USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of shipbuilding on North river, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with genealogies of the shipbuilders, and accounts of the industries upon its tributaries, 1640 to 1872 > Part 15
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145
VESSELS BUILT BY BARSTOW & WATERMAN.
1871. In 1872, used as a whaler in Provincetown, Mass., by B. A. Lewis, Capt. Josiah Cook. The brig " Lizzie J. Bige- low " was owned by C. E. & B. II. Fabens, of Salem, for about ten years. She was bought March 4, 1873, of C. G. & G. E. Ryder, for $9500, and foundered at sea in 1885, the crew being taken off by a Scotch bark. An account from a daily paper at that ime says :
" The crew of the ' Lizzie J. Bigelow,' which was abandoned at sea Feb. 12, 1885, were rescued by Capt. Lawson, of the bark 'Messina.' The ' Lizzie J. Bigelow' sailed from St. Martins, Jan. 28, and about seven o'clock that night, when eight miles northwest of Sombrero Light, James Dawcett, a Nova Scotia seaman, fell overboard from aloft, and was drowned. On Feb. 5, a heavy westerly gale set in, pumps had to be manned every half hour; the gale increased a little every day, and on the 10th blew with great violence ; a heavy sea ran dangerously high, and sharp lightning ap- peared on the eve of the 12th. At nine o'clock a vessel's light was sighted. The ' Bigelow' was leaking so badly that they made signals of distress, and were taken off with great difficulty."
In the fall of 1866, Barstow & Waterman commenced a new vessel, which was launched in the spring of the following year. She was built a whaler, for Heman Smith, and Capt. Charles Stetson, of Kingston, went master of her. This was the Her. Brig " ROSA BAKER," 109 tons, launched in May, 1867 ; oak, iron and copper fastened ; yellow metalled October, 1871. She was whaling in the Atlantic from 1867 to 1877, and in 1869 or 1872 was sold to Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of New Bedford, and went to Hudson's Bay, whaling. On Sept. 5, 1874, the first mate and boat's crew were lost in the ice in Hudson's Bay. In August, 1889, she was owned in Boston, and lying at Na- tional Wharf, East Boston. She is registered at some ports as the " Rosa Barker," which is a mistake, as she was named after Rosa, daughter of Joshua Baker. In 1869 was launched the Sch. "HOPE ON," the last vessel built by this firm, the last vessel built on this yard, and next to the last vessel built on North River. She was built on the owners' account, and was a great loss to her builders. There was no demand for vessels when she was launched, and it was nearly two years before she was sold. For this reason she has often been registered as hay- ing been built in 1871. This vessel, the Sch. "Hope On," was 191 tons burthen, 100 feet long, 24 feet broad, draft 11 feet ; white oak and yellow pine, iron and copper fastened, single bottom ; owned in 1876 by Edwin Barstow & Son, of Boston : Capt. L. Chase, commander. She was rated as having been.
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LAST VESSEL BUILT "UP RIVER."
built first class. In 1877 she was sold to J. T. Richardson, of New Bedford, and sent whaling in the Atlantic, under Capt. M. A. Baker. She was later sold to parties in Talcahuana, Chili, where she has been used as a freighter and whaler. May she live long, and be a noble monument to her builders as the last vessel built by them.
CHAPTER X. BRICK KILN YARD .- 1730-1807.
CAPT. BENJAMIN TURNER, CAPT. ICHABOD THOMAS, SR., CAPT. ICHABOD THOMAS, JR., CALVIN TURNER.
TT is impossible to say when vessels were first built at this yard, but records have been found of quite a number of ships built in Duxbury in early times, and some of them were probably built here, as at that time Pembroke was a part of Duxbury. The Indian name of Duxbury was Mattakeeset, but the western part of what is now Pembroke was generally called Namassakeeset. Pembroke was set off by itself, and incorpo- rated as a town, in 1711-12, and the first mention of the new town in the newspapers was the same year :
" PEMBROKE, Dec. 6th, 1711-12. Last Wednesday, the Rev. Mr. Daniel Lewis was ordained Pastor of the Church in this place .- Boston News Letter."
