Los Angeles County
Biographies
SAMUEL L. THOMAS
Identifying his interests with those of Long Beach in 1909, S. L. Thomas here spent the remainder of his life and in many ways demonstrated his worth as a man and as a citizen. A native of Ohio, he was born in Guernsey County on the 14th of October, 1836, and was but eleven months old when his parents removed to Marion, Indiana, where he was reared and educated. As a young man of twenty he with the family to Nebraska, settling on a ranch four miles west of Plattsmouth, in Cass County. Through practical experience he gained a detailed knowledge of agricultural pursuits and was also an apiarist. As the years passed he prospered in these fields of activity and served as vice president of the Nebraska Agricultural Society and also of the State Bee Keepers Association, working for the best interests of the members of those organizations. In 1892 he was elected a member of the Nebraska state senate and during his tenure of office championed every measure which he believed would prove of benefit to the commonwealth. When seventy-three years of age he came with his family to Long Beach and here resided until his death in this home at 829 Elm Avenue on the 11th of February, 1918, after an illness of seven months. He was one of the leading members of the Business Men’s Association and a director of the Chamber of Commerce. His cooperation could always be counted upon in the furtherance of projects for the advancement and betterment of Long Beach, which was enriched by his public-spirited citizenship.
In Glenwood, Mills County, on April 18, 1861, four days after the fall of Fort Sumter, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Sarah Angeline Shields, who was born June 20, 1842, in Edinburgh, Johnson County, Indiana, a daughter of James L. and Elizabeth (Hargan) Shields, who were natives of Kentucky and came of Scotch and Irish lineage. When she was a child of four her parents settled in western Iowa, where she acquired a public school education. Her mother was a pupil in a country school attended by Abraham Lincoln. James Shields, an uncle of James L. Shields, served as a general in the Mexican War, was United States senator from Illinois for fifteen years and later represented Minnesota in the same capacity. Mrs. Thomas’ grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Shields, was an Episcopal clergyman who was sent as a missionary from Ireland to Beardstown, Kentucky, where he married Mary Bard, for whom the town was named. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were born three sons: Louis Shields, whose death occurred at Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 11, 1918, the day the armistice was signed; William Marion, who died in 1908; and Walter L., president of the Long Beach Automobile Company.
Mr. Thomas was the possessor of a well-trained bass voice of pleasing quality and as a young man frequently sang in public. A proficient player of both the cello and tuba, he was for years a member of the Plattsmouth Band and the local orchestra, thus furthering the progress of that city along cultural lines. He was a Knight Templar Mason and gave his political allegiance to the Republican Party. By nature frank, generous and companionable, readily winning friends, he never lost sight of those high principles which should govern man in the varied relations of life. He passed away at the ripe age of eighty-one and his funeral cortege was one of the largest ever seen in Long Beach. The beautiful and impressive service was under the direction of his Masonic brethren. Mrs. Thomas still lives in Long Beach, making her home at 835 Elm Avenue. She is a member of the Historical Society of Nebraska and was at Bellevue when a treaty was made with the Otoe, Omaha and Pawnee Indians, ratifying the purchase of their lands by the United States government. This was in 1853, when Mrs. Thomas was but eleven years old, and she is the only person now living who witnessed that ceremony. She belongs to the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Ebell Club, the Order of Amaranth and the local chapter of the Eastern Star. Her religious belief is indicated in her membership in the Christian Science Church, which she joined more than four and a half decades ago. Although a nonagenarian, she is well preserved and her conversation spans the past in interesting reminiscence. Mrs. Thomas has the esteem and respect of all who know her and in the society of her six grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren she renews her youth.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on July 2, 2013.
Source: California of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 699-701, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los
Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Michele Y. Larsen.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPHIES