EUGENE R. MOREROD

 DEATH OF DR. E. R. MOREROD.

His Death Very Sudden at His Country Home.

The Remains Were Interred at Deepwood Cemetery.

Points From the Life of One of Vernon's Oldest Residents.

    The sudden death of Dr. E. R. Morerod at his home in Bacon township was announced here this morning, and created both surprise and sincere regret.

    After an illness of only two or three days the Doctor succumbed to an attack of rheumatism of the heart to which he had been subject for some time.

    The remains reached Nevada at noon today and the casket was taken directly to Centenary church, where the service was held in the presence of those who had accompanied it here, and those Nevada friends who had assembled on the short notice.

    It had been intended that the burial should occur at four o'clock and the announcements were printed to that effect, buy by a misunderstanding the body was taken from the church to Deepwood immediately after the service.  Had the original program been carried out the attendance would have been large.

    The pall-bearers selected were Mayor Jones, Joseph Nipp, Hiram Brown, Henry Morris, Col. W. R. McNeil and Maj. W. W. Prewitt.

    The history of Vernon county says.

    In various places with the present volume the name that heads this brief biography has been referred to, and very properly, too, for without flattery it may truthfully be said that no man in the county is more deserving of mention, or has done more to merit just recognition than he.  Dr. Morerod was born at Vevay, Switzerland county, Ind., May 18, 1825.  Rodolph Morerod, his father, was a native of Canton De Vaux, Switzerland, a boatman and cabinet maker by trade.  He was reared in that country and in 1817 emigrated to the United States, settling near Vevay, Ind., where he remained single until his marriage in 1824.  Subsequently with his family he lived there until the year 1826, when, on May 12, his death occurred, caused by the discharge of a cannon at a wedding celebration of a comrade, who belonged to the same military company.  His wife who was a cousin of his, Miss Harriet Louisa Morerod, of Swiss parentage though born in the United States, was a daughter of Jean Daniel Morerod, one of the early Swiss pioneers, who at Vevay first introduced the culture of the grape west of the Alleghanies.  He was a man noted for his liberality and hospitality.  At his death Mr. Morerod left besides his widow an only child, Eugene R., at that time but one year old.  Deprived of the care and guidance of a father, the education and development of this boy devolved upon the mother, who was a woman of many noble traits and force of character, and well did she discharge the duties placed upon her.  He was also a pupil of Mrs. Julia L. Dumont (authoress of "Life Sketches from Common Paths"--a work of wide repute at the time of its first introduction), and subsequently studied Latin in the law office of the Rev. Dr. Eggleston, who was a prominent lawyer.  Spending the early portion of his life on a farm among orchards and vineyards, Eugene thus passed his time until the age of seventeen, when he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph McCutcheon, a celebrated physician of that day, and a graduate from the best schools of Dublin and Edinburgh.  After a four years' course of preparatory study he took one course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati Ohio, but in May following further intentions in this direction were interrupted by the call for troops to participate in the war with Mexico.  Enlisting in Co. D, 3d Indiana, under Capt. Scott Carter, he was soon made hospital steward in the medical department, but took part in the battle of Buena Vista, after which he received an honorable discharge and returned home.  Resuming the study of medicine, he was soon in attendance upon another course of lectures, and in March, 1848, was graduated, his first field of practice being in his native town.  After remaining there some two years he removed to Louisiana, going thence in January, 1853, to Madrid Bend, Tenn., where at the outbreak of the war he had built a large and lucrative practice.  Entering into active military service he enlisted a company for the Confederate service and was commissioned second lieutenant of Co. G, 1st regiment, 1st division Missouri State Guard.  He was with Gen. Jeff Thompson, and in September following they crossed the river into Tennessee and enlisted in the C. S. A., being assigned to different regiments until finally formed into the 33d Tennessee infantry.  At the reorganization of the army in 1862 the Doctor was unanimously elected first lieutenant of his company by his comrades.  At Shiloh he received a severe wound and also a slight one at Murfreesboro, where he was made captain; was subsequently wounded on the Stoneman raid at Macon, Ga.  He served in various capacities, as quartermaster commissary, as aid to the provost marshal in the field, train surgeon, and the close of the war found him as surgeon in charge of a wayside smallpox hospital at LaGrange, Ga.  He was soon made hospital steward of the 3d regiment of Indiana, and not only performed the duties of that position, but frequently that of surgeon and assistant surgeon in addition.  Finally the war closed and then the Doctor returned to Obion county, Tenn., the scene of his long labors, and there again  took up his professional duties as physician and surgeon.  April 26, 1866, Miss Elizabeth M. Russell became his wife, her birth having occurred in Cincinnati, O., but whose parents moved from there to Switzerland county, when she was quite young.  In the spring of 1867 they left Tennessee, and after spending some five or six months in his native town came to Missouri on the 21st of September, 1867, locating in Nevada, Vernon county, where for several years he was engaged in practicing.  Later on he was also occupied in the real estate business but upon closing out his interests in that calling, he settled upon a farm near Schell City, where he has since remained, actively engaged in the duties of this occupation.  In everything which has tended to the advancement of the county he has taken active and unselfish interest, and particularly in the direction of the development of coal deposits in the county is this true, no man in the county has done as much to awaken this interest as has Dr. Morerod.  In educational matters he has long been an acknowledged leader, his energies having been to this end.  Prominently identified with horticultural matters he has been none the less helpful in many other directions, and while he has taken such great interest in these various enterprises not half the credit due has been accorded him.  To the Doctor and his worthy wife four children have been given.  Antoinette D., Samuel R., Amie W. and Eugene R.  Besides those who still survive, two are deceased.

The Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, Missouri.  September 10, 1894