Ship-building was probably flourishing on the river front at that time, but the first record we have is in 1730, when Capt. Benj. Turner, Captain of a Troop of Horse, came to Pembroke, and built at the Brick Kilns. Many of the most noted ship- builders were apprenticed to him, and his descendants for sev- eral generations carried on the art at the Brick Kilns and other yards .* The Thomases, Briggses, and Turners were the most prominent builders.
Ichabod Thomas learned his trade of Capt. Benj. Turner, and he proved himself to be an apprentice worthy of his in- structor. He descended from John Thomas, who came to Now England, a passenger from Wales, in the ship " Hopewell,"
* See Turner and Bridge Yards, and Fox Hill Yard.
148
JOHN THOMAS, THE COMMON ANCESTOR.
Thomas Babb, master, arriving Sept. 11, 1635, then fourteen years of age. Tradition says he was an orphan, whose property had been lost through poor investments by those who had it in charge. He was reared by Gov. Edward Winslow, at Cares- well, Eng., and settled in Marshfield, on a farm given by Gov. Winslow, for the better accommodation of a neighborhood, from his own grant. This farm became, in later years, the home of the distinguished singer, Adelaide Phillips. John Thomas mar. Sarah, the dan. of James and Sarah Pitney, Dec. 21, 1648. His name is next to the Winslows on the first list They had : of those who bore arms in Plymouth, Mass. He was 1. John, born Nov. 16, 1649, mar. Sarah
drowned May 24, 1699. His widow became the second wife of Dea. John Foster, and d. May 26, 1731. 2. Elizabeth, b. Sept. 12, 1652, probably died unmarried. 3. Samuel, b. Nov. 6, 1655 ; mar. Mercy, dau. of Dea. Wm. Ford, May 27, 1680. 4. Daniel, b. Nov. 20, 1659 : mar. Experience, dau. of Thomas Tilden, 1698. 5. Sarah, b. Sept. 20, 1661 : mar. Benj. Phillips, 1680. 6. James, b. Nov. 30, 1663 ; mar. Mary, dau. of Stephen Tilden, in 1700. He settled in the north section of Duxbury, and left numerous descendants in Connecticut, and also in the Western States. 7. Ephraim, b. Oct., 1667; re- moved to Little Compton, R. I. 8. Israel, b. 1670; mar. Bethiah Sherman, dau. of John and Jane Hatch Sherman, 1698.
Samuel (second son of the ancestor, John), and his wife, Mercy Ford,* had children : 1. Bethiah, b. Jan. 25, 1681; mar. Samuel Sprague, and settled in Duxbury. 2. John, b. Nov. 8, 1683 ; mar. Lydia, dau. of Josh. Waterman. 3. Sam- uel, b. Dec. 7, 1685 ; mar. Rebecca Howland. 4. Nathan, b. Nov. 21, 1688 ; mar. first, Alice Baker; second, Abiah Snow ; and third, Sarah B., dau. of Dea. John Foster, of Plymouth. 5. Sarah, b. -; mar. John Holmes, Sept. 8, 1720, and lived one hundred years. 6. Joseph, b. 1690 : mar. Lydia Winslow. 1718; d. Jan. 27, 1754, aged sixty-eight. 7. Gideon, b. 1692 ; mar. Abigail Baker ; left no sons, but daugh- ters : Mercy, wife of B. White ; Sarah, wife of Jeremiah Low ; and Eleanor, wife of Elijah Ford. Abigail, his dau., mar. Dr. Eleazer Harlow, of Duxbury : d. young, leaving one son, Gid- eon Thomas, who was reared by his maternal grandfather. 8.
Samuel died Sept. 2, 1720; his widow, Sept., 1741.
149
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS.
Ann, baptized April 16, 1727. 9. Elizabeth, b. Sept. 28, 1729. 10. Josiah, baptized March 16, 1698; mar. Deborah Bartlett, and settled near Standish Hill, Duxbury. They were ancestors of Dr. Stevens, physician, of So. Marshfield. Gid- eon Thomas d. 1766, aged seventy-four; Abigail, wife of Gid- eon, d. Sept. 15, 1753, aged fifty-two ; Abigail, wife of Eleazer Harlow, d. Nov., 1743, aged twenty years, ten months, and twenty days, leaving Gideon, above named.
