Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Roe, Benjamin Franklin   1918 September 1, 1918
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Pat Blood pat.blood@gmail.com March 25, 2011, 2:41 am

Portland Review – Tuesday, 3 September 1918
DROWNS IN CISTERN
Benj. Franklin Roe Ends Life in This Way Sunday Morning
Feared He Was To Be Taken To A Sanitarium
Old Army Wound Affected His Mind, Which Had Been Failing Rapidly

Benjamin Franklin Roe, a veteran of the civil war and lifelong resident of 
Portland, committed suicide Sunday morning by jumping in the cistern near his 
home on Kent Street.  There was but little water in it but when he was 
discovered a half hour later he was dead.  His sons, Dr. Bert Roe, of Jackson, 
and Dr. J. B. Roe, of Clare, were spending Sunday at the home of their parents 
and with the assistance of one or two passers-by pulled the body of their 
father to the surface.  He had used a pole to measure the depth of the water, 
as shown by moisture on the stick, and had discarded his vest.  It was this 
garment lying near the cistern that prompted his wife, who arose soon after he 
did, to look in the water when she missed him.

Mr. Roe has been in poor health of late.  He was wounded in the head at 
Petersburg during his army service and was deaf when he came out of the 
hospital.  He had never fully recovered from the injury and in later years it 
had affected his mind.  The family had discussed the advisability of taking 
him to a sanitarium of late, owing to his enfeebled condition, and it is 
believed he found this out and decided to die at home.  He arose at the usual 
hour Sunday morning and went out in the yard as had been his custom this 
summer.  Mrs. Roe got up a little late but did not see him in the yard.  The 
discovery of the vest told the story.  His father, Joseph Roe, ended his life 
by hanging himself in the barn on the same lot many years ago.

Mr. Roe was born in Portland, 73 years ago last June, in a house which stood 
on Maple Street, where D. A. Packard’s implement store is now located.  He was 
one of the youngest of the Portland boys who enlisted, and served, until 
wounded with Co. K, 2d Michigan.  After he was released from the hospital he 
was honorably discharged from the service and returned to Portland.  John 
Megarah, after whom the local G. A. R. post is named, was a member of the same 
company and regiment, and having been wounded in the same battle, was sent to 
the hospital at Washington with Mr. Roe.  It was there that Comrade Megarah 
died.

Not long after his return from the war Mr. Roe married Miss Sibelia McNeil.  
Two children were born, Dr. Bert Roe being the only survivor.  Thirty-six 
years ago, after the death of his first wife, Mr. Roe married Miss Marietta 
Beard, who survives him.  Their children are Dr. J. B. Roe, Clare; Lester, 
Lansing; Clifton, Gladys, Helen and Genevieve, Portland.

Mr. Roe was well-to-do, owning considerable property. For years he conducted a 
store in his own building on Kent Street.

Funeral services are to be held at the house Tuesday afternoon, Rev. R. S. 
MacGregor, of the M.E. church, officiating.  The Odd Fellows will attend in a 
body and members of John Megarah Post will act as bearers.




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