Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Thomas, James G. 1835 - 1884
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Author: William Harden
p. 651-652

   JAMES G. THOMAS, M. D. For many years one of the more prominent and able
physicians .of Savannah, the late James G. Thomas, M. D., acquired distinction
not only for his superior professional knowledge and skill, but for his
public-spirited, utilitarian and philanthropic benefactions. He was born June
24, 1835, in Bloomfield, Kentucky, and was there reared, acquiring a part of his
early education in a monastery near that town. Beginning the study of medicine
in Louisville, Kentucky, in the school of which the late Samuel D. Gross was the
head, he later matriculated in the medical department of the University of the
City of New York, being there graduated with the class of 1856.

   Dr. Thomas began the practice of his profession at Bloomfield, Kentucky, his
birthplace, but subsequently went to Mississippi, locating near Sardis, where he
remained until the outbreak of the Civil war. Entering then the Confederate army
as a surgeon, his duties in that capacity brought him to Savannah, Georgia, and
here he continued in service until the occupation of the city by Sherman's army,
when he left Savannah with the evacuating forces, and was thenceforward
stationed in the Carolinas until the close of the conflict.

   Returning to Savannah in 1865, Dr. Thomas resumed his labors as a physician
and surgeon, attaining in due course of time the highest rank in his profession,
and being rewarded by a very large general practice. An industrious worker and a
deep student, the doctor kept pace with the latest discoveries in medical
science, and had the distinction of being the very first physician in Georgia to
make use of the thermometer in fever cases. He was especially active in
promoting public hygiene, sanitation and drainage, and the health of the
community. Vigilant and self-sacrificing in his services during the yellow fever
epidemic of 1876, he contracted the disease himself just as the epidemic was
nearing its close.

   In 1875 and 1876 Dr. Thomas served through the sessions of the Georgia
legislature, this apparent divergence from the line of his chosen vocation
having been made by him in obedience to a sense of public duty, and in
compliance with the earnest solicitations of eminent citizens, who desired to
send to the legislature a public-spirited physician who would take the lead in
procuring the enactment of laws relating to hygiene. He took an important part
in the preparation and passage, in the session of 1875, of the "Act to create a
state board of health for the protection of life and health, and to prevent the
spread of disease -in Georgia." A measure which the doctor there introduced for
adopting a system of compiling and recording vital statistics was passed, but
through lack of appropriation was never carried into effect.

   On December 14, 1881, a Citizens' Sanitary Association, looking to the
improvement of public health through the united efforts of private individuals,
was organized in Savannah, and Dr. Thomas, who had strongly urged its creation,
was elected its first president, and held the position until his death. He was
one of the originators of the international medical congress, and was one of the
two physicians appointed from the South to attend the conference held in
Washington, District of Columbia, in 1884. It was while attending this
conference in Washington, that the sudden death of Dr. Thomas occurred, December
6, 1884. The passing away of Dr. Thomas, just in the midst of a busy and useful
life, was an event of universal regret and mourning in Savannah, his family and
friends being deprived of a grand nature, while the city was bereft of a public
benefactor.

   Dr. Thomas married, in 1865, in Savannah, Margaret Owens, a daughter of
George W. and Sarah (Wallace) Owens, both representatives of old and honored
Savannah families. Her father, a native of Savannah, was a son of Owen Owens,
who emigrated from Wales to Savannah soon after the close of the Revolutionary
war. Her mother, Sarah Wallace, was a daughter of John and Mary (Anderson)
Wallace, the said John Wallace, a native of Scotland, having served as British
consul in Savannah years ago, while the Andersons have lived in the city since
1763.

   Mrs. Thomas has two daughters, namely: Miss Mary B. Thomas and Miss Margaret
G. Thomas.

   Dr. Thomas was for some time a prominent member of the American Health
Association, and of the National Board of Health. He was ever among the foremost
in the establishment of philanthropical movements, being always willing to do
the work of the humanitarian, and to turn aside even from the most congenial
occupations of home life, and the routine of daily practice, to perform a worthy
act of public duty, being not only a physician, but a patriot.



Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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