Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York city, Part 93

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York, The Historical company
Number of Pages: 650

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During his stepson's absence, Mr. Bouchaud became involved in his affairs through the failure of one of his foreign correspondents and suspended payment. He, however, in due time, paid his debts in full, and resuming business with the confidence of all, retrieved his fortune and became once more a rich man. In 1835, Edward Thebaud returned to the firm, which was increased in importance and in the volume of its business, by further French connections, as well as an extensive Mexican trade, and owned a line of fast sailing ships. During the War of 1812, Edward Thebaud was an officer of the New York State forces engaged in that struggle for the

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defense of the city, while his stepfather fitted out some of their vessels, as privateers, and with them rendered considerable aid to the American cause. The wife of Edward Thebaud, whom he married in 1823, was a young lady belonging to a noble French family, Emma, daughter of Vincent Classe van Schalkwyck de Boisaubin. Her father had been a playmate of Charles X., and an officer of the body guard of Louis XVI. He lost his estates in the French Revolution, and fleeing with his family to America, became a prominent member of the Colony of émigrés which was such a feature of New York's social life in the early years of this century. The sons of Edward Thebaud and his wife, Emma de Boisaubin, were Edward Vincent, Paul Louis and Francis F. Thebaud, all of whom have been active in the commercial life of the city.

Edward V. Thebaud, the eldest brother, was born in New York in 1824, and was educated at St. Mary's College, in Baltimore. On the completion of his education, he entered the counting house of his father's firm, and continued in active business until 1892, when he retired and made his residence at Madison, N. J., at which place his father had also lived on his country estate for some years.

Paul L. Thebaud, who is now the head of the time-honored family business establish- ment, was born in Morristown, N. J., and graduated from St. John's College, Fordham, N. Y. He also entered his father's business office in 1845, and now counts more than half a century of honorable and successful mercantile life. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and is a director of a number of the city's important financial institutions. Mr. Thebaud has also devoted no small portion of a busy life to the cause of charity, and is a trustee and officer of many institutions or societies for that object, while he is also a member of the most prominent social clubs of the metropolis. His wife was Caroline E. Gibert, a member of the well-known Gibert family of New York, which is also of French origin, and has been long prominent in business and society. On her mother's side, Mrs. Thebaud is descended from General Ebenezer Stevens, the Revolutionary hero, afterwards a notable figure in the New York business world, and whose descendants have been for several generations prominent in the professions, in financial affairs and in the social life of the metropolis.

Francis F. Thebaud, the youngest brother, was graduated from Seton Hall College, New Jersey, and then received a special training for business. He entered the establishment of his father and brothers at an early age, and supplemented his experience by a course of extensive travel in the countries with which the firm has business relations, thus acquiring a knowledge of physical conditions, of individuals and of languages which has been invaluable in his subsequent career. His whole attention has been devoted to the serious occupation of his life, and he is esteemed in a wide circle for the uprightness and generosity of his character, and holds high rank in the metropolitan mercantile and financial world.

Paul Gibert Thebaud, the representative of the next generation of this family, is the son of Paul L. Thebaud and his wife, Caroline (Gibert) Thebaud. He was educated at the Columbia Grammar School in this city, with a view to taking the place he now fills in the venerable firm of which his father is the senior. Going into business under the care of his parent and uncles, he gradually passed through the various grades which fitted him for a partnership in the house. He married early in life, his bride being Mathilde Reynal, only daughter of Jules Reynal de St. Michel, and granddaughter of the late Nathaniel Higgins, of this city. Their family consists of two sons, Paul Gibert Thebaud, Jr., and Reynal de St. Michel Thebaud, both of whom it is their parents' desire shall maintain the social and business prestige of their ancestors. By right of descent, Mr. Thebaud is entitled to membership in the Sons of the Revolution, the St. Nicholas Society, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Society of the War of 1812. His name is found upon the rolls of a number of the most prominent clubs, and he holds the office of vice-president of the Knollwood Country Club, a leading social and athletic organization of Westchester County. Paul Gibert Thebaud's town residence is 158 Madison Avenue, and his country home is Rocky Dell Farm, near White Plains. He is one of the best known and most deservedly popular of the younger married men of the city.

