Thomas
J. Strauch
(1879-1922)
Thomas J. Strauch was born in 1879 in Fayette County, PA,
the son of John and Mary Hester
(McKnight) Strauch.
As a young man, Thomas stood 5 feet, 10 inches high, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. He worked as a 'motorman.'
During the Spanish-American War, Thomas enlisted in the US Army on April 27, 1898. He served as a private with Company F of the 14th PA Infantry. He was stationed at Mt. Gretna, PA; Fort Delaware; and in 'Free Cuba.' The parade ground of the Army encampment at Mt. Gretna is seen here.
Thomas penned many letters home to his mother, sister and brothers. Writing to his sister Dora from Mt. Gretna on May 13, 1898, he said:
We
are going to move tomorrow. I do not now where we are going to go. You tell you
mother that I was not coaxted to come out here. She told me that Harry Bates
said that I was. You tell you grandpap that I want him to rite me a letter and
Charley and John Henry.
Shortly afterward, he wrote to his mother, saying:
We have got away from Gretna. We are on a little island there is 8 foot of water all around the fort. There is lots of cannons here. There is too cannons on the roof that shoots faster than I can count. There is nice fish in the Bay. I catch one last night 10 inches long.
After the war's end, Thomas returned home.
On Jan. 6, 1904, he married Myrl Goe, the daughter of Lydia Goe. The ceremony
was performed by Rev. William H. Gladen at Vanderbilt, Fayette County, and among
the witnesses were Carrie M. Dull and Catherine Pratt.
The Strauchs resided in Vanderbilt and had 4 children -- Mrs. Ray Conn, William 'Wesley' Strauch, Henry 'Albert' Strauch and Thomas Glenn Strauch. Dr. G.B. Roberts of Vanderbilt helped deliver at least 2 of the baby boys.
In August 1910, Thomas is known to have taken a son and a daughter to Chicago. Writing in a postcard to his mother in law, he said: "We landed OK and the boy and the girl is well. T.J. Strauch." The postcard later was submitted to the federal government as evidence to show Thomas' signature, and today is in the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Sadly, sometime after June 12, 1915, (when their youngest child was born), Myrl passed away, leaving her husband to care for their 4 young children.
On May 9, 1922, Thomas died at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was only age 43. The funeral was held at the home of his brother John in Uniontown, Fayette County. Burial was at Dickerson Run Cemetery in Vanderbilt.
At the time of Thomas' death, his 3 sons were under the age of 16, and had no means of financial support. In the words of a family friend, they were at "the mercy of the world." Their grandmother, Lydia Goe, successfully obtained a military pension from the federal government to provide the boys with badly needed funds. Writing a letter on her behalf, Vanderbilt justice of the peace said that Mrs. Goe had "taken care of the Children every since their Farther died, and has don it well... [She] has deprived her self of meny pleasuers, for thos Children, there is no one that could of ben better to them than this old ladie has, the intire Naborhood will coperate with this statement if it is nesisary."
The fates of the 4 children are unknown.
Copyright © 2001-2002 Mark A. Miner