Clark County OhArchives Biographies.....Thomas, John H. October 4, 1826 - January 23, 1901
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JOHN H. THOMAS, manufacturer of agricultural implements, Springfield. John 
Henry Thomas, in all that relates to the moral health, business prosperity, 
industrial progress and general advancement of Springfield, is unquestionably 
one of its foremost men, having been, ever since his advent in this city, 
thirty years ago, one of the few to whose enterprise, energy and public spirit 
the almost phenomenal growth and uniform business prosperity of the city is 
largely due. He was born in Middletown, Frederick Co., Md., Oct. 4, 1826, the 
son of Jacob Thomas of that place; Marshall College, Mercersburg, Penn., was 
his alma mater, from which he graduated in 1849; he commenced reading law with 
Hon. S. W. Andrews, of Columbus, Ohio, completing his course with the Hon. 
William White, of this city, to which he came in 1851; after two years' 
practice, he was the recipient of a flattering tribute to his popularity and 
hold upon the confidence and esteem of the public, by being chosen Recorder of 
Clark County, which was the more complimentary by reason of his then brief 
citizenship. At the close of his official term, he abandoned the law and 
politics, and engaged in what has proved his life work, commencing business 
under the firm name of Thomas & Mast, for the manufacture of agricultural 
implements, in 1857, under the disadvantages of small capital and limited 
resources, and in a year memorable as one of the periods of universal financial 
disaster and ruin, its masterly management from the outset carried it 
successfully through the commercial, industrial and financial chaos of that 
terrible year, and, in a few years, it had steadily, but rapidly and 
healthfully advanced to the magnificent measure of $1,000,000 of annual sales, 
and the employment of several hundred hands. In the times which tried to the 
utmost the financial ability of the staunchest concerns, and the skill and 
nerve of their proprietors, when others were inert, paralyzed and dazed, by the 
almost universal ruin and shaking up of values, Mr. Thomas, with his able 
coadjutor and honored fellow citizen, Mr. P. P. Mast, carried their 
establishment through with unimpaired credit, the stronger for the ordeal. Mr. 
Thomas remained at the head of this house until 1872, withdrawing in that year, 
with the purpose of retiring from active business. His energetic nature and 
active habits of life, however, prompted him, after a rest of two years, to 
resume the business of manufacturing, associating with him his two sons, 
William S. and Findley B. Thomas; he accordingly established the present large 
establishment of John H. Thomas & Sons, for the manufacture of agricultural 
implements, chiefly of horse hay-rakes, and steam engines; an idea of the 
volume of the business done by this firm may be had by reference to the 
industrial department of this work. On behalf of his two sons, the junior 
partners of the concern, Mr. Thomas purposes investing the entire future 
profits of the business in its extension. Aside from Mr. Thomas' private 
enterprise and its marked success, he has ever been a promoter of all public 
enterprises, improvements and advancement, and the city's welfare in every 
respect. He is a stockholder in three and a Director of one of the National 
Banks of the city, and connected generally now, as in the past, with nearly all 
its important corporations and industries, and as Chairman of the Finance 
Committee in the City Council, of which he was many years a member; he 
distinguished himself as an able financier, richly meriting the sobriquet, " 
watch-dog of the city treasury," and to his strong influence and efforts while 
in that position is greatly due the present healthy condition of the city's 
finances. Mr. Thomas' high position in the community is all the more creditable 
when viewed in connection with his political faith, he being an uncompromising 
Jeffersonian Democrat, in a community that is counted a Republican stronghold, 
almost all of his business associates and personal friends being " stalwart " 
Republicans. Although a modest and reserved man, who never projected his views 
or convictions in politics or religion into public notice, his political 
predilections have frequently caused him much personal inconvenience and 
annoyance, especially during the late war with the South, during which his 
loyalty was absurdly questioned by that thoughtless, unreasoning and arbitrary 
class of which every community is unfortunately largely composed. But, despite 
insult and the estrangement of friends and old associates, he stood firmly by 
his principles, his adherence to which the logic of events and subsequent 
experience have not shaken. His influence extended to State as well as local 
politics, he receiving, in 1868, the nomination to Congress from the Eighth 
District, and a higher tribute could not be paid him than the result of that 
election, in which he reduced a usual Republican majority of 3,000 to about 
100. He has ever been a strong, active, able and effective advocate, in private 
and public life, of temperance, and it was upon the strength of his broad and 
practical views on this question that he was returned to the City Council in 
1875. In all the relations of life, Mr. Thomas was ever deemed eminently 
reliable, and the exponent of the greatest firmness of purpose and integrity of 
motive, having an abundance of the quality vulgarly but appropriately 
called "backbone." His religious faith is Presbyterian, he being a member of 
the First Presbyterian Church, of which he is also one of the most liberal 
supporters. The position of Mr. Thomas and family in social life is, of course, 
of the best. In 1854, he married Mary, youngest daughter of the Hon. Jacob 
Bouser, of Chillicothe, their family consisting of two sons and two daughters. 
Mr. Thomas has three brothers living in Springfield, and also engaged in 
manufacturing agricultural implements, viz., Joseph W., Charles E. and R. P. 
Thomas, of the firm of Thomas, Ludlow & Rodgers, whose business is also very 
extensive. Although no necessity exists for further effort or devotion to 
business, being in excellent health and possessed, even yet, of much of his old-
time ardor and energy, Mr. Thomas is to be found daily at his post, finding the 
greatest pleasure in the discharge of its duties daily.

Additional Comments:
Source for this Biography:  "The HIstory of Clark County, Ohio," published by 
W. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1881

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