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ADDISON THOMAS

G ENERAL JOHN ADDISON THOMAS, the father of the above gentleman, was born in Cabarrus County, N. C., May 28th, 1810, but resided in Columbia, Tenn. He graduated from West Point in 1833. He was made Brevet Second Lieutenant of the Third Artillery, the same year, and performed garrison duty at Fort Wolcott, R. I. In 1835, he became Second Lieutenant, and First Lieutenant in 1837. For seven years after 1834, he was assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point, and assistant professor of geography, history and ethics. In 1841-42 he was aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General John E. Wool, i and for three years following 1842 was commandant of cadets and instructor of infantry tactics. Advanced to be Captain of the Third Artillery in 1843, he resigned in 1846.

Upon returning to civil life, General Thomas practiced law in New York, for seven years. In 1846, he was Colonel of the Fourth New York Regiment, raised for service in the Mexi- can War. He was also engineer-in-chief on the staff of the Governor, with rank of Brigadier- General in 1852. In 1853, he was sent to London to represent the United States in the Convention with Great Britian for the adjustment of American claims, and upon his return in 1855, served as Assistant United States Secretary of State for two years. He established an international reputation by his report of the proceedings of the Convention of 1853 and other State papers. He died in Paris, France, March 20th, 1858. The parents of General Thomas were Isaac Jetton Thomas, of Cabarrus County, N. C., and Asenath Houston. The old plantation is still in the family and is now owned by John Addison Thomas, a grandson of Isaac Jetton Thomas and a son of James Houston Thomas.

General Thomas married Catharine L. Ronalds, the daughter of Thomas A. Ronalds and Maria D. Lorillard. The father of Catharine Ronalds was a leading merchant of New York in the first quarter of the century. He also was a director in the Mechanics' Bank, and took an active part in military affairs during the War of 1812. His death occurred in 1835. He was the son of James Ronalds, a Revolutionary patriot of Scottish origin.

Colonel Addison Thomas, the oldest son of General John A. and Catharine L. (Ronalds) Thomas, was born at West Point. Prepared for college in Europe, he entered the Law School of Harvard University, graduating in the class of 1867, and was admitted to the New York bar. Much of his time in recent years has been spent in travel abroad. He has a residence at Newport. His clubs are the Harvard, Military, and New York Yacht, and the Metropolitan of Washington, D. C. For more than twenty-one years he has served in the National Guard of the States of New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. His last command was the Newport Artillery, the oldest active military organization in the United States, having received its charter from King George Il., in February, 1741. Colonel Thomas married Alice Gridley Abbott, of Boston, who died at Paris in 1874. In 1878, he married Susan Cox, daughter of the late Reverend Samuel Hanson Cox, D. D., of Brooklyn. His only son, Houston A. Thomas, who married Daisy Bonnet, of Geneva, Switzerland, lives in Boston, Mass.

John Addison Thomas had three other children, Ronald, Catherine Lorillard, and George L. Thomas. Ronald Thomas, who was born in New York, November 3d, 1848, was educated in Europe, and was engaged in business in New York as a broker. He has retired and lives at Santa Barbara, Cal., but is still a member of the Union League, New York Athletic and New York Yacht clubs and a life member of the Country club of Westchester County. In Santa Barbara, he is a member of the Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara Country clubs. In 1881, he married Daisy Richards, of Chambersburgh, Pa. Catherine Lorillard Thomas, born in Paris in 1850, married, in 1869, Ernest Christian de la Haye, Viscount d'Auglemont, and has since resided in Paris. The Viscount- ess d'Auglemont was widowed in 1885, and has two children, Henri and Blanche. The youngest of the family is George L. Thomas, of Columbia, Tenn., who married his cousin, Nora Clayton Thomas, daughter of James Houston Thomas, a prominent member of the Confederate Congress.

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EBEN BRIGGS THOMAS

F OR twelve centuries back the pedigree of the Thomas family can be historically traced. Sir Rhysap Thomas, in the reign of Henry VIII., was the ancestor of numerous branches bearing his name, in both England and America, at the present time. He was descended from Urien Rheged, a British Prince, who lived in the early part of the sixth century, and tradition in regard to the family goes further back than that, writers on Welsh history and genealogy hold- ing that its records are distinguishable in the early centuries of the Christian era. There are many branches of the Thomas family in the United States. Several pioneers came from the Old World to the New during the early years of the migration in the seventeenth century. They established themselves in different parts of the country, and their representatives have since become distinguished in every walk of life. Several of the name settled at an early date in New England, where their descendants have been numerous and influential.

