Obituary of John Albert Strong (1831-1915)

June 19, 1915- Mansfield Mirror

Pioneer Resident Dead

In the passing away Monday of John Strong, Wright county lost one of her pioneers – a citizen who was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him, and his circle of acquaintances was a large one.

John Strong was born September 17, 1831 in Roane county, Tenn. and died May 30, 1915, at the home of his son, Isaac Strong near Mansfield, aged 83 years, 8 months and 17 days.

When a very small boy he came to Missouri. When he was 9 years old his parents died, and ten years later he came to Wright county, where an older brother had previously located.

December 31, 1850, he married Miss Winnie Rogers, to which union were born 16 children, 8 of whom survive: Isaac Strong, of Mansfield; Rev. James Strong, of Helena, Okla; Albert Strong, Mrs. Louisa Smith and Mrs. Frances Thomas, of Hutchinson, Kansas; Mrs. Martha Buffalo of Nickerson, Kansas; Mrs. Dora Young of Shawnee, Okla.; and Mrs. Sallie Young, of Paragould, Ark.

For forty years Mr. Strong resided on a farm north of Hartville. Upon the death of his wife in 1898 he sold his farm, and has since that time resided with his children.

In 1858 he was converted and became a member of the M. E. church, of which he remained until called to the church triumphant.  Rev. L. W. Hensley conducted the funeral services from the Free Will Baptist church at Pleasant Hill cemetery.

Only three of his children Isaac and Rev. James Strong and Mrs. Dora Young were present at the funeral, the others being unable to attend on account of the high water prevailing between their homes and Mansfield.

Mr. Strong was one of those early pioneers who did so much in the earlier days to bring our country to its present high state of advancement. He was a hard worker and a great hunter, but never neglected the farm work to hunt. In the three years following the close of the civil war he killed over 300 deer, besides wild turkeys and other game galore. Although not a large man, physically, it is related that on one occasion when hunting he killed two deer and started homeward carrying them a considerable distance. Being closely pursued by wolves he placed one of the deer in a tree beyond the reach of the wolves, and carried the other home. He returned the next day and got the one left behind.

Source - 

Message Board on ancestry.com ➚

Note - 

John Albert Strong might have been the brother or step-brother of Julia Ann Strong (1824-1898), the 1/2 Cherokee Indian woman that married Riley Britton (1814-1873).

Photos of him and his family can be found here ➚.

Letter Referencing Julia Ann Strong (1824-1898)

I don't have permission to post the letter in its entirety, and I don't know if the author, Virginia Roach, is still living. Therefore, in order to respect her privacy, I will only quote a short portion of the letter that she wrote to my sister back in 1993. Virginia mentioned  Julia Ann Strong, who married Riley Britton (1814-1873). There was some discussion earlier in the letter as to how Julia could have possessed Indian blood, since her commonly accepted ancestry traces back to England. She was said to have spoken in broken English, and her daughter-in-law stated in her own application for Choctaw status, that Julia's son, Louis Cass Britton, was of Native American descent since his grandfather was Cherokee. It seems likely to me that Julia was adopted by a white family, namely the household of William Strong and Ann Binkley, sometime before her marriage to Riley, and took on their suname. She married Riley 8 Oct 1840 in Steelville, Crawford County, Missouri. The following letter gives some idea as to what Virginia thought might have happened to those who many, I think mistakenly, believe were Julia's blood parents.

Another theory, which I found online tonight, is that her mother might have died in an Indian attack. This was in a family tree page ➚ for her brother or step-father, John Albert Strong. It is also stated therein that John lived with relatives after a disastrous apprenticeship. This might help substantiate Virginia Roach's idea that the children were bound out after their father's death, and that they were very unhappy. Anyway, please read the letter below for additional possibilities concerning Julia Strong and her family.

"William died in 1842, in Crawford County and left a Will, but named no children other than saying "my children". He did name a son, Richard P. Strong, and ask that a horse be given to him, and ask that another son, John, be bound out to L. D. Thompson. Said residue of his other property be divided among his children. No wife mentioned. Will made 13 Feb. 1842. Probate on this Will began 15 Feb. 1842, so it was evidently made on his deathbed.

"William had bought on Feb 21, 1840, 109 A for $450 from Austin and Ann Clark. On May 15, 1841, he sold this land to James Smith for $300. No wife signed the Deed.

"I then found this speculation in a book, "The Strong Family", by James Rolff. "That as William did not keep this land very long, and no wife is named in the sale, nor is a wife named in any of the many estate records of the next years, although there was a wife on his 1840 Census. These facts, and that William lost money on this sale, together with a family tradition that they met a violent death on their westward move, seem to be clues that their home might have burned, that Ann died at that time, and that William died within the year from his injuries." There was another family tradition in another branch of the family, that the children were all bound out (This is partly confirmed in further probate of the estate, which makes mention of several of the sons being bound out to others) The entire estate was soon taken up with curt expenses, the executor, R. C. Dunlap, repeatedly going before the court and demanding more money for expenses. The children were very unahppy, and finally, all together, ran off to Wright County, Mo, several miles west of Crawford County. Julia and Riley britton later moved to Wright County also. The Probate drug on until during the 1848s and then was never mentioned as being settled."