 | A history of Caroline county, Virginia |  |
THE THOMAS FAMILY.
Two brothers, Robert and William Thomas, emigrated from
Wales to Virginia in the seventeenth century and received large
grants of land in the Province. Tradition makes them of the
family seated at "Pwllyrach" in Glamorganshire. William
Thomas received a patent to lands in Lancaster county, Va., on
July 13, 1653.
Robert Thomas received a land grant, November 20, 1654.
He m. — Massie and had a son, Edward, b. 1643. Edward
Thomas became High Sheriff of Essex county, Va., June 10,
1696; received patents for 8,880 acres of land in Essex, Middlesex
and Rappahannock counties; resided at "Thomas' Neck,"
on the Rappahannock River in Essex and had a son William, born
about 1683, who was a large contributor in 1730 to the building
of St. Anne's Parish church (called Vawters) in Essex county.
The bricks were stamped with the contributors' names and
"Thomas" may still be read on some of them. He sold 1,000
acres of "Thomas' Neck" to a Mr. Layton. His wife's first
name was Elizabeth and they had one son, William, Jr., born
about 1716.
William Thomas, Jr., m. Susannah Boulware, a dau. of John
Boulware and heiress in 1739, at the death of her brother John
and sisters Mary and Elizabeth, of her father's estate, six hundred
acres in Essex. They had six children: (1) Lewis, b. 1759, m.
Margery Noel. Their son, Captain William Thomas sold "Thomas'
Neck," in 1818, to R. Payne Waring for $17,300 and moved to
Fall River, Mass.; (2) Edward, b. 1760, died young.; (3) Susan,
b. 1761, m. Joseph Cropp, of Stafford county, Va.; (4) Catherine,
b. 1763, m. Captain William White, of Hanover county, Va.
She is said to have lived to the age of 105 years. Their descendants
went to Kentucky; (5) James, b. at "Thomas' Neck,"
in Essex county, on March 2, 1765, of whom see below; (6) Elizabeth,
b. 1776, m. Joseph Brame of Caroline county, Va.
James Thomas, the third son of William Thomas, Jr., and
Susannah Boulware Thomas, m. January 9, 1793, Elizabeth
Andrews, a daughter of Joshua Andrews and Joyce Garnett, his
wife, of "Elmwood," Essex county, Va. Elizabeth Andrews,
who was born November 28, 1768 and lived until May 5, 1848
had two brothers, who were Revolutionary soldiers in the Body
Guard of Gen. George Washington, the purpose of which company
American Army in camp, on the march and during battle.
James Thomas bought a plantation called "Low Grounds,"
in the northwestern part of King William county, but later
moved to his "Vernon" plantation, near Point Eastern in
Caroline. He donated the land upon which the present Vernon
church is built. Here he had a large estate with many slaves
to till it; and here he lived until his death on February 29, 1852.
To him and his wife, Elizabeth Andrews Thomas, there were
born nine children: (1) Nancy, b. November 3, 1793; d. July
30, 1795; (2) Archibald, b. March 28, 1796, m. Catherine Puller;
(3) Susannah, b. August 12, 1798, m. Thomas Patterson. Dr.
R. A. Patterson, a son of this marriage, founded the famous
R. A. Patterson Tobacco Company, of Richmond, Va., and his
son, Archie W. Patterson, is now President of the Board of
Trustees of the University of Richmond; (4) James, b. January
1, 1800, d. in infancy; (5 and 6) Ira Lomax and Emeline, b. May
13, 1803, twins; (7 and 8) James and William, twins, b. February
8, 1806, the latter died 1827; (9) Elizabeth Garnett, b. November
11, 1811.
Ira Lomax Thomas, the third son of James Thomas and
Elizabeth Andrews Thomas, m. on December 15, 1825, Mary
Jones Morgan, who was b. on May 7, 1805. She was a dau. of
Dr. John Morgan and Hannah Jones, his wife, both of Philadelphia.
Dr. Morgan was a member of the Medical Society of
Philadelphia, also of Maryland and of the Royal Society of
London. His son, Dr. Daniel S. Morgan, graduated in medicine
at the University of Virginia on July 17, 1830.
Ira Lomax Thomas and Mary Jones Morgan, his wife, first
settled in Richmond, Va., where he conducted a classical school.
