Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/143

 THOMAS

THOMAS

plays : Alabama ; In Missouri ; Arizona ; The Burglar ; Colorado ; Man of the World ; After Thoughts ; The Meddler ; The Man Upstairs ; Oliver Goldsmith ; On the Quiet ; A Proper Im- proprieti/ ; That Overcoat ; The Capitol ; Neio Blood ; The Hoosier Doctor ; The Earl of Paiv- tucket.

THOMAS, Calvin, scholar, was born near Lapeer, Mich., Oct. 28, 1854 ; son of Stephen Van Rensselaer and Caroline Louisa (Lord) Thomas ; grandson of Calvin Peck and Hannah (Grimes) Thomas. He was graduated from the Univer- sity of Michigan, A.B., 1874, A.M.. 1877 ; taught Latin and Greek in the high school at Grand Rapids, Mich., 1874-77 ; was a student of philos- ophy at Leipzig, Germany, 1877-78 ; an instructor in modern languages in the University of Michi- gan, 1878-81 ; assistant professor of German and Sanskrit, 1881-87, and professor of Germanic languages and literature, 1887-96. He was mar- ried, June 16, 1884, to Mary Eleanor, daughter of Zenas and Mary (Wing) Allen of Grand Rapids, Mich. In 1896 he became professor of Germanic languages and literature in Columbia university. New York city. He was president of the Modern Language Association of America in 1896 and was made a member of the Weimar Goetlie Gesellschaft, and of tlie New York Authors club. He edited several German classics for school and college use, including: Goethe's "Faust" (1st pt., 1882; 2d pt., 1897) and "Hermann and Dorothea" (1891), and is the author of: Goethe and the Conduct of Life (1886) ; A Practical Ger- man Grammar (1895) ; The Life and Worlcs of Friedrich Schiller (1901), and contributions on literary subjects to leading periodicals.

THOriAS, Charles Randolph, representative, was born in Beaufort, N.C., Aug. 21, 1861 ; son of Charles Randolph (a representative to the 42d and 43 congresses, 1871-75). He attended Newbern academy, N.C., and Emerson institute, Washing- ton, D.C. ; was graduated from the University of North Carolina, A.B., 1881 ; studied law with his father and at the Greensboro Law school, N.C. ; was admitted to the bar in October, 1882, and commenced practice in Newbern. He was a rep- resentative in the general assembly of North Carolina, 1887 ; attorney for the county of Craven, 1890-96 ; a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1896 ; and a Democratic representative from the third North Carolina district in the 56th, 57th and 58th congresses, 1899-1905. He was elected a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1893. He was married, Jan. 7, 1903, to Mary, daughter of Judge Thomas Ruffin and granddaughter of Chief-Jus- tice John Ruffin of North Carolina.

THOMAS, Charles Spalding, governor of Colorado, was born in Darien, Ga., Dec. 6, 1849 ;

son of William B. and Caroline B. (Wheeler) Thomas ; grandson of Amos H. and Hulda (Mal- lett) Wheeler, He was graduated from the Uni- versity of Michigan, LL.B., 1871 ; was admitted to the bar in April, 1871 ; practised in Denver, Col., 1871-79 •,Leadville, Col., 1879-84, and subse- quently in Denver, Col. He was married, Dec. 29, 1873, to Emma, daughter of Thomas and Eliza- beth (Gould) Fletcher of Kalamazoo, Mich. He was a member of the Democratic national com- mittee, 1884-96 ; an unsuccessful candidate for U. S. senator in 1900, and governor of Colorado, 1899-1901.

THOMAS, Cyrus, etlmologist and entomologist, was born in Kingsport, Tenn., July 27, 1825 ; son of Stephen and Maria (Rogan) Thomas ; grandson of Henry and Margaret (Ramsberg) Thomas and of Daniel and Jane Rogan, and a descendant of John Thomas of Schifferstadt, in Rhenish Bavaria, who landed at Philadelphia, 1730, and settled in Frederick county, Md. He received a liberal education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1850, and commenced practice in Murphysboro, 111. He was clerk of Jackson county, 111., 1850- 53 ; in 1865 abandoned the law and entered the Evangelical Lutheran ministry, serving, 1865-69. He was assistant in the U.S. geological and geographical surveys under Ferdinand V. Hayden, 1869-73. He was married, first, June 13, 1850, to Dorothy Logan, daughter of Dr. John and Eliza- beth (Jenkins) Logan, and sister of Gen. John A. Logan, and secondly, April 20, 1865, to Viola L., daughter of James and Jane (Martin) Davis of Youngsville, Pa. He was professor of natural sciences in the Southern Illinois Normal univer- sity, 1873 ; state entomologist, 1876-77 ; a member of the U.S. entomological commission, 1877, and archaeologist of the U.S. bureau of ethnology from 1882. In the latter capacity, with a corps of assistants, he examined all the prehistoric mounds to be found in the eastern half of the continent, deducing, in 1895, the theory that the ancient remains found in America belonged to two general classes of people ; one of these inhabited the Atlantic slope, the other the Pacific, the Rocky Mountain Range being the dividing line, and that the " Mound builders " were the ancestors of the Indians and had no relation with the an- cient civilized races of Mexico and Central Amer- ica, nor with the Pueblo tribes. He was made a member of several scientific societies, and is the author of : Synopsis of the AcHdidce of North America ; Noxioiis and Beneficial Lisects of Illi- nois (5 vols, reports, 1876-80) ; Study of the Man- uscript Troana (1882); Notes in Certain Maya and Mexican Manuscripts (1884) ; Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States (1888); Aid to the Study of Maya Codices (1889) ; The Cherokees and Shatvnees in Pre-Columbian