The weekly soliphone., 1915-04-16
Tribute to a Pioneer.

who were the pioneers in shaping our destiny, in blazing the way for later civilization and who faced the perils of the early days, when the entire county was vast wilderness | and there were few settlements, when wild beasts and wild men | rOamed the forests and were in many instances a terror to those who piled the peaceful vocation of home builders, are gradually passing away. One by one they drop into the grave and disappear from the I walks of men. Among those who have recently passed to their reward ! was Uncle Obe Newsom of Poland ! township. A pioneer of the early period of the last century, he had
 cen Greene county transformed from wilderness to healthy civili- zation marked by material progress in everything that makes country great and prosperous.
 For about seventy years he resid- ed in Poland township on the place settled by his father about the year
 1S40. He lived a useful and ex- emplary life. He was the Mentor to whom the people of that section turned for counsel and he was re- garded as the father of his commu- nifty. Hon. Joe A. Thompson says of Uncle Obe: T have known him since l knew anybody and I loved him as a father" MT. Thompson has given The Daily Press and the Weekly Soliphone the following data about Uncle Obe which will no doubt i prove of interest to a majority of the readers of this paper and especially to old settlers:
 ''Obediah Sterling Newsom was born in Tippett county, Miss, Dec.
 12, 1885, and died in Greene coun- ty, Ark, Feb. 25, 1915, age 79 years, two months and thirteen days, In his early boyhood he came to Greene county with his parents, who settled near Finch on a farm where Uncle Obe has since resided. He is the last of the old settlers who were prominent in that community before the war of secession. At the outbreak of the war he cast his lot with the south and followed the fortunes of the Confederacy to defeat, returning to his home after peace had been de- clared and resumed his residence on the old Newsom homestead.
 He was a surveyor and for sev- eral terms was public surveyor for Greene county and assisted in sur veying the Cotton Belt railroad in this section. He was one of the best land men in the county and it is said that he knew the corner of every tract of land in the county.
 Uncle Obe was a charter mem- Der of Pleasant Grove Baptist church at Finch, which was organized in 1872. Prior to that time he had held his membership at Mt. Zion, near Walcott, this being the oldest Missionary Baptist church in the county. Uncle Obe donated the land on which Pleasant Grove church was built and also the land for the Pleasant Grove cemetery. He was considered the head of the set clement and general counsellor for l the people. He was three times mar ried and is survived by his last
 wife and several children. Several
 children are dead, one having died
 since his death, Aurora, blind
 daughter. His surviving children
 are John s. Newsom of Rector, J.
 E. Newsom of Spring Grove, Will
 liam Newsom of Jonesboro, Ezra
 Newsom of Finch, Mrs. Mary Ann
 Mcclure, Mrs. Martha Rhea, Mrs.
 Pernicia Lovelace, Mrs. Francis
 Howard, all we'll known people of
 the county. He had 55 grandchil- dren, 37 of whom survive. He is survived by 13 great-grandchil- dren."
 l z. T. Fletcher, one of the old settlers of the Finch neighborhood, says of Uncle Obe: "I have known Obe Newsom for 39 years. l never knew him to be under the influence of +n hnA 1a ono nr