Obituary of Mary Ellen Norment, from clipping kept in scrapbook of Margaret Louise Norment Thornton. Newspaper and date not shown but presumed to be the Evening Star, the newspaper of Washington, DC, at that time.
Transcribed by Diane Bender, POB 178, Washington Grove MD 20880, 301-948-0133, exeline@erols.com

In Washington City, on Thursday evening, April 15th, 1869, in the 44th year of her age, Mrs. MARY ELLEN NORMENT, wife of Samuel Norment, Esq., and daughter of the late Rev. Ulysses Ward, sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. Her last word was, in reply to an inquiry made by her aged mother concerning her spiritual condition and prospects, "Joyous'[ital]. Well might she thus speak at last, who, from early childhood to the moment of her death, had experimentally known "the Saviour of sinners," and faithfully followed "the Friend and Guide of all who travel to the skies." Through the all-sufficient grace of God, imparted to her by the Holy Spirit, she was enabled to exemplify, in every relation she sustained in life, as daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, "the beauty of holiness"[ital]. She was in deed and in truth a Christian. Her religious training was mainly under Methodist Protestant influence, but for some years previous to her death, she attended with her husband the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a member thereof at the time of her decease. In both of these Churches and in every other circle where she was known, she was beloved and respected by all ; and the feeling of sorrow at her departure is general, but not unrelieved, since there is good ground for hope of reunion with her in the land where "Christians all shall meet to part no more." Let her relatives and friends who mourn in their bereavement, take comfort from the consideration that they may, by following her as she followed Christ reach the same glorious home into which they believe she has entered. Thus will every remembrance of her become the means of quickening their desires and efforts to attain a fitness for the heavenly world. May the Lord sanctify this bereavement to the spiritual profit of all the relatives and friends, but especially of the dear children who survive. J. T. W. Westminster, April 21st, 1869.