The Thomas family of Tornado, WV
Henry Thomas was born in Virginia or Wales in 1728. He was most certainly the youngest son of Michael Thomas who died before December of 1747 near present day Willow, Amherst County, Virginia. The family lived on a branch of the Pedlar River. In December of that year Edward Thomas was called to appear in court as Michael's heir-at-law.
According to the court records of Albemarle County, Virginia, Henry Thomas recorded a land transfer from Edward Thomas in August of 1747. This was most likely a legacy from his father Michael who had died in the latter part of the previous year. This may have been the 600 acres of land that Henry owned in Amherst mentioned in the Lee Marmon Manuscript.
On August 20, 1748 Henry was granted a patent containing 172 acres on Rock Island Creek in present Buckingham County, Virginia next to his brother Edward. He sold it to Thomas Robinson on May 10, 1759. He received a patent containing 218a on May 3, 1760 and one containing 179a on April 10, 1781, both nearby on Rock Island Creek. He probably moved to Rock Island Creek around the time of the first patent. I have been unable to discover what happened to his Amherst land.
On March 29, 1750 the Rev Robert Rose wrote in his diary that Henry Thomas was employed as his overseer. His job was to supervise the four slaves delivering shipments of tobacco by canoe, probably along the James River.
I can't say that I know what Henry Thomas did with the rest of his life. He lived in the area that became Buckingham County, Virginia. Buckingham County was burned during the Civil War and sadly experienced total record loss up to that date. We know very little about his family due to this tragedy. To date I have only discovered his wife's first name and four of his son's.
Henry married a lady named Sarah. We find her name listed in the tax digest after his death in 1789. From about 1786 his two son's Nicholas and Pleasant were tithibles in his household. Their names were written by the sheriff. Later after Henry died in 1789, they were listed with Sarah.
Known children:
1. Pleasant Thomas was born before 1769 and died around 1807 in Buckingham County. Samuel Shelton was the executor of his estate. In 1790 he owned 100 acres of land jointly with his brothers. This land was almost certainly the inheritance from his father who died the previous year. His estate is mentioned in Kanawha County chancery, which acknowledges James Thomas of Kanawha as one of his heirs. From this record we can assume that he either died unmarried or without issue.
2. Nicholas Thomas was born before 1769 and I have not been able to find anything else on him. He owned 100 acres jointly with his brothers in 1790 which was likely land from his father's estate.
3. James Thomas was born before 1765. He may have been the oldest since he wasn't listed as one of the owners of the 100 acres of land that his brothers held jointly. He appears to have lived in Amherst County for a period of time. He married Elizabeth Roberts there on May 3, 1786. She was the daughter of Elliot Roberts and Elizabeth Phillips. He moved his family to Kanawha County, West Virginia in 1795. Together they built the first grist mill on the Upper Falls of the Coal River. James was a Revolutionary War soldier but sadly, he drowned in the Coal River on May 17, 1819 before he could claim a pension. His children were:
a. Sarah Elizabeth Thomas b. March 17, 1787 d. March 23, 1833. Married Jacob L. Hill.
b. Adocia Thomas b. c1789 d. c1833. She is in the early court records. There are references to her guardian. She may have had some sort of mental deficiency.
c. Nancy Thomas b. May 3, 1792 d. February 13, 1859. Married Samuel Hudson.
In her diary, Mary Jane 'Mollie" Hansford referenced the Hudson family when talking about her friend Mary Hudson, "They were very well off and lived in comfort and plenty on their farm. They gave nice parties and I have passed some of the most pleasant days of my life visiting there. Her mother (Nancy) was such a warm-hearted, plain and practical woman. We girls always did as we pleased there and she was always in good humor and had a nice dinner or supper ready for us."
The Kanawha Valley Star
Tuesday, March 22, 1859
Died at the residence of her husband, (Mr Samuel Hudson), near the mouth of Coal River in Kanawha County, Virginia, Mrs Nancy Hudson.
Mrs Hudson was born on the 3rd of May 1792 and died on the 13th of February 1759, being 66 years 9 months and 10 days old. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Thomas, who came to Kanawha in the year 95. She was a member of the M.E. Church South since last summer. She died of consumption.
