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 -
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 ➚.