The special branch of the family now under consideration, and of which Mr. Eben Briggs Thomas is a representative in New York in the present generation, was founded by William Thomas, who settled in Eastern Massachusetts soon after the beginning of the eighteenth century. Benjamin Thomas, son of William Thomas, was a prominent resident of Middleboro, Mass., where he was a deacon in the First Congregational Church, and otherwise active in the affairs of the church and the community in which he lived. His wife was Elizabeth Churchill, who was a mem- ber of an old Massachusetts family. Ezra Thomas, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Churchill) Thomas, married Lucy Sturtevant, of Carver, Mass., and lived in the old family homestead in Mid- dleboro. Ezra Thomas of the third generation, was born in 1786, and lived in Middleboro through- out his entire life, his death occurring in 1825. He was married in 1812, at Carver, Mass., by the Reverend John Shaw, to Hannah Cole, who was born in 1786. Ezra Thomas and Hannah Cole were the grandparents of Mr. Eben Briggs Thomas. The father of Mr. Thomas was the third Ezra Thomas, of Middleboro. He was born in 1814 and died in Cleveland, O., in 1891. His wife, whom he married in 1837, was Mary Nelson Briggs, daughter of the Reverend Ebenezer Briggs and Hannah Nelson. The father of Mary Nelson Briggs was a son of Ebenezer Briggs, who was born in 1731, and his wife, Elizabeth Smith, and a grandson of Nathaniel Briggs and Sarah Whit- taker, of Rehoboth, Mass., who were married in 1719.

Mr. Eben Briggs Thomas was born in Chatham, Canada, December 22d, 1838. Early in life he entered upon a business career with the American Telegraph Company. In the course of time he made his first connection with railroad management, with which he has now been identified for nearly forty years. In 1870, he was made a receiver of the railway property which is now the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Railway Company, and subsequently became general manager of the Bee Line, at present included in the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Remain- ing with that corporation for several years, he then became connected with the Richmond & Dan- ville system. In 1888, he was elected second vice-president of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad, and took charge of the Western division of that system. In 1890, he was advanced to be first vice-president of that road, and 1894, upon the retirement of John King from the presidency, was elected to fill the vacancy, and holds that office in the Erie Railroad as the reorganized com- pany is known. He ranks among the foremost railroad officials in the country, being a master of details in all departments of the business.

In 1868, Mr. Thomas married, in Cleveland, O., Helen Gertrude Streator, daughter of Dr. Worthy Stevens Streator and his wife, Sarah Wakeley Sterling. Mrs. Thomas, on the paternal side, is descended from Dr. John Streator, through Isaac H. Streator, who was born in 1758, and Isaac H. Streator, Jr., who was born in 1786 and was her grandfather. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are: Gertrude Streator and Helen Sterling Thomas. The city residence of the family is in West Fifty-eighth Street. Mr. Thomas belongs to the Tuxedo, Manhattan, Lawyers', Union League, Engineers' and Riding clubs, the Century Association and the Ohio Society.

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THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS, M. D.

F OR many generations, the Thomas and Gaillard families, from both which this gentleman is descended, have been prominent in South Carolina; the Reverend Samuel Thomas having been sent by the Church of England in 1700, to establish a church in that Colony, while Joachim Gaillard emigrated from France in 1689, soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Reverend Edward Thomas, father of Dr. Theodore Gaillard Thomas, was a native of South Carolina and was one of the ablest ministers of the Episcopal Church in that State. His wife, Jane Gaillard, was a daughter of Judge Gaillard, of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. The Honorable John Gaillard, her uncle, was born in St. Stephen's District, S. C., in 1765, and died in Washington in 1826. Active in public affairs, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1805, succeeding the Honorable Pierce Butler, and served until his death, a period of twenty-one years. From the Eleventh to the Eighteenth Congress, inclusive, he presided over the deliberations of the Senate as president pro tempore, being elected to that chair on account of the death of two successive vice-presidents, George Clinton and Elbridge Gerry. Thomas H. Benton, in his Thirty Years' View, says of him, "There was probably not an instance of disorder or a disagreeable scene in the Chamber during his long continued presidency."

Dr. Theodore Gaillard Thomas was born in Edisto Island, S. C., in 1831. His early education was secured in the Charleston, S. C., Literary College, from which he was graduated. He then pursued the study of medicine in the Medical College of Charleston, from which institution he received the degree of M. D. in 1852. Fixing upon New York for his future home, he came to this city immediately after completing his medical education, and attached himself to Bellevue Hospital and the Ward's Island Hospital, as house physician. Shortly after he went abroad for further study, and for a year and a half walked the hospitals of London, Dublin and Paris. He then returned to New York and established himself in general practice, and has now for more than forty years been a resident of this city, where he is recognized as a leading physician.

Dr. Thomas, aside from his private practice, has been professionally connected with the leading hospitals and medical colleges of the metropolis. In 1855, he received the appointment of lecturer in the medical department of the New York University, retaining that position until 1863, when he was made professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. For more than fifteen years he was attached to Bellevue Hospital as visiting physician. In 1872, he was appointed one of the attending surgeons of the Woman's Hospital, and for some time was consulting surgeon of St. Mary's Hospital for Women in Brooklyn. He has also been connected with the Stranger's, St. Luke's and Roosevelt hospitals, and in 1875 was president of the medical board of the Nursery and Child's Hospital, with which he had previously been connected for several years. Despite his busy professional life, Dr. Thomas has found time to write much upon medical topics. He assisted in the preparation of A Century of Practical Medicine, wrote and published a valuable work, A Practical Treatise on Diseases of Women, and has also written several books and papers for medical journals treating of the specialty in medical practice to which he has devoted himself.

The first wife of Dr. Thomas was Mary Gaillard, of South Carolina, who died in 1855. For his second wife, he married, in 1862, Mary Willard, granddaughter of the celebrated Emma Willard, of Troy, N. Y. Dr. and Mrs. Thomas live in upper Madison Avenue and have a summer home, The Dunes, Southampton, Long Island. John Metcalfe Thomas, eldest son of Dr. Thomas, married Louisa Carroll Jackson, the daughter of Oswald Jackson, of New York, a direct descendant of Charles Carroll, of Carrolton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Howard Lapsley Thomas, a younger son, married Adele B. Larocque, daughter of Joseph Larocque. He was a prominent figure in New York social circles until his death, in June, 1896. Dr. Thomas is a member of the Metropolitan, Riding, and Shinnecock Golf clubs, the Century Association and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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FREDERICK DIODATI THOMPSON

R EPRESENTING in a direct line two of the oldest manorial families of Long Island, the Thompsons and the Gardiners, Mr. Frederick Diodati Thompson also includes in his ancestry famous names in Colonial New York and New England, as well as that of the Diodati, Counts of the Holy Roman Empire, a family of great distinction in Italy and other European countries. The ancestor of the Thompsons of Suffolk County, N. Y., was the Reverend William Thompson, of Winwicke, Lancashire, 1597-1666, who graduated at Brazenose College, Oxford, in 1619, and emigrated to America in 1634. His son, John Thompson, came to Ashford, Long Island, in 1656, and was one of the proprietors of the town of Brookhaven. The family seat, Sagtikos Manor, or Apple Tree Wicke, Islip, Long Island, of which Mr. Frederick Diodati Thompson is the owner, has been in the possession of his race for many generations. His great-grandfather, the Honorable Isaac Thompson, 1743-1816, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, member of the Colonial Assembly, and a magistrate for more than forty years, was born there. His grandfather, the Honorable Jonathan Thompson, also born at the Manor, in 1773, became a prominent citizen of New York, holding a high social position. He was president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company, Collector of the Port of New York under Presidents Madison, Monroe and the younger Adams, and chairman of the Demo- cratic-Republican National Committee, being also the personal friend of five presidents of the United States.

David Thompson, of Sagtikos, son of the Honorable Jonathan Thompson, was the father of Mr. Frederick Diodati Thompson. He was well known to New Yorkers of his day, and was noted for his distinguished appearance. He was one of the earliest members of the Union Club. He married Sarah Diodati, daughter of John Lyon Gardiner, seventh Lord of the Manor, of Gardiner's Island, and of his wife, Sarah (Griswold) Gardiner. The children of this marriage were: Sarah Gardiner Thompson, who married Colonel David Lyon Gardiner, her children being David, Sarah Diodati and Robert Alexander Gardiner; Gardiner Thompson and David Gardiner Thompson, who both died unmarried; Charles Griswold Thompson, Frederick Diodati Thompson, Elizabeth Thompson, and Mary Gardiner Thompson. The present Mr. Thompson is thus descended on the maternal side from one of the foremost Colonial families. Its founder was Captain Lion Gardiner, full reference to whom and his descendants will be found in the article devoted to the present rep- resentative of the family, Colonel John Lyon Gardiner. Mr. Thompson also traces his descent to Governor Matthew Griswold, of Connecticut; Governor Roger Wolcott, who commanded the Colonial forces at the siege of Louisburg; and Roger Ludlow, Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts Bay and of Connecticut, a descendant of the Ludlows, of Ludlow Castle.

