MRS. O. A. BURGESS.

      Nannie Ledgerwood was born in Washburn, Ill., July the twelfth, 1836. As a child she was slight and delicate in body, retiring and modest in disposition, absolutely truthful in her nature and possessed of a resolute will.

      The home into which Nannie Ledgerwood was born was thoroughly Christian. Her father and mother were whole-hearted in their devotion to Christ. The maternal grandfather, Henry Palmer, was one of the pioneer preachers of the Churches of Christ, and a man of great originality and forcefulness. His teaching brought Otis A. Burgess, Henry Minier and many others into the church. When sixteen years old she left her home in Washburn to attend Eureka College. Her health did not permit her to finish the course of study but the influence of her stay there was felt throughout her life. On October the seventeenth, 1854, when she was eighteen years old, she became the wife of Otis Asa Burgess. She never strove to be a second and a smaller copy of her illustrious husband, but with womanly devotion, in her own realm of thought and action, she ordered her life to fit into his; guarding his honor, strengthening his highest resolutions, tempering his impetuosity and supplying the touch of gentleness and grace needed in his bold, strong nature.

      After her husband's death she returned to the old home at Forrest, Ill., where Mr. Burgess' body had been laid to rest, that she might there make a home for her father and mother. She remained until after her mother's death. At this time the National President and [444] Secretary of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Mrs. Maria Jameson and Mrs. Sarah Shortridge, wrote her urging her to come to Indianapolis in order that she might be of more service to the work of this organization. After careful deliberation, she decided to make a new home in Indianapolis, Ind., where she had formerly lived when her husband had been successively minister of the Central church, President of Northwestern Christian University and Butler College.

      When the Christian Woman's Board of Missions was organized, in 1874, Mrs. Burgess was elected to serve as National Treasurer, which position she filled until 1878. While she was a resident, of Illinois she served as a state officer. In 1887 she was chosen vice-President and in 1890 she was made President of the organization. In this position she remained until God released her.

      As an executive she was strong, wise, prudent and forceful. Her counsel was safe, her judgment almost unerring and her faith strong. She knew the work intimately, loved it tenderly yet wisely, and served it with an absolutely unselfish devotion. Her public ministrations were but an incident in her services to the organization. Twelve months in each year she thought of, planned for and faithfully served the work. She had breadth of vision, knowledge of men and women, and above all, faith in God. These she brought unreservedly to the service of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions and by these she blessed its enterprises. Every field in which the organization labored was thoroughly familiar to her. She knew the missionaries personally and prayed for them by name. She longed for the enlargement of the work and was never satisfied with any attainment made.

      In January, 1897, her father died. She nursed him through a long sickness with a never-wearying devotion that, unconsciously to herself, consumed her strength. After the strain was lifted the reaction came. That dreaded disease, the grip, found in her a victim, and so exhausted her vitality that she never really recovered from this first attack. Each succeeding winter, despite the greatest care, this disease found and struck her, until, worn and exhausted, she was no longer able to rally her forces to withstand the inroads of pain and weakness.

      She attended the National Convention, at Minneapolis, in October, 1901.

      She was not strong enough to attend many of the meetings of the convention, but she met many whose presence had made glad for her the days of yore.

      Returning to her home, the reaction did not come at once but a grave change for the worse came the middle of November. Until a few weeks before her home-going her splendid courage never faltered. She hoped and planned to be well.

      At midnight, Monday, May the twelfth, 1902, the spirit of Mrs. O. A. Burgess freed itself from the pain-weakened body and went to be forever with the Lord.

[COC 444-445]