John, son of Samuel and Mercy Thomas, succeeded to the ancestral home, and mar. Lydia, dau. of Joseph and Sarah Waterman, Dec. 23, 1714, and d. Jan., 1769, aged eighty-six. She d. Jan. 17, 1750. They had children : 1. Zeruiah, b. Oet. 3, 1715 ; mar. James Bradford, of Connecticut. 2. Ann, h. April 5, 1717; d. 1723. 3. Anthony, b. March 25, 1719; mar. Abigail Alden, of Duxbury. 4. Lydia, b. March, 1721; mar. Joseph Kent, Feb. 28, 1743. 5. JOIIN, b. Nov. 9, 1724 ; mar. Hannah Thomas, dau. of Nathaniel Thomas. Said John became a MAJOR GENERAL, and died in the American Revolu- tionary War. He was a cousin of Ichabod, Sr., and at the age of twenty-one was Surgeon in a regiment sent to Annapo- lis, Royal. At twenty-two, he was on the medical staff of Gov. Shirley's Regiment. In the year 1759, he was appointed a Colonel, and re-appointed to the same office in 1760, by Gov. Pownall. In 1760, with his regiment, he joined the Anglo- American army at Crown Point. After he returned from this expedition, Col. Thomas continued in his profession as phy- sician, at Kingston, until 1775, where the Revolution found him. He was again called to the front, into active service, Feb. 9, 1775. Not long after this, Gen. Thomas became piqued because another officer was promoted above him, which was acknowledged unfair and unjust by all excepting Con- gress. James Warren, the Speaker of the House, urged his remaining. Gen. Charles Lee wrote to him :
" I have myself, sir, full as great, perhaps greater, reason to com- plain than yourself. I have passed through the highest ranks, in some of the most respectable services of Europe. You think your- self not justly dealt with in the appointments of the Continental Congress. I am quite of the same opinion. For the sake of every- thing that is dear, and ought to be dear, to you, for the sake of your country, and of yourself, discard such sentiments."
Gen. George Washington wrote to Gen. Thomas from
150
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS.
Cambridge under date July 23rd, 1775, a very lengthy letter, from which the few following extracts are made :
"Sir : The retirement of a general officer, possessing the confidence of his country and the army at so critical a period, appears to me to be big with fatal consequences, both to the public cause and his own reputation. While it is unexecuted, I think it my duty to make this last effort to prevent it, and after suggesting those reasons which occur to me against your resignation, your own virtue and good sense must decide upon it." > * * * "You possess the confidence and the affection of the troops, of this province particularly : many of them are not capable of judging the propriety and reason of your conduct : should they esteem themselves authorized, by your exam- ple to leave the service, the consequences may be fatal and irretriev- able." * * * * " I shall flatter myself that these reasons with others which your own good judgment will suggest, will strengthen your mind against those impressions which are incident to humanity, and laudable to a certain degree : and that the result will be your resolu- tion to assist your country in this day of distress. That you may reap the full reward of honor and public esteem, which such a con- duct deserves, is the sincere wish of Sir, your very obedient and most humble servant,
" To Gen. John Thomas."
GEORGE WASHINGTON."
Gen. Thomas was restored to rank and command, and had all the resolves, letters, and addresses proved unavailing, and the Continental Congress not have restored him, he must have been much more or much less than a man. The field officers encamped at Roxbury, addressed him July 25th, 1775, to this effect :
" Your appointment as Lieut. Gen'l. by the Provincial Congress, in consequence of which you took supreme command of this camp, gave singular satisfaction to all acquainted with your character, your knowledge and experience of military movement, and your vigilance, prudence and skill."
From this time to March, 1776, Gen. Thomas commanded the most exposed camp of the besieging army at Roxbury. Having determined upon the occupation of Dorchester Heights, a step which would bring on an action or produce the evacua- ation of Boston by the British Army, on Monday the 4th of March, these Heights were taken possession of by Gen. Thomas. The amount of labor performed during the night, considering that the earth was frozen eighteen inches deep, was almost incredible. Gen. Thomas writes in a letter to his wife, dated from :
151
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN THOMAS.
