Clayton County >> 1916 Index

History of Clayton County, Iowa:...
edited by Realto E. Price. Chicago: Robert O. Law Co., 1916.

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Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

WILLIAM THOMA

In July, of the same year, William Thoma died. He was at that time a member of the board of supervisors. He was born in Bavaria , in 1827, came to Clayton county, in 1852, and was for many years in partnership with C. W. Hagensick in the mercantile business at Garnavillo. He was succeeded on the board by P. P. Olmstead.

WILLIAM H. THOMAS merits recognition as one of the substantial farmers and honored and influential citizens of Clayton county, and he is the owner of a valuable and well improved landed estate of three hundred and seven acres but a few miles distant from Waupeton, which is his postoffice address. He was born in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 23d of October, 1866, and is son of William J. and Maria (Schleuter) Thomas. The father was born in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1819, and was there reared and educated. On the 15th of July, 1854, he set sail for America, and soon after his arrival he established his residence in the city of St. Louis, where he found employment in a feed store. Near St. Louis he finally purchased a farm, but the major part of the same was virtually swept away by a severe flood, entailing practically an entire loss of the property. In 1872 William J. Thomas came with his family to Clayton county and purchased a farm near Buena Vista, where both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, his death having occurred in 1891. Both were earnest communicants of the Lutheran church, in which he served as trustee, and his political support was given to the Republican party. Of the children the eldest is Anna, who is the wife of Herman Albert; Minnie is the wife of Christ Riechman; Emma is the widow of Ira Kelsey of Buena Vista, and William H., of this sketch, is the only son. He whose name introduces this article was a lad of about six years at the time of the family removal to Clayton county, and here he acquired his youthful education in the public schools of Buena Vista. He continued his association with the work of the home farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-six years, when he purchased a portion of his present fine landed estate of three hundred and seven acres, upon which he has since resided and which he has developed into one of the many splendid farms of the county. He is a stockholder in the bank of Holy Cross, is president of the Mineral Point Farmers' Telephone Company, and is vicepresident of the Dubuque Mercantile Company, connections that indicate him as one of the substantial capitalists of Clayton county. Mr. Thomas is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he served four years as township trustee, besides which he has given long and effective service as a member of the school board. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the German Lutheran church. March 1, 1892, recorded the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Anna Kelsey, who was born at Genoa, Wisconsin, on the 20th of August, 1874, and who is a daughter of Ira and Louisa (Eck) Kelsey, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Minnesota. Mr. Kelsey was for a number of years engaged in railroad work and was a resident of Buena Vista, this county, at the time of his death, his wife having passed to the life eternal in 1882. Of their ten children all are living except one. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have seven children, all of whom still remain at the parental home, namely: William, Elmer, Carlie, Amanda, Freda, Clarence and Irene.

P. C. Young died at Rock Rapids March 30, 1885.  He was a resident of Elkader for a number of years and was very prominent both as a lawyer and as a politician.

GOTTLIEB ZURCHER has been a resident of Clayton county since he was a lad of about seven years, and is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the county.  Here he was reared and educated and here he has long been a successful and progressive exponent of the great basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing, the while he has stood at all times as a loyal and public-spirited citizen who is well worthy of the unqualified esteem in which he is uniformly held.  Mr. Zurcher was born in Baden, Germany, on the 23d of January, 1857, and is a son of George and Orzilla Zurcher, who continued their residence in that section of the great German Empire until 1864, when they immigrated to America and numbered themselves among the pioneer settlers of Clayton county, Iowa, where they passed the remainder of their lives and where the father reclaimed a productive farm, both he and his wife commanding the high regard of all who knew them, and their names meriting enduring place on the roll of the sterling pioneers of the county.  Of their seven children five are yet living.  Gottlieb Zurcher was reared to the sturdy activities of the pioneer farm and gained his early education in the common schools of the early period in Clayton county history.  He continued his association with the work and management of the home farm until he had attained to his legal majority, and later he purchased this old homestead, comprising eighty-seven and three-fourths acres in Section 7, Farmersburg township, and twenty-four acres in Section 6 of the same township.  He has made substantial improvements on his landed estate, including the erection of good buildings of modern type, and with the passing years the property has greatly increased in value, the while the farm has been kept up to the highest standard through his energetic and progressive policies and management.  Mr. Zurcher has been one of the successful and influential citizens of Farmersburg township and has given his support to those measures and enterprises that have tended to advance the best interests of the community.  He was one of the organizers and funders of the Farmersburg Creamery Company, of which he served as president five years and as a director for a period of four years thereafter.  He is a director of the Farmersburg Savings Bank and is one of the substantial and wideawake men of the county in which he has maintained his home since childhood.  His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and his character and ability have given him such secure place in popular confidence and esteem that he has been called upon to serve in various local offices of public trust.  Since 1910 he has been the efficient incumbent of the office of justice of the peace, and the year 1916 finds him in service also as township supervisor and as a member of the school board of his district, in which latter office he has served continuously since 1908.  He is a stockholder in a cement manufacturing corporation at Farmersburg, in which village both he and his wife are zealous members of the Evangelical church.  There also he is affiliated with the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.  In June, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Zurcher to Miss Christina Schiff, who was born and reared in this county, and who is a daughter of Louis and Mary (Meier) Schiff, who were born in Germany and who came to the United States in 1851.  Later they became pioneer settlers in Clayton county, where they passed the residue of their lives and where Mr. Schiff was a prosperous farmer and honored citizen.  Of their ten children seven are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Zurcher became the parents of seven children, whose names are here entered in the respective order of birth:  Herbert G.,  Amiel L.,  Ishmael,  Benjamin L.,  George,  a child that died in infancy,  and Truman S.  Of the children, Herbert Ishmael and George are deceased.