Edward Walther, named after his father whose full name was recorded as Edward Anton Joseph, was born May 8, 1866 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He married Margaret Ruckman in 1890. Edward died May 7, 1935 in Davenport, Iowa. Edward was living in Kearney, NE and worked as a plumber when he met and married Margaret Ruckman. They moved to Salt Lake City, UT in 1891 where Edward ran a laundry business. They moved to Washington IA where Edward went into the plumbing business. In 1903 Edward moved his family from Washington to Davenport, IA where he started his own gas machine business. He invented the gas machine that made gasoline into a safe gas for cooking and lighting which was like city (natural) gas. He used it in his own home for several years. He installed one in a store in Andove, IL that indriectly led to his daughter Myrtle's marriage. (Edward Walther is pictured below and to the right. His home in Iowa is below right.)

 

1910 U.S. Census

1920 U.S. Census

A Visit to Desoto 1919, by Myrtle Walther Anderson