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The life of Araminta "Minnie" Jane Smith was neither long nor easy. At 21 she married Ezra Stiles, a man 11 years her senior and by the time she was 33 she had borne seven children and was dead. The story of her final days is one of irony and courage. On Christmas Eve 1889 her husband, who had been very ill for several months, died. The following is an account of one of her daughters, Edna Minnie (Stiles) Baker.

" After the funeral Grandmother Smith herded us and mother out to her home in Nappan, Nova Scotia. Some of us were parked with aunts or uncles who already had several small children of their own. We orphans were only surplus baggage and, indeed, were made to feel that way too. Mother stayed with the youngest ones at Grandmother Smith's until Fall, when she got a chance to help out in a family where the mother had recently died. "

The following appeared in the Amherst Record in 1890:

GAVE HER LIFE FOR OTHERS
The Self-Sacrifice of an Heroic Cumberland Woman

An Athol correspondent of the Amherst Record says: "We feel that some slight tribute to the memory of a noble, self-sacrificing woman should be recorded, as few such deeds of heroism have ever come under our notice. After the death of Mrs. Job Pugsley, September 8th, a widow, Mrs. Stiles, daughter of John Smith of Nappan, - came to the aid of the afflicted family left with only one and inexperienced girl, then nearly crushed by her mother's death. Mrs. Stiles intended to remain only a short time, but the eldest son, Frederick, who had been in Campbellton , came home to his mother's funeral, and that day was prostrated with typhoid fever, contracted in Campbellton. Mrs. Stiles could not leave the sick man uncared for, and therefore remained and nursed him through a long and very severe illness, but before he had entirely recovered, Florence, the young sister, was prostrated, then the second brother, Albert, and both for a long time lay in a very precarious condition. At length the strain upon this faithful nurse was too much, and she succumbed to the dire disease. Worn out with watching and anxiety, the fever attacked the brain, and after a few days struggle with the foe she passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 25th. Her remains were taken to Amherst, and laid I am told, beside those of her departed husband. She leaves a family of small children. We may well say, 'She gave herself for others.' Of course, when she came none knew of the sickness being fever, but when once in the sick home she would not leave the helpless family to suffer.


A footnote:

"Minnie" (Smith) Stiles is buried in Amherst next to her husband, Ezra Stiles.

The woman who died on September 8 1890 was Mrs. Job Pugsley, the former Sarah Eliza Read daughter of Thomas Read of Amherst. Source: "Historical Record of the Posterity of William Black" by Cyrus Black, Esq., published in 1885 - p.183

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