BIO: Robert H. Thomas, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
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http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                             CHAPTER XXXIX. 

                        BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG.

436  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

  R. H. THOMAS was born in the city of Philadelphia January 28, 1834.  
His ancestry on his father's side descended from the Welsh-English, and 
on his mother's side from the Scotch-Irish.  He was educated in the 
public schools of Lancaster City, where his father Rev. E. H. Thomas 
had the pastoral charge of a large congregation.  At the age of 
fourteen years he apprenticed himself to the business of house and sign 
painting, and wall decorating, which he followed during the summer 
months for some years, teaching school during the winter season.  
Impaired health caused him to relinquish this occupation and turn his 
attention to mercantile pursuits.  In 1851 he took up his residence in 
Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, and, in 1854 was united in marriage 
with Miss Annetta, 

437  BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG.

daughter of Henry Kimmel, Esq., one of the old and prominent families 
of the Cumberland Valley.  Two children:  R. H. Thomas, Jr., editor of 
the Saturday Journal, and Miss Estelle Thomas, a prolific and 
entertaining writer, are the results of this union.  In 1859 he became 
a Freemason, a member of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in 1863, and 
an officer of the same in 1864, serving for thirteen consecutive years 
as district deputy grand master.  In 1862 he was appointed deputy 
collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth District of 
Pennsylvania, and continued in that office until 1866.  During the 
civil war he served, on several occasions, in different emergency 
regiments, resuming his duties at home as soon as the exigency which 
called him to the field had subsided.  On Monday, June 30, 1863, he was 
appointed a special aid-de-camp by Gov. Curtin, with the rank of 
colonel, and assigned to duty in the department commanded by Gen. 
Smith, who, at that time had his headquarters at Fort Washington, near 
Harrisburg.  When the Confederate forces were driven south of the 
Potomac, and peace again reigned in Pennsylvania, he retired from 
military duty and entered upon business pursuits.  In 1870, he 
purchased the Valley Democrat, and changed the name of the paper to the 
Valley Independent.  In 1872 he bought the Cumberland Valley Journal, a 
rival newspaper, and consolidated the offices and papers under the name 
of the Independent Journal.  In the fall of 1872, he espoused the cause 
of the Patrons of Husbandry, an order then coming into prominence in 
this state, and during the following summer organized a large number of 
subordinate granges.  Upon the organization of the State Grange, at 
Reading, in 1873, he was elected secretary, and has acceptably filled 
that position ever since.  On January 1, 1874, he began the publication 
of the Farmer's Friend and Grange Advocate, the organ of the Patrons of 
Husbandry, and an agricultural journal of high character, extended 
circulation, and great influence.  Impressed with the idea that there 
ought to be a better understanding between the farmers and the 
manufacturers of the country, he in 1874 originated and organized the 
Inter-State Picnic Exhibition, at Williams' Grove, Cumberland Co., 
Penn., which has, from the date of its inception, steadily grown in 
magnitude and importance until it stands almost unrivaled in the 
history of agricultural exhibitions in this country.  The subject of 
this sketch filled the office of president of the State Editorial 
Association, and is now, and has been for several years past, its 
secretary and treasurer.  He is also one of the officers of the 
International Editorial Association.  He was the commissioner from 
Pennsylvania to the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial 
Exposition, held at New Orleans during 1884 and 1885, and was likewise 
appointed a commissioner to the American Exposition to be held in 
London, England, in May, 1887.  In all the varied positions he has been 
called upon to fill, R. H. Thomas has retained the full confidence of 
the general public, and esteem and respect of all with whom his 
official duties brought him into relationship. 

1880 Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County census -
Robt. H. Thomas, 45 
Annett K. Thomas, 43 
Estelle L. Thomas, 20 
Robt. H. Thomas, 18 
Cathrin Kimmel, 77, mother-in-law