Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1158

NAME THOMAS 1136 THOMAS Maryland, 1847-1858, a well-known Baltimore physician and minister of the Society of Friends, was the first of his immediate family to live in Baltimore, although the Thomases and his mother's family, the Snodens, had been in Maryland for many years, having originally settled at West River on the western shore of the Chesapeake on coming from Wales in 1651 and 1679 respectively. His mother was Martha Carey, daughter of James Carey, a prominent Baltimore merchant of Irish an- cestry whose country place, Loudon, is now Loudon Cemetery, and of Hannah Ellicott of English descent, whose family had lived in Ellicott City, Maryland, since 1771. James Carey received the degrees of A. M. from Haverford College in 1851 and M.D. from the University of Maryland in 1854. He prac- tised medicine in Baltimore for 46 years, but found time, outside of a busy professional life to work unremittingly for the educational, re- ligious, philanthropic and civic betterment of the city. He was appointed a trustee of the Johns Hopkins Lhiiversity in 1870, three years before the death of its founder, Johns Hopkins, and six years before the opening of the uni- versity. He served on the trustees' executive committee from its first meeting, and was its chairman from 1894 until his death. In close cooperation with President Oilman and other early trustees, he was active in determining and carrying out the noteworthy liberal policies of the board which built up a great university. His medical training, high educational ideals and sincere belief in women's intellectual capacity made him very influential in organ- izing the Johns Hopkins Medical School with higher standards of admission and graduation than those of any other existing medical school, and opening it to women on equal terms with men. His intimacy with Francis T. King, the first pre,sident of the board, and other trustees of the Johns Hopkins Hospital made his medical experience readily available, and it was frequently called on in the early planning of the hospital. He served later on its medi- cal board, and as consulting physician from 1889 until his death in 1897. His educational interests extended beyond Baltimore. He was a charter member of the board of trustees of Bryii Mawr College, which opened in 1885, and was for many years a member of the board of managers of Haverford College. His religious activities were many and varied. As a minister of the Society of Friends he preached always once, and often twice, weekly, and was the friend and religious counsellor of many of the members of Baltimore meeting. He organized and conducted for many years a large mission Bible school, meeting on Sun- day afternoons in Light Street, and through his influence and personality persuaded several generations of young society men and women to act as teachers in the school. He was deeply interested in the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, of which he was president from 1877- 1881 ; in the last year he represented the asso- ciation at the world's convention in London, and he was vice-president from 1881 until his death. His religious influence over young men was very remarkable. His knew how to win their love and confidence, and maintained the happiest relations with the younger professors and students of the Johns Hopkins University and Medical School, making them feel that his house and his heart were always open to them. His philanthropic interests were also unusually wide. He was a member of the first commitee to promote public baths in Balti- more and served as a member of the Munici- pal Commission on Free Baths, until his death He was a charter member of the Society for the Suppression of Vice and worked in its executive committee from its organization until Ills death. He was a inember of the original! board of Trustees of Thomas Wilson Sanitar- ium for Sick Children. In addition to the Glher positions mentioned abrivc, he was at the- time of his death, president of the Board of the Boy's Home, president of the Thomas Wil- son Fuel Saving Society, president of the Baltimore Manual Labor School, and vice- president of the Charity Organization Society.. In 1855 Dr. Thomas married Mar} 'hitall,. daughter of John M. Whitall and Mary Tatum Whitall of Philadelphia. She seconded him ably in all his religious and social activities, and was as well known as her husband for her religious and philanthropic work. They had ten children, eight of whom survived him. One of his sons is Dr. Henry M. Thomas, the clinical professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. His eld- est daughter, M. Carey Thomas, was president of Bryn Mawr College; another daughter,. Margaret Thomas Carey, continued as a min- ister of the Society of Friends, her parents' religious work in Baltimore: still another daughter, Mary Grace Worthington, was con- nected with the New York School of Philan- thropy, and the youngest daughter, Helen, became the wife of Dr. Simon Flexner, di- rector of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical' Research, New York.