Coos County OR Archives Obituaries.....MCEWEN, J.S. 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Donell Scheirman d_frazier40@yahoo.com October 10, 2010, 1:40 am Coquille Valley Sentinel Coquille Valley Sentinel May 25, 1923 VETERAN PASSES Death of One of This city's Oldest G.A.R. Members J.S. McEwen, one of the oldest residents of Coquille, passed away at his home on Spurgeon Hill at one o'clock Wednesday morning. He suffered no pain at the end, nor was any sickness the cause of his death, aside from the fact that his heart gradually became weaker until it stopped. He had been down town nearly every day until last Thursday when he started down but returned home before reaching the business section. His daughter, Mrs. J.E. Norton and his sister, who lived with him, just north of Mr. Norton's residence, were with him at the end and had done all possible to make him comfortable as it became apparent his last hour was approaching. The funeral will be held at the Ellingsen undertaking parlors Sunday at 2 p.m., the date having been set before word was received from his son at Stillwater, Okla., that it would be impossible for him to come. John Stewart McEwen was born in Lewiston, Pa., March 14th, 1836, and died at Coquille, Oregon, May 23, 1923. He was educated in the public schools and academy of his native town. He was a descendant of Covenanter and revolutionary stock, his great grandfather and grandfather, on the paternal side, being among the early settlers of the Colonies, and among the first to settle in the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, where Carlisle is located. Both participated in the early Indian and French Wars of those days and later with a grand uncle in the struggle for independence. The great grandfather was on the staff of General Wolf at the storming of Quebec and the grandfather was a member of Capt. William Hendrix' company when he received a bayonet wound on the Plains of Abraham Jan. 1st, 1776, in which assault the Captain was killed and the company made prisoners. Mr. McEwen was married Oct. 13, 1858, to Emily Goldsmith McKenzie, of Duncannon, Pa., and the young couple started at once for Missouri to make their home. Mr. McEwen started the Georgetown Gazette at Georgetown, Mo., and during the trying anti-slavery agitation, the John Brown raids and border wars had many exciting experiences. He was first to publish the general orders of Gen. E.B. Frost, of the Missouri State Militia, in resistance to the John Brown raids. The fall of 1860 brought on the bitter political struggle between Lincoln, Douglas, Breckenridge and Bell and later when the question of secession became an issue the subject this sketch gave his best efforts in support of the Union; thereby incurring the enmity of bitter partisans of secession, and his newspaper office was destroyed and his home and household effects burned. He escaped with his wife and young son and returned to his father's home in Pennsylvania, where he left them and entered the army among the first three- years' men, joining the Forty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, serving in Gen. Hancock's original brigade. After honorable discharge and an interim at home he re-enlisted on Feb. 3, 1865, for one year and on Feb. 18th was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of Company C Seventy-eighth, Penn. After the battle of Nashville this regiment was detailed for special duty as chief of patrol on the staff of Gen. John F. Miller at Nashville, which position he filled until mustered out of the service with the rank of Captain Sept. 11, 1865. Mr. McEwen remained in Pennsylvania until 1869 when the spirit for adventure triumphed and he took his wife and three children and started for Texas to grow up with the country. There was no rail connection at that time and not a mile of railroad in the state. The trip was made down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and by steamer from New Orleans to Indianola, requiring six weeks for the journey. After a short residence at Indianola he moved to Austin, the state capital, to enter the printing business and joined some of the craft in a co-operative enterprise establishing what is still a leading paper of that state - the "Austin Daily Statesman." He later was managing editor of the daily and weekly "Hesperian" of Gainseville, Texas, for over six years. He moved to San Jose, California in 1887 and up the coast to Coquille in 1890, where he took charge of the "Coquille City Herald." Mr. McEwen was a member of the 17th Legislative Assembly as representative from Coos county in 1893, and served as member of the school board in Coquille at the time the present grammaar school building was constructed. He led an active life, doing that which he saw to be right without fear. He was a great lover of children and even during his active business career never saw the time when he was too busy to stop and play with any child he met. He is survived by three children, Samuel S. McEwen, of Stillwater, Oklahoma; Mrs. J.E. Norton, of Coquille; and Burton McEwen, of Coquille; one son and one daughter having preceded him in to the great beyond. He also leaves one sister, Miss Elizabeth McEwen, who made her home with him in Coquille File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/coos/obits/m/mcewen4195gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.6 Kb