" Dorchester Hills, in a small hut, March 9, 1776.
We have for some time been preparing to take possession of Dorchester Point, and last Monday night about 7 o'clock I marched with about 3,000 picked men, beside 360 ox teams and some picces of artillery. About 8 o'clock we ascended the high hills, and by daylight, got two hills defensible. About sunrise the enemy and others in Boston, appeared numerous on the tops of houses, and on the wharves, viewing us with astonishment. The cannonading which had been kept up all night, from our lines at Lamb's Dam and from the enemy's lines likewise at Lechmere's Point, now ceased and the enemy turned their fire toward us, but they soon found it was to little effect." * * * * " I have had very little sleep or rest this week, being closely employed night and day." *
* * * " Your son John is well and in high spirits. He ran away from Oakley privately on Tuesday morning, and got by the sentrys and came to me, on Dor- chester Hills, where he has been most of the time since.
JNO. THOMAS."
Mrs. Thomas's disobedient son, John, had been left by his father on Monday evening, when he marched for Dorchester Heights, in care of his colored servant Oakley, who, no doubt, was instructed to keep him from mischief and danger, he being but ten years old. Gen. Thomas's cousin, William, was also with him at Dorchester Heights. William held a commission as Capt. of Ist Military Co. foot, of Marshfield, under Thos. Hutchinson, Gov. Mass. Bay, 1772. To his descendant, Miss Sarah Thomas, of Marshfield, I am indebted for much valuable information concerning the Thomas family.
About this time Congress was looking for an officer to com- mand the troops led into Canada by Montgomery and Arnold, and having been cautioned by Washington not to appoint a major general, whom he named to them, for that purpose they on the 6th of March promoted Gen. Thomas to the rank of Major General and sent him to command in Canada, John Adams wrote to him the next day, and from his letter the following is taken :
" Dear Sir : The Congress have determined to send you to Canada. They have advanced you one step by making you a Major General. Your friends, the delegates from your native province were much embarassed between a desire to have you promoted and placed in so honorable a command on the one hand and a reluctance at losing your services at Roxbury, or Cambridge on the other."
152
THOMAS GENEALOGY.
Thus Gen. Thomas, called from his proud position at Dor- chester, was promoted and appointed to a more extensive and important command of an expedition which proved disastrous to his country and fatal to himself. After reaching his position near Quebec, re-enforcements and provisions for the army failed to arrive, but Gen. Thomas was determined to retain his position as long as possible, hearing that large re-enforce- ments were passing the lake and might be daily expected. The re-enforcements not arriving, as his advices induced him to hope, and the enemy advancing in force, he was obliged to retreat to Sorel. On the 2nd of June at Chamblee, on the river Sorel, while anxiously awaiting the expected re-enforce- ments, he died of the small-pox, aged 52 years. The disease was so malignant that he was entirely blind some days before his death. During his course of professional life he had been uncommonly skilful in its treatment, but had never taken it by inocculation or otherwise. In person he was six feet high, erect and well proportioned, appearance commanding and with manners affable, gentlemanly and of unaffected sincerity. He was succeeded by Gen. Lincoln.
Sarah, sixth child of John and Lydia, was b. Nov. 3, 1726 ; mar. Jeremiah Kinsman, of Norwich, Conn. 7. Keziah, h. Nov. 7, 1730; d. Dec. 11, 1751.
