Obit: Thomas, Don A. (1856 - 1952)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Thomas, Clark, Sauvain, Laessig, Fisher, Saveland

----Source: Loyal Tribune (Loyal, Clark Co., Wis.)   09/18/1952

Thomas, Don A. (27 JUL 1856 - 11 SEP 1952)

Funeral services for Don A. Thomas, 96, who died last Thursday, were held in the Methodist Church at 2 p.m. Monday with Rev. Lee Holmes officiating.

Pallbearers were fellow masons, O. W. Trindal, V. O. Kauffman, Walter Gray, Perry Volk, Edgar Vick, and Ray Prior.  Mrs. Ray Prior and J. R. Colby sang the hymns, "Face to Face: and "Beyond the Sunset," with Mrs. Byron Zepplin as organist.

Don Albert Thomas, 96, son of the late Albert W. Thomas and Eliza Ann Clark, was born at Plattsburg, N.Y., July 27, 1856.

He came, when a boy, with his parents to Wisconsin and settled at Rubicon.  This was before the Civil War.  When a young man, he spent a few years in Minnesota, and then went to Kansas.

He was married to Mary Sauvain Feb. 24, 1880 in Crystal Plains, Kansas.  Ten years later, in 1890, the family moved to Clark County, Wis. and settled on a farm one-quarter mile south of Spokeville.  The trip from Kansas was made in a covered wagon.

While living on this farm, Mr. Thomas served as a member of the school board of Joint District Number One, Towns of Sherman and Loyal, Wisconsin.

In 1901 the family moved into Loyal, and most of the years following he lived in his home on Thomas street.  After moving to Loyal he worked in the heading factory scaling bolts.  He served as village marshal for a number of years.

Mr. Thomas was a charter member of Loyal Lodge No. 335 Free and Accepted Masons, having taken his first Masonic work in the Greenwood Lodge just fifty years ago.

His wife died in January 1939.  Three daughters preceded him in death; also two brothers and two sisters.

He is survived by one son, J.R. (Roy) Thomas, Loyal; three grandchildren, Mrs. Norma Laessig, Marshfield, Mrs. Thomas Fisher, Spokeville, and Mrs. Hazel Saveland, Green Bay; and by three great-grandchildren.

Those from away who attended the services were Dr. and Mrs. H. L. Laessig, Marshfield, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Saveland and children, Green Bay; Mr. and Mrs. L. N. ….(the rest of my copy was cut off)