San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWARD THOMAS
A lamented pioneer, highly esteemed
in his day, whose beneficent life and work may be traced in more than one
department of modern activity, was the late Edward Thomas, who was born in
Wales in 1827, and there grew up in that famous mountainous country by the sea
which has been the native land of so many men and women of notable
character. In 1848, the year so notable
for political revolutions in Germany, France and elsewhere, young Thomas left
home and crossed the wide Atlantic in a sailing vessel, spending twenty-one
days on the ocean, and eventually safely landing in the metropolis of the New
World. He did not remain in New York,
however, but came on to Pennsylvania, and then to Minnesota; but his restless
spirit did not permit him to tarry in even these great commonwealths and he
never stayed his foot until, in the year of the Argonauts, he arrived in
California.
To reach the Golden state he sailed
down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and there embarked for San Francisco
on a vessel bound around Cape Horn; and at the end of some 216 days, when he
and his fellow-passengers had shared many a narrow escape on the boisterous
waves, he saw for the first time the harbor which meant more than paradise to
the founders of this section of our country.
San Francisco at that time was so emphatically in the making that Mr.
Thomas found no difficulty in securing work at the carpenter’s trade; but he
soon made his way to the American River, where he also sought gold; then on to
Calaveras County, and there he remained digging for several years. He did something more, however, than commit
himself to the uncertain search for the shining metal; he joined others, as a
stockholder, in forming the Union Water Company, and helped supply the water
needed for the miners. These various
enterprises proved sufficiently remunerative that he remained in that section
for more than twenty-five years, and for nearly two-thirds of that period he
was the manager of the water company, and he came to hold valuable interests in
neighboring mines.
Meanwhile, as prosperity more and
more smiled upon him, Mr. Thomas was able to return to Europe and his native
land, reaching Wales in 1861 and staying there about three years; and when he
could no longer resist the lure of California and prepared to come back here
again, he chose for his wife and life partner Miss Jeanette A. Powell, marrying
her on April 6, 1864, and then sailing with his bride for America. Two children were born of this union: the eldest died in infancy; Mary A. became the
wife of James A. Nelson, an agriculturist living on Roberts Island, in San
Joaquin County.
Seventeen years after he had
returned to America, Mr. Thomas disposed of his holdings in the southern mines,
and removed to French Camp, in San Joaquin County, where he established and for
many years conducted the popular hostelry known as the French Camp Hotel. He was an ideal host, and on account of his
conscientious attention to the wants of the traveling public built up such a
paying patronage that when he disposed of it in July, 1903, he let go a
profitable enterprise. Thereafter, he
lived to a venerable old age, making his home as a retired country gentleman,
with his daughter, Mrs. Mary A. Nelson, on Roberts Island; and there, on the
fourteenth of December, 1906, he passed to the great beyond, and his body was
interred in Murphy’s Cemetery, beside that of his devoted wife, had had
preceded him to the grave many years before, January 13, 1870.
The demise of Mr. Thomas was keenly
felt by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the county, for his
strong character and winning personality had endeared him to all who in one way or another knew him or had dealings with
him. His mind was virile and enriched,
and he loved to recall the great and many changes which had occurred in
California during his residence here. At
a period when there was a dearth of the conveniences of life, and when a
lawless element often held sway, he helped to develop the mineral resources of the
country, and to make straight and easy the pathways for those who followed
after. His life history, therefore, as
it has already been well said by one historical writer, if written in detail,
would prove most interesting and entertaining, since it would reflect clearly
the stirring picture of those early, eventful days. The name of Edward Thomas, therefore, will
always be inscribed high on the roll of California’s honored pioneer citizens,
for he was long and most honorably identified with the founding of the Pacific
state. A staunch Democrat most of his
life, he was nevertheless such a broadminded citizen that he was above mere
partisanship, hence his influence as an exponent of civic pride and honor was
broader and more lasting, and it is pleasant to think of him as a patriot who
still moves the affairs of men.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
429-430. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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