University of Virginia Library

CHARLES W. THOMAS

Charles W. Thomas, the second son of Charles M.
and Jane (Crawford) Thomas, was born near Lafayette,
Montgomery County, Virginia, June 16th, 1855.
His father was a native
of Roanoke County, being
a son of Charley
Thomas, who was the
first settler in the upper
end of Roanoke County,
near the Montgomery
County line, where he
engaged in farming and
also kept an inn or "ordinary"
for road wagons,
prior to the building
of the first railroad. The
mother of Charles W.
Thomas was a daughter
of James Crawford, of
Scotch descent, and resided
near Cave Spring.
Charles M. Thomas, the
father of this sketch,
enlisted in the Confederate Army at the beginning of
the war, but owing to physical disability, he was
detailed for home guard duty and in raising supplies
for the army. He was ordered to the front three
different times, but each time, on the recommendation
of the army surgeons, he was returned to the duty first
assigned him. Mr. Thomas moved, with his family,
to Big Lick in 1861 and died from the effects of
pneumonia in 1866. He was a member of Lakeland
Lodge of Masons.

He left five sons and one daughter, as follows:
Madison C., Charles W., G. Bernard, Frank B.,
Florence and Willie H.

Charles W. Thomas when a boy, attended the various
schools, public and private, in and around Roanoke,
and in his early manhood accepted a position as traveling
salesman with the tobacco house of Fishburne
Brothers & Taylor, of Big Lick. In the fall of 1881,
he was elected town sergeant of Big Lick and served as
such until 1884. In February of that year he was
appointed as city sergeant of Roanoke by Judge
William Gordon Robertson and in the following May
was elected to that office, which he filled with ability
until 1890, when he was elected to the office of City
Treasurer, succeeding his brother, M. C. Thomas.
He was successively reölected for ten years, retiring
from public life in 1900. For several years he has been
actively engaged in the real estate business, with offices
in South Jefferson Street.

On December 8th, 1886, Mr. Thomas married Lilly
L. Loving, a daughter of Dr. Joseph F. and Sarah E.
Stanley (Kent) Loving, of Montgomery County, Virginia.
The following children have been born to this
union: Helen L., Ruth K., Ralph, William Hugh,
Charles M.

Mr. Thomas is a member of the First Presbyterian
Church of Roanoke, and is affiliated socially with
Lakeland Lodge of Masons, the Royal Arch Chapter
of Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men and the
Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

When the citizens of the town of Big Lick raised a
$10,000 subscription towards securing the terminus
of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, Mr. Thomas was
entrusted with the valuable papers and started on an
all-night ride for Lexington to present the same to the
officials of the road. He met John C. Moomaw in the
vicinity of Arch Mills, Botetourt County, who in
turn carried the papers, Mr. Thomas returning to
Big Lick, arriving just at day break.