Nancy Thomas Hudson is buried in Hudson Cemetery in St Albans, Kanawha County, WV
d. Elizabeth Thomas b. April 30, 1795 d. January 10, 1868. She married a cousin named Lindsey Thomas, who it appears was the son of Joseph Thomas and Prudence Childress.He seems to be listed in an 1827 chancery suit as one of the children of Joseph.
They lived on Upton's Creek in Spring Hill, Kanawha County, WV. They purchased the 750 acre tract of land in 1822 from Elliot Roberts Thomas, son of Capt John Thomas of Buckingham County, who had purchased it from Joseph Upton in 1798. Lindsey Thomas was originally made an executor of James Thomas's estate and this has led to a common error among many genealogists that assumed HE was a child of James. Sadly, they did no further research in the records to ascertain that he was in fact the son-in-law. Lindsey was a much respected business man in the Kanawha Valley, he was a Freemason and a strong believer in Temperance. Lindsey and his wife Elizabeth are buried in Thomas Cemetery at the juncture of Upton Creek and Pike.
e. Pleasant Thomas b. 1797 d. August 1, 1867. He married Sarah Margaret Rust who was the daughter of John Rust and Mary McClanahan.
Pleasant Thomas lived on the banks of the Kanawha near the mouth of the Coal River. He moved to Jackson County to live with his son John M. Thomas in his final years.
f. Jane H. Thomas b. c1799 Married Benjamin Rust.
Her date of death is unknown but she only had one child named Elizabeth who was born in 1818. Benjamin Rust died in 1824 and there is no mention of Jane in his estate records. It is pretty common for the wife to purchase back some of the items from the estate but she is no where to be found.
g. Henry Roberts Thomas b. 1802 d. 1869 Married first to his cousin Helena A. Thomas, second to Mary Jane Henley, third to Margaret Jane Bryant. He is buried in the Thomas Cemetery in Tornado, WV at the Upper Falls.
h. Elliot Roberts Thomas b. 1804 and died in Boone County, WV. He married first Ruth Blaine and second Susan Watt. His son William Joseph Thomas was a soldier in the Civil War and was taken prisoner and sent to Camp Chase in Ohio. He wrote a letter home that mentions family and friends.
i. Willis Thomas b. c1806 d. January 26, 1832 Died unmarried
j. Susan Thomas b. March 11, 1808 d. February 13, 1895 Married first Isaac Reaburn, second Squire Daggs, third William Smith Tinsley.
Susan's first husband Isaac Reaburn committed suicide and left a note that was admitted to court as a will. She died in Clark County, Missouri.
k. James Madison Thomas b. March 1, 1811 d. July 12, 1833 Married Caroline Ward the daughter of Langston Ward.
4. Joseph Thomas was born on August 3, 1759 and died on August 1, 1839. He married his cousin Rebecca Thomas in 1781 near Providence Meeting House in Buckingham County. She was the daughter of William Thomas and Rebecca Upton. They traveled to Kanawha County in 1795 to claim the tract of land that Rebecca had inherited from her Uncle Thomas Upton. The tract consisted of 200 acres on the Upper Falls of the Coal River. It was on this tract that Joseph and his brother James built the first grist mill in the area. Joseph bought the remaining tracts of Upton's Upper Falls tracts from the heirs of Joseph Upton who moved to Kentucky in 1802. Joseph Thomas was a Revolutionary War soldier. He is buried in Thomas Cemetery in Tornado, WV near the Upper Falls. His children were:
a. Lewis Thomas b. August 21, 1782 d. 1850 Married Dorothy Reed.
Lewis Thomas moved to Foutain County Indiana with his brother Norbourn. He eventually settled in Parke County, Indiana where he lived until around 1850. Lewis is the subject of quite an interesting tale. In 1837 a man named Luke Mead was found dead on the road a broken liquor bottle next to him, a dead snake under him and scratches on his neck. They used an old superstition where if the murderer touched a corpse it would bleed if the party were guilty. The entire neighborhood was aware of an ongoing feud between Luke and Lewis so they forced Lewis to touch the corpse. He trembled and turned pale but the corpse did not bleed. Many felt his behavior was enough to indict him so he was arrested for murder. When they couldn't produce enough evidence to hold him they let him go. Regardless, his neighbors still believed that he killed Luke Mead and he was the subject of gossip and avoidance. He became a heavy drinker and finally gave up altogether and moved to California in 1850 during the Gold Rush. It is said that he died of Typhoid not long after.
