Obituary
for
John Charles Michie
Company K, 12th Illinois Volunteer Infantry
Ravenna News newspaper
Ravenna, Buffalo County, Nebraska
April 4, 1919, Number 37
John Michie answers the final summons.
Old veteran passes away at his home in Ravenna on Tuesday.
Resided here for forty years.
Veteran of civil war - was seventy-five years of age at the time of his death.
One by one the old settlers, spent with the weight of years, fall by the wayside, and this week Ravenna pauses to pay tribute to the memory of John Michie, who fell asleep Tuesday, April 1, 1919, after an illness covering a period of two or three months.
John Michie has been a familiar figure in this community for more than forty years.
He was a gifted man of rare personality. His quaint witticisms and his unfailing good humor made him an interesting character and he had many friends and admirers in this community. Those who knew him best forgot his faults in their admiration of his many virtues.
John Michie was born in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, April 16, 1844, and lacked but a few days of being 75 years of age at the time of his death. When seventeen years of age he enlisted in Company K, Twelfth Volunteer Infantry, in which he served ninety days under Lincoln's first call for troops at the beginning of the civil war. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company F, Thirty-Seventh Illinois, and re-enlisted at Brownsville, Texas and served until the end of the war. He was finally mustered out at Houston, Texas, May 15, 1866, when he returned to his home in Chicago and entered the employ of J.A. Bremner. J.A. Bremner died about a year later, and his business was taken over by his brother, David Bremner, who in course of time built up the largest bakery business in Chicago, which he continued to manage until the business was purchased and became a part of the National Biscuit Company, Mr. Bremner becoming the first president of that now nationally known concern. From many years Mr. Michie was in the employ of David Bremner, who later became his brother-in-law.
In March 1878, Mr. Michie came to Nebraska and was among the early settlers in the lower Beaver valley, his land being located but about four miles from the present site of Ravenna. The town was not established, however, until about eight years after Mr. Michie took up his residence here.
The Michie family lived upon this farm for thirty years but finally left the farm to take up their residence in this city, where they have since made their home.
Mr. Michie was married to Mary Susan Curtis, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, November 26, 1868. They celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding at their home in this city, in November last, at which time all their children, eight in number were present.
Mr. Michie is survived by his wife and eight children, John Charles Michie, of Chicago, Illinois; George Curtis Michie of Memphis, Tennessee; James and Esam Michie, of Merigold, Mississippi; David Francis Michie of Rawlins, Wyoming; Mrs. Maggie Curran, Mrs. Kate Hochreiter, and Miss Vevie Michie, all of Lincoln, this state.
Funeral services will be conducted by Reverend Father Macourek, at St. Mary's Catholic church in this city, Friday morning of this week. Interment will be made in the Catholic cemetery in Ravenna.
Contributed by Tawnya Michie Kumarakulasingam