Nathan Thomas, a tanner by trade, mar. Alice Baker, March 4, 1713, who d. June 4, 1715, aged twenty-five. He mar. 2ndly, Abiah, dau. of Josiah Snow, Jan. 2, 1716; she d. Feb. 1, 1718, aged twenty-four. He mar. 3rdly, Sarah Foster, dau. of Dea. John Foster, of Plymouth, and gr. dau. of Dea. John Foster, of Marshfield. She mar. 2ndly, Jedediah Bourne, and d. Feb., 1778, aged eighty-two. Nathan d. Nov. 3, 1741, in his fifty-third year. He had children : 1. Sarah, b. Dec. 12, 1720 ; d. while visiting her sister, Mrs. Phillips, at Boston, and was buried there. 2. Alice, b. Dec. 25, 1722 ; mar. Capt. Benj. Phillips, of Boston, Nov. 16, 1743. They lived on Fort Hill, and had one child, Alice, born the following year. Dr. Winslow Lewis, of Boston, was a descendant of Alice and Benj. Phillips. 3. William, b. Jan. 31, 1727 ; mar. first, Mary, dau. of Abraham Hill, of Malden : second, Abiah, dau. of Capt. James Thomas, of Duxbury, March 11, 1754. 4. Nathan, b. Aug. 30, 1730; mar. Sarah, dau. of Dea. Jedediah Bourne, Nov., 1756. 5. Ichabod, b. June 28, 1733, in a house that stood on the site and cellar of the present residence of
153
CAPT. ICHABOD THOMAS.
Luther Thomas, the first house on the left, standing on a hill after crossing the railroad track at the Marshfield depot, on the road from the Marshfield Post Office to Brant Rock. This house was built by Nathan Thomas, and torn down in 1863. The property has been in the Thomas family over one hundred and fifty years.
Ichabod mar. Ruth, dan. of Capt. Benj. Turner, and settled in Pembroke, Mass. They were mar. Jan. 22, 1761, by the Rev. Thomas Smith. Ruth d. Oet. 12, 1801, in her sixty- sixth year. Ichabod d. March 2, 1788, aged fifty-five. They had six sons and two daughters, viz. : I. Ichabod Thomas, Jr., b. Oct. 23, 1761. II. SARAH THOMAS, b. Nov. 8, 1763; was the first wife of the Rev. Levi Whitman, of Wellfleet, Mass. Their children were : Levi, b. Jan. 16, 1789; Sarah, b. Feb. 24, 1790 ; mar. Albion K. Parris, who was Governor of Maine in 1822, and when Gen. Lafayette visited there, and Mayor of Portland in 1852. Mrs. Parris d. in Washington, D. C., Jan., 1883, aged ninety-three. Josiah and Ruth, b. Jan. 28, 1793 ; d. in May, 1793. Ruth, 2nd, b. June 21, 1794. Ichabod T., 1st, b. May 7, 1796 ; d. July 27, 1798. Elizabeth S., b. Oet. 19, 1797. Hope Doane, b. Feb. 3, 1799, Ichabod T., 2nd, b. July 7, 1800; d. July 18, 1800. Catharine, b. Nov. 8, 1802; d. March 14, 1803. William T., b. Dec. 17, 1803 ; d. Jan. 9, 1804. The mother, Sarah Whitman, d. Dec. 17, 1803. Rev. Mr. Whitman mar. 2ndly, Dorothy Drew Thomas, relict of Charles Thomas, April 16, 1807, and by her had one child, Thomas, b. 1809; d. aged two months twenty-six days. Mr. Whitman d. in Kingston, Mass., Nov. 7, 1838, aged ninety. Dorothy d. in Boston, Feb. 4, 1840, aged seventy-seven. III. BENJAMIN THOMAS, b. about 1764. Followed the sea. IV. CHARLES THOMAS, b. Aug. 31, 1765 ; mar. Dorothy, dau. of William Drew, in 1788. He went to Macomb, MeDonough County, Ill. The date of his death has not been ascertained. His children were : Charles, b. Oct. 23, 1788 ; enlisted as an artificer in Capt. Walbach's Company U. S. Artillery, in the spring of 1814; was discharged April 25, 1815, and d. Jan. 20, 1818. George, 1st, b. Dec. 22, 1789; d. Jan. 4, 1790. George, 2nd, b. Dec. 30, 1790, who, by special act of the Court, March 10, 1827, had " Priest " added to his name, making it George Priest Thomas. Hle mar., April 5, 1809, Maria West, dau. of Robert and Mary (West) Foster. She d. in Boston, Jan. 27, 1847, aged fifty-six. He mar. 2ndly,
154
THOMAS GENEALOGY.
