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- Obit: from Franklin Co. MO message board post
Thomas G. Childers died at his home in Springfield, Mo., January 25, 1901, of pneumonia. He was 64 years old in October last. Mr. Childers was raised in Franklin and Gasconade Counties. He leaves a wife, two daughters, Mrs. W. N. Mays and Mrs. Sarah R. Duemler: two step-sons, John W. and Floyd B. Phillips, and one sister, the wife of James M. Adams, who lives in Texas. He was laid to rest in the Hazelwood Cemetery, Springfield, on the 27th.
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From: Confederate Veteran Magazine, Vol. 1X, 1901, Page 80 - Reprint: National Historical Society
Thomas G. Childress died at his home, Springfield, Mo., January 25, 1901, of pneumonia. He was sixty-four years of age. He was born and reared in Gasconade County, Mo. At the outbreak of the war, in 1861, he espoused the cause of the South and enlisted in the Confederate military service, Company F, Eighth Missouri Infantry.
For his conspicuous bravery, Mr. Childress was appointed one of the color guards of his regiment, with the rank of first sergeant.
An unusual romance, and perhaps one which no other soldier experienced, occurred in the life of Mr. Childress. When he joined the army he left a young wife at home, and during the progress of the war he was captured, and for a time was confined in the St. Louis arsenal. From there he was sent to the Alton military prison, and subsequently to Sandusky, Ohio.
During all this time the young wife back in Missouri mourned her soldier as dead. The war closed and Childress returned to Missouri, but he could find no trace of his wife and family, finally giving up the hope of ever seeing her again.
Drifting to one of the Southern States, the lonely veteran found another love, and was again made happy by the companionship of a wife.
After several years Childress’s Southern bride died, and he came back to Missouri, and in wandering around, to his amazement and joy, he found his first love, who was then a widow, having married another man after giving up Childress as dead. The second husband had died some years before Childress returned to Missouri. When the widow and her long-lost-husband met each other the old-time love burned within their hearts, and they were remarried.
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