Mt. Morris Index
Wednesday, July 29, 1896
Page 1AN AGED PIONEER GONE
Hon. F.N. Tice Expires at his late Home in Mt. Morris after a long period of Illness. Brief Sketch of a Noble Life.
Saturday morning our people received the sad information that death had removed from our midst our noted and most highly respected citizen, Ex-postmaster F.N. Tice, after eighteen months affliction with paralysis. Franklin Newcomer Tice was born in Washington County, Md., December 20, 1828, and died July 25, 1896. He was the only son of John and Nancy Newcomer Tice, and but one of a number of sisters, Mrs. Huffer, of Hagerstown, Maryland, survives him. He was married November 25, 1850, to Katherine Felker, and in 1855, he, with his wife and two children, accompanied his father-in-law and family to Illinois; locating at Mt. Morris. The following year he moved to Haldane, where he engaged in the lumber and grain business. After two years he moved with his family on a farm north of Forreston. Six years later in 1874 he retired from the farm, moved to Forreston, and in the spring of 1876 founded the Forreston Herald, which still continues and now has the largest circulation of any of the county papers. He remained an editor for several years, during which time his people called him to the honored position of Sate Legislator. Three consecutive times he was elected to the Legislature, having been called to fill two full terms and one half special term. His period of public service occupied the time between ’75 and ’80. He was a member of the thirty-first and thirty-third General Assembly. During his service in the Legislature he was one of the five commissioners appointed to settle the claims for damages done to the lands that had been flooded as a result of the construction of the Illinois canal. He was chairman of the the Contingent Expense Committee, and while occupying this position, his ability as a trusty public financier won from the now noted “Billy Mason,” the name “Old Economy.” His public service like his private life was uprightness and honesty itself. His kind generous, happy nature and high intelligence made his an easy approachable and able counselor for anyone in need of advice. During his first term he moved his family to the present Tice farm, four miles northwest of Mt. Morris, where they lived until a subsequent two years’ residence on our town for the purpose of educating his two youngest daughters. After another short period of life on the farm he took up his last residence in our midst, a period of eight years. During the Administration of President Harrison he was appointed Postmaster at Mt. Morris, and had barely completed his honored term when his health commenced to fail. It was last December a year that that our people were shocked by the report of his first stroke of paralysis. Gradual weakening and other strokes followed, when last Saturday morning, after a week of greater affliction than usual, death came to his relief. Intelligence remained until three days previous to his death; the physicians kindly administered opiates to relieve him of the sense of his sad, helpless condition. He had long been a most consistent Christian and a member of the Lutheran Church, which body will keenly feel the loss of one whose presence and assistance in many was have meant so much to the church. The funeral services were attended by a large concourse of sympathizing friends, took place in the Lutheran Church at 3 o’clock Sunday afternoon. Rev. Ford assisted by Rev. Thomas as pastor of the Lutheran Church, Lanark, and Rev. Wright of the Christian Church conducted the services, after which the remains were taken for burial to the family lot in Oakwood Cemetery. His companion of forty six years and five (Cleggett Felker, John Edgar, Ida Catherine, Franklin A. and Jennie) of his eight children remain to feel the great loss of a kind, loving husband, father, and receive the deepest sympathy of the entire community.
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