b. Mary Thomas b. February 7, 1784 d. September 20, 1848 She married Levi M. Jones and they moved to Wayne County, Indiana. A biography written about her children supplies us with the name and age of Henry Thomas who was her grandfather.
c. Washington Thomas b. May 8, 1786 and died before his father unmarried.
d. Henry Thomas b. October 13, 1789 He married Katherine Teays the daughter of Stephen Teays. His wife died on August 11, 1830. He seems to be still living at the time of his father's will since he is mentioned in it.
e. Thomas Matthews Thomas b. November 3, 1791 d. 1840 He married Ann Sanders Ward. He was named after a family friend named Thomas Mathews, who lived near the family in Buckingham County.
f. Rebecca Tindall Thomas b. 1792 d. 1845 Married David Julius Wood. They moved to Wayne County, Indiana.
g. Sarah Thomas b. 1795 and died unmarried
h. Elizabeth H. Thomas b. 1798 and died unmarried
i. Jane Pleasant Thomas b. 1800 and married Valentine Wood. They moved to Hamilton County, Indiana.
j. Dolly H. Thomas b. September 22, 1801 d. January 23, 1866. She married William Wood. She is buried in Thomas Cemetery, Tornado, WV near the Upper Falls.
k. Norbourn Thomas b. March 8, 1804 d. August 31, 1881. Married Maria M. Morris. They moved to Fountain County, Indiana.
l. Helena A. Thomas b.c1805 d. c1849. Married her cousin Henry Roberts Thomas.
There is no doubt that Henry Thomas had more children and hopefully we will be able to locate them in the future. The destruction of Buckingham Counties records has been a devastating loss for we Thomas researchers.
According to the court records of Albemarle County, Virginia, Henry Thomas recorded a land transfer from Edward Thomas in August of 1747. This was most likely a legacy from his father Michael who had died in the latter part of the previous year. This may have been the 600 acres of land that Henry owned in Amherst mentioned in the Lee Marmon Manuscript.
On August 20, 1748 Henry was granted a patent containing 172 acres on Rock Island Creek in present Buckingham County, Virginia next to his brother Edward. He sold it to Thomas Robinson on May 10, 1759. He received a patent containing 218a on May 3, 1760 and one containing 179a on April 10, 1781, both nearby on Rock Island Creek. He probably moved to Rock Island Creek around the time of the first patent. I have been unable to discover what happened to his Amherst land.
On March 29, 1750 the Rev Robert Rose wrote in his diary that Henry Thomas was employed as his overseer. His job was to supervise the four slaves delivering shipments of tobacco by canoe, probably along the James River.
I can't say that I know what Henry Thomas did with the rest of his life. He lived in the area that became Buckingham County, Virginia. Buckingham County was burned during the Civil War and sadly experienced total record loss up to that date. We know very little about his family due to this tragedy. To date I have only discovered his wife's first name and four of his son's.
Henry married a lady named Sarah. We find her name listed in the tax digest after his death in 1789. From about 1786 his two son's Nicholas and Pleasant were tithibles in his household. Their names were written by the sheriff. Later after Henry died in 1789, they were listed with Sarah.
Known children:
1. Pleasant Thomas was born before 1769 and died around 1807 in Buckingham County. Samuel Shelton was the executor of his estate. In 1790 he owned 100 acres of land jointly with his brothers. This land was almost certainly the inheritance from his father who died the previous year. His estate is mentioned in Kanawha County chancery, which acknowledges James Thomas of Kanawha as one of his heirs. From this record we can assume that he either died unmarried or without issue.
2. Nicholas Thomas was born before 1769 and I have not been able to find anything else on him. He owned 100 acres jointly with his brothers in 1790 which was likely land from his father's estate.
3. James Thomas was born before 1765. He may have been the oldest since he wasn't listed as one of the owners of the 100 acres of land that his brothers held jointly. He appears to have lived in Amherst County for a period of time. He married Elizabeth Roberts there on May 3, 1786. She was the daughter of Elliot Roberts and Elizabeth Phillips. He moved his family to Kanawha County, West Virginia in 1795. Together they built the first grist mill on the Upper Falls of the Coal River. James was a Revolutionary War soldier but sadly, he drowned in the Coal River on May 17, 1819 before he could claim a pension. His children were:
a. Sarah Elizabeth Thomas b. March 17, 1787 d. March 23, 1833. Married Jacob L. Hill.
b. Adocia Thomas b. c1789 d. c1833. She is in the early court records. There are references to her guardian. She may have had some sort of mental deficiency.
c. Nancy Thomas b. May 3, 1792 d. February 13, 1859. Married Samuel Hudson.
