Mrs Mary Ann Smith

The following obituary appeared on pages 758 & 759 of the Primitive Methodist Magazine published in 1858.

It appears to have been written by her husband.

Her father, R. Eason, was a preacher at the Low Common Chapel.

Died, at Deopham, June 17^th, 1858, Mrs. MARY ANN SMITH, aged twenty-two years, wife of John Smith, of Wymondham, Norwich Circuit, and daughter of Mr. R. Eason, a well-known local preacher of the Rockland Circuit, whose house, for many years, has been a home for the ministers of Christ,
Being blessed with religious parents, she became the subject of good impressions in early life. At about the age of twelve years, during a revival at Deopham, she was brought to see her lost condition, was led, through faith, to cast her soul on the atoning blood, and found peace to her troubled conscience. She entered our society, and continued faithful for some time; but, through the fascinating pleasures of youth, was drawn aside, and became careless until the summer of 1855, when, at a camp-meeting love feast, she was again powerfully impressed, and felt-
“The godly fear, the pleasing smart,
The meltings of a broken heart.“
Broken down under a deep sense of her backsliding state, she sought the Lord sorrowing, until He healed her backslidings, and loved her freely. She again cast in her lot with the people of God, and continued stedfast until she was called to her reward above. On April 9^th, 1857, she became united in marriage to him who now laments his loss. Their union, however, was of short duration. She was of a delicate constitution, and for many months the subject of affliction. After her accouchement, flattering hopes were entertained of her recovery; these hopes, however, were soon extinguished, by the appearance of a rapid and fatal consumption. She was removed shortly after to her native air, in hopes that the change might benefit her; but, alas! the wasting frame and hollow cough bespoke a speedy departure. Bat she felt that the fear of death was removed. During her affliction, she manifested great patience, and spoke of death with much calmness. I had ever found it profitable to converse with her on spiritual things, though her affliction was of such a nature as prohibited much conversation. She was often heard pouring out her soul in prayer to God to help and bless her. On one occasion, feeling some little clinging to earth, and falling into a doze, she dreamed she should like to live to enjoy the fruits of the summer season; but the Divine Spirit, pointing her to a happier region, sweetly suggested to her mind the following lines-
“There generous fruits the that never fail,
On trees immortal grow.”
She awoke, and contemplating the dream, she felt that heaven was more to be desired than earth, and that its glories far surpassed all that earth could produce, and from that period she was fully resigned to the will of God. She gradually became weaker, for a few days before her death she was wholly confined to her bed, and on Wednesday afternoon, she was much worse; but as her sinking frame was falling into the arms of death, her soul became increasingly happy; she often expressed the joy she felt, and called on those around her to unite with her, to praise the Lord.
Drawing near the gates of mortality, she exclaimed,-
“If this be death, I soon shall be
From every pain and sorrow free,” &c.
She called her friends around her, and gave them her last dying advice, though it was difficult to understand her, her voice faltering much. She embraced her partner, and pressing him to her bosom, her happy spirit passed away into the paradise of God.
JOHN SMITH.

The Deopham Burials Register recorded that her funeral was conducted by the Rev. William Acton, Vicar of Wicklewood, on June 22^nd. The Deopham vicar the Rev. George Turner made clear his hostility towards the “dissenters”: this may be the reason why the vicar of Wicklewood was called upon to officiate. The ceremony would have taken place in the parish church.