Mark G. Thornburg was the son of Thomas A. and Samantha Jane "Jennie" Vestal Thornburg and was born near Linden, Dallas County and profited by the advantage of public schools at Linden and thereafter was graduated from Capitol Park High School, Des Moines. In 1910 he was graduated from Iowa State college at Ames, and received there from the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He gave eight years of constructive service as a member of the faculty of that institution, where he held the professorial chair of animal husbandry, and prior to this he had been associated with his father in agriculture and livestock enterprise six years.
..He continued his service as a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College, formerly known as the Iowa State Agricultural College, until 1918, when re responded to the higher call of patriotism and enlisted for service in the World War. He received his preliminary training at Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually was there given charge of the training camp. He passed three months at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, where he aided in selling horses and mules that had been purchased for army work. He gained the rank of captain, and with this grade he received his honorable discharge after the armistice brought the war to a close.
..After the termination of his World War service, in which he was not called overseas, Mr. Thornburg assumed management of a fine farm estate of 6,000 acres in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and he retained his position four years, or until July 1, 1923, in which year the state department of agriculture was organized and he became assistant secretary of agriculture. The following year he was advanced to the office of secretary of the new department of the governor of Iowa, and in the same year he was regularly elected to the office of secretary, as was he again in 1926 and 1928. His broad and varied experience in practical agriculture and stock raising, as coupled with his technical education along these lines and his later service as a member of the faculty of Iowa State college, have enabled Secretary Thornburg to give an administration notable for its progressiveness and its wise and constructive policies.
Mr. Thornburg has ever been a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, he is a Knight Templar and a member of the American Legion, in which latter he is a past commander of the post at Emmettsburg, judicial center of Palo Alto county, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife having membership in the Christian Science Church in the present home City of Des Moines.
Taken from: A Narrative History of "The People of Iowa" The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1931; Page 14.
..He continued his service as a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College, formerly known as the Iowa State Agricultural College, until 1918, when re responded to the higher call of patriotism and enlisted for service in the World War. He received his preliminary training at Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually was there given charge of the training camp. He passed three months at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, where he aided in selling horses and mules that had been purchased for army work. He gained the rank of captain, and with this grade he received his honorable discharge after the armistice brought the war to a close.
..After the termination of his World War service, in which he was not called overseas, Mr. Thornburg assumed management of a fine farm estate of 6,000 acres in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and he retained his position four years, or until July 1, 1923, in which year the state department of agriculture was organized and he became assistant secretary of agriculture. The following year he was advanced to the office of secretary of the new department of the governor of Iowa, and in the same year he was regularly elected to the office of secretary, as was he again in 1926 and 1928. His broad and varied experience in practical agriculture and stock raising, as coupled with his technical education along these lines and his later service as a member of the faculty of Iowa State college, have enabled Secretary Thornburg to give an administration notable for its progressiveness and its wise and constructive policies.
Mr. Thornburg has ever been a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, he is a Knight Templar and a member of the American Legion, in which latter he is a past commander of the post at Emmettsburg, judicial center of Palo Alto county, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife having membership in the Christian Science Church in the present home City of Des Moines.
Taken from: A Narrative History of "The People of Iowa" The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1931; Page 14.
Mark G. Thornburg was the son of Thomas A. and Samantha Jane "Jennie" Vestal Thornburg and was born near Linden, Dallas County and profited by the advantage of public schools at Linden and thereafter was graduated from Capitol Park High School, Des Moines. In 1910 he was graduated from Iowa State college at Ames, and received there from the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He gave eight years of constructive service as a member of the faculty of that institution, where he held the professorial chair of animal husbandry, and prior to this he had been associated with his father in agriculture and livestock enterprise six years.
..He continued his service as a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College, formerly known as the Iowa State Agricultural College, until 1918, when re responded to the higher call of patriotism and enlisted for service in the World War. He received his preliminary training at Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually was there given charge of the training camp. He passed three months at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, where he aided in selling horses and mules that had been purchased for army work. He gained the rank of captain, and with this grade he received his honorable discharge after the armistice brought the war to a close.
..After the termination of his World War service, in which he was not called overseas, Mr. Thornburg assumed management of a fine farm estate of 6,000 acres in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and he retained his position four years, or until July 1, 1923, in which year the state department of agriculture was organized and he became assistant secretary of agriculture. The following year he was advanced to the office of secretary of the new department of the governor of Iowa, and in the same year he was regularly elected to the office of secretary, as was he again in 1926 and 1928. His broad and varied experience in practical agriculture and stock raising, as coupled with his technical education along these lines and his later service as a member of the faculty of Iowa State college, have enabled Secretary Thornburg to give an administration notable for its progressiveness and its wise and constructive policies.
Mr. Thornburg has ever been a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, he is a Knight Templar and a member of the American Legion, in which latter he is a past commander of the post at Emmettsburg, judicial center of Palo Alto county, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife having membership in the Christian Science Church in the present home City of Des Moines.
Taken from: A Narrative History of "The People of Iowa" The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1931; Page 14.
..He continued his service as a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College, formerly known as the Iowa State Agricultural College, until 1918, when re responded to the higher call of patriotism and enlisted for service in the World War. He received his preliminary training at Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually was there given charge of the training camp. He passed three months at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, where he aided in selling horses and mules that had been purchased for army work. He gained the rank of captain, and with this grade he received his honorable discharge after the armistice brought the war to a close.
..After the termination of his World War service, in which he was not called overseas, Mr. Thornburg assumed management of a fine farm estate of 6,000 acres in Palo Alto County, Iowa, and he retained his position four years, or until July 1, 1923, in which year the state department of agriculture was organized and he became assistant secretary of agriculture. The following year he was advanced to the office of secretary of the new department of the governor of Iowa, and in the same year he was regularly elected to the office of secretary, as was he again in 1926 and 1928. His broad and varied experience in practical agriculture and stock raising, as coupled with his technical education along these lines and his later service as a member of the faculty of Iowa State college, have enabled Secretary Thornburg to give an administration notable for its progressiveness and its wise and constructive policies.
Mr. Thornburg has ever been a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, he is a Knight Templar and a member of the American Legion, in which latter he is a past commander of the post at Emmettsburg, judicial center of Palo Alto county, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his wife having membership in the Christian Science Church in the present home City of Des Moines.
Taken from: A Narrative History of "The People of Iowa" The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1931; Page 14.
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