Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/108

84 THOMAS, James, governor of Maryland, b. in St. Mary's county, Md., 11 March, 178o ; d. there, 25 Dec, 1845. His father, William, served as a private in the " Maryland line," and was for many years president of the state senate. The son was educated at Charlotte Hall academy, and was graduated at the Philadelphia medical college in 1807. In April, 1812, he was commissioned major of the 4th volunteer cavalry, and he afterward became major-general of Maryland militia. Subsequently he served in the state senate, and in 1833-'6 was governor of Maryland.

THOMAS, Jane, heroine, b. in Chester county, Pa., in the 18th century. She was the wife of John Thomas, colonel of the Spartan regiment of South Carolina. On hearing that a large party was approaching to seize the ammunition that Gov. John Rutledge had intrusted to his keeping, Col. Thomas fled with his band of twenty-five men, taking with him a part of the powder. Two men and two women were left in charge of the house, which was attacked by the Tories. Mrs. Thomas and her companion loaded the guns for the men, and a continual firing was kept up until the assailants withdrew. It is said that the ammunition that she saved through her courage was the main supply for Sumter's command in the skirmishes at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock.

THOMAS, Jesse Burgess, senator, b. in Hagers- town, Md., in 1777; d. in Mount Vernon, Ohio, 4 May, 1853. He was a descendant of Lord Balti- more. He removed to the west in 1779, studied law with his brother, Richard Symmes Thomas, in Bracken county, Ky., went to Lawrenceburg, Ind., in March, 1803, and practised his profession. In January, 1805, he was elected delegate to the legis- lature of Indiana territory at Vincennes, and he was speaker of the house in 1805-'8. He was ter- ritorial delegate to congress in 1808-'9, then moved to Kaskaskia, and, upon the organization of the territory of Illinois, 7 March, 1809, was appointed by President Madison one of the judges of the U. S. court. In July, 1818, he was a delegate from St. Clair county to the convention that framed the state constitution, and was' its president. At the first session of the legislature he was elected XJ. S. senator, and held that post from 4 Dec, 1818, till 3 March, 1829. In 1820 he introduced the " Missouri Compromise " and secured its adop- tion. In 1824 he strongly advocated the nomina- tion of William H. Crawford for president, and was delegate to the convention at Columbus in 1840 that nominated his friend, William Henry Harrison. He afterward removed to Mount Ver- non. Ohio, where he committed suicide. — His great- nephew, Jesse Burgess, clergyman, b. in Edwards- vilie, 111., 29 July, 1832, is the son of Jesse Burgess Thomas (1806-1850), who was for many years a judge of the circuit and supreme courts of Illinois. After graduation at Kenyon college, Gambier, Ohio, in 1850, the son studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1852. In 1853-'4 he studied in Rochester theological seminary, but was forced to leave, owing to impaired health, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in Chicago. He entered the Baptist ministry in 1862, and was pastor of a church in Waukegan, 111., in 1862-'4, of the Pierrepont street church in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1864-'8, of the 1st church in San Francisco, Cal., in 1868-'9, and of the Michigan avenue church in Chicago from 1869 till 1874, when he became pastor of the 1st Bapl ist church in Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1887 he ac- cepted a professorship in the theological seminary at Newton Centre, Mass. The ' University of Chi- cago gave him the degree of D. D. in 1866. He is the author of " The Old Bible and the New Sci- ence " (New York, 1877), and " The Mould of Doc- trine " (Philadelphia, 1883).

THOMAS, John, soldier, b. in Marshfield, Mass., in 1725; d. in Chambly, near Montreal, Canada, 2 June, 1776. He was educated in his native town, studied medicine under Dr. Cotton Tufts, of Med- ford, and practised in his native town and after- ward at Kingston, Mass., where he attained note in his profession. In 1746 he was appointed surgeon to a regiment that was sent to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and in 1747 he served on the medical staff of Gen. William Shirley's regiment, but changed this post for that of lieutenant. In 1759 he became a colonel of provincials, and was em- ployed with his corps in Nova Scotia. In 1760 he commanded a regiment under Gen. Jeffrey Amherst at Crown Point, headed the left wing of the detach- ment that Amherst sent under Col. William Havi- land from Lake Champlain in August, 1760, to co- operate with the other division of the army moving against Montreal, and was present at the capture of that city. He then returned to his practice in Kingston, where he remained until the beginning of the Revolution. He joined the Sons of liberty, raised a regiment of volunteers, and on 9 Feb., 1775, was appointed a brigadier-general by the Provincial congress. Being overlooked in promo- tion, he withdrew, but, on the receipt of letters from Gen. Charles Lee and Gen. Washington and a resolution from congress that he should have precedence of all brigadiers in the army, Gen. Thomas returned to his command. Gen. Washing- ton in his letter to congress, under date of 10 July, , said : " Gen. Thomas is much esteemed, and most earnestly desired to continue in the service ; and, as far as my opportunities have enabled me to judge, I must join in the general opinion that he is an able, good officer, and his resignation would be a public loss." During the siege of Boston he commanded a brigade on the Roxbury side, nearest the British lines. On the evening of 4 March, , with 3.000 men and a supply of intrenching tools, he took possession of Dorchester heights, and before dawn formidable works had been thrown up, which movement caused the British to evacuate the town on 17 March, 1776. On 6 March, 1776, he was appointed major-general. After the death of Gen. James Montgomery he was intrusted with the command in Canada, and joined the army be- fore Quebec on 1 May ; but as he found the force less than 1,000 men, 300 of whom, being entitled to discharge, refused to serve, and as the small-pox was raging among the troops, and the enemy had been re-enforced, he determined that they were not in a condition to risk an assault. The disabled soldiers were removed to Three Rivers, and the American troops retreated from one post to another until by 18 June they had evacuated Canada. Be- fore reaching Chambly, on the river Sorel, Gen. Thomas was fatally attacked by small-pox.

THOMAS, John, founder of a sect, b. in London, England, 12 April, 1805; d. in Jersey city, N. J., 5 March, 1871. He was educated in Lon- don, and became demonstrator of anatomy at St. Thomas's hospital in that city. In 1850 he came to this country and joined the Campbellite Baptists, but left this sect to found another, whose members he called Christadelphians. In 1860 he returned to England, where he delivered lectures, gaining many converts to his theories there as well as in this country. He edited the " Apostolic Advocate" from 1832 till 1837, in 1845-7 the "Herald of the Future Age," and from 1851 till 1861 the "Herald of the Kingdom." In addition