Look Back: Only known Confederate soldier in Northeastern Pennsylvania died in 1935

Believed to be the only Confederate soldier in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Patrick Barrett Nealon died at the age of 94 inside his home at 74 Gaylord Ave., Plymouth, on Aug. 9, 1935.

Despite fighting for the other side during the Civil War, Nealon was known as a prestigious member of society taking part in Memorial Day and Armistice services throughout the Wyoming Valley and constructed many buildings and homes in Plymouth.

“Plymouth today mourns the loss of one of its oldest and esteemed residents, who died last night at the family residence, 74 Gaylord Ave. at the age of 94 years. Despite his advanced age, he had been hale and hearty until yesterday afternoon when he was stricken. General debility is attributed as the cause of his demise,” the Times Leader reported Aug. 10, 1935.

Three days before Nealon died, he was in New York City to pick up his daughter, Elizabeth, a teacher at the Davenport High School, who had visited France for several weeks.

“For the past several years, Mr. Nealon had made it a daily practice of taking a three-mile walk which he often stated kept him trim,” the newspaper reported.

Born in County Mayor, Ireland, on March 10, 1841, Nealon came to the United States with his parents, Cecelia and Patrick Nealon, when he was 7-years-old in 1848. While his parents settled in Carbondale, Nealon when he was 20-years-old worked on a large plantation in Savannah, Georgia when the Civil War erupted.

Nealon was encouraged by the plantation owner to join the Confederate army.

The advice of his employer was followed and he enlisted in the Army of the Gray. He served with Gen. James E. Stuart’s cavalry until Union Gen. William Sherman’s famous march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, known as the March to the Sea, that occurred from November to December 1864, according to Nealon’s obituary, which was published in the Times Leader after he died.

After the Civil War, Nealon settled in Plymouth in 1866, and worked as an undertaker before transitioning into furniture making and construction. Nealon is credited with constructing many buildings along East and West Main streets and houses in Plymouth.

Nealon’s connection to Carbondale blossomed into marrying Ellen Gilboy, a native of Carbondale, at St. Vincent’s Church, Plymouth, on April 29, 1875. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the Hotel Terminal in Plymouth in April 1925, with their six children, their spouses and grandchildren.

“For many years, Mr. Nealon ranked as one of Plymouth’s leading contractors and builders and many of that town’s buildings were constructed under his direction,” reported the Times Leader of the couple’s wedding anniversary on April 27, 1925.

As Union army veterans with the Conyngham Post No. 27 of the Grand Army of the Public held annual remembrances with parades and dinners in May, Nealon was invited and took part in the festivities but was never an official member of GAR.

Nealon was buried next to his wife, who died March 4, 1933, in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township on Aug. 12, 1935.