The Newtown bee., 1890-04-04
Griffin P Lillis

Patrick Griffin Iillis, who resided in Sandy Hook near Rubber factory No. ,, died, Monday afternoon, March 3l, 1890, of complication of diseases, aged 90 years. The funeral Obsequies occurred, Wednesday, from his late residence to St Rose church, where solemn high mass of requiem was celebrated, thence to the Catholic cemetery in the Glen, where in- terment was made. The bearers Thom- as J. Bradley, Edward Troy, Patrick keane, Thomas Lynch, Michael McMa- hon and Daniel Blake. The deceased leaves widow, one daughter, Agnes and six sons, Thomas, Martin, Lawrence. John, James and Peter, to mourn the loss of loving husband and father. The deceased was d member of the Grand Ar. my and the absence of military honors at his burial was, it is understood, because of the desire of the family for quiet burial, but the brothers in arms, mem- bers of Custer post, were in attendance, as were many of the town officials, who had known and honored the deceased in the affairs of town, in which, during his residence here, he had always been ac- tive. Patrick Lills, as he was christen- ed, was born in County Clare, Ireland and came to this country with his mother and settled in Newtown in the early years of '50. He attended school at South Center district. In 1856, he went west to Davenport, Iowa, from thence drifting southward to New Orleans, La., in the Spring of 1857, where he was employed
 ina mercantile establishment and where he remained and was prospering when that catastrophe which shattered so many Southern fortunes broke out, the Civil War. In the time of peace, Mir Lillis had joined military company, of which the son of his employer was captain and, when the State decided to follow the for tunes of the Confederacy, his company was mustered into active service and be- came part of the celebrated Louisiana Tigers, so dubbed because of their mili- tary bravery and dash. Early in 1862, Col Magruder, commander of the brigade to which the deceased had been assigned, was surprised, one night, by Union forces and part of his command taken prison CTS, among whom was Lieut. Patrick Iil- lis. He, with others, was incarcerated in | one of the northern forts on the Della ware river. Some months afterward he was relea sed on parole. He then came north to his home, where he was welcom- ed by a host of kinsmen who hoped that he now would ''shun forever wars alarms But he came of a race which for seven centuries has been fighting against oppression and which is ever Il l foe to slavery and he looked upon black slavery as a sin crying to Heaven for ven geauce; so, after a few months of peace, l we find him eluding friends and slipping away to the metropolis, where he found agents of the different States trying to l secure men to go to the front to fill the quota and again he dons military habili- ments, but this time it is the blue. He
 went out in the Fourth regiment, New
 Jersey infantry, and this was the time he
 acting under advice of the recruiting of. hcer to whom he imparted the fact of
 having served the South, assumed the
 name he bore for the remainder of his 1 life, Griffin F. Lillis, prefixing his ma l ternal surname. He served to the close
 of the war and came home with honors
 ranking first lieutenant and being for :
 term acting adjutant of his regiment Shortly after his arrival in his Northern
 home, he welded Bridget, youngest daughter of Martin and Margaret Lilli:
 and the couple, with but the exception ot
 a few years spent in New fork and New Jersey, have resided here since, where they were surrounded by host oi friends and where the deceased gained
 n reputation for integrity and honest, surpassed by few. He has held at va
 rious times the office of registrar of vo ters, justice of the peace and scbo0 committe man, while in 1880 he repre-
 scented the town in the halls of Stat, legislation at Hartford as junior repre- I sentative; and on his death, the polltica party to which he belonged will miss
 wise counsellor as well IS faithful adher l ent, who held no saci ifice too great u ! make for his party friends.--[T. J. Cor
 bett.