William Forkner
| Date of Interment or Death | 12/22/1930 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | C |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 1-2-1 |
Obituary
W.L. Forkner, Pioneer Wahpeton Citizen Dead After Long Illness
Superintendent of Water Works and Former Merchant Buried Monday
Funeral services for W.L. Forkner, resident of Wahpeton for 39 years, who passed away at his home shortly before midnight Thursday, December 18, following a several weeks illness, were held at the Congregational church Monday afternoon at two o’clock, following a brief prayer services at the home at 1:30, with Rev. R. D. Hall, pastor of the church, officiating, assisted by Rev. W. M. Walton, former pastor of the Episcopal church and a close friend of the family. Interment was in Fairview cemetery. The remains being carried to formal resting place by O.A Ulsaker, Robert Barber, W. W. Jamieson, William Wagner, W.A. Farnsworth and Charles Schultz, intimate friends of the family since Wahpeton’s pioneer days.
Coming to Wahpeton thirty-nine years ago, Mr. Forkner in partnership with his brother, John conducted a general merchandise business for twenty years at location that is now a part of the real estate occupied by the Stern Clothing Co. Shortly after the destruction of the store building by fire in 1911, Mr. Forkner became superintendent of the Wahpeton Water department, which position he held until his death. At the time Wahpeton’s city hall was built. Mr. Forkner was serving as president of the city council and for many years he served as president of the city school board, having always taken an active interest in the development of the city and its splendid public school system.
In 1878 he was a passenger on the first train that ran into Flandreau, Dakota Territory, and the same year members of the family took up homesteads near Aberdeen. It was on the claim in Brown county, South Dakota, that the elder Mr. Forkner died in 1882 leaving the responsibility for the care of a large family of children to the widow mother and her older sons, William and John. In later years William Forkner taught school and was engaged in the lumber business at Bath, SD., conducted a merchantile establishment at Lisbon, North Dakota, and a real estate business at Superior, Wisconsin, taking up his permanent residence in Wahpeton in 1891.
July 15, 1883 W.L. Forkner was married in Wahpeton to Miss Margaret Conner, who in company with her sister, Mrs. Maria Keith, was engage in the millinery and dressmaking business here. Surviving children are Mrs. Ralph Darner of Detroit, Mich., and Donna Forkner, an instructor in the State School of Science at Wahpeton. Surviving brothers and sisters of the family of ten children are John W. of Long Beach, Calif; Mrs. Elizabeth Stiles of Mitchell, S.D; Mathew residing in Texas; and Mark, residing at Langdon, North Dakota. The parents and several children rest in the cemetery plotted by Isaac Forkner near the old family home in South Dakota.
Under the direction of Mr. Forkner, the city water works has prospered for many years. Despite his failing health during the past two years, he remained in active charge of the city water works department, personally supervising construction work and operations. On the eighteenth of November, Mr. Forkner became so ill as to make it impossible to carry on his work and he was confined to his ed. Since Wahpeton was a mere village at the head of the Red River, W.L. Forkner has placed a part in its growth. Hardly a progressive move but what has been helped through Mr. Forkner’s effort.
Out of town relatives present at the funeral were Mark Forkner, brother of Langdon, North Dakota; Mrs. Maria Keith, sister-in-law, and his daughter Mrs. Arthur Betley, of Fulton, Ill., and Mabel Darner, daughter of Detroit, Mich.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.