Dr. Daniel Morrison Benonia Thom
(1844 Aberdeenshire, Scotland—1915 Sivas, Turkey)
Introduction
This story was written in May 1946 by Nellie Elona Thom Freyer (1876—1953), Daughter (child #7) of Dr. Daniel Morrison Benonia Thom (1844-1915) and Lugene Henrietta Park Thom (1845-1888)
Father came to the United States when a minor with his father and mother, brothers and sisters. They settled in Wisconsin and then moved to Minnesota near Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota. He studied at Rush Medical College, Chicago and went to Mardin, Turkey as a medical missionary (for forty years) with his wife in 1874, where he remained until he was deported by the Turks during the first World War at the instigation of the Germans, to Sivas, Turkey, where he died of typhus on 8 December 1915 and was buried there. His wife passed away in childbirth resulting from uremia poisoning on 16 January 1888.
I was born in Mardin, Turkey, on 25 November 1876. I was educated at Northfield, Minnesota, Carleton Preparatory and Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, graduating in June, 1899 with a degree of Ph. B. I taught for two years, then went to Beirut, Syria, with the American Press in 1904 to 1911. I married Mr. Edward Morrison Freyer on 30 October 1914. My son, Edward Morrison Freyer was born in Pasadena, California 12 October 1915.
We spent four years in Cape Town, South Africa, where my husband was inspecting accountant for the Texas Oil Company. We conducted tours to Europe 1926-30 till the depression. My husband passed away 22 May 1943, in Berkeley, California. My son, Edward, married Delavan M. Burge and they have two sons, Peter and Thomas, and are living in Honolulu. He is associated with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. as of May, 1946.
Dr. Daniel Morrison Benonia Thorn married Lugene Henrietta Park at Owatonna, Minnesota on 11 August 1874. She was born 19 August 1845 at Grafton, Windham County, Vermont. Two daughters were born of this marriage and one son who died at birth or soon thereafter. The two daughters were Nellie Elona Thom and Minnie Alice Thom. Nellie Elona Thom was born on 25 November 1876 and died on 8 February 1953 at Honolulu, Hawaii. She married Edward Gustav Freyer who died on 22 May 1943 at Berkeley, California.
Minnie Alice Thom was born in Mardin, Turkey on 2 December 1880 and died on 11 August 1935 at Albany, Oregon. She married Robert A. Buchanan at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 28 June 1905. He died at Portland, Oregon on 1 February 1939. By this marriage there were five children of which two boys have died. David Daniel Francis Buchanan was born on 18 February 1917 at Sitka, Alaska and died on 6 March 1932 at Albany, Oregon. William Graham Buchanan was born on 25 January 1912, at Parkville, Missouri and died on 30 September 1949 at Eugene, Oregon. He married Betty Lou Livingston about 1941. By this marriage there were two children: Linda Buchanan, born 13 January 1943 at Eugene, Oregon and Robert Buchanan, born 25 December 1946 at Eugene, Oregon. Linda Buchanan married Ronald Modell at Albany, Oregon on 11 August 1961.
After the death of his first wife, Lugene Henrietta Park on 16 January 1888 in Mardin, Turkey, Dr. Daniel Morrison Benonia Thom married Helen L. Dewey on 24 July 1889 in Mardin. Helen L. Dewey was born 10 February 1858 and died 9 September 1915. By this marriage there were two daughters, Margaret Elizabeth, born in June 1891 (?) in Mardin, who died on 9 March 1892 (Quote from Mrs. Kay Schall, “I believe she was nine months old when she died.”) and Katherine, born 11 January 1899 in Mardin. She married Raymond M. Schall on 4 June 1923. By this marriage there were two children: Barbara Kay Schall, born 1 November 1924, and Richard Morrison Schall, born 11 June 1928.