DEATH OF ALEXANDER GREER

SUCCUMBED TO LONG ILLNESS AT 5 O’CLOCK YESTERDAY

Came to This Vicinity in 1884 and Practically All That Time Active

In the Affairs of His County

Alexander C. Greer, father of Edwin E. Greer of 1120 West Myrtle street, died at 5 o’clock yesterday evening at the family homestead nine miles west of the city on the Laurel street road. Barring an interval when he was superintendent of the county farm Mr. Greer had resided in this home since 1884. He had been ill for a long time with an ailment of the stomach and for the last few weeks have been very near death.

Mr. Greer was born at Martinsville, Ind., on Oct. 11, 1844. When the war came he enlisted in the Union army and served with gallantry in that great struggle from 1862 until 1865. With his family he came to this county in the early days and up to the time when his health began to fail always took an active part in the affairs of his township and the county. He was an ardent Republican and was regarded as a leader of that party in this section.

Alexander Campbell Greer, familiarly known as “Uncle Cam” Greer, was born in Morgan county, Indiana, Oct. 11, 1844, and departed this life January 29, 1917. He was the youngest of ten children. He served through civil war, having enlisted in Company F, 5th Indiana cavalry, Aug. 30, 1862. He was discharged from the service May 20, 1865.

Mr. Greer was married in 1867 to Rhonda Parker, and to this union were born eight children: Mrs. Ruth H. Robertson, Mrs. Lillie M. Botts, Mrs. Margaret Malcom (deceased), Mrs. Dora Hewitt, Edwin E. Greer, John E. Greer, Mrs. Jane Hinrichs and Mrs. Alice Agard.

Mr. Greer came to Montgomery county, Kansas in 1884 and settled on the farm where he resided at the time of his death. He was a loving husband, a kind and indulgent father and a splendid neighbor. “Uncle Cam” will be greatly missed by relatives and friends.

The funeral will be held at 10:30 o’clock tomorrow from the residence west of town, with burial in Mount Hope cemetery. Rev. F. L. Pettit of the First Christian church of this city will have charge of the services. All the children are expected to be here for the funeral with the exception of one daughter, Mrs. Lillie Botts of Lane, Kansas, who is too ill to travel.

Mr. Greer was a member of McPherson Post G. A. R. and that order will participate in the funeral services. He was a familiar figure around the camp fire, where his reminiscences of 1862 and 1865 were blended with those of his comrades. He is the last of three brothers, all of whom were active in the affairs of this county.

From History of Montgomery County, Kansas, By Its Own People, published by L. Wallace Duncan, Iola, Kansas, 1903, pgs. 346-347:

In 1884, the subject of this personal reference came to Montgomery county and identified himself with the settlers of Rutland township, where he owns one hundred and twenty acres of sections 27 and 33, township 32, range 14. He emigrated from Morgan county, Indiana, where his birth occurred October 11th, 1841, and where he grew up on a farm. His father, John A. Greer, was a pioneer there from Scott county, Kentucky, and a minister of the Christian church, dying the year following our subject’s birth.

Rev. John A. Greer was a native Irishman’s son, James Greer being his father. James Greer accompanied his parents, Stephen H. and Ruth (Anderson) Greer to America as a child, where he married and, in Kentucky, reared his family of sever children: James, Nathaniel, Henry Alvin, Ruth, Mrs. Sophronia Smith, Mrs. Martitia Berry, and John A. The last named married Nancy Elsey, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Montague) Elsey, native Kentucky people. The children sprang from this union as follows: James, John E., Mrs. Elizabeth Carroll, Lyman M., Mrs. Ruth Williams, Nancy J., William H., Mrs. Amanda M. Poor, Alexander C., and Sarah, deceased.

Stephen H. Greer, our subject’s great-grandfather, came from Ireland to Maryland and served about five years in the Revolutionary war.

The opportunities of Alexander C. Greer, in youth, were only such as came to a country boy of his time, and he grew up with a strong body, a moral and upright young man. August 30th, 1862, he enlisted in Company “F”, 5th Ind. Cav., Capt. Felix Graham-afterwards colonel-and, later, under Col. Thomas F. Butler, in the 23rd Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Sherman. He was in twenty-two different engagements during the war and escaped both wounds and capture. He was in the fights at Bean Station, Bluntville, Tenn., and Buffington’s Island. He helped capture Gen. Basil Duke and eleven hundred men, with a mere posse of fifty men. From Kentucky the command went into Tennessee, where it scouted over the eastern part of the state and fought the battles of Raytown, Strawberry Plains and Walker’s Fort. The regiment then returned to Louisville, Kentucky, from whence it soon embarked on its journey to join Gen. Sherman, for the Atlanta campaign. On this campaign the cavalry led the advance and brought on the fighting all the way down to the city. After the Confederate stronghold surrendered, Mr. Greer’s command was sent back to Louisville, where he went to the hospital with a fever. He was discharged from there, May 20th, 1865, and is now a pensioner on the roll of honor.

Since the war, farming has occupied the attention of Mr. Greer. He was married in 1867, Rhoda Parker becoming his wife. She was born in Morgan county, Indiana, and was a daughter of Starling and Mary (White) Parker, of Jackson and Morgan counties, that state. To Mr. and Mrs. Greer have been born eight children: Mrs. Ruth Hutoka, of Neodesha, Kansas; Mrs. Lily M. Botts, of Montgomery county, with children: Laura, Ella, Margaret and Marie; Mrs. Margaret M. Malcom, with three children: Ira, Eva, and Ethel, deceased; Mrs. Dora Hewitt of Independence, Kansas; Everett E., of Neodesha; John E., of Independence; Mary J. and Alice, yet on the family homestead.

In politics Mr. Greer affiliates with the Republicans and has been chosen to fill several local offices of his township. He has attended county and district conventions in a delegate capacity, and has comported himself as becomes a patriotic and worthy citizen.

Contributed by Mrs. Maryann Johnson a Civil war researcher and a volunteer in the Kansas Room of the Independence Public Library, Independence, Kansas.