Coles County IL Archives Obituaries.....Price, William
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Bev Dobbins bosartbev@aol.com May 1999

Obituary of William P. PRICE, Coles County, Illinois

Name of Deceased:  William P. PRICE
Name of Newspaper:  Mattoon Journal-Gazette
Date of Newspaper:  17 July 1907, Wednesday

Bugle Calls Old Soldier

W. P. Price Passes Peacefully Away This Morning At His Home
On Broadway.

FUNERAL THURSDAY

Services to Be Held from Residence at 1:30 O'Clock

Brief History Of His Life

Before daybreak this morning, W. P. Price passed away at his 
home, 916 Broadway, after suffering for years from the results
of gun shot wounds received while in his country's service in
the Civil War, recently complicated with bronchitis.  Death
was not unexpected, for he had been very ill for several weeks.  
Yet, up to the very end, he fought for life and was up and 
dressed almost to the hour of his demise.

The funeral will be held from the residence at 1:30 o'clock 
Thursday afternoon and the interment will follow in Dodge Grove 
cemetery in Mattoon, IL.  The officiating minister has not yet 
been chosen.  The deceased was a member of no church, but was 
baptized in the Methodist church when very young.

William P. Price was born on October 16, 1840, in New Jersey.  
In that state he grew to manhood, learning the carpenter trade 
before attaining his majority.  When the news of the firing on 
Fort Sumpter was made known, he was the first from his town to 
volunteer, and he served with considerable distinction through 
the entire Civil War.  He was a member of the secret service 
department of the Union army and rendered valuable service as 
a spy in the Confederate lines.  He also fought in several 
battles with the 5th Regiment of New Jersey Infantry and 
received in his left side, wounds that later caused his death.  
All of the ribs in this side were broken and when bronchitis 
took hold of him, death was not long absent.

After the war, he returned to New Jersey, and later moved to 
Pennsylvania, where he was married to the one who now mourns 
his death, his widow (Susan Lovett Schmidt).  Soon after their 
marriage, they moved to Illinois, coming directly to Mattoon 
in 1869.  Since that time they resided in this city, and for 
thirty-five years, lived at the present residence, 916 Broadway.

Upon first arrival in Mattoon, he secured employment with the 
Big Four Railroad Company, then the Indianapolis & St. Louis 
Railroad, on the bridge gang, and when the time came that the 
shops were moved from Litchfield hither, W. P. Price was the 
man who drove the first stakes for the buildings here and it 
was he who was partly in direction of the carpenters who 
erected the uprights for the first shop erected by this 
railroad in Mattoon.  Upon completion of the shops, he went 
to work with the carpenters and for thirty nine years has 
labored as a cabmaker and repairman.

Several of the present employees in these shops came to 
Mattoon with the change but the deceased was the oldest 
laborer employed out of the early city of Mattoon and during 
the long term of his employment there, he scarcely missed a 
month of time and never except at his own request.

Recently, his health failed him so that he was unable to 
work and since that time, he has lived at home in retirement.
He was an active member of the Mattoon Post, G.A.R, and also
of the loyal Lodge of Odd Fellows, which will have direction
of the funeral, assisted by the veterans.  About ten years 
ago, he served on the county board as assistant supervisor.

Three children were born, two of whom are living - Mrs. 
Henry C. Aldrich, 2212 Marion Avenue and George B. Price, 
now in Galveston, Texas.  It is not known whether the son 
will be able to attend the funeral.


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