In her diary, Mary Jane 'Mollie" Hansford referenced the Hudson family when talking about her friend Mary Hudson, "They were very well off and lived in comfort and plenty on their farm. They gave nice parties and I have passed some of the most pleasant days of my life visiting there. Her mother (Nancy) was such a warm-hearted, plain and practical woman. We girls always did as we pleased there and she was always in good humor and had a nice dinner or supper ready for us."
The Kanawha Valley Star
Tuesday, March 22, 1859
Died at the residence of her husband, (Mr Samuel Hudson), near the mouth of Coal River in Kanawha County, Virginia, Mrs Nancy Hudson.
Mrs Hudson was born on the 3rd of May 1792 and died on the 13th of February 1759, being 66 years 9 months and 10 days old. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Thomas, who came to Kanawha in the year 95. She was a member of the M.E. Church South since last summer. She died of consumption.
Nancy Thomas Hudson is buried in Hudson Cemetery in St Albans, Kanawha County, WV
d. Elizabeth Thomas b. April 30, 1795 d. January 10, 1868. She married a cousin named Lindsey Thomas, who it appears was the son of Joseph Thomas and Prudence Childress.He seems to be listed in an 1827 chancery suit as one of the children of Joseph.
They lived on Upton's Creek in Spring Hill, Kanawha County, WV. They purchased the 750 acre tract of land in 1822 from Elliot Roberts Thomas, son of Capt John Thomas of Buckingham County, who had purchased it from Joseph Upton in 1798. Lindsey Thomas was originally made an executor of James Thomas's estate and this has led to a common error among many genealogists that assumed HE was a child of James. Sadly, they did no further research in the records to ascertain that he was in fact the son-in-law. Lindsey was a much respected business man in the Kanawha Valley, he was a Freemason and a strong believer in Temperance. Lindsey and his wife Elizabeth are buried in Thomas Cemetery at the juncture of Upton Creek and Pike.
e. Pleasant Thomas b. 1797 d. August 1, 1867. He married Sarah Margaret Rust who was the daughter of John Rust and Mary McClanahan.
Pleasant Thomas lived on the banks of the Kanawha near the mouth of the Coal River. He moved to Jackson County to live with his son John M. Thomas in his final years.
f. Jane H. Thomas b. c1799 Married Benjamin Rust.
Her date of death is unknown but she only had one child named Elizabeth who was born in 1818. Benjamin Rust died in 1824 and there is no mention of Jane in his estate records. It is pretty common for the wife to purchase back some of the items from the estate but she is no where to be found.
g. Henry Roberts Thomas b. 1802 d. 1869 Married first to his cousin Helena A. Thomas, second to Mary Jane Henley, third to Margaret Jane Bryant. He is buried in the Thomas Cemetery in Tornado, WV at the Upper Falls.
h. Elliot Roberts Thomas b. 1804 and died in Boone County, WV. He married first Ruth Blaine and second Susan Watt. His son William Joseph Thomas was a soldier in the Civil War and was taken prisoner and sent to Camp Chase in Ohio. He wrote a letter home that mentions family and friends.
Dear Pa
I am happy to say that I am in good health and hope these few lines may find you all well. I was captured on the 7 of August with four hundred other confederate soldiers. I have been as well treated as I could expect to be. Uncle Robert and Charles are well. I heard from them just before I was captured. I find I am very much in need of some clothes & money you can send the clothes in a box and the money in a ? Do you remember when a man was stayin at our house some three years ago by the name of Henry Sadler? He say’s tell sisters to send him a few ? William Thomas
(the uncles were Blaine's)
i. Willis Thomas b. c1806 d. January 26, 1832 Died unmarried
j. Susan Thomas b. March 11, 1808 d. February 13, 1895 Married first Isaac Reaburn, second Squire Daggs, third William Smith Tinsley.
Susan's first husband Isaac Reaburn committed suicide and left a note that was admitted to court as a will. She died in Clark County, Missouri.
k. James Madison Thomas b. March 1, 1811 d. July 12, 1833 Married Caroline Ward the daughter of Langston Ward.
