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Dixon Hemming Key

Obituary of Charles C. Hemming, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"Tis ever wrong to say a good man dies."

One of earth's nobleman is gone in person only, in spirit never, for his personality was such that his impression will go down to the coming ages. He was a true Christian gentleman. He leaves behind him no associate whom he has not helped and elevated.

Charles C. Hemming was reared in Jacksonville, Fla. When merely a boy he answered his country's call to arms and joined the Southern army, and his record as a Confederate soldier will always be an honor to his family, to his country, and to that cause he loved so well and constantly; for the handsome monument he erected to the Confederate soldiers of his native State bears witness to this remembrance. He fought gallantly for the cause he espoused; was taken prisoner and for many months languished behind the bars of a Federal prison, made his escape, made his way through a hostile country to Canada, and went on a sailing vessel to Cuba. After the war closed he went to Brenham, Tex., to begin life anew, making his own way, for he was largely a self-made man. In 1867 that dreadful scourge of yellow fever visited Brenham, and after having the fever himself he turned to the alleviation of others who were afflicted. Night after night he sat beside some sick bed, cooling the fevered brow or closing the tired eyes of some sufferer and often his own hands placing into the bosom of mother earth all that was the mortal of some of our citizens.

After entering on a mercantile career, Mr. Hemming married Miss Lucy Key, daughter of Dr. John P. Key, who sacrificed his own life in caring for and treating the yellow fever victims of 1867, Later he became cashier of the Giddings Bank for several years, eventually removing to Colorado, where, by thrift and farsightedness, he amassed a large fortune in helping others whom he thought needed assistance, for his was ever a generous hand.

Mr. Hemming was almost a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He was a Christian who lived the truth of his Christianity, a Church member who was all that membership meant, a citizen who stood for the only true citizenship, a friend who let you read all that was in his big heart. One of the kindliest, bravest, truest, men that Brenham has ever known passed calmly to his reward when his eyes were closed. He sleeps at Colorado Springs, near the foot of the rugged mountains he loved so well. Nearly every citizen of this town and country knew, loved, and honored him; but no more will they see the smiling face or hear the joyous laughter or feel the cordial hand clasp of "Charley" Hemming, for the record of a long and useful life is closed. The great storms of life, its great sorrows, its disappointments, its joys, its griefs, its successes all through the seventy years of life passed by and over him and left the same sweet unembittered man, his faith in God and his fellow man steadfast, immovable, His heart was as brave as a lion's, as tender as a childs; no word of bitterness fell from his lips; his was always the word of kindness.

The grandest funeral oration ever delivered was that by God himself when he said: "Moses my servant is dead; therefore arise, go, and be like him." This, then is the sum and substance in the case of our departed friend, and the admonition of those of us who are left here is to try to be like him. Peace to his memory! Mary C. Dixon


SOURCE: Confederate Veteran Magazine, August, 1916.



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