Surnames: Walsdorf, Elz, Brunner

----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 08/27/1942

Walsdorf, William (10 MAR 1857 - 24 AUG 1942)

William Walsdorf, who passed his 85th birthday on March 10th of this year, died at his home in the village at 1:20 p.m., Monday, Aug. 24, 1942, of the infirmities of old age.

Mr. Walsdorf was one of the few remaining old settlers who came here when Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.) and surrounding territory was a mass of woods. He cleared land, and industriously joined with other pioneers in building up Thorp and community into what we have today. He was a man of generous impulses and never forgot the hospitable ways of the pioneer. He had borne adversity bravely and enjoyed prosperity quietly.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., on March 10, 1857, he was united in marriage to Helena Elz on April 27, 1880 at New Holstein, Calumet Co., Wis. They operated a farm near that city for three years and on June 2, 1884, the family moved to Thorp and located on a farm south of here. Six years later Mr. Walsdorf came to the village with his family and went into business, being a continuous resident here since that time.

Mrs. Walsdorf died in December 1927.

He is survived by one daughter, Edith, Mrs. Richard Brunner of Thorp; two sons, Louis of Thorp and Joseph of Milwaukee; and three brothers, Joseph Walsdorf of Stanley, August of Thorp and Nick of Kiel, Wis.

Funeral services, attended by a large concourse of friends and relatives, were conducted from the Thorp Funeral Home to St. Bernard’s Church at nine o’clock Wednesday morning, Rev. A.M. Muckerheide officiating. Interment took palce in the family lot of St. Bernard’s Cemetery. Pallbearers were L.J. Snyder, Alvin Truckey, Leon and John S. Bogumill, Frank Broeren and Chas. Possley.