My grandfather, August Thor, never had a middle name or none that history ever revealed. He was born in the middle of the week, a Wednesday, the 15th of October 1884 and went by the name of Gus. Baptized Catholic, he was one of three boys, the ninth out of eleven children born to Johann Joseph Michael and Maria Elisabeth (Kruser) Thor.
He attended a one-room school house through fifth grade on Plum Hollow Road, close to the family farm on which he grew up. One of his first jobs was working on a road construction crew. While working with a crew on the road near the Schroeder farm, he got to know a girl living there, her name was Hilda.
At the age of 25, he acquired land from his parents and started farming on his own.
He met and married a local girl, Maria "Mayme" Katherina Droessler, who just happened to be a sister to one of his close buddies, Joe Droessler. Gus and Mayme were married in Louisburg on May 1, 1912. Their house, farm and family all grew; Walter was born on January 25, 1914 and Ivyl was born 15 months later.
Life was going good. He purchased his first truck, an International. Then in the spring of 1919, his whole world changed. Mayme, after only four days of illness, passed away from the Spanish flu and baby Ivyl was in fragile health. Gus's sister, Annie, was married to Mayme's brother, Val Droessler. They took Walter and Ivyl in to help care for them.
Per law at the time, Gus had to prove his guardianship every year for them by filing in court until they arrived at the age of 21 years. He loved them very much and visited them everyday.
By the fall of 1919, Gus's younger brother, Louis, was called to duty and left for France. Gus didn't know it at the time, but he would never see his brother again. Louis died in France.
Gus stayed busy on the farm. Each day when taking the milk buckets to the creamery, he would wave to a school teacher standing outside on the top of the steps of the school. Gus knew her and her family and they had shared looks and conversations for many years when they were young, it was Hilda Eleanor Schroeder. They rekindled their friendship and on June 26, 1923 they were married. Soon thereafter, Walter and Ivyl came back home. Gus and Hilda had three children, Quentin in 1925, Annabel in 1929, and Stan in 1932.
He loved hunting with Doc Meyer and his friends and hooking up his boat to go fishing. He was a regular at the Village Bar that was in walking distance from their home. When the German bands held festivals, Gus dressed in German attire to help with the events. He raised and sold pheasants to local restaurants and families. He also sold tickets and held trap shooting tournaments in the fields on the farm using pheasants as prizes. His favorite dog, Tony, a black lab was always by his side.
They kept holy on Sunday and made moonshine on Monday, which they made in the field and hid in the floor boards in the upstairs bedroom. Word usually reached them in time when the Fed's were coming.
Over time different worries set in, like the Great Depression or when his youngest son went off to war and later in life when lymphoma was diagnosed.
The bells rang nine times on August 25, 1972 a sign that a male had died in the parish. A cowboy hat and smoking pipe laid still. Tony ventured off that day by himself never to be found. The family believes he went to be with Gus.
Contributed by Lois Thor Herbst
Hilda was 9 years old when she met Gus. For a number of years they shared looks and conversations before Hilda left and went to college. In Hilda's own words recorded on tape is the rest of the story... discovered December of 2023.
Note original photos of August Thor were contributed by Lois Thor Herbst on Find A Grave and others have moved them to Ancestry.com submitting their name with them. Take note some additional photos of Gus on Ancestry.com that others have submitted are not him.
He attended a one-room school house through fifth grade on Plum Hollow Road, close to the family farm on which he grew up. One of his first jobs was working on a road construction crew. While working with a crew on the road near the Schroeder farm, he got to know a girl living there, her name was Hilda.
At the age of 25, he acquired land from his parents and started farming on his own.
He met and married a local girl, Maria "Mayme" Katherina Droessler, who just happened to be a sister to one of his close buddies, Joe Droessler. Gus and Mayme were married in Louisburg on May 1, 1912. Their house, farm and family all grew; Walter was born on January 25, 1914 and Ivyl was born 15 months later.
Life was going good. He purchased his first truck, an International. Then in the spring of 1919, his whole world changed. Mayme, after only four days of illness, passed away from the Spanish flu and baby Ivyl was in fragile health. Gus's sister, Annie, was married to Mayme's brother, Val Droessler. They took Walter and Ivyl in to help care for them.
