Henry C. Thias House, Franklin County, Missouri.Photo byJon Roanhaus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The historic Henry C. Thias House is located at 304 Elm Street in Washington, Missouri (Franklin County). This house is also referred to as the Forrest Swartz Residence and the Marc and Christina Houseman Residence. This two-story elaborate house was constructed in 1888.

This brick home carries the Queen Anne style. On September 20, 1984, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the Redfin real estate site, it was last sold in October 2007.

Occasionally, I come across stories sharing experiences of houses being haunted and I happened to come across one that includes this home. The late Marc Houseman shared some stories in Unexplained Stores of Downtown Washington published in eMissourian.com in 2018. Marc passed away on May 16, 2021, at the young age of 56.

Marc was the first director of the Washington Historical Society and he worked at the museum from 2001 to 2021. Visit here to read Marc's A Brief Introduction To Washington History.

The Thias House used to operate as a bed and breakfast inn, but according to BikeKatyTrail.com, it's now closed.

Henry C. Thias

According to the 1870 federal census, Henry C. Thias (age 31) was married to Catharine Klinsick Thias (age 24) in 1864, and they had two children, John (b. 1864; age 6) and Edward (age 2). Henry is listed as a merchant and Catherine keeps house. Henry and Catherine were German born immigrants and the real estate was valued at $2,000.

There is another Henry C. Thias listed in the Find-a-Grave website, but he was born in 1900 which was after the time the house was contructed.

According to emissourian.com, Henry died of heart failure on October 10, 1896, at age 57. Catherine died on March 17, 1903, at age 63. Another resource indicated Henry's wife's full name was Wilhemina Catharine Klingsick, but that was another Henry Thias. There was more than one Henry C. Thias residing in Missouri.

Several Thias monuments are at the St. Peter's Cemetery in Washington.

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