Turner County, SD Biographies.....Elce, Thomas C. September 3, 1843 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 20, 2022, 3:35 am

Source: MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF Turner, Lincoln, Union and Clay Counties, South Dakota. (1897)
Author: Geo. Ogle & Co.

HON. THOMAS C. ELCE, state senator from Turner county, a prominent farmer, and a
well-known citizen of Germantown township, in section 29 of which he resides, was
born in Clinton county, Pa., September 3, 1843, and is a son of Thomas C. and Sarah
(Bailey) Elce, both natives of Pennsylvania. The former was a shoemaker by trade,
and carried on the boot and shoe business at Liberty, Pa., until about 1852, when he
removed to Williamsport of the same state where he was foreman in a large sawmill.
In 1855 he left Pennsylvania with his family for Clinton county, Iowa, where he
located and engaged in farming. He was of German and English descent, and died at
the age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Elce passed her girlhood in her native place, her
parents being Quakers, and lived to be fifty-four years old, her demise occurring in
Clinton county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Elce were married May 10, 1827, and were the
parents of ten children, as follows: Daniel B., of Williamsport, Pa.; Mary E., wife
of Sylvester Hyman, of Parker, Turner Co., S. Dak.; William H., deceased; Charles
B., of Parker; Benjamin F., deceased; Thomas C., the subject of this sketch; Sarah
F., deceased; Emorine, deceased; Jacob O., of Germantown township, Turner county,
and James T., deceased.

Thomas C. was the sixth child in the order of their birth, and twelve years old when
the parents located in Clinton, Iowa, where he passed his youth from that age. He
remained with his parents until the opening of the war, and in 1861 enlisted in
company M, First Iowa regiment, cavalry, as a private. He saw active service for
over four years and a half, was with Custer in Texas, and a member of Gen.
Rosecrans’ body guard at the battle of Prairie Grove, participated in Gen. Steele’s
raid on Camden, Ark., and took part in many engagements. He was honorably discharged
March 14, 1866, as quartermaster sergeant, and returned to Clinton, Iowa, where he
was married October 11, 1866, to Miss Sarah E. Edminster. She was born in Lycoming
county, Pa., the second child of a family of seven children, and was about eight
years old when her parents located in Ogle county, Ill. After their marriage Mr. and
Mrs. Elce resided in Clinton county, Iowa, where he engaged in general farming until
1869, and then removed to Mahaska county, same state, where he conducted a farm
until 1873, the date of his arrival in Turner county, Dak. Ter. He entered the
homestead where he now resides, erecting a small frame house 12 x 19 feet, and there
he and his wife took up their abode. He now owns 280 acres of well-improved land, on
which he also has a fine grove of trees. He devotes his time to general farming and
stock raising.

Mr. Elce is a stanch Republican, and besides being a representative of his county in
the state senate at present, he has also served as county commissioner and is now
acting as treasurer of the Finlay school district. He has always taken considerable
interest in school matters and has been closely identified with the improvement of
the educational features of his district. He was one of the organizers of the J.
Carlton post, G. A. R., at Parker, and is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. and
Mrs. Elce have been blest with one son, John E., born July 24, 1880, in Turner
county.


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