Tippecanoe City Herald
September 2, 1869
MINSHALL, JULIA BELL - In Eaton, Ohio, on the 19th ult., of Consumption, Julia Bell Minshall, only daughter of John W. and Juliet Minshall, dec'd; aged 15 years, 7 months, and 6 days. The deceased was a great sufferer. She had been a cripple and in delicate health from infancy. Taking the Measles last Spring, they terminated in Affection of the Lungs, with which she slowly wasted away till it seemed that nothing was left of life but the feeblest breath. Not a murmur escaped her. She was always patient and always satisfied--a model child in every respect. Many times she had said to her grandmother, who had cared for her most tenderly through all her long illness, "Grandma, I'm so much trouble, and I shall always be a trouble. I don't want to get well for I feel that it would be better for me, and for all, that I should die." So patiently and anxiously she waited the call of the angel, with a depth and maturity of thought far beyond her years. Pain had made her serious, and now she looked forward to her release, and to a home where none are lame or sick, her young heart filled with joy that lit her face with a radiance that was not of earth. At midnight of the night before she died, she felt worse, and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, do you think I'm dying?" Her grandmother said, "I don't know Bell, but you will not stay with us much longer." and added, "Do you think you are dying?" With the utmost calmness she said, "I think I am!" She then requested the family to be called and when they were all standing tearfully about her bed she said, "Will you read in the Bible? I want to hear from it once more!" And as her aunt read as best she could, and all were suffused with tears, the sufferer was calm and serene as though long years of life were before her. She retained her consciousness till within a few minutes of her last. When the breath left the body without a gasp or a struggle, and the little afflicted one had found her coveted rest in the bosom of Him she had learned to love.
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