Obit: Kleckner, Ferdinand (1862 - 1938)

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Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Kleckner, Schurier, Doege, Krause, Wiesner, Sheblak, Banderob

----Sources: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 11/17/1938

Kleckner, Ferdinand (5 OCT 1862 - 14 NOV 1938)

Ferdinand Kleckner, 76, passed away at his home one mile north of Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.) on Monday evening, Nov. 14th, 1938 at 9:30 o’clock. He suffered a stroke on Friday and never recovered. Funeral services will be held this morning (Thursday) at nine o’clock at St. Bernard’s Church. An obituary will be published next week.

(Follow on in 11/24/1938 Thorp Courier)

Ferdinand Kleckner, retired farmer, died of a stroke of paralysis at his home here on Nov. 14th, having reached the age of 76 years, 1 month and 9 days.

The deceased was born in Mirshan, Germany, on Oct. 5, 1862. He came to America in the year 1880 and spent five years in Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked in a foundry. In 1885 he came to Thorp and settled on an eighty-acre tract of timberland northeast of the village. On Nov. 27, 1900, he was united in marriage to Kreszens Schurier at St. Bernard’s Church at Thorp. He and his family spent thirty-four years on the farm before his retirement and purchase of a six-acre piece of land one mile north of Thorp, where he resided until his death.

Mr. Kleckner, being one of the early pioneers, saw this section of the country developed from a timberland in this virgin state, into one of the best farming communities. He watched the village of Thorp develop into the thriving and prosperous little town it is today. Mr. Kleckner was a persistent young man, and with a goal in sight, never gave up until he had finished whatever he had started. He lived through good times and bad and during both saw his ambitions realized. He was one of the old timers that we all knew so well and whom we liked to meet on the streets of our little city. But at last he was called to rest as are many others of this community and we will see them no more, although the passing of these pioneers leaves many precious memories with those who are left behind.

Surviving relatives are his aged widow, two daughters, Veronica and Mrs. R.J. Doege of Eau Claire; two sons, Ferdinand Jr. of Glen Flora and John of Thorp; four sisters, Mrs. W. Krause, Duluth, Minn., Mrs. Aug. Wiesner, Mrs. Jos. Sheblak, Thorp, and Mrs. L. Banderob, Eau Claire; three brothers, Fred of Duluth, Joseph of Finnlayson, Minn., and Gotlieb of Chippewa Falls.

Impressive funeral services were conducted at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church here, last Thursday morning, requiem mass being sung by Reverends A.M. Muckerheide and Adelbert Brunner, of Milwaukee. The body was laid to rest in St. Bernard’s Cemetery. Pallbearers were, Edw. Beller, Nick Benzschawel, Frank Smitke, Paul Schmidt, Orea Nye and Mike Ramer.