Created by Bunney

Capt James Harrison Thomas

Birth

6 Jun 1842

Carroll County, Ohio, USA

Death

18 May 1915 (aged 72)

Yakima, Yakima County, Washington, USA

Burial

Tahoma Cemetery

Yakima, Yakima County, Washington, USA

Plot

Section CITY Block 27 Quarter SW Lot 5

Memorial ID

119285673

s/o William T. Thomas / Catherine Elizabeth Drummond
Sibling - Armstrong Jefferson

Civil War Veteran

Land Attorney Real Estate Dealer

He had 4 sisters and 4 brothers, being left an orphan by age 12. Honorable J. H. Tripp of Carrolton, OH was appointed his guardian, and so managed the affairs of his ward as to secure him the advantage of an preparatory education at the Harlem Springs and Carrollton Academies. He afterward entered Allegheny College at Meadville, PA which he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts class of 1863, 3 years later he conferred a Masters of Arts. During his junior year he received the highest literary honor in the Philo Franklin Society.

While at home on vacation he raised a Military Company, of which he was chosen Captain, but at earnest entreaty of his brother Captain Armstrong Jefferson Thomas who was already in the service as Captain of CO H 98th OH, and who was afterward killed in the Battle of Chickamauga, GE, he declined the proffered distinction, and returned to college to complete his course, his elder brother David Thomas, having in the meantime chosen by the company as Captain.

On completing his college courses in the fall of 1863 he enlisted in the Signal Corps. He immediately repaired to Washington City for instruction. There he was instructed on the use of the telescope, and had occasion to put to practical use his knowledge within 5 miles of his place of training. This was on the occasion of an attack by the Confederates under Breckenridge and Early on the city of Washington. The first gun fired on the advancing enemy was directed by James Harrison Thomas, who by means of a telescope, from Fort Stevens, had discovered their advance. He was subsequently sent by E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, to the military academy at Philadelphia, and where after graduated in tactics, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the regular service and assigned to the 20th US Infantry, with headquarters in New Orleans, LA. he took part nearly all the military operations in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, serving until the close of the war. He then settled in Plattsburg, MO in 1866 where he purchased the Plattsburg College which he operated for 4 years.

In 1868, he was a regular candidate of the Republican Party, and contestand for a seat in the 25th General Assembly for the state of MO. In 1870 he was appointed US Deputy Surveyor for the Montana Territory, two succeeding years charge of the US Surveys in Northern MT, and along the Yellowstone River. Haskell's new US map shows Lake Blaine in the Montana Territory, near the British line. This was discovered by Captain Thomas, and named after the distinguished Senator and Secretary of State.

In 1876 he was engaged in the US Internal Revenue Department, as storekeeper and gauger for the 6th MO District. He held Federal appointments under every President since Lincoln's first term, either in the War Department, Treasury Department, Interior Department.

m 1866 Clinton Co., MO Lucy B. Guyer

They had children - Dana H., Roscoe Gillespie, Maud E., James B., Guyer D., Harry V.

*Cemetery 75yrs = 1840 *1900 WA census b Sept 1835; *An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Co., WA 1904 & The History of Clinton Co., MO 1881 6 Jun 1842

Gravesite Details

burial 20 May

Buried at Tahoma Cemetery
Row: Section CITY Block 27 Quarter SW Lot 5