"UNCLE " OBE NEWSOM
OBIT
TRANSCRIBED BY : TINA EASLEY
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ar/county/greene/
FROM THE WEEKLY SOLIPHONE
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FEB 26, 1915 - FRIDAY
PIONEER CITIZEN
"UNCLE " OBE NEWSOM , ONE OF GREENE COUNTIES EARLY SETTLERS , PASSES AWAY
WORD WAS RECEIVED THIS MORNING TO THE EFFECT OF OBE NEWSOM DIED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON OF PNEUMONIA , NEAR FINCH. " UNCLE " OBE NEARLY EIGHTY YEARS OLD AND ONE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF GREENE COUNTY HAVING LOCATED HERE WHEN THE BUFFALO ROAMED .
HE SERVED WITH THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AND HE HELPED FIGHT THE STERNER BATTLES OF THE CONSTRUCTION DAYS .
MR. NEWSOM A CIVIL ENGINEER AND SURVEYOR THOUGH ONE OF THE OLDEST OF THE COUNTY .
"UNCLE" OBE WAS KNOWN EITHER PERSONALLY OR BY REPUTATION TO EVERY MAN , WOMAN AND CHILD IN GREENE COUNTY , AND HIS DEATH WILL BE SINCERELY MOURNED BY THE ENTIRE CITIZENSHIP.
FUNERAL SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT FINCH TOMORROW MORNING AND CONDUCTED BY REV. GRIFFIN .
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PRINTED IN THE WEEKLEY SOLIPHONE - APRIL 16, 1915
TRIBUTE TO A PIONEER
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THE OLD CITIZENS OF GREENE COUNTY WHO WERE THE PIONEERS IN SHAPING OUR DESTINY , IN BLAZING THE WAY FOR LATER CIVILIZATION AND WHO FACED THE PERILS OF THE EARLY DAYS , WHEN THE ENTIRE COUNTY WAS A VAST WILDERNESS AND THERE WERE FEW SETTLEMENTS, WHEN WILD BEASTS AND WILD MEN ROAMED THE FORESTS AND WERE IN MANY INSTANCES A TERROR TO THOSE WHO PLIED THE PEACEFUL VOCATION OF HOME BUILDERS , ARE GRADUALLY PASSING AWAY.
ONE BY ONE THEY DROP INTO THE GRAVE AND DISAPPEAR FROM THE WALKS OF MEN. AMONG THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY PASSED TO THEIR REWARD WAS UNCLE OBE NEWSOM OF POLAND TOWNSHIP. A PIONEER OF THE EARLY PERIOD OF THE LAST CENTURY , HE HAD SEEN GREENE COUNTY TRANSFORMED FROM A WILDERNESS TO A HEALTHY CIVILIZATION MARKED BY MATERIAL PROGRESS IN EVERYTHING THAT MAKES A COUNTRY GREAT AND PROSPEROUS.
FOR ABOUT SEVENTY YEARS HE RESIDED IN POLAND TOWNSHIP ON THE PLACE SETTLED BY HIS FATHER ABOUT THE YEAR 1840. HE LIVED A USEFUL AND EXEMPLARY LIFE. HE WAS THE MENTOR TO WHOM THE PEOPLE OF THAT SECTION TURNED FOR COUNSEL AND HE WAS REGARDED AS THE FATHER OF HIS COMMUNITY.
HON. JOE A. THOMPSON SAYS OF UNCLE OBE : I HAVE KNOWN HIM SINCE I KNEW ANYBODY AND I LOVED HIM AS A FATHER . MR. THOMPSON HAS GIVEN THE DAILY PRESS AND THE WEEKLY SOLIPHONE THE FOLLOWING DATA ABOUT UNCLE OBE WHICH WILL NO DOUBT PROVE OF INTEREST TO A MAJORITY OF THE READERS OF THIS PAPER AND ESPECIALLY TO OLD SETTLERS:
OBEDIAH STERLING NEWSOM WAS BORN IN TIPPETT COUNTY , MISS. DECEMBER 12 , 1835 AND DIED IN GREENE COUNTY , ARK. FEB. 25 , 1915, AGE 79 YEARS TWO MONTHS AND THIRTEEN DAYS. IN HIS EARLY BOYHOOD HE CAME TO GREENE COUNTY WITH HIS PARENTS , WHO SETTLED NEAR FINCH ON THE LAND WON WHICH PLEASANT GROVE CHURCH WAS BUILT AND ALSO THE LAND FOR THE PLEASANT GROVE CEMETERY.
HE WAS CONSIDERED THE HEAD OF THE SETTLEMENT AND GENERAL COUNSELLOR FOR THE PEOPLE. HE WAS THREE TIMES MARRIED AND IS SURVIVED BY HIS LAST WIFE AND SEVERAL CHILDREN. SEVERAL CHILDREN ARE DEAD, ON HAVING DIED SINCE HIS DEATH , AURORA , A BLIND DAUGHTER . HIS SURVIVING CHILDREN ARE JOHN S. NEWSOM OF RECTOR, J.E. NEWSOM OF SPRING GROVE , WILLIAM NEWSOM OF JONESBORO , EZRA NEWSOM OF FINCH. MRS. MARY ANN McCLURE , MRS. MARTHA RHEA , MRS. PERNICIA LOVELACE , MRS. FRANCIS HOWARD , ALL WELL KNOWN PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY.
HE HAD 55 GRANDCHILDREN , 37 OF WHOM SURVIVE. HE IS SURVIVED BY 13 GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN.
Z.T. FLETCHER , ONE OF THE OLD SETTLERS OF THE FINCH NEIGHBORHOOD , SAYS OF UNCLE OBE ; I HAVE KNOWN OBE NEWSOM FOR 39 YEARS . I NEVER KNEW HIM TO BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LIQUOR OR TO USE BAD LANGUAGE OR GIVE BAD ADVICE.
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