The World-Herald of May 12th contained the following article relative to J. A. Dudgeon, at one time a prominent farmer of this county. He was known by a large number of Blair people who will be surprised to learn of this sudden end: “Friends and relatives of J. A. Dudgeon, who disappeared from his home, 2910 Farnam street about two weeks ago, believe that he has met death, whether by violence, accident or otherwise, they are unable to ascertain. They are confident that the body of the floater found in the Platte river opposite Louisville Sunday morning, and afterwards buried by the county authorities, is none other than that of Mr. Dudgeon. The description of the body, together with the clothes, tallies almost exactly with the personal appearance of the missing Omaha man when he left home. The two sons, one of whom, D. W. Dudgeon of the plumbing firm of Dudgeon & Morris, resides at 2910 Farnam street, will investigate even though it be necessary to exhume the remains of the buried floater. J. A. Dudgeon, who was nearly 60 years of age, and a carpenter by trade, has been despondent for some time. His eye sight was failing and he brooded over its probable loss until his condition of mind became morbid in the extreme. Two weeks ago he left home without telling either his wife, who is a trained nurse, or his son’s family, with whom he lived, of his intention. After living two days at the Klondike hotel he disappeared from the city and has not since been seen here. The son, D. W. Dudgeon, telegraphed and telephoned to friends and relatives in the state, but none had heard of the missing man. It was not until yesterday afternoon that the story in Monday evening’s World-Herald came to the notice of the Dudgeon family and it at once relieved all doubt in their minds of the whereabouts of their absent relative. Mr. Dudgeon is an old resident having lived in Omaha for the last thirty years, where he has raised a family of two sons and one daughter. He has been unable to work for a number of years and has made his home with his sons in Omaha and Blair. When he left home he had $4 in money on his person.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

Note: Since the actual death date is not known, the date that the article appeared in the World Herald was used in order to input this record.