NEWSPAPERS: Martin McDonough, Native Son of Jackson County dies. Jackson County, Oregon ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ ********************************************************************************* Transcribed and formatted for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elizabeth Corethers 17 Dec 2002 ********************************************************************************* Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Saturday, 18 Jul 1925, p. 1 Local Resident Dies Suddenly on Motor Trip Martin McDonough, Native Son of Jackson County, Is Victim of Paralytic Stroke Near Marshfield - Funeral Will Be Held Monday P.M. Martin McDonough, a native son of Jackson county, and a widely known citizen of this city, died Friday night, July 17, 1925, from a stroke of paralysis while on a camping trip, at the seashore, about 80 miles south of Marshfield [now Coos Bay]. He was stricken Thursday morning, and never regained consciousness. At the time he was on a vacation trip with his lifelong friend, Frank Bellinger. The sudden passing, comes as a shock to a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in Medford and Jackson county. The funeral services will be held from the Perl Funeral Home Monday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, under the auspices of the Gold Hill Odd Fellows lodge, of which he was a charter member. Martin McDonough was born January 27, 1859 near Gold Hill. His parents crossed the plains in 1852 and settled on a farm on what was known as "Fort Lane." He was an accountant, and in 1900 was engaged in the candy manufacturing business in eastern Oregon. He was at Heppner, Oregon, in 1903 when that town was swept by a cloudburst. He was well known all over eastern Oregon and delighted to tell of his experiences while living there. He was also a mine of information on local happenings of early days. For many years he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business in this city. He was a lovable, companionable man. For twenty years he has been chairman of canvassing boards at all elections. He was an expert player of chess and checkers, and delighted in both games. He was also active in local church circles. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. John Linville of this city and Mrs. Helen Rowe of Woodburn, Oregon; three brothers, George, of Sam's Valley; John, of Ashland, and Carlos of Centralia. Mrs. Gus Samuels of this city is a niece. __________________________________________________________________________________ Medford (Oregon) Mail Tribune, Wednesday, 22 Jul 1925, p. 10 In Memoriam, Martin McDonough The little group which assembled at the funeral parlor last Monday to pay their last tribute to the memory of Martin McDonough represented but the remnant of as sturdy and valiant a pioneer element as ever peopled the western wilderness and made it possible for the moneychangers to desecrate the temple, and the mercenary crowd to function. Martin, perhaps was as true to type as any resident of southern Oregon of that host of middle western argonauts driven west by that desire for land and personal freedom which was the actuating cause of the great pioneer movement to the west in the "forty- nine period" the fifties and sixties. Born in this valley under the great handicap of physical disability, he always showed the personal courage, good judgment and energy which enabled the last previous generation to conquer the wilderness. Inherited from worthy ancestry, he found inbred that love of the [illegible] early history of this valley, and to the end, kept posted as to the best breeding and achievements of the equine family. Few even of his friends knew the extent of his disability, and his indomitable determination to overcome it. As a child, his first attempts to walk were upon his knees equipped with pads. The good work of a specialist in hip trouble enabled his recovery as he grew, until he was able to participate in the sports of childhood and youth with his fellows. Disease of the bone again made it obligatory for him to spend three years of his best boyhood in bed. Only his fondness for reading and the good offices of old family friends, whose kindness was remembered to the last, made this endurable. Then, when he had recovered the use of his limbs, he lost an eye by accident. He had the sweet solace of a marriage with a most worthy woman, continuing for a period of almost ten years, and the fact that her children by a previous marriage today hold his memory in the same veneration as if he had been their own father is proof that he proved equal to the task of raising a family in a worth-while way. He was not mercenary. He had rather exalted ideas about the service due from all of us to his fellowman. With well-balanced mental equipment, he was self-trained in accounting and always in demand to help his friends solve their individual problems. There was more genuine sorrow shown by those beside his bier than was apparent at the last sad rites attending the passing of any recent case of an old pioneer who had bid farewell to his earthly troubles. It was a source of consolation that his end was not attended with personal suffering. He certainly was entitled to a peaceful end, after such a lifetime of suffering. To paraphrase the post: "We come into the world all naked and bare; we go out of the world, the Lord knows where; but a thoroughbred here is a thoroughbred there." We love to think of Martin as a thoroughbred, with all the characteristics which distinguish a thoroughbred, coupled with a kindly regard for the welfare of his fellow man, which is all too lacking in the average man of today. May he rest in pace. A Friend.