Joab Neal
Uncle Joab Neal Passes To Reward
Pioneer Resident of County to Be Buried Saturday Afternoon At 2 O'clock

Joab Neal, aged and well known resident of the northeast part of the
county, passed on at his home two miles east of Frisco at 7 o'clock this
morning.  He had been in failing health for many months, and during the
past two weeks his condition has grown steadily worse.  He was born in
1849, and would have attained his seventy-ninth birthday had he lived
until the eleventh day of November.

He was a descendant of one of the oldest families of Franklin county,
being a son of the late John and Mary Neal, and a great grandson of
Lazarus and Nancy Webb who settled the country known as Webb's Prairie
more than a hundred and ten years ago.

With the exception of a few months spent in Missouri in 1881, his entire
life had been spent near the place of birth.  He was a man who took but
little interest in the things away from his home, and his long and
practical life was made of years that flourished in friendships and
neighborly kindness.  It can truthfully be said of him that he had not
an enemy.

He was the oldest son in a large family and was brought to endure the
hardships and privations of the early settlers. In his youth the clothes
that he and other members of the family wore were made of cotton and
wool that were produced on their own farm.  Modes of transportation were
meager and he witnessed the changes from the ox carts to the horse and
wagon, later the surrey, the horse and buggy, the automobile and the
airplane.

He married Julia Bevis at Spring Garden, Jefferson county, in 1871, and
if he could have lived until September 14, next, he would have
celebrated the fifty-seventh anniversary of that event.

The wife and six of the nine children born to them, survive.  The
children are: J. S. Neal of Centralia; J. R. Neal, Ina; Curtis J. Neal,
Cape Girardeau, Mo; S. I./L. Neal, Ewing; Mrs. Robert Tucker, Ewing; and
Mrs. Leonard Moore, of McLeansboro.  There are also twenty-eight
grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Two sisters, Mrs. S. B. Page, of Ina and Mrs. Elizabeth Davis, of Ewing,
and one brother, John Neal, of Ewing, survive.
He was brought up in the devout faith of the Primitive Baptist church,
and clung to the doctrines and teachings of that church during all his
life.  One of his last requests was that his funeral sermon be preached
by Elder C. M. Waver, who for many years served as pastor of the old
Primitive Baptist church at Webb's Prairie or Middle Fork.

The funeral services will be conducted at the Old Union church, east of
Ewing, at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, followed by interment in the
cemetery there.

Thomas Neal
Thomas Neal, 94, Dies at Home of His Daughter

Thomas Neal, one of the oldest men of Franklin county, died Tuesday
night at the home of a daughter, Mrs. John Hargis, at Sheller at the age
of 94.

Funeral services, conducted by Dr. W. D. Endres, were being held at the
First Christian church here this afternoon.

Besides his daughter in Sheller he was also the father of Mrs. Harry
Philp, of Benton, with whom he made his home for a number of years and
is survived by two other children, Frank Neal of Kansas, Ill, and Mrs.
Ruby Chandler, of St Mary's, Mo.

Mr. Neal spent the major portion of his life in Ewing, where he was
engaged in business for many useful years.  He was a member of the firm
of Neal and Webb many years and was known to practically all of the
older inhabitants of the county.

His family is one of the oldest in the county, having been pioneer
settlers in the Ewing community.  While he had not been actively engaged
in business for several years, he maintained his vigor and agility up
until a few weeks before his passing on.  He had gone about his daily
life with a firm step that would have been creditable to a man twenty
years younger.

Mr. Neal was a man one would enjoy knowing.  He was interesting and
learned and had a faculty of making friends of his acquaintances.

(No date on this news clipping� clues = his wife, Matilda Webb, was born
circa 1850�they married in 1867)

Mary Newton
The Register-News, Mt. Vernon, IL (1946 written on the edge of clipping)

MARY D. GIFFORD DIED AT AGE 73
Mary Delia GIFFORD, a lifelong resident of Moore's Prairie township,
died at her home yesterday at 8:20 p.m. She was 73 years, four months,
and 15 days of age at the time of her death.
Her husband, the late Wiliam J. GIFFORD, died July 29, 1944.
Mrs. GIFFORD was a member of the Frisco Baptist church where funeral
services will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Rev. Bird GREEN will
conduct the services and burial will be in the Thurmond cemetery in
Ewing townshhip, Franklin county. The body will lie in state at the
family home.
Mrs. GIFFORD was born Dec. 3, 1872 in Ewing, the daughter of W.H. and
Millie (HARRIS) NEWTON.
She is survived by two sons, Amos GIFFORD of R.F.D. 3, Mt. Vernon,
and Earl GIFFORD, of Belle Rive; one daughter, Mrs. Grace BIRKHEAD, of
Belle Rive; two brothers, Mart NEWTON, Mt. Vernon, and Ed NEWTON,
Harrisburg, Ill.; two half-brothers, Alva NEWTON, Clovis, N.M., and Ray
NEWTON, Mt. Vernon; three half-sisters, Mrs. Elsie TAYLOR, Ewing, Mrs.
Nellie REA, Mt. Vernon, and Mrs. Olive CAMPHILL, Mt. Vernon.
Seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren also survive.