“Died, in this village, on Sunday July 10, of cancer of the stomach, Mary, wife of John R. Harmston, aged 46 years.

  By the death of Mrs. Harmston Trumansburg loses one of its most prominent and well-known citizens. For years this lady has been engaged in the dressmaking and latterly in the millinery trade and the magnitude of the business may be judged from the fact that the average number of her employees was larger than any concern in town with the possible exception of the Gregg Iron Works. In her profession Mrs. Harmston was an artist, her reputation extended hundreds of miles beyond the limits of her home and among her patrons were numbered some of the most prominent society people of the country. So much for Mrs. Harmston as a business woman. Personally she was a most estimable lady, kind and generous to a fault. Honorable in all the affairs of life, over indulgent as a wife and mother and her sad death leaves a business and social vacancy in this community that will be hard to fill, well nigh impossible. Mrs. Harmston was a native of England and came to this country in 1866 and although of foreign birth she died as thoroughly American as if to the manor born. She leaves a husband and one daughter, Mrs. Frank Hatfield, of Newburg, to mourn her loss. The funeral took place from the Church of the Epiphany Wednesday afternoon.”

“Local Histories,” Free Press (Trumansburg, NY), July 16, 1892, 1.