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2H)f WafHrasitSunday ffiributtrMatchey Golden DayMR. AND MRS. THOMAS P. MATCHEYIWHITEHALL, Wis. (Special)-Children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Matchey, R. 2, Whitehall, will hold open house for them at their home in the Town of Hale from 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday, March 2, in honor of their golden wedding anniversary.Mr. Matchey, 89, and his wife, 69, have a family of three sons and five daughters. They have 21 grandchildren.Matchey was born July 4, 1868, in Popleau, Germany, son of Philip Matchey and Mary Smick Matchey. When he was four years old he came to America with his parents, crossing on the steamship Ohio. They came by rail to La Crosse, by boat on the Mississippi to Trempealeau and then by ox team to the town of Hale, where relatives of Mrs. Matchey had settled earlier.Mr. Matchey purchased the 160-acre farm where his son, Tom and family now live from a Mr. Snow, earlier settler in the Whitehall area. He purchased the place for $500 and had to journey to the land office at La Crosse to get the deed. This was a difficult transaction for Matchey who was Polish and could not as yet speak English.The land was wooded and there was considerable brush that had to be cleared before cultivation was possible. Nomadic Indians frequently set up their village tepees across what is now Trem-! pealeau County Highway E from the Matchey place. They would I arrive suddenly, set up their vil-j lage in short order and come to j the Matchey home begging, by sign language, for flour and cof- j fee as long as they stayed. Then j they would vanish for a time again. They did not molest the newcomers.Thomas P. Matchey married Mary W i e n c h, Independence, j March 2, 1908, in SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Independence, the Rev. Andrew Gara, now deceased, performing the ceremony. Attending the couple were j Pauline Wiench, now deceased,' and Gertrude Filla. now Mrs.! John Kowahl, Independence together with John Walek and Theo-; dore Progreba, Independence. Mr. Progreba is now dead.Nine children were born to the couple. The first, a son, Andrew, died at the age of three months. The others are Philip, Spiritwood, N.D.; Dominic, residing at home; Ladislaus, Osseo; Mrs. Clyde (Monica) Liley, Moorhead. Minn.; Carolyn, nurse at the Veterans’ Hospital, Tomah; Mrs. Walter (Verna Steen. Bucyrus. N.D ; and Kathryn and Mrs. Clara Quackenbush. residing at home, jA Mass will be said for them by the Rev. Edwin Klimaszew-ski at St. John’s Catholic Church here at 8 a.m. Sunday.
Newspaper Details
La Crosse Sunday Tribune
La Crosse, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Mar 02, 1958
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Delana B.
NA, NA 17 Jun 2024
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