June 25, 1851, Mary Pratt Nichols, of Reading, Mass., by whom he had no children. He d. in Boston, Jan. 24, 1867, aged seventy-seven. His children by his first wife were : 1. Julia Parris, 1st, b. June 14, 1810; d. Ang. 12, 1812. 2. Catha- rine Drew, b. Dec. 9, 1811 ; d. in Plymouth, N. H., Oct. 16, 1875, unmarried. 3. Maria Augusta, b. Sept. 30, 1813 ; mar. Jan. 18, 1844, John F. Morton, of Plymouth, N. H., a descend- ant of the Moultons, of Ellsworth ; he d. May 15, 1875, aged sixty-five ; she d. Aug. 6, 1883, aged seventy. They had chil- dren : John F., b. Sept. 2, 1845; d. Jan. 24, 1846. Kate Maria, b. March 4, 1848 ; mar. Charles J. Gould, Dec. 25, 1877. They have had four children. 4. Waldo L., b. Sept. 27, 1815 ; mar. Sarah Ann York, of New Market, N. H., Sept. 12, 1841. He went to Cuba, for his health, but returned to Dorchester, where he d. May 15, 1857. She d. in New York City, May 29, 1881. Their children were : Ellen, Emma, Laura, Valentine, Ralph Waldo, who mar. Mary De Rous, and Eva, who mar. and lives in Newton, Mass. 5. Charles Fred- eric,* b. Aug. 29, 1817 ; mar. Dec. 2, 1838, Abigail Locke,
* An autobiography of the eventful life of Charles Frederic Thomas, to the present day, would make a most interesting book, and the author regrets that want of space allows him but briefly to refer to the main points thus far, he being now seventy-two years of age, and as active as a man of thirty. He graduated at Blaisdel's Academy, aside the Old North Church, Boston, and soon after went to Antwerp, in the brig " Volant," Capt. Ephraim Finney, of Plymouth, Mass. Returning about 1831, he went to Kingston, Mass., to learn the trade of carpenter and builder, of Lewis Ripley, and later worked for Abraham Sherman, of Cambridge. While attending the trial of Mar- vin Mercy, who was indicted for burning the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, he made the acquaintance of some Lowell workmen, who persuaded him to engage with Picker- ing & Mathers, where he finished his trade. Later, he worked for his brother Waldo, at Watertown, a short time, when he shipped in the brig " Roderick Dhu," to St. Iago, W. I. On the Island of Cuba. and in the mines of San Fernando, he had a most inter- esting experience, including many narrow escapes. Soon after his return to Boston, he sailed for Mobile, in the ship " Tiger," of 500 tons, owned by Wheelwright & Co., Cen- tral Wharf. From Mobile he went to Liverpool, whence he sailed for Boston, Jan. 8, 1833. Two weeks after his arrival in Boston, he joined the ship "New Jersey," 650 tons, bound for New Orleans, Mobile, and Liverpool. He shipped in the same vessel for a second voyage to those ports, and, while lying at Doboy Island, at the mouth of the Darien River, he bathed every day in the river, using a large sponge. A slave, who was very black, asked him what made his skin so white. Mr. Thomas replied, " The constant use of this sponge." The negro, thinking the sponge would make him white, offered to give him a boat-load of provisions for the sponge, which Mr. Thomas ac- cepted. Mr. Thomas says, "Not having seen him since, I do not know whether he be- came white before Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation or not, but I hope he did." After his return from this voyage, he shipped as one of the officers on the ship "William Engs," for Liverpool and Havana, arriving back in Boston, Aug. 15, 1838. On the 29th of August, 1838, Charles became of age, and he and his brother Waldo were set up as carpenters in Lowell. He soon went to Waltham, and thence to Medford, where he worked jomering for Goodwin & Ventrin, John Winslow, and Anthony Waterman. From here he was hired by Cyrus Alger, of South Boston, to put in the foundations for his anchor forge on Dorchester Turnpike. Sears & Fitch, of Boston, employed him afterward in building A. & A. Lawrence's store, on Milk street; the Swedenborgian Church, on Bowdoin street; Old Colony Railroad Station, on Kneeland street, etc. In 1844, he became a mechanical engineer, and later a designer of locomotives and other
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THOMAS GENEALOGY.
dau. of Edward Page, of Deerfield, N. H. She was b. May 21, 1811 ; she d. in Brooklyn, May 14, 1885. Their children were : £ Charles Frederic, b. in Medford, April 13, 1841; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 19, 1868, ummarried. Abbie Maria, b. in Boston, May 11, 1846; mar. first, Benjamin B., son of Major Benjamin B. French, of Washington, D. C. He d. in Barronquilla, So. America, May 29, 1881, leaving children : Abbie Marie, who was b. in Brooklyn, June 30, 1867 ; Charles Francis, b. in New York City, July 25, 1869. Abbie Maria, the mother, mar. secondly, Hermann Joerns, in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 28, 1882. He was b. in Hamburg, Germany, June 27, 1842. They have one son, Herman Ormond, b. June 4, 1884.
machinery. While employed by Uriah A. Boyden, at Manchester, N. H., he super- intended the construction of Turbine water wheels, and machinery for the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company and Suncook Cotton Mills. Under the instruction of Oliver Bailey, he constructed the locomotive " Mameluke," for the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, which, on her trial trip, ran two miles in seventy seconds, and, on a later trip, tore herself to pieces. While here, he constructed a lathe twenty-two feet in diameter, the largest ever made. In 1852, William Mason, of Tannton, sent for Mr. Thomas, who located Mr. Mason's works at Taunton, and designed and superintended the construc- tion of the so-called Mason locomotive. In 1856 he received a bronze medal and diploma from the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, for his skill in designing, drawing, and water-coloring. Mr. Thomas was called to Washington, D. C., by Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, Chief U. S. Engineer Corps, to take charge of the mechanical branch of the Department of Public Works under his charge, in 1857, viz .: United States Capitol Extension, New Dome on the Capitol, Washington Aqueduct, United States Post Office, and Fort Madison. The construction of the new dome was remod- elled at his suggestion, and it was successfully built under his supervision. He placed the statue of Freedom on the top of the dome, Dec. 2, 1863, planned all the scaffolding for its erection, and received a certificate, signed by Thomas U. Walter, Architect ; Benjamin B. French, Commissioner of Public Buildings; J. P. Usher, Secretary of the- Interior; and countersigned by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, acknowledging his valuable services. Mr. Thomas was removed from the Public Works in 1861, and entered the United States Army, April 19, 1861, to serve three months. He was a member of the "President's Mounted Guard," District of Columbia Volunteers, served his time, and received an honorable discharge July 19, 1861. With others, he applied to President Lincoln for a commission to raise a regiment of cavalry, the "Mounted Guard" to be a nucleus; papers were endorsed by Mr. Lincoln, and passed through the proper offices, and returned, as that arm of the service was already supplied. Afterward, he was elected Captain of "K" Company, Interior Department Regiment, composed of all the workmen on the Public Works and Department of the Interior. When the statue was put in position, Mr. Thomas, after two sections of the scaffold were removed, stood upon the head, and was photographed, a copy of which photograph he has preserved; and then, with steel letters he marked President Lincoln's, Benjamin B. French's, Thomas U. Walter's, and his own name, in full, on the upper- most feather of her helmet. When the dome was completed, Mr. Thomas resigned his position as Superintendent of the Public Works, to take one more remunerative, with the Chester Manufacturing Company. Later, he took a position with J. B. & W. W. Cornell, architectural iron works, in New York, and served them as a Superintendent for six and one-half years. In 1871, Messrs. Thomas Otis Le Roy & Co., manufacturers. of shot, sheet lead, and pine, employed him as engineer and general superintendent. He was with them eleven years, and made many improvements in the machinery, in- vented the spray and mist in the tower, so that larger shot could be dropped at less ele- vation, and originated and successfully got up the new standard scale for shot, which was adopted by the New York State Sportsmen's Association, at Batavia, N. Y., in 1873. He is, at the time of this writing, engaged in building a street motor which he has perfected. It is a car run by steam and water stored in pipes connected with a small fire-box charged with incandescent coal.
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