DAVID THRON, an old resident and well-to-do farmer, now living at his old home on section 27, township 17, range 12, was born in Baden, near Heidelberg, Germany, June 3, 1823. He was only twelve years old when his father, Michael, died, at the age of forty-four. For eleven years he had been a soldier in the Spanish provinces, and had seen much hardship and had many unpleasant experiences. He is remembered as a brave German soldier. His wife, who survived him, came to the United States shortly after the death of her husband, bringing with her five children, two having come before. She sailed from Bremen and came via New Orleans, being fifty-six days on the water. The family, including the mother and seven children, settled in Cass County, except one who died in New Orleans. The mother died at the home of our subject in 1880, aged eighty-four. She had spent her last years with him. She had been a good woman all her life, and she and her husband were consistent members of the German Lutheran Church.

David came to this county in 1844, and began life as a laborer in Beardstown. He then decided to become a farmer, after having worked and saved his money for nine years. He rented one year and then bought the farm where he now lives. His first purchase was of eighty acres, and he afterward entered forty acres of congress land, adjoining his first purchase. He afterward improved this and added to it until he owned 200 acres. He disposed of part of his land to August Hausmayer, and expects to retire and move into Arenzville after the spring of 1893. He added buildings to his farm and made it comfortable in every way.

He was married in Beardstown to Maria A. Eradt, who was born in the same town and province as himself, coming to America on the same vessel with him, and they were married soon after landing. Her parents came to this country a few years later and settled in Bellville, where they continued until the end of their lives. They are members of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Thron are honored and respected members of the Lutheran Church, and he is a Democrat in politics, and they are the parents of seven children. They experienced a great grief in the loss of four of them in a few weeks in the fall of 1863 of diphtheria. Their names were: Valentine, fifteen years old; henry, thirteen years old; David, Jr., nine years old; and Anna M., seven years old. The living are: Michael, a workman on the Quincy Railroad, who married Elizabeth Garrick; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Kneke, a farmer in this county; and Louis, a farmer in Cass county, who married Dora Fellow. Mr. and Mrs. Thron are among the best of our German citizens, and are highly respected by all who know them.