4. Joseph Thomas was born on August 3, 1759 and died on August 1, 1839. He married his cousin Rebecca Thomas in 1781 near Providence Meeting House in Buckingham County. She was the daughter of William Thomas and Rebecca Upton. They traveled to Kanawha County in 1795 to claim the tract of land that Rebecca had inherited from her Uncle Thomas Upton. The tract consisted of 200 acres on the Upper Falls of the Coal River. It was on this tract that Joseph and his brother James built the first grist mill in the area. Joseph bought the remaining tracts of Upton's Upper Falls tracts from the heirs of Joseph Upton who moved to Kentucky in 1802. Joseph Thomas was a Revolutionary War soldier. He is buried in Thomas Cemetery in Tornado, WV near the Upper Falls. His children were:
a. Lewis Thomas b. August 21, 1782 d. 1850 Married Dorothy Reed.
Lewis Thomas moved to Foutain County Indiana with his brother Norbourn. He eventually settled in Parke County, Indiana where he lived until around 1850. Lewis is the subject of quite an interesting tale. In 1837 a man named Luke Mead was found dead on the road a broken liquor bottle next to him, a dead snake under him and scratches on his neck. They used an old superstition where if the murderer touched a corpse it would bleed if the party were guilty. The entire neighborhood was aware of an ongoing feud between Luke and Lewis so they forced Lewis to touch the corpse. He trembled and turned pale but the corpse did not bleed. Many felt his behavior was enough to indict him so he was arrested for murder. When they couldn't produce enough evidence to hold him they let him go. Regardless, his neighbors still believed that he killed Luke Mead and he was the subject of gossip and avoidance. He became a heavy drinker and finally gave up altogether and moved to California in 1850 during the Gold Rush. It is said that he died of Typhoid not long after.
b. Mary Thomas b. February 7, 1784 d. September 20, 1848 She married Levi M. Jones and they moved to Wayne County, Indiana. A biography written about her children supplies us with the name and age of Henry Thomas who was her grandfather.
c. Washington Thomas b. May 8, 1786 and died before his father unmarried.
d. Henry Thomas b. October 13, 1789 He married Katherine Teays the daughter of Stephen Teays. His wife died on August 11, 1830. He seems to be still living at the time of his father's will since he is mentioned in it.
e. Thomas Matthews Thomas b. November 3, 1791 d. 1840 He married Ann Sanders Ward. He was named after a family friend named Thomas Mathews, who lived near the family in Buckingham County.
f. Rebecca Tindall Thomas b. 1792 d. 1845 Married David Julius Wood. They moved to Wayne County, Indiana.
g. Sarah Thomas b. 1795 and died unmarried
h. Elizabeth H. Thomas b. 1798 and died unmarried
i. Jane Pleasant Thomas b. 1800 and married Valentine Wood. They moved to Hamilton County, Indiana.
j. Dolly H. Thomas b. September 22, 1801 d. January 23, 1866. She married William Wood. She is buried in Thomas Cemetery, Tornado, WV near the Upper Falls.
k. Norbourn Thomas b. March 8, 1804 d. August 31, 1881. Married Maria M. Morris. They moved to Fountain County, Indiana.
l. Helena A. Thomas b.c1805 d. c1849. Married her cousin Henry Roberts Thomas.
There is no doubt that Henry Thomas had more children and hopefully we will be able to locate them in the future. The destruction of Buckingham Counties records has been a devastating loss for we Thomas researchers.
I am a descendant of Pleasant Thomas and Sarah Rust. So far I have not been able to prove who Sarah Rust's parents were. I see you have them as John Rust and Mary McClanahan, and I was wondering where this info came from.
ReplyDeleteTaylor, I have a couple sources for Sarah's parents. One source was the book Rust of Virginia: Genealogical and Biographical Sketches of the Descendants of William Rust, 1654-1940 Book by Ellsworth Marshall Rust. I traced John and Mary (and their children) from Fauquier to Kanawha and then to Louisville Ky where many of them lived out the rest of their lives. He filed and answer in Chancery in Fauquier County in 1821, he moved to Kanawha in 1822 where Sarah was married. In 1825 he moved to Louisville Ky with his brother-in-law Thomas Hensley and other family members. Thomas Hensley married Harriet Rust and documented this move in his 1812 pension app. I have more info on my Ancestry tree but many of the records I found were the old fashioned way years ago and have not been scanned yet.
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