Biographical Sketch of Dr. George THOMAS; Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by 
Lew <smedley.george@att.net>

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Source: "The Genealogy of the Smedley Family" Cope 1902.

Dr. George Thomas was graduated from the University of Penna.
about 1830, after which he studied a few years in Paris, yet 
he never practiced medicine, devoting his time and attention 
to farming and the cultivation of rare trees and flowers. He 
inherited the homestead of his father and grandfather, on the 
Lancaster Pike, and succeeded his father as director of the 
Bank of Chester County, from which position he resigned in 
1870, and was in turn succeeded by his eldest son. While not 
a politician, he took an active interest in public affairs. 
His death was caused by heart disease, in which the lungs 
finally became involved. His funeral was a very large one, 
there being over sixty carriages in the procession. At the 
residence a very appropriate address was made by his kinsman,
Rev. William Bull, and at the graveyard by Rev. Dr. Collier, 
of Downingtown. An obituary notice contains this language: 
"It was his delight to relieve distress, and the quiet,  
unostentatious manner in which he did his deeds of charity 
showed that he was prompted by nobler aspirations than the 
praises of his fellowmen. The poor for miles around will have 
just cause to mourn his loss. His beautiful home was 
surrounded with magnificent old trees, many of them coexistent 
with the house itself, which was built more than a century ago,
and rare exotics filled his greenhouses or adorned his lawns;
while his library was stocked with a rare collection of 
valuable scientific and classical works, which marked him as a 
man of more than ordinary learning and culture. He was generous 
to a fault, and his sociable qualities endeared him to a 
sorrowing community." 



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