Biography - Lewis Thomas
Lewis H. THOMAS, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (ISLEY) THOMAS, was born May 24, 1827, in Greene County, Ill., where he was raised; after receiving, in the district schools, an education, he commenced the study of surveying, completing the latter at Carrollton Academy; in the spring of 1851, Mr. THOMAS entered 970 acres of land in Township 12 north, Range 5 west, Montgomery County, the entry being the fourth and by far the largest, up to that time, in the township; after entering the land, Mr. THOMAS put a hedge around the entire tract, which was so successful that the name of the plant, Osage Orange, or Bois D'Arc, was given to the township; he also planted groves of timber, and it is a remarkable fact that, in eleven years from the time of planting a fifteen-acre lot, he cut wood enough from it to burn 300,000 brick, with which he built one of the finest mansions in the State. Mr. THOMAS is one of the most progressive men in the State, and is always making improvements on his fine estate; he has been a stock-dealer since his boyhood, having inherited the business from his father; he is operating a ranch in Kansas, where he has considerable land inclosed with fences, for convenience in handling high grade stock. Mr. THOMAS has been twice married, each time to a daughter of Isham and Sarah LINDER, of Greene County; the first marriage, to Miss Minerva C. LINDER, occurred May 23, 1854, but she only lived ten days after the birth of a son, who also died a few months after his beloved mother fell asleep in Jesus. Mr. THOMAS, November 11, 1863, married Miss Sarah A. LINDER, who has blessed her husband with seven children, five of whom are living - ETTIE, John I., William H., Mary L. and Samuel; an infant son and daughter, Harry and Matilda, are dead. The THOMAS family are of Welsh extraction, and the father of our subject, Samuel THOMAS, was one of the early pioneers of this section, having come to Greene County in 1818, and there he lived until his death, which occurred December 23, 1873; the wife of Samuel, and mother of Mr. L. H. THOMAS, was Miss Elizabeth ISLEY, daughter of Rev. William Jones, a Baptist minister.
Extracted 20 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, page 275.
