beautiful even in the early springtime, because the women of
our city can love the dead so worthily and care for their resting place
so tenderly. The deceased leaves a wife and five children, three sons and
two daughters to lament his loss. May the kind Father who is so merciful
to the sparrows lend a consolation to the bereaved family, no mere cold
printed words can give. Submitted by Tom Sisolak, Fort Worth, Texas
NOTE: Henry W. Dorsett was a citizen of Mansfield, PA, from 1830 to
1842. He was the son of David Dorsett and Catherine Hickman whose family
consisted of, Urhetta, John, Ann, Mary, Samuel, Philetus, and Michael H.
The descendants of this family lived in Mansfield for over 120 years. Some
may even be there today. Submitted by Tom Sisolak Fort Worth, TX
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 14 AUG 2005
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: Joyce M.
Tice
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