Last Tuesday the sad intelligence reached us that
Col. John D. McLemore was dead, and we were not entirely
unprepared to receive this painful announcement, for
when we last saw him a short time since, we could but
regard his recovery doubtful, still we could but feel
shocked, when we were told that Col. John D. McLemore
was no longer among the living.
It is hard to realize that he is to meet and greet us
no more; that he, once so full of life and activity, has
ceased to be. There are but few men who had more and
warmer friends than he, and his death will leave a void
in many hearts; his kind and genial disposition endeared
him to all who knew him well. Col. McLemore was one of
the oldest citizens of the county, having lived here for
nearly forty years, and was intimately associated with
our people and affairs. He was one of our most
successful business men; before the war, by his energy
and business qualifications, he had amassed a large
fortune, which he was doomed to see dissipated by the
war; but undaunted, after peace returned, he bravely
entered upon the work of retrieving his broken fortunes,
and to discharge the heavy pecuniary obligations that
rested on him. Disdaining to take shelter under the
bankrupt act, and resolving, if possible, to pay the
last dollar due by him, many thousands of which were
obligations incurred as surety debts for other persons,
he yet made a heroic effort to collect out of the wreck
enough to meet these debts; but many who owed him paid
him off in bankrupt notices, thus leaving him to contend
with his own debts, and with but little to discharge
them.
Notwithstanding this, he did not relax his effort,
and yield, as thousands of others, to despondency, but
rather redoubled his endeavors to stem the overwhelming
tide that rolled itself against him. The unceasing toil,
and extraordinary demand made upon his energies, both
physical and mental, ere long proved too great, and
resulted, three or four years since, in partial
paralysis, which left him a mere wreck. Broken down as
he has been during these later years, yet his
cheerfulness and hopefulness never deserted him, for
when not suffering, he was still the same genial, kind
and affectionate man he ever was.
All who knew him well will miss him, and in every
household he will wont to frequent, there will be noted
with sadness by the members thereof, his vacant chair.
As a husband, there never was one more affectionate and
true; as a father, never was one more faithful, nor one
for whom his children entertained a more reverential
affection, and as a friend, one more loyal. We have
neither time nor space in which to give a fuller and
more complete portraiture of Col. McLemore. He has left
a void in this community which is truly felt, and which
will not soon be filled.
While no storied monument may ever be raised to
perpetuate his virtues, yet he will ever live in the
memory of his friends. To his family we tender our
sincerest sympathies.
Note by : Col. John D. McLemore is buried in the
Gerenton Cemetery, Carroll County, Mississippi
