CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - MILLS John M.
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Laurel Advocate 4-15-1909

J.M. Mills Dead

Passes Away on Easter Sunday Evening

Postmaster Nine Years

An Old Soldier, Marched with Sherman to the Sea

Funeral Yesterday

	Former Postmaster John M. Mills died at his home here at nine forty Sunday 
evening, April 11, 1909, after an illness extending over practically two 
years.
	Mr. Mills was sixty-eight at the time of his death, being born at Franklin, 
Pa., January 6, 1841. He removed to Wisconsin with his parents when a boy, 
and while still a young man, came to Brooklyn, Iowa, from which place he 
went to war, enlisting in Co. H. Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry and serving 
three years and three months being honorably discharged after hostilities 
had ceased. He was in the battle of Vicksburg and Memphis, and marched with 
Sherman to the Sea.
	After the war he farmed near Brooklyn, where he was married November 15, 
1866, to Miss Ann lee. In 1881 he moved to Carroll, Iowa, and in ’88 to 
Cleghorn. He put up the first building in the town of Cleghorn, and ran a 
hotel and general store, and was postmaster there under the Harrison 
Administration.
	His first wife died at Carroll, Iowa and lies in Eloy cemetery, Carroll 
county, near the present town of Templeton, Later he married Miss Elizabeth 
Hogg of Bovard, PA, who survives him.
	Mr. Mills came to laurel in the fall of ’94 and purchased the Commercial 
Hotel from I. D. Break, running the same about eighteen months. December 1, 
1897, he was appointed postmaster and retained the office until January 7, 
1907 when he was obliged by failing health to give up all work.
	There were eight children by the first marriage, all but two of who 
survive; and two by the second marriage, one of who, the youngest of the 
family, Clark Talmage, survives. The other living children (all by a first 
marriage) are: Wm.M. of Laurel; J.Frank of Sheridan, Wyo., A.Anna (Mrs. 
J.M. Wingett), of Richfield, Neb., Charles S., of Sheridan, Wyo., A.Myrtle 
( Mrs. E.C. Smith) of Omaha and Fanny B., of Laurel.
	Mary E. (Mrs. F.E. Strain) the eldest daughter of the family, died at 
Cleghorn, Iowa in ’92. She was quite well known here, as her husband was 
principal of the Hartington schools several years in the ‘90’s. Florence May 
died in Laurel in ’04. Robert Clarkson, the first child by the second 
marriage, a promising lad of six, died at Cleghorn, Iowa, in ’94 of scarlet 
fever.
	Mr. Mills leaves a sister, Mrs. J.V. Walker of Winterset, Iowa, and a 
brother, Robert W. of Norfolk, Neb.
	Mr. Mills was a member of the Presbyterian Church and of the AOUW Lodge. 
Always prominent in political and business circles, up to the time his 
health failed, he was well known to everybody for miles around and the news 
of his death will bring a feeling of regret to many. His son Frank owned and 
published the Advocate from 1894 to 1900, another son Charles helped him in 
the work, a daughter Myrtle, taught several years in the schools here and at 
Hartington, and another daughter, Fanny was for about ten years deputy 
postmistress. Thus the Mills name is inseparably connected with the history 
of Laurel.
	Though the death of Mr. Mills has been expected for some time, few are ever 
really prepared to see their loved one cross the dark border. The faithful 
wife and youngest daughter have spent months of anxious watching and how 
their hands are empty and their task of love is complete.
	The deepest sympathy of a host of friends goes out to every member of this 
well known family. Mr. Mills was a kind husband and father and they will 
miss him, even while they realize that his death was a welcome release from 
suffering.
	The funeral occurred yesterday afternoon at two-thirty, from the home, Rev. 
H.G. McClusky officiating, interment being made in the Laurel cemetery. 
Relatives from out of tone were J.F. Mills and wife and C.S. Mills of 
Sheridan, Wyo., Mrs. J.M. Wingett, Richfield; Mrs. E.C. Smith, Omaha, 
Robert Mils and daughter, Lena, and Mrs. Overtaker, Norfolk, J.A. Hogg and 
Mrs. Sadie VanDyke (brother and sister of Mrs. Mills). Shelton; Mesdames 
Samuel McAnich  and W.H. Greenlee (nieces of Mr. Mills) Broooklyn, Iowa.