Mr. Luke Cassidy, one of the pioneer citizens of this county passed away at his home at Ninth and Beckwith Avenue Wednesday afternoon about five o'clock, after an illness of several days of a heart affection and pneumonia, which had developed a few days before his death. His extreme age also was doubtless a contributing cause, for he was nearing his seventy-fifth year.
Mr. Cassidy came to this county in 1873, from Derby, Ind., being at a time when it appeared there could be little future for the section in which he decided to cast his lot. He settled at a point a few miles below Cooter in the south part of the county, opening up a farm which he tilled until about seven years ago. He then sold his place and removed to this city, purchasing residence property and spending his declining years in the ease which his long years of hard labor had so richly earned him.
The changes which he saw brought about in the county of his adoption have been little short of miraculous. When he arrived here the land consisted of swamps and canebrakes with the former in greater proportion. A few settlements had been formed and some sawmilling interests had been established working up the wealth of timber then growing in profusion. Many kinds of wild animals--bear, deer, panthers, catamounts and others more or less a menace to the few people who ventured among them--roamed the brakes and a man's gun was his truest friend. All traffic then was by steamboat and the roads led only to the river landings, of which Cottonwood Point was one of the more prominent. Toward the inland, the trails were mere pathways and were scarcely traversed with the ox carts which were common carriers of the few citizens. It is all changed now.
Mr. Cassidy was one of the few to brave the hardships and survive the ordeals, not the least of which was the unhealthfulness of the country, and make his way in the virgin wilderness. He reared a large family of whom four sons and at least one daughter are still living.
He was of the Catholic faith and funeral services were held by Father Schulte at the church following shortly afterward in Little Prarie Cemetery, attended by a large number of his friends and the relatives he left behind.
Thus closes the career of one of the pillars upon whom rested the development of one of the greatest sections of the country anywhere. He died as he had lived,--secure in the faith of his fathers and conscious of a busy and useful existence, a good man and a worthy citizen. What more could be said of any one in whatever walk of life?
Twice=A=Week Democrat - Caruthersville, Missouri - Tuesday, January 30, 1917