Surnames: Balch, Sontag

----Source: NEILLSVILLE TIMES (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 07/06/1905

Balch, Frederick A. #2 (21 AUG 1824 - 2 JUL 1905)

Frederick A. Balch died at the home on the north side (Neillsville, Clark Co., Wis.) Monday morning at 10:15, from the general breakdown consequent upon old age, lacking but 49 days of being 81 years old. The funeral was from the house, Wednesday, July 5, at 10 a.m., conducted by Rev. G. W. Campbell.

Decedent was born at Alexander, N.Y., Aug. 21st, 1824, came west in 1846, residing many years at Sheboygan Falls and Hingham, in Sheboygan, Co., and was married at Barton, Washington Co., during his residence in the eastern part of the state. Mr. Balch and family moved to Neillsville in 1880, opening a general store on the north side. The wife passed away ten years ago, the oldest son, Loren A., died out west more recently. Another son and daughter died at an early date. The only members of the family now surviving are Rella W. Balch and Fred O. Balch of this city, and Mrs. Julius Sontag of Altoona, an adopted daughter, who was in Montana traveling with Mrs. Geo. Sontag when the beloved father died.

A man of warm heart and kindly impulses was mr. Balch. Shrewd in argument and delighting in debate, he never wearied in his effort, with a merry twinkle in his eye and a shrewd smile on his face, to mix an antagonist up and send him sprawling in the quicksands of controversy. He was a lover of nature, of philosophical thought and manner, and when at his best was always the center of an interested group of auditors. He will long be remembered as a genial, hospitable, kind hearted and intensely patriotic man. His ancestors came to America in 1622.