This tall Woodmen of the world treetrunk style tombstone is one of two at Thurber cemetery.
This tombstone reads as follows:
"[WoW medalion
WILLIE D. DEMIC
Born
Nov. 29, 1871
Died
Oct. 5, 1909
DEMIC"
We had some limited success finding information out about Willie D. Demic on ancestry.com.
IN 1880 we found Willie Demic living with his parents Sanders and Elizabeth Dimmick on a farm in Freestone County Texas. Sanders is a white male age 30, farming, born in Texas, father born in Germany, mother born in TN. Sanders cannot read or write. Elizabeth is a white female age 28, married, keeping house, born in TX, can read but cannot write. They are parents of a daughter Ida L., age 10,who attended school for 3 months in the last year, can read but cannot write; son Willie, age 9, born in TX, who did not attend school; daughter Mary L, age 6, son Joseph B. age 4, and daughter Ann, age 2. All the kids are born in TX.
We next found him in the 1900 US Census living with his uncle H. A. Demic and wife Serah in Ranger, west of Thurber. H.A. was born in TX, his father was born in Germany and his mother was born in TX. Willie Demic is a white male, nephew of H. A., born 1871 age 28, he and parents all born in TX, working as a farm laborer. He can read, write, and speak English.
We do not have an actual death certificate for Willie, but we did find the Texas Death Index entry showing that Willie died on 5 Oct 1909 in Erath County Texas. Thurber is in Erath County.
From Find-A-Grave a few more fragments of information: (
visit link)
"Birth:
Nov. 29, 1871
Texas, USA
Death:
Oct. 5, 1909
Erath County
Texas, USA
Father of Ima Jewell Demic, John M Demic, and Willie D Demic, Jr
Family links:
Parents:
Sanders D Demic (1849 - 1929)
Sarah Elizabeth Hickman Demic (1852 - 1916)
Spouse:
Myrtle A Askey Demic (1887 - 1975)
Children:
William D Demic (1909 - 1975)*
Siblings:
Ida Loutheria Demic Cowart (1870 - 1965)*
Willie D Demic (1871 - 1909)
Joseph Benjamin Demic (1876 - 1959)*
Martha Delia Demic Miller (1878 - 1963)*
*Calculated relationship
Note: WOW
Burial:
Thurber Cemetery
Thurber
Erath County
Texas, USA"
Without the actual death certificate we can't tell if Willie died in the mines, but we do know that there were many hundreds of men killd and injured in the mines and industries at Thurber.