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Note: N1149 Henry Landon Meriwether
Lynchburg Virginian (Lynchburg, VA), 10 October 1839
Died, on the 20th September last, at the residence of Mr. Wigginten, whither he had gone in full health on a visit with his mother, Henry Landon Meriwether, eldest son of Dr. Francis Meriwether of Bedford County. The deceased was in truth in the very morning of life, having not yet completed his thirteenth year; and perhaps never was a tender and devoted mother called upon to witness the departure of a more of a more amiable, interesting and promising son. Having lost his father at a very early age, he had long been the subject of much maternal care and anxiety; and just as his fond mother began to reap the fruit of her diligences, he was suddenly cut down, leaving her, a younger brother and sister, with many relations and friends to lament his untimely death. This sad bereavement is rendered singularly painful and distressing by the peculiar circumstances associated with it. Urged by feelings of affection for her relations in Bedford, as well as in gratification of the wishes of her children, his mother, with considerable reluctance and misgivings, at last obtained her own consent to pay a visit, which she had long had in contemplation, little thinking that she was soon to return to her residence in Albemarle, proceeded by the lifeless body of her child. This indeed was the case, and shows most emphatically that "in the midst of life we are in death."
In contemplating this sudden and sore affliction, one is forcibly struck with the truth of the sentiment of the devout and plaintive, Dr. Young.
"In every vary'd posture, place and hour,
How widow'd every thought of every joy!"
To his distant connections it will be comforting to know, that although little Henry Landon died from home, he died not among strangers; and that in addition to the sleepless nursing of a most devoted mother, he received every aid and attention that kind sympathizing friends and the most skillful physicians could bestow. His confinement, which was occasioned by a peculiar kind of sore throat, lasted exactly a fortnight, and terminated without causing him in the interim a great deal of suffering. A short time previous to his dissolution he expressed himself perfectly willing to die, and having taken an affectionate leave of his mother, he turned quickly over and expired.
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