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Belgians in the Civil War

Emigrants arrival

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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

Florent Thayes was born in Belgium in 1844, and immigrated to the United States in 1863. He worked on a saw mill in Wisconsin until 1865, and then came to Kansas, and was employed in the construction of the Central Branch railroad until 1869,  when he took up a homestead claim of eighty acres, and lived thereon until 1880. He then sold out and bought a quarter section in Neuchatel township, upon which he lived until his death, July 12, 1894. Mr. Theys was killed in a runaway accident. At the time of his death, he owned 640 acres of land and much personal property. His wealth was sufficient, when divided, to enable each child of the family to purchase 160 acres of land. Mr. Theys was a Republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church. His wife, Louisa (Vautravers), was born in Switzerland, January 4, 1851. After the death of Mr. Theys, she was again married in 1902, and lives at Neuchatel, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Theys were parents of five children, as follows: Julia, wife of J. A. Bonjour, born October 11, 1870, in Nemaha county; Mrs Pauline McDebitt, n a farm in Nemaha county; Mrs Mary Bonjour, deceased; Mrs. Isabella Kelly, living on a farm near Onage; Simon, a farmer at Cottonwood, Kansas.

Source : Tennal, Ralph, ; History of Nemaha County, Kansas; Lawrence, Kan.: Standard Pub. Co., 1916, 872  pgs.