John Palas, son of John and Eliza (Wiegman) Palas, was born in Germany in 1831; his son Arthur's sketch says he reached Clayton County in 1855 with $25, while his son Louis's sketch says the parents came to America in 1851. He married Caroline Prust in 1858 and, after her death in February 1864, married Carolina Voss that June, and when he died in 1903 he owned 710 acres in Farmersburg Township. His son Louis J. Palas bought the homestead, known as the Stone Wall Farm, raised Red Polled cattle and Berkshire swine there, and in 1901 married Mary Lenth, daughter of Carl and Dorothea (Schmalfeld) Lenth. Henry Palas bought a farm in Monona Township in 1896 and raised Angus cattle, and Arthur J. Palas, the youngest, studied at Drake University and the University of Texas and was county attorney at Elkader in 1916. Every fact below is cited to the 1916 county history.
Where the family starts
John Palasborn 1831Most recent in our records
Arthur J. Palasborn 1881Tap a name to jump to that person.
Pioneer farmer, Farmersburg Township
Farmer and stock raiser, Monona Township
Owner of the Stone Wall Farm, Farmersburg Township
Louis J. Palas was born on the 25th of July, 1875, and the place of his nativity was the fine farmstead on which he now resides, in Sections 29 and 30. Farmersburg township, where he is the owner of a splendidly improved and well ordered landed estate of two hundred and forty acres, besides which he holds in his possession a valuable tract of thirty acres of timber land, in Section 24, of the same township. This fine old homestead, known as the Stone Wall Farm, has been the stage of his vigorous and progressive operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower, and in these important
3l8 MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY industrial lines he has added to the prestige which his father had long enjoyed in the same field of enterprise. He gives special attention to the raising of Red Polled cattle and Berkshire swine, and has achieved not only marked success but also more than local reputation in this department of his farm operations. Mr. Palas is emphatically one of the liberal and progressive citizens of his native county, where he is a popular representative of an honored pioneer family, and his prominence and influence in connection with civic and business affairs are indicated measureably by the fact that he is a director of the Clayton County Telephone Company, the Garnavillo Insurance Association, and the Clayton County Live Stock Association, besides which he is treasurer of the Farmersburg Creamery Company and the St. Olaf Creamery Company, of which latter he was formerly president. He is serving as a member of the board of trustees of Farmersburg township, is a stalwart in the local camp of the Democratic party and both he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran church at Farmersburg. Their home is an attractive modern residence with the most approved appointments and facilities, including an individual electric light system. The beautiful home is the acme of comfort and pleasing surroundings, and is further known as a center of hospitality. M. Palas was reared to manhood on the fine farm of which he is now the owner and is indebted to the public schools of his native county for his early educational training. Soon after attaining to his legal majority he purchased the old homestead farm, to the supervision and improvement of which he has since given his attention with all of zealand enterprise, so that he stands forth as one of the essentially representative exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Clayton county. He is a son of John and Caroline (Foss) Palas, both natives of Germany. Upon coming to America, in 1851, the parents became pioneers of Clayton county, and later they came into possession of the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch, the father having reclaimed the same from the primitive wilds and having become one of the substantial, well-known and highly-honored citizens of Farmersburg township. John Palas passed forward to the life eternal in the year 1903, and his widow was summoned to eternal rest in 1910. both having been devoted communicants of the Lutheran church. Of their fourteen children all are living except two. On the 26th of February, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Louis J. Palas to Miss Mary Lenth, who likewise was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Carl and Dorothea (Schmalfeld) Lenth, both natives of Germany and both numbered among the honored pioneers of Clayton county, where the father continued his association with agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in December, 1915. The widowed mother still resides on the old homestead and of the family of twelve children seven survive the honored father. The names and respective dates of birth of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Palas are here indicated: Luther, May 22, 1904; Harley J., January 29, 1906: Iva C, April 22, 1908; and Sylvan L., August 10, 1910.
As printed in the source1. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Lawyer and county attorney, Elkader
Arthur J. Palas has gained secure vantage-ground as one of the able and representative members, of the bar of his native country, and at its judicial center, the city of Elkader, he is engaged in the successful practice of his profession. He is a schon of one of the old, honored and influential families of Clayton county, being one of the twelve children born to John and Caroline (Voss) Palas, both of whom are now deceased, the father having been one of the progressive and broad-minded citizens who contributed much to the civic and industrial development and advancement of this country, where he owned at the time of his death one of the large and valuable landed states of Farmersburg township. John Palas was the son of John and Eliza (Wiegman) Palas, and was born in Germany, October 14, 183 1. He came to the United States in 1855, settling in Clayton County and having upon his arrival but $25 with which to start his battle for fortune in his new home. With characteristic German thrift and energy, he at once began his career as a farmer, laying the foundations for the fortune which was later his. In 1858, he was married to Caroline, a daughter of Frederick Prust, a native of Germany. Three children were born to them — John, in 1859; Mary, in 1861, and William, in 1864. His wife died February 6, 1864, and in June, 1864, Mr. Palas was married to Carolina, a daughter of George and Mary (Plotz) Voss, also a native of Germany. The fruits of this union were ten children: Bertha, born July 25, 1865; Carolina, deceased, born July 1, 1866; Ida, born July 17, 1868; Anna, deceased, born Feb. 14, 1870; Henry, born November 24, 1871; Fritz, born July 17, 1873; Louis, born July 25, 1875; Louisa, born June 19, 1877; Herman, born July 25, 1879, and Arthur, the subject of this sketch, born May 19, 1891. John Palas was highly successful as a farmer and was highly esteemed as a citizen. He and his family were reared in the Lutheran faith, and Mr. Palas gave his political allegiance to the Republican party. At the time of his death he was the owner of a farm of 710 acres in Farmersburg township.
As printed in the source1. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
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