JOHN ALEXANDER UNDERHILL
FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH TUESDAY MORNING FOR MR. JOHN A. UNDERHILL WHO WAS FOUND DEAD IN BED SUNDAY MORNING BY HIS WIFE. MR. UNDERHILL WAS DOWN TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT VISITING WITH FRIENDS AND FEELING FINE AND THE REPORT OF HIS DEATH WAS ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE. REV. WEBB OF THE M.E. CHURCH REVIEWED THE LIFE OF THE DECEASED AND A QUARTETTE, MRS. A. S. BROWN, MRS. WEBB, S. C. DAVIS AND A. S. BROWN SANG “ASLEEP IN JESUS” AND “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.” MEDFORD G. A. R. ATTENDED THE SERVICES IN A BODY. THE BODY WAS LAID TO REST IN ROSEMOUND CEMETERY.
JOHN ALEXANDER UNDERHILL WAS BORN MARCH 20, 1840, AT LAFAYETTE, INDIANA AND DIED AT HIS HOME IN MEDFORD, OK., MARCH 30, 1919, AT THE RIPE AGE OF 79 YEARS AND TEN DAYS. HE HEARD THE CALL OF HIS COUNTRY AND VOLUNTEERED FOR SERVICE IN THE UNION ARMY IN 1862. WHILE ENGAGED IN BATTLE AT MILL SPRINGS, KY., HE RECEIVED A WOUND FROM WHICH HE WAS DISABLED AND MOST OF HIS TIME DURING THE WAR WAS SPENT IN THE HOSPITAL.
HE MADE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FAITH IN CHRIST AND JOINED THE METHODIST CHURCH OF WHICH HE REMAINED A MEMBER TIL HIS DEATH.
HE WAS MARRIED TO MISS JENNIE STRANAHAN AT DELPHI, INDIANA, OCTOBER 27, 1864. TO THEM WERE BORN FOUR CHILDREN, ONE GIRL AND THREE SONS, THE DAUGHTER AND ONE SON HAVING DIED PREVIOUSLY. HE LEAVES A DEVOTED WIFE AND TWO SONS, WILLIAM AND BERT, TO MOURN THE LOSS OF A TRUE HUSBAND AND FATHER.
THUS, ONE MORE OF THE OLD HEROES OF THE CIVIL WAR HAS LIVED AND PASSED TO THE GREAT BEYOND. HIS SERVICE TO HIS COUNTRY PROVES LOYALTY AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN AND WAS NOT WITHOUT REWARD BY THE GOVERNMENT HE HELPED SUPPORT AND PRESERVE. HIS ATTITUDE TO GOD WAS MANIFESTED BY A DEFINITE STEP OF UNION WITH THE CHURCH OF HIS CHOICE FOLLOWED BY MANY YEARS OF FAITHFUL ATTENDANCE UPON THE APPOINTED MEANS OF GRACE AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.