Merced-Santa Clara County CA Archives Biographies.....Thomas, John W. And Calphurnia Neel 1853 - 
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Author: John Outcalt (1925)

JOHN W. AND CALPHURNIA NEEL THOMAS

   John W. Thomas was born at Mountain View, Santa Clara County, on September
22, 1853, the son of Silas and Emaline (Haun) Thomas. The father was a native of
Missouri and came to California at the age of nineteen, in 1849; he died in
Mountain View, leaving a family of four children: John W.; Seth, deceased;
Eliza, who became Mrs. Vaughan of Watsonville and is deceased; Ellen, who became
Mrs. Sprague of Oakland and is also deceased. Emaline Haun was also a native of
Missouri and crossed the plains with an ox-team. She first married Silas Thomas,
and after his death married C. B. Crews. In 1864 the family moved to a ranch at
Old Gilroy which is known to this day as the Old Crews Place.

   John W. Thomas was educated in the schools of Mountain View and at a private
high school which was in Old Gilroy. He has been twice married, first at
Oakland, in March, 1875, to Miss Bell Doll, who was born at Red Bluff, Tehama
County, in 1856, the daughter of Jacob Granville and Harriet (Johnson) Doll. Mr.
Doll was one of the early settlers of Tehama County, coming with the gold rush.
He was a man of affairs and represented Tehama County two sessions in the State
Senate. Mrs. Thomas died in 1884, leaving four children, namely: John M., who
lives at Fresno and has two boys; Erwin M., superintendent of the Frankenheim
ranch of Oakdale, who has two sons; Lucy, Mrs. William Blake, of Gilroy, now
deceased; and Emma, Mrs. George Dexter of Betteravia, Cal., who has one daughter
and two sons.

   In 1875, in company with his brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas purchased 3500 acres
of land lying three miles south of Pacheco Peak in Pacheco Pass, and they
carried on the stock business on this ranch until 1900, when Mr. Thomas moved to
Dos Palos. Having traded some of his mountain land for a thirty-acre ranch one
mile northeast of Dos Palos, he improved the place and built a home on it and
other farm buildings and has carried on general farming and a diary.

   On May 14, 1888, in Gilroy, Mr. Thomas married for his second wife Calphurnia
Neel, born in Red Bluff, Tehama County, the daughter of Barnett and Calphurnia
(Johnson) Neel, and a cousin of the first Mrs. Thomas, their mothers being
sisters. Barnett Neel was a native of Pennsylvania and his family traces its
ancestry back to 1700, when the Neel family first landed in America. His
great-grandfather fought in the American Revolution. Mrs. Thomas' mother came
from Tory stock in Virginia and she was born in Missouri, but her mother, Martha
Brock Johnson, Mrs. Thomas' grandmother, came from Virginia. In 1852 Calphurnia
(Johnson) Neel came to California, across the plains in the train under the
command of Captain Bridger, and landed in Truckee in the same year. Barnett Neel
came to California later, settling in Tehama County, and being an expert in
figures he was for years a public accountant and served Tehama County as
treasurer. He passed away in 1869. Mrs. Thomas was one of four children: Nora,
Mrs. Voss of San Francisco; Martha Neel and Granville D., both of Watsonville;
and Calphurnia. She was educated in the Oakland Grammar School, and after one
year in the high school she was later graduated from the San Jose State Normal
School. She began teaching in the Bryant district of Fresno County and for
fifteen years followed teaching in central California; the last fourteen years
she has taught in the Dos Palos Colony, and one year in the Junior High School
of Dos Palos. In 1923 she was appointed by the superintendent of schools of
Merced County as rural supervisor of general subjects, and has charge of all
rural schools west of the Merced state highway to the west county line. She is a
member of the County Board of Education.

   Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children, namely: Martha of Oakdale;
Granville, of Berkeley, who has a daughter; and Helen, Mrs. E. E. Flory of Dos
Palos, who has two girls. These children have received the best of educations
and all are following the profession of teaching and are very successful
educators. Mr. Thomas is a Democrat in politics. Mrs. Thomas is active in club
and lodge work, and is a charter member of the Dos Palos Women's Improvement
Club. She is a member of the Eastern Star and a Past Worthy Matron of Morgan
Hill Chapter; she is also a member of the Ladies of the Maccabees, of Dos Palos.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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