BIOGRAPHY: James W. THOMAS, Washington Co. KY, 17 Jul 1811 Submitted by Phyllis H i l l 11 May 1998 History of Pike and Dubois Counties, Indiana Goodspeed Bros. & Co., Publishers, 1885 History of Pike County, Washington Township, p. 428 JOHN W. THOMAS, merchant of Winslow was born July 17, 1811, in Washington County, Ky., and is a son of James Thomas and Mary Trotter who were born in Virginia and North Carolina respectively. The father chose ministry as his life work. After marriage he lived for some time in Kentucky and afterward moved to Pike County, Ind., where he has lived ever since. John F. worked on his father's farm until nineteen years old when he enlisted in his country's service in Company I, Fortysecond Indiana Infantry, and partici- pated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Resaca, Lookout Mountain, Chicka- mauga and on that ever memorable march to the sea. After serving nearly four years he returned to home and friends and attended for some time the schools of Petersburg and then worked on the farm. About 1880, he began the mercantile business, dealing in furniture, and two years later he became a partner in the store known as Thomas & Berton. A year later Mr. Thomas became sole proprietor. November 8, 1867, he was married to Isabel Adams, daughter of Edward and Martha Adams. Mr. Thomas is a warm Republican, having cast his first vote for Lincoln. He is a very successful business man and owns a first-class store. ********************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent.