Yolo
County
Biographies
CHARLES D. THOMAS
Early in life Charles D. Thomas
manifested the energy, ambition and self-reliance so essential to advancement
in all lines of endeavor and these qualities have brought him rapidly to the front
in business circles of Woodland, which numbers him among its successful young
realtors. He was born in Canon City,
Fremont County, Colorado May 28, 1893, and is indebted to the public school
system of Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Washington, for the educational advantages
which he enjoyed. His first money was
earned selling newspapers on the streets of Boise when a lad of twelve years
and later he was a clerk in the office of the Great Northern Railroad Company
at Marcus, Washington. In 1917 he enlisted
in the United States Army, joining the field artillery force attached to the
Forty-first Division, and later was transferred to the One Hundred and
Forty-first Division, and later was transferred to the One Hundred and
Forty-sixth Regiment of Artillery, equipped with millimeter guns. He was sent overseas and while in France saw
active service on the western front, participating in the combat in the Marne
district and in the St. Mihiel and Chateau Thierry drives. Although he faced death many times during the
eighteen months he was on active duty on the western front, Mr. Thomas came out
of the war without injury and after the signing of the Armistice he was with
the Army of Occupation in Germany. In
1919 he returned to the United States, arriving in San Francisco in July of
that year, and resumed the life of a civilian.
He joined the clerical force of the Sutter Basin Company, an
organization engaged in land development work and the promotion of irrigation
projects, and in October, 1919, he was transferred to Knights Landing, in Yolo
County. For eight years he remained with
the company, gaining valuable experience, which he decided to use for his own
advantage when in 1927 he resigned to embark in the real estate business in
Woodland. Thoroughly acquainted with
every phase of the trade, he prospered from the outset and in the intervening
period of three years has negotiated a number of important transfers of
property. He also deals in insurance and
derives a good income from this line of activity as well as from his realty
transactions, for he devotes much thought to the business, which is carefully
and capably managed.
Mr. Thomas was married to Miss
Lucille Adams, who was born in San Francisco, and both are prominent in the
social life of Woodland. From his school
days Mr. Thomas has been a football and baseball enthusiast and greatly enjoys
athletic sports. He belongs to Yolo
Post, No. 77, of the American Legion, to Woodland Lodge, No. 1299, of the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and to the state and national real estate
and insurance associations. From boyhood
he has been an earnest, conscientious worker, making his opportunities count
for the utmost, and his success is well deserved. His interests are closely allied with those
of Woodland, which accounts him a valuable addition to its citizenship because
of his progressive ideas, his public spirit and his business capacity and
probity.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 291-292. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County
Biographies