Iowa Old Press

DEATH CLAIMS OLD RESIDENT

MRS. MARGARET HAZEL HAD LIVED HERE SINCE SHE WAS A YOUNG GIRL

Death came very suddenly to Mrs. Margaret Hazel Thursday afternoon at
her home, 207 Plymouth Street East, a resident of Plymouth county from early
girlhood. She was 74 years of age.
Mrs. Hazel, who had been suffering from a numbness in her arm for a
few days, was leaving her home with a son to step into a car to go to the
office of a doctor when she collapsed.
Medical aid was summoned at once. A physician pronounced the stroke
fatal. She died within two hours without regaining consciousness. Death was
ascribed to cerebral hemorrhage.
Her sudden death came as a great shock to her relatives and friends.
Mrs. Hazel was widely known having lived here practically since the town was
founded and was connected by ties of blood and marriage with many of the
pioneer families in this section of the country.
Mrs. Hazel was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Hoffman, who coming
from Luxemburg, Europe, were early settlers in eastern Iowa and later
pioneers in Plymouth county.
Margaret Hoffman was born near Dubuque, September 25, 1856, where she
received her early training and education. In the early seventies she came
with her parents to Le Mars. They took up land in Plymouth county and their
daughter, Margaret, with other members of the family, shared the vicissitudes
experienced by the pioneers and helped in the work on the land and in
establishing a home on the raw prairie.
Margaret Hoffman, like other girls in the early settlement of the
country, worked hard at home and in the homes of other early settlers when
opportunity offered.
Attaining young womanhood she was united in marriage in Le Mars to
George P. Hazel, May 1, 1878. They engaged in farming for some years. Later
Mr. Hazel's health failed, prohibiting arduous work on the farm and they came
to Le Mars and engaged in the grocery and confectionery business at their
present location.
Mr. Hazel died in March, 1925, and since that time, with the exception
of a year spent in Washington, Mrs. Hazel has continued the business.
Mrs. Hazel is survived by three sons and four daughters. They are
Nicholas, Joseph P. and John Hazel, Mrs. Minnie Riter, of Le Mars; Mrs.
Elizabeth Weineck of St. Paul, Minn.; Mrs. Clifford Winslow and Mrs. Anna
Kerney, of Spokane, Wash. She also leaves twelve grandchildren, and three
sisters, who are Mrs. J. P. Beck, Remsen; Mrs. Peter Mich, of Granville, and
Mrs. Anthone Thoma, of Le Mars.
Mrs. Hazel was a devoted wife and mother and a good neighbor, always
willing to help those in need and many obtained necessities of life on pleas
for credit at her store for which she never received a cent.
The funeral services were conducted Monday morning at St. Joseph's
church in this city and were largely attended by relatives, old neighbors,
and friends.