Obit: Mathias, Henry Anton (1940 - 1962)

Transcriber: Robert Lipprandt
bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Beck, Edens, Ehrenreich, Goodman, Mathias, Pertmer, Rosenfeldt, Schneider, Schreiner, Taylor, Thiel

----Source: The Rib Lake Herald (Rib Lake, WI) 1/20/1962

Mathias, Henry Anton (22 NOV 1940 - 18 JAN 1962)

Services were held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at the Taylor Funeral Home for Henry Anton Mathias, 84, pioneer Rib Lake hotel man, who died Sunday at his home after a serious illness of two weeks.

Pallbearers were Peter Beck, Joseph Pertmer, Albert Schreiner, Henry Rosenfeldt, Albert Goodman, and Walter L. Schneider.

Mr. Mathias was born March 6, 1877, in Lerberg, Germany, and came to the United States with his parents when he was 6 years old. The family settled in Rib Lake, and at the age of 16 he started cooking in the lumber camps and in tent camps operated by the surveying crews operating in the area. He worked in camps in Perkinstown, Westboro, and Town of Greenwood, the latter camp being near where St. Peters Lutheran Church now stands on CTH C.

Later he operated the large Rib Lake Commercial House on the lakeshore, which was extensively patronized by lumberjacks, lumber company officials, and traveling men. After that was destroyed by fire, he opened the Central Hotel, on Railroad Street, which he operated for more than 40 years until his retirement in 1957. As of June 4, 2009, the former Central Hotel building still stands. It is an apartment building in the southwest corner of Railroad and Third Streets. The hotel has since been converted into the Golden Age Nursing Home.

He was married to Elizabeth Ann Ehrenreich at Medford on Sept. 22, 1922. Surviving are the widow, 6 sons; Walter Henry, Wauwatosa; Raymond Emil, Santa Anna, California; Daniel, Madison; Henry John, Wauwatosa; Glen, Chicago; and William, Minneapolis; two daughters; Bernita, Mrs. Earl Edens, Tomahawk; and Hattie E., Mrs. Elmer J. Taylor, Rib Lake.

Preceding him in death were his first wife, the former Hedwig Thiel, who died on March 4, 1912; a son, Lawrence, killed in action with the Marines on Saipan during WWII; and a sister, Anna.