J.R. Thurston, proprietor of the Onawa House, was born in Herkimer county, N.Y., in 1833; removed to Cass county, Ia., in 1856; thence to Onawa in 1860, and engaged in farming, until 1877, when he engaged in the mercantile business, which he sold in 1881, and engaged in his present business. He was married in 1855, and has five children.