Mr. Frederick Diodati Thompson was born in this city in 1849, and was graduated from Columbia College Law School. He was admitted to the bar, but has found active occupation in travel, society and literature. In the latter field his work includes many contributions to periodicals and a book of travel, In the Track of the Sun. His travels have been varied and extensive, and he has attended the state ceremonies and presentations of nearly all the courts of Europe, and has been received by most of the Sovereigns. By descent from the noble family of Diodati, he is entitled to the title of Count. Among his friends in Europe he numbers many people of distinction, noblemen and officers of high rank in various countries. The Sultan conferred on him the orders of the Osmanlieh and Medjidieh.

Mr. Frederick Diodati Thompson's permanent home is the Long Island seat of his ancestors. In this city he is a member of the Metropolitan, Union, Knickerbocker and Riding Clubs, and of the Lenox Club, at Lenox, Mass. He is also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the Revolution, the St. George's Society, A \ Fraternity, New York Historical Society, Long Island Historical Society, and New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and he is a fellow of the National Academy of Design.

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ROBERT MEANS THOMPSON

S COTCH and Scotch-Irish families were, on both sides, the ancestors of this gentleman. His father, John J. Y. Thompson, was for many years a lay Judge of Jefferson County, Pa. His forefathers came to this country from the Parish of Ellerslie, Scotland, the home of the Wallace, and it is a tradition in the Thompson family that they are descended from the race that produced the Scottish national hero. Judge John J. Y. Thompson married Agnes Kennedy, daughter of the Reverend William Kennedy, who came to Corsica, Jefferson County, Pa., as pastor of the Scotch-Irish colony in that place, and ministered to three other congregations in the county. He married Mary McClure, whose great-grandfather, John McClure, came to America about 1740, settled in North Carolina, but removed to Chester County, Pa., and obtained a grant of land in Uwchland Township, from Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietors of Pennsylvania. These lands are still in possession of his descendants. One of the present Mr. Thompson's great- grandfathers was the Reverend John Jameson, who was a missionary to the Indians and to the Presbyterian congregations of the mountain regions from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

Mr. Robert Means Thompson is the son of Judge John J. Y. and Agnes (Kennedy) Thomp- son and was born March 2d, 1849, in Corsica, Jefferson County, Pa. Educated in the local schools and at Elder's Ridge Academy, in Indiana County, he received an appointment to the Naval Academy in 1864, and graduated with distinction in 1868, being the tenth in a class of eighty. He served in the West Indian and Mediterranean squadrons and was commissioned ensign in 1869 and master in 1870. During 1871, he served on the Wachusett in the Mediterranean squad- ron and in October of that year resigned from the navy. He studied law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1872, afterwards entered the Dane Law School of Harvard University, and graduated in 1874, with the degree of LL. B. He served for a time as assistant reporter of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and practiced his profession in Boston. In 1876, and again in 1877 and 1878, he was a member of the Common Council of that city.

In 1879, Mr. Thompson turned his attention to business and assumed the active manage- ment of the Orford Nickel & Copper Company. His success in this important field has been pronounced, and he now holds a position in the front rank of American metallurgists. One of his notable achievements has been the economical smelting of copper ore in large quantities. The Orford Copper Company, of which he is president, is one of the largest producers of nickel in the world, and in this connection has rendered the United States Government invaluable service by furnishing the nickel necessary for use in the manufacture of armor plate. It was entirely through Mr. Thompson's efforts, working to meet the requirements of the Government, that the nickel industry was established in this country on its present basis, so that the metal is produced at the lowest cost ever known in the world, and of superior quality.

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Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York city, Part 93

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: New York, The Historical company Number of Pages: 650

Author: Weeks, Lyman Horace, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: New York, The Historical company
Number of Pages: 650