Bio of Joseph Peter THOLKES (b.1882), Yellow Medicine Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormatted by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: LaNaye Hennen Submitted: Mar 2002 ========================================================================= JOSEPH PETER THOLKES (1882) Joseph Peter Tholkes is a farmer of Omro township and a partner in the firm of Tholkes Brothers, which owns the St. Leo store. The farm, which he rents from his father, consists of 320 acres on sections 18 and 17, and he has spent his entire life on that farm. Our subject was born September 13, 1882, a son of Peter and Annie (Lenz) Tholkes, who now reside in St. Leo. His father was born in Germany and came to Yellow Medicine county in 1876 and homesteaded the Omro township farm. His mother was born in Scott county, Minnesota. Joseph was educated in the district school and spent the first twenty-four years of his life working for his father. Then he rented the farm and has since conducted it. In 1909 Joseph and Matt Tholkes purchased the St. Leo store from their father and have since been its proprietors, Matt Tholkes having the active management. Mr. Tholkes was married at St. Leo January 8, 1907, to Mary Kockelmann. She was born in Omro township April 2, 1884. Her parents Barthol and Mary (Maas) Kockelmann, were born in Bitberg, Germany. The mother lives in Omro township; the father died July 30, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Tholkes have four children: Raymond, born October 22, 1907; Eleanor, born April 24, 1909; Philomene, born September 16, 1910; and Arnold, born December 7, 1912. The family are members of the St. Leo Catholic Church. Source: A History of Yellow Medicine County by Arthur P. Rose. Published 1914