Deacon John
P. Goble of Townsend
Deacon John P. Goble of
Villa Nova, one of the oldest, best-known and most universally
esteemed resident of Townsend Township, passed to this rest on
Sunday, 20 Mar 1910, after an illness of some six weeks' duration.
Deacon Goble was a son of
Rev. Jacob Goble, better known as Elder Goble, a pioneer Baptist
preacher of the Long Point District. He was born in Blenheim
Township, in what is now the County of Oxford, in the year 1823.
He moved to Townsend with his parents when a boy of nine. On 16
Oct 1849 he married Miss Emily Smith, who survives him. The
youthful couple began housekeeping immediately after their
marriage upon the farm on which the aged pioneer passed away last
week.
His funeral, held on
Wednesday, 23 Mar 1910, to the family plot in Greenwood Cemetery,
Waterford, was attended by a large concourse of neighbors and
friends. The pall bearers were six stalwart young men, grandsons
of the deceased.
The services were in
charge of Rev. Mr. Chapman, pastor of the Villa Nova Baptist
Church, who was assisted by Revs. Moore, Elliott, Kelly, Burch,
Haviland and Sheppard, of the Baptist and Methodist denominations.
The warm tributes of gratitude, respect and praise paid by the
clergymen, told effectually the life story of the man who was the
object of them, and struck a responsive chord in the hearts of all
present.
John P. Goble was a man of
light and leading in the community in which he had spent his life.
He was well read and intelligent, sincere, outspoken, perhaps at
times a trifle brusque, but warm hearted and kindly. He had a
quaintly humorous way of putting things that made his sayings
widely quoted. Neither in religion or politics did he entertain
any "philosophic doubts." He was a Baptist and a
Liberal. And he was both from choice, wholeheartedly and
enthusiastically.
The clergymen, some of
whom had known him long and intimately, bore willing testimony to
the help and encouragement they had received from him and
described him as having been a "tower of strength" to
the Villa Nova Church, of which he was a charter member.
A few months ago he laid
the corner stone of the new church building now nearing
completion. It was his dearest wish that he might live to see the
beautiful edifice dedicated. But this privilege was denied him.
Politics to John P. Goble
was more that a struggle between the outs and the ins. His
liberalism had its beginning in the stormy times of 1837 and he
never varied or trimmed. There was no uncertainty as to where he
was to be found when called upon. In his vigorous years he took an
active and prominent share in the promotion of his party's
interests in the county and was honored with positions of trust
and confidence in its councils.
He belonged to a type of
men of pronounced opinions, and courage and ability to express
them, that, it is to be regretted, is not now so numerous as in
the earlier years of the country.
Besides his widow already
mentioned, Mr. Goble is survived by two sons, Jacob and George of
Townsend, and two daughters, Mrs. Geo. Stafford of
Waterford, and Mrs. C. J. Holmes of California.
