Submitted by:  Timothy D. Hudson



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The Ouachita Telegraph
Saturday, 16 Feb 1889, page 2, column 4 

"A GOOD MAN GONE TO HIS REWARD. DIED. - At his residence near Downsville 
in Union Parish, La., on the 12th of February, 1889, at 10:20 a.m., Mr. 
George Gunby, aged 88 years, 1 month and 5 days. 
            The subject of this notice was born in Columbia county, Georgia, 
on the 7th day of January, 1801, being the oldest son of William Gunby, who, 
shortly after the Revolution, moved from Maryland into Georgia.  George Gunby 
grew up on his father's farm with but few educational advantages, Yet he was 
precocious enough to marry at 18 years of age and to cast his first vote for 
James Monroe in 1820. 
            In 1835 George Gunby removed from Columbia county to Cherokee 
county where he settled on lands drawn by him in the celebrated Georgia (lottery). 
            His farm and store, which he called Hickory Flat, were 7 miles from 
Canton.  Here he resided, engaged in mercantile, agricultural and milling pursuits, 
until 1851, when he became a citizen of Atlanta, Ga., where he died an extensive 
business as a merchant.  In 1854 he moved to Catoosa county, Ga., and returned to 
the pursuits of farming.  Thence he emigrated to the State of Louisiana and arrived 
in Claiborne parish on Christmas day, 1855.  In January, 1870, he purchased and 
moved to a large farm in Union parish where he resided until his death. 
            Such was his energy and strength of constitution that he established a 
new home at the age of 69, when most men are already worn out, and surrounded himself 
with new comforts, new associates, and new friends.  The great age he attained, of 
which he was proud and for which he frequently expressed his gratitude to a kind 
Providence, was partly due to the healthiness of the Homestead which he occupied 
during the last 15 years of his life, but his great longevity was chiefly due to his 
strength of will and force of character which triumphed over bodily ailments and all 
other obstacles.  Though a plain farmer, a modest citizen, he had qualities that made 
him remarkable.  His mind and spirit were cast in heroic mould.  Like most Southern 
men who were old at the close of the war, it was hard for him to adapt himself to the 
new order of things brought about by emancipation of his slaves.  But he never repined.  
He complained of no hardship; he shrank from no ordeal.  He devoutly believed that all 
the affairs of men are supervised and directed by a Special Providence and he meekly 
accepted troubles, disappointments and afflictions as the dispensation of an all-wise 
and all-beneficant (sic) 
God.  His belief in christianity was unwavering and profound and he labored to conform 
his practice to his professions. 
            But his trust in Providence never relaxed his sense of duty; his faith in 
the efficacy of divine grace never lessened his esteem for individual worth.  He had 
no use for religion without morality and his favorite motto was:  "An honest man's the 
noblest work of God."  The whole of his ambition was to be an honest man and a christian.  
Throughout his life he loved to cite the proverbs of Poor Richard and impressed upon his 
children, above all other lessons, the duty of keeping out of debt.  His sense of justice 
was strongly developed and he did not deem it consistent with manly honor to leave a debt 
unpaid, dollar for dollar, or to make money by any indirection. 
            He was a man without pretense or show of any sort.  Yet he had a bold and 
independent temper.  He was modest and reserved among his fellow men never forward, never 
pushing himself to the front; but he bent his knee to his Creator alone.  He never died 
an act of injustice and never submitted to one, if he could help it.  He believed in hard 
labor, economy and resignation. 
            "Rich in saving common sense, in his simplicity sublime." 
            In his old age, George Gunby exhibited traits of character which are as rare 
as they are praiseworthy.  His affection for his children and interest in their affairs 
never abated.  His desire for association with his neighbors and his association with his 
neighbors and his appreciation of their friendship increased.  He never grew melancholy or 
despondent but kept his spirits bright and cheerful.
            He did not live in the past, but took a lively, active and keen interest in 
all the affairs of the present, and looked toward to the future with almost youthful hope 
and pleasure, superintending the operations on his farm with zest, energy and intelligence 
to the last. 
            His mental faculties seemed to grow stronger and clearer with age.  They never 
decayed or became dim.  His conversation was ever cheerful, interesting, full of pith and 
good humor and no one in his company felt that he was old. 
            He never grew tire of life nor murmured at suffering and the infirmities of 
age. This was a part of his religion.  He seemed to fear that his great pains and sufferings 
would make him wish to die, and that he thought would be a sin.  Though he feared not death 
and serenely expected a happy existence in a better and fairer land than earth, yet he 
schooled himself to wait for the time of his departure with patient fortitude and content.  
There was something truly grand in this. 
            He had all that should accompany old age - honor, love, troops of friends.  He 
did not die of old age, but from many complicated infirmities which gradually overcame him.  
But at length his pains subsided, and surrounded by family and friends in his own home, on 
the bright (?) evening of the 12th of February, just at the threshold of spring, he passed 
away, peacefully and gently, "like one who folds the drapery of his couch about him and lies 
down to pleasant dreams." 
            On the evening of the 13th he was buried in the Downsville cemetery by the 
Masonic fraternity of Downsville Lodge, whose solemn, impressive and beautiful ceremony 
touched and soothed many sad hearts as they consigned "his body to the ground and his spirit 
to God who gave it."  The large attendance and respectful attention at his funeral showed 
that he was held in esteem by the good people among whom he lived. 
            In ancient times, it was the custom for the nearest of kin to speak at funerals 
and celebrate the virtues of the dead.  The father spoke the eulogy of his dead son, and 
husbands enumerated the virtues of their departed wives.  That tender custom has been 
discarded, and relatives are no longer permitted to eulogize those who were near and dear 
to them.  But it cannot be amisstostate the salient facts of their character.  Such a 
commemoration is due to the dead and to the living.             
	    Such a man as George Gunby is a credit to human nature.  The example of his 
upright and virtuous and manly life is worth more to the world than all its gold and silver."

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