Per law at the time, Gus had to prove his guardianship every year for them by filing in court until they arrived at the age of 21 years. He loved them very much and visited them everyday.
By the fall of 1919, Gus's younger brother, Louis, was called to duty and left for France. Gus didn't know it at the time, but he would never see his brother again. Louis died in France.
Gus stayed busy on the farm. Each day when taking the milk buckets to the creamery, he would wave to a school teacher standing outside on the top of the steps of the school. Gus knew her and her family and they had shared looks and conversations for many years when they were young, it was Hilda Eleanor Schroeder. They rekindled their friendship and on June 26, 1923 they were married. Soon thereafter, Walter and Ivyl came back home. Gus and Hilda had three children, Quentin in 1925, Annabel in 1929, and Stan in 1932.
He loved hunting with Doc Meyer and his friends and hooking up his boat to go fishing. He was a regular at the Village Bar that was in walking distance from their home. When the German bands held festivals, Gus dressed in German attire to help with the events. He raised and sold pheasants to local restaurants and families. He also sold tickets and held trap shooting tournaments in the fields on the farm using pheasants as prizes. His favorite dog, Tony, a black lab was always by his side.
They kept holy on Sunday and made moonshine on Monday, which they made in the field and hid in the floor boards in the upstairs bedroom. Word usually reached them in time when the Fed's were coming.
Over time different worries set in, like the Great Depression or when his youngest son went off to war and later in life when lymphoma was diagnosed.
The bells rang nine times on August 25, 1972 a sign that a male had died in the parish. A cowboy hat and smoking pipe laid still. Tony ventured off that day by himself never to be found. The family believes he went to be with Gus.
Contributed by Lois Thor Herbst
Hilda was 9 years old when she met Gus. For a number of years they shared looks and conversations before Hilda left and went to college. In Hilda's own words recorded on tape is the rest of the story... discovered December of 2023.
Note original photos of August Thor were contributed by Lois Thor Herbst on Find A Grave and others have moved them to Ancestry.com submitting their name with them. Take note some additional photos of Gus on Ancestry.com that others have submitted are not him.
My grandfather, August Thor, never had a middle name or none that history ever revealed. He was born in the middle of the week, a Wednesday, the 15th of October 1884 and went by the name of Gus. Baptized Catholic, he was one of three boys, the ninth out of eleven children born to Johann Joseph Michael and Maria Elisabeth (Kruser) Thor.
He attended a one-room school house through fifth grade on Plum Hollow Road, close to the family farm on which he grew up. One of his first jobs was working on a road construction crew. While working with a crew on the road near the Schroeder farm, he got to know a girl living there, her name was Hilda.
At the age of 25, he acquired land from his parents and started farming on his own.
He met and married a local girl, Maria "Mayme" Katherina Droessler, who just happened to be a sister to one of his close buddies, Joe Droessler. Gus and Mayme were married in Louisburg on May 1, 1912. Their house, farm and family all grew; Walter was born on January 25, 1914 and Ivyl was born 15 months later.
Life was going good. He purchased his first truck, an International. Then in the spring of 1919, his whole world changed. Mayme, after only four days of illness, passed away from the Spanish flu and baby Ivyl was in fragile health. Gus's sister, Annie, was married to Mayme's brother, Val Droessler. They took Walter and Ivyl in to help care for them.
Per law at the time, Gus had to prove his guardianship every year for them by filing in court until they arrived at the age of 21 years. He loved them very much and visited them everyday.
By the fall of 1919, Gus's younger brother, Louis, was called to duty and left for France. Gus didn't know it at the time, but he would never see his brother again. Louis died in France.
Gus stayed busy on the farm. Each day when taking the milk buckets to the creamery, he would wave to a school teacher standing outside on the top of the steps of the school. Gus knew her and her family and they had shared looks and conversations for many years when they were young, it was Hilda Eleanor Schroeder. They rekindled their friendship and on June 26, 1923 they were married. Soon thereafter, Walter and Ivyl came back home. Gus and Hilda had three children, Quentin in 1925, Annabel in 1929, and Stan in 1932.
