Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/148

 THOMAS

THOMAS

ton and Sarah (Riddle) Culver of Metropolis, 111.; slie died. Oct. 17. 1880. His son. John Robert. Jr.. WHS 1st lieutenant. Troop L., RoostneU's Rougli Riders. Spanish- American war; was promoted 1st lieutenant and battalion adjutant in the 17th U.S. infantry, and as such served three years in the Philippine war. Judge Thomas became a Grand Mason of high degree.

THOMAS, Lorenzo, soldier, was born in New Castle, Del.. Oct. 20. 1S04; son of Evan Tliomas. an officer in the war of 1812. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, and commis- sioned 2d lieutenant. 4th infantry, July 1. 1824; served in garrison in Florida, 1824-28; was pro- moted 1st lieutenant, March 17, 1829: appointed assistant quartermaster, Sept. 3. 1836: promoted captain, Sept. 23. 1836, and served in the Semi- nole war, 1836-:37. He was brevetted major of staff and assistant adjutant-general, July 7. 1S:J8; served as chief of staff of the army in Florida. 1S39-40, and as assistant adjutant-gen- eral at Washington, D.C., 1840-46, officiating as a member of the board of visitors at the U.S. Military academy in 1844. He was chief of staff to Gen. William O. Butler during the war with ]kIexico. 1S4G-48. being brevetted lieutenant-col- onel, Sept. 23. 1846. for gallantry at the battle of Monterey: was promoted major, Jan. 1, 1848. and was assistant adjutant-general at Washing- ton, D.C., 1848-53. being promoted lieutenant- colonel of staff, and assistant adjutant-general, July 18, 1852. He served as chief of staff to Lieutenant-General Scott. 1853-61; was in charge of the adjutant-general's department, 1861-63; being promoted colonel of staff. March 7. 1861; brevetted brigadier-general. May 7, 1861. and promoted brigadier-general of staff and adjutant- general, Aug. 3, 1861. He was detailed to organ- ize colored troops, 1863-65, and was brevetted major-general, U.S.A., for faithful services dur- ing the war. He was a member of the militarj' commission, Washington, D.C., August-Novem- ber, 1865, and was appointed secretary of war ad interim, upon the removal of Edwin M. Stanton by President Johnson; but owing to Stanton's- refusal to vacate. General Thomas did not enter the office. He was retired, Feb. 22, 1869, and died in Washington. D.C., March 2, 1875.

THOMAS, Martha Carey, educator, was born in Riltimore. M<i., Jan. 2. 1857: daughter of Dr. James Carey and Mary (Whitall) Thomas; granddaughter of John M. Whitall, and a de- -scendant of Philip Thomas, who came from Bris- tol. England, to Marj'land, in 1649. and had pat- ented to him one hundred acres of land, called Thomastown, in Anne Arundel county, near what is now known as West river. She was educat»'d at a private school before entering Cornell uni- versity, from which ahe was graduated, A.B.,

1877. She was a post-graduate student at Johns Hopkins university, 1877-78, and at the Uni- versity of Leipzig, 1879-82, being one of the first women to study at the latter university, as she was also to receive the summa CKin laiide degree of Ph.D. from the University of Ziirich, in 1883. In the autumn of 1884, she was elected dean of the faculty of BrN-n Mawr college, then about to be organized, and during the year 1884-85, she and the first president of the college planned the organization and nominated the faculty, she herself serving as professor of Englisli until 1894, when she resigned both the position of dean and professor to become president of the college. She was a trustee of Cornell, 1895-99, and re- ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. from the Western University of Pennsylvania. 1896. She is theautliorof: Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (1883); Education of U^omen, a monograpli. writ- ten at the request of tiie department of education, for the educational exhibit of the United State.s in the Paris exposition of 1900, and occasional articles and addresses on educational subjects.

THOMAS, Mary Frame (Myers), physician, was born in Montgomery county, Md., Oct. 28, 1816; daughter of Samuel and Mary (Frame) Myers. Her parents were members of the Society of Friends, and were strongly opposed to slavery'. In order to avoid its influence they removed in 1834. to a farm near New Lisbon, Ohio, Mary and her sister Hannah walking most of the way. and for several years performing a large part of the farm work. In 1839 she was married to Dr. Owen Thomas, a member of the Hicksite branch of the Friends, who was first a practising physi- cian, and later a dentist. They had three daugii- ters, the youngest of whom, Julia Josephine (q.v.), married Charles J. Irvine, and became president of Weliesley college, Mass. Mrs. Thomas studied medicine in Philadelphia, Pa., and Cleveland, Ohio, 1851-54, and became a prominent physician, practising in Fort Wayne, 1854-56, and in Richmond, Ind., 1856-88. In 1875, she was elected a member of the Wayne County Medical society, notwithstanding the unpopularity of women physicians at that time; was a delegate to the State Medical society, 1877, and to the National Medical association at Chicago, 111., 1882. She was physician for the Home of the Friendless. 1872-8"^: county piiysician for the poor, 1878-86. and a leader in the causes of tem- perance, prison reform, woman suffrage, and other progressive movements. She died in Rich- mond. Ind., Aug. 19, 1888.

THOMAS, Philip Francis, governor of Mary- land, was born in Easton. Md., Sept. 12. 1810. of English descent, being named for Sir Philip Francis. He was graduated from Dickin.son col- lege. Carlisle, Pa., 1830; wavS admitted to the bar,