Gilbert Thurston

Charles Gilbert Thurston was born in Morrow County, May 5, 1841. He fought in the Civil War and was held prisoner in both Libby and Andersonville prisons for thirteen months. He cancelled a debt of seven dollars to a friend for seven potatoes which the friend picked up when he went out foraging at night. When the cannons were silenced and the guns were stacked, Charles Gilbert, weighing forty-five pounds, was carried out of Andersonville prison to the Union lines. Tables were loaded with gravy and biscuits. He ate sparingly knowing that a gluttonous appetite would be his death knell.

In the 1870's, having married Libby Morehouse, he came to Richfield Township and purchased eighty acres of land entirely covered with virgin forest for ten dollars an acre. With a team of horses, and axe, and, perhaps, a spade, he cleared the land and erected his home. This was not an overnight task; it was a lifetime project. As time came and went, Vinal Thurston, a son of Charles Gilbert bought a piece of land north of this site. He and Juanita E. Stautzenberger Thurston raised a family of five children.

C. Gilbert Thurston, son of Vinal, married Mary Pearl Seiler, an elementary school teacher. To this union five children were born.

V. Dale graduated from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Subsequently, he retired as a commander and worked for Westinghouse International Company as a Director of Licensee Services for the Columbus Products Company for the Eastern World.

Carroll Lee, second son of C. Gilbert Thurston, received a B.S. degree in industrial arts from B.G.S.U. and an M.S. degree from Wayne State University.

Gloria E. graduated with a dual B.S. degree in business and education from B.G.S.U. and an M.S. as a reading specialist from the University of Louisville.

Lowell E. graduated with a B.S. in business administration from B.G.S.U. He is a registered and accredited gemologist and owns and operates an established jewelry store in Marion, Ohio.

Laurane E., the youngest, graduated from B.G.S.U. with a B.S. and an M.S. in physical education. She is a private pilot for the pleasure of her family. Her husband's business, the Leipsic Veterinary Service, takes her throughout Ohio. Her flights of fancy take her throughout the midwest and eastern United States.

C. Gilbert Thurston, a grandson of the aforementioned Charles Gilbert Thurston, served eight consecutive terms as the Representative of Henry County to the Ohio State Legislature from January 1, 1951, to December 31, 1966. He retired from the General Assembly and later served as Henry County Auditor for two years. It was necessary for him to resign this office to accept the position of Executive Director of the newly created Ohio Retirement Study Commission in Columbus, Ohio. After nearly four years in this capacity he retired from public service.

Submitted by Mrs. Thurston