He later moved to Clarksville, Mecklenburg county, Va., where
he engaged in the manufacture of tobacco. About 1843, when his
father had grown to be an old man, in order to care for him in
his declining years, he removed with his family to "Vernon"
plantation in Caroline. They had ten children: (1) James Morgan
Thomas, b. October 23, 1826, received a classical education in
Clarksville and Richmond, Va., being in business in the latter
city for a number of years. On July 3, 1857, he m. Robertine
Sterrett Hodge, of Augusta county, Va. When the Civil War
came on, he served first in an artillery Company under Stonewall
Jackson. Later he became a member of Company C., First
Corps. He was mortally wounded in Pickett's famous
charge at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and died the following day.
His body now rests in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond, near the
tomb of General Pickett.
2. Emily Thomas, who was born January 8, 1829, m. James
R. MacTyre, of Chesterfield county, Va., on March 16, 1871.
After the death of her husband, she made her home with her
sisters, Mrs. Rowland Greene Tyler and Miss Isabelle Morgan
Thomas, at "Retreat," King William county, Va., where she
died April 4, 1920.
(3) Daniel, (4) Hannah, and (5) Ira, all three died in infancy.
(6) Archibald Roanoke, was b. September 25, 1836 and d. August
23, 1856.
(7) Mary Hannah Elizabeth Thomas was b. May 28, 1839.
On September 27, 1870, she was m. to Rowland Greene Tyler,
of Detroit, Mich., where they made their home until 1888. They
then came back to Virginia and settled at their "Retreat"
plantation, in the northwestern part of King William county.
Mrs. Tyler died there on November 21, 1903. Mr. Tyler continued
to make his home there until his death on October 13, 1915.
He was a native of Griswold, Conn., and was a brother of Dr.
Moses Coit Tyler, who for some time was professor at the
University of Michigan and at Cornell University and author
of "A History of American Literature" and other works.
The next three children were daughters: Isabella Morgan
Thomas, Alice Virginia Thomas, and Ann Eliza Ewing Thomas,
all three of whom were educated at Hollins Institute, Va. The
first two of these sisters never married. Ann Eliza Ewing Thomas,
m. James Thomas Hurt, of "Thornhill," Caroline county, Va.,
on July 14, 1870, and, after 1874, made their home in Detroit,
Mich. James Thomas Hurt died in Detroit, August 17, 1895
and is buried at "Thornhill." They had one child, who grew
to maturity, Elizabeth Rowland Hurt, b. at "Thornhill," Caroline
county, Va., on January 3, 1874, but was reared and educated
in Detroit.
Elizabeth Rowland Hurt, dau. of Ann Eliza Ewing Thomas
and James Thomas Hurt, is the last surviving grandchild of
Ira Lomax Thomas, of "Vernon" and of Thomas Hurt, of
"Thornhill" in Caroline. Elizabeth Rowland Hurt on March
25, 1903, m. Henry Thompson Louthan, a son of Carter McKim
of Rappahannock county, Va. Henry Thompson Louthan and
Elizabeth Rowland Hurt, his wife, have two children: Mary
Tyler Louthan, b. May 9, 1904 and Carter Thomas Louthan,
b. July 23, 1906.
James Thomas, Jr., son of James and Elizabeth Andrews
Thomas, was born, February 8, 1806, at "Vernon," in Caroline
and settled early in Richmond. By his first wife, Mary Cornick
Puller, he had two children: William D Thomas, D. D., for
many years Professor of Philosophy in Richmond College; and
Mary Ella Thomas who m. Dr. William D. Quesenberry, of
Caroline. James Thomas, Jr., m. second, Mary Woolfolk Wortham,
of Richmond and died, 1882. Among the children of this
marriage: Mary Wortham Thomas, m. in 1867, Dr. J. L. M. Curry,
of Alabama, who was United States Minister to Spain under
President Cleveland's administration; Kate Cornick Thomas, m.
Calderon Carlisle, of Washington, D. C.; and Gabrielle Thomas,
m. Richmond Pearson, at one time United States Minister to
Persia.
A paschal lamb.
Motto:
Nil Desperandum Christo Duce.
| A history of Caroline county, Virginia | |