The Democratic Northwest, April 8, 1880:
Death of the Father of L. G. Randall
The many friends of Thos. Randall, father of our fellow townsman, L. G. Randall, will be pained to hear of his death. He died at his home near Winfield, Kansas, on the 22d ult. Mr. R. was among the early settlers of the Maumee Valley, living in Harrison township this county for 25 years before removing to the West. He was well and widely known in this and Seneca counties, and was respected and loved by all. We copy the following from the Winfield Courier:
Of Pneumonia, on the 22nd of March, 1880, at his home near Winfield, Ks., Thomas Randall in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Thomasten, Maine, was the place of his nativity, from which place he moved to Ohio in 1840, and from there to this state in 1869 and was among the first to make his home in the valley of the Arkansas.
A good man has left us in the fullness of years. The community has lost a good citizen of strict integrity and moral worth.
His companion of fifty years sorrows for the loss of a kind and devoted husband. His children who have grown up to manhood under his care and protection mourn the loss of a kind father.
He was a true believer in the Christian religion and for over forty years has been in full membership with the Baptist church.
To his death was but the step to a higher life. His last hours were the peaceful quiet of a summer's eve, and he passed away "like one who draws the drapery of his couch around him and lies down in pleasant dreams."
And the following from a Vernon correspondent in the same paper:
The death of Thomas Randall, father of your townsman L. W. Randall [as written], has cast a deep sorrow upon the hearts of every one in this neighborhood. Although seventy-three years old, the good old man was so universally beloved that none could willingly give him up. An intelligent, upright, enterprising citizen, a kind husband and father and a warm hearted christian has gone to his reward, leaving a void in the family, the church and the community that time can scarcely ever fill. His funeral sermon was preached by the venerable Elder Hopkins, who is nearly as old as the deceased. It was a last feeling tribute to the memory of the good, dead old veteran, by a comrade who lingers yet a little while for the "Sweet By and By."
May God, who doeth all thing well, bind up the poor, bleeding, breaking hearts of the aged wife and sorrowing children in the prayer of every one.