The Daily Gazette, Saturday, April 4, 1908, Pg 1

DEATH OF

J. A. POFF

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Quarter of a Century Resident of

Lawrence Passed Away

Friday Afternoon.

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After a long illness Joseph A. Poff died at his home on west Winthrop street yesterday afternoon between 4 and 5 o’clock. At the battle of Murfreesboro in the civil war the trouble was contracted that made him a sufferer for the remainder of his life. Last August he was taken ill and on September 9 left for Battle Mountain santarium at Hot Springs, South Dakota and the treatment might benefit him. At first he rallied somewhat and wrote most encouragingly, but soon he began to grow worse steadily until only an overpowering homesickness gave him strength to make the journey home just ten weeks ago.

The funeral was held from the house this afternoon at 4 o’clock, Rev. M. E. Nethercut of the First Methodist church, conducting the services. There was a large attendance of old friends, and the body was laid to rest in Oak Hill cemetery.

Joseph A. Poff was born October 9, 1841, on a farm near Baltimore, Ohio; he attended school at the little village of Brel. In 1858 the family moved to Columbia City, Indiana, where he entered a drug store for the purpose of learning to be a pharmacist. He remained there until the war broke out.

He enlisted at the very beginning of the war, and served three years in Co. E, 17th Indiana volunteers, then re-enlisted. This regiment was a part of Wilder’s brigade of mountain infantry, which brigade was perhaps the most noted of any in the Army of the Cumberland and in the west. Wilder’s brigade was engaged in all the important battles beginning with Ft. Donelson and including Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, Franklin and Nashville; and then on the Wilson raid through northeastern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

At the close of the war Mr. Poff became a clerk in a drug store in Bedford, Indiana; there he met Mary Ellen Medearis, to whom he was married April 15, 1869. In 1871 Mr. and Mrs. Poff moved to Abilene, Kansas for the benefit of Mrs. Poff’s health. There he went into the drug business with James Northcraft, a close friend who had preceded him there from Bedford, Indiana. Later he went into business for himself in Russell, Kansas. There he served two terms as county clerk. About twenty-four years ago he moved to Lawrence and bought stock in the Leis Chemical Works; later he sold his stock and went into the drug business in the stand now occupied by Smith’s News Depot. On account of failing health this business was sold.

Since then Mr. Poff has acted as deputy in various county and city offices, has been bailiff in the Douglas county district court and versatile ability has made him an invaluable aid to many officers in the correct conduct of the business entrusted to them.

Mr. Poff was a genial companion, an ardent friend, and a most likable man in every way. His long illness has been a matter of keen regret to his many acquaintances, but from the beginning he felt that he could not recover. His suffering he bore with much fortitude and patience.

Mr. Poff leaves a widow, one son, Alonzo M., who has aided in nursing his father during his last illness and one daughter, Grace E., a teacher in the Lawrence public schools.