George E Cone
CONE, STARBUCK, VOSBURGH
Posted By: CJeanealogy (email)
Date: 5/16/2018 at 21:37:18
The Marion Sentinel Thursday April 7, 1932
Funeral Rites Are Held For George E. Cone
Eldest Man in Marion, First White Child, Is Asphyxiated Here Sunday
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Funeral services were held at the Yocom Funeral chapel here Wednesday afternoon for George Cone, 93 years old, Marion's oldest resident and the first white child born in Linn county. Rev. John M. Walters of the Methodist church was in charge of services and burial was in Oak Shade cemetery. Pallbearers were Clarence Oxley, A.E. Bragg, H.C. Fuhrman and Bert Taylor. Scores of persons attended the rites to pay a final tribute to a grand old man who was loved by everyone who knew him.
Mr. Cone died Sunday as the result of asphyxiation from gas at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Cone, with whom he lived. He was alone at the time of his death.
Mr. Cone usually arose about 10 o'clock each morning, and he was stirring about in his room when the Earl Cone family left Sunday morning at 10 o'clock to go to the country. Mrs. Cone left a lunch on the table and the coffee pot on the gas stove for him to prepare his dinner. He was a very light eater.
When they returned about 6 o'clock Sunday afternoon, the house was full of gas and Mr. Cone was seated on the davenport in the living room, with his cane in his hand and a book lying beside hi. He had eaten his lunch and drank a cup of coffee. The flame on the gas stove was not burning but the burner under the coffee pot was about half open. Physicians stated that he had been dead for several hours.
The beloved old pioneer was one of the most popular men in Marion, and took delight in telling stories to younger people of conditions in the times before there were any settlements in this district. In his youth he was active in sports and athletics, and until his eyesight failed recently he was one of the best billiard players in Marion.
Mr. Cone loved to tell of his trip by covered wagon to Pikes Peak in a hunt for gold, when he was twenty years old. On the way he killed the first buffalo he saw, near Fort Kearney, and later had a thrilling adventure with a war party of Sioux Indians, being forced to partake of their crude meals to prevent trouble. The chief of the war party wanted Mr. Cone to marry his daughter, offering him several ponies and other inducements, and Mr. Cone promised to stop on his way back from Pikes Peak, thus escaping the marriage.
He was cared for when a baby by a Mesquakie[sic] Indian squaw, and wore Indian moccasins until he was eight. He watched this country grow from virgin prairie and forest to the fruitful, bountiful paradise of agriculture which it has become, and he did his share in the transformation for the benefit of those who followed the hardy early-day pioneers.
Mr. Cone was a painter and paper-hanger, and engaged in his trade until he was 84 years old. He was very active and alert, and came up town every day to visit with friends.
He is survived by one sister, Mrs. Laura Starbuck of Marion, and three grandsons, Earl and Roy Cone, of Marion, and Ray Cone, of Cedar Rapids. He had five brothers, all of whom are dead. His wife, Sarah Elizabeth Vosberg[sic] Cone, and two children, John and Stella, are dead.
Mr. Cone was a member of the Methodist church.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103884128
Linn Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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