HISTORY OF THE William H. Thomas and Celia Watson family

Part II

(Continued from Sept. 23 edition)

Thomas’s oldest son, Jonathon Monroe Thomas, was listed as a married man in the 1860 Acadia County, Arkansas Census. His wife was Martha, b. 1834 in Georgia, but there was another female in the household, Nancy, born 1808 in S. Carolina. It is believed that this, too, is another sister of William H. Thomas and Jonathon’s aunt. Jonathon also had a cattle brand in Union County described thus: swallow fork and under bit in the right ear; Crop split and over-bit in the left. February 7, 1863. Both William Hand sons, Jonathon M, were listed as poll tax payers in Ouachita County by 1853.

Jonathan’s first two children were born in Arkansas, William Arthur Thomas, b. August 6, 1861, and John Henry Thomas, b. December 28, 1868. There may have been other children born between these two because of the long gap in years between their births.

As the Civil War erupted, both William H. and his son, Jonathon M., joined the Confederate Army. William H. enlisted as a private in Co. H, 27 Arkansas infantry on February 25, 1863 at Izard County, and Jonathon M. on April 26, in Hillsboro, Arkansas where he was assigned to Company D, 1st Regiment, Trans-Mississippi Infantry (later called Bell !s Regiment, Arkansas Infantry). William H. Was reported sick within a few months after enlisting and left service before the end of the war.

The son Jonathon M. Was captured at Helena on July 4, 1863 and was transferred to Irvin Block Prison after spending some time in the Overton Hospital at Memphis, Tennessee. He remained a prisoner of war until April 4, 1864 when he was sent to Fort Delaware located in the state of Delaware. He was paroled and forwarded to City Point, Virginia in an exchange on March 7, 1865. He had been promoted to Sergeant on February 27, 1863, but after the exchange, he suffered from debilities and was furloughed for thirty days in March 1865. After that, he reported to the Receiving and Wayside Hospital (or General Hospital No. 9) in Richmond, Virginia for a short time before returning home. (NOTE: Again, in a trend toward genetic patterning of his ancestors, Donald R. Thomas served first as a private and finally as a First Sergeant over forty-plus years with the Texas National Guard, 49th Armored Division, retiring in 1992).

The 1870 Davis (Cass) County, Texas Census shows the William H. Thomas family living in Cusseta with three children, Celie, aged 17, Eldridge F., aged 15 and Matilda Josephine, aged 12. Later censuses show the couple with one child at home, the youngest, Matilda Josephine, aged 21 in 1880. Eldred [sic] is listed in this census with wife, Julia Williamson, aged 26, born in Texas and two children, Evalina, aged 2, born in Texas and an infant born in Texas. The same family is listed in the 1910 census.

It is presently unknown when or where William H. and Celia Thomas died and are buried but it is presumed to be sometime after 1880 and probably in Cass County. Their firstborn, Jonathon Monroe Thomas, had another child, Edward Franklin Thomas, after moving to Texas and that child was born in Daingerfield, Morris County, Texas. Jonathon apparently farmed and was overseer for a farm in Cass County belonging to M. E. Moseley.

It is presently unknown where Jonathon Monroe Thomas died and where he is buried although there is some thought that he may have lived in Marion County during the later years of his life. According to an elderly relative interviewed a few years ago, he and his wife may have attended the South Union Baptist Church of Daingerfield in its original location and may have been buried in the old cemetery which is now inaccessible Onsite inspection of the cemetery revealed no stones with the Thomas name.

William Arthur Thomas purchased acreage in the Holly Springs area near Hughes Springs and lived at that location for many years. His son, James Robert Thomas, lived around Daingerfield for many years but is buried near Avinger. A grandson of William Arthur, James Roy Thomas, is buried in Marion County.

Descendant Donald Ray Thomas is the father of two children, Karl Roy Thomas and Christopher Tennelle Thomas, and the grandfather of two granddaughters.