He loved hunting with Doc Meyer and his friends and hooking up his boat to go fishing. He was a regular at the Village Bar that was in walking distance from their home. When the German bands held festivals, Gus dressed in German attire to help with the events. He raised and sold pheasants to local restaurants and families. He also sold tickets and held trap shooting tournaments in the fields on the farm using pheasants as prizes. His favorite dog, Tony, a black lab was always by his side.
They kept holy on Sunday and made moonshine on Monday, which they made in the field and hid in the floor boards in the upstairs bedroom. Word usually reached them in time when the Fed's were coming.
Over time different worries set in, like the Great Depression or when his youngest son went off to war and later in life when lymphoma was diagnosed.
The bells rang nine times on August 25, 1972 a sign that a male had died in the parish. A cowboy hat and smoking pipe laid still. Tony ventured off that day by himself never to be found. The family believes he went to be with Gus.
Contributed by Lois Thor Herbst
Hilda was 9 years old when she met Gus. For a number of years they shared looks and conversations before Hilda left and went to college. In Hilda's own words recorded on tape is the rest of the story... discovered December of 2023.
Note original photos of August Thor were contributed by Lois Thor Herbst on Find A Grave and others have moved them to Ancestry.com submitting their name with them. Take note some additional photos of Gus on Ancestry.com that others have submitted are not him.
He attended a one-room school house through fifth grade on Plum Hollow Road, close to the family farm on which he grew up. One of his first jobs was working on a road construction crew. While working with a crew on the road near the Schroeder farm, he got to know a girl living there, her name was Hilda.
At the age of 25, he acquired land from his parents and started farming on his own.
He met and married a local girl, Maria "Mayme" Katherina Droessler, who just happened to be a sister to one of his close buddies, Joe Droessler. Gus and Mayme were married in Louisburg on May 1, 1912. Their house, farm and family all grew; Walter was born on January 25, 1914 and Ivyl was born 15 months later.
Life was going good. He purchased his first truck, an International. Then in the spring of 1919, his whole world changed. Mayme, after only four days of illness, passed away from the Spanish flu and baby Ivyl was in fragile health. Gus's sister, Annie, was married to Mayme's brother, Val Droessler. They took Walter and Ivyl in to help care for them.
Per law at the time, Gus had to prove his guardianship every year for them by filing in court until they arrived at the age of 21 years. He loved them very much and visited them everyday.
By the fall of 1919, Gus's younger brother, Louis, was called to duty and left for France. Gus didn't know it at the time, but he would never see his brother again. Louis died in France.
Gus stayed busy on the farm. Each day when taking the milk buckets to the creamery, he would wave to a school teacher standing outside on the top of the steps of the school. Gus knew her and her family and they had shared looks and conversations for many years when they were young, it was Hilda Eleanor Schroeder. They rekindled their friendship and on June 26, 1923 they were married. Soon thereafter, Walter and Ivyl came back home. Gus and Hilda had three children, Quentin in 1925, Annabel in 1929, and Stan in 1932.
He loved hunting with Doc Meyer and his friends and hooking up his boat to go fishing. He was a regular at the Village Bar that was in walking distance from their home. When the German bands held festivals, Gus dressed in German attire to help with the events. He raised and sold pheasants to local restaurants and families. He also sold tickets and held trap shooting tournaments in the fields on the farm using pheasants as prizes. His favorite dog, Tony, a black lab was always by his side.
They kept holy on Sunday and made moonshine on Monday, which they made in the field and hid in the floor boards in the upstairs bedroom. Word usually reached them in time when the Fed's were coming.
Over time different worries set in, like the Great Depression or when his youngest son went off to war and later in life when lymphoma was diagnosed.
The bells rang nine times on August 25, 1972 a sign that a male had died in the parish. A cowboy hat and smoking pipe laid still. Tony ventured off that day by himself never to be found. The family believes he went to be with Gus.
Contributed by Lois Thor Herbst
Hilda was 9 years old when she met Gus. For a number of years they shared looks and conversations before Hilda left and went to college. In Hilda's own words recorded on tape is the rest of the story... discovered December of 2023.
Note original photos of August Thor were contributed by Lois Thor Herbst on Find A Grave and others have moved them to Ancestry.com submitting their name with them. Take note some additional photos of Gus on Ancestry.com that others have submitted are not him.
Gravesite Details
Located next to, and on the right side, of the drive into the cemetery.
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