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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of Amos B. THOMAS 

Pages 855-857, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin 

[Surnames: BERRY, GREENLEAF, HART, McCALL, PORTER, STETSON, STREET, THOMAS] 

    
AMOS B. THOMAS. Beyond a doubt the warp and woof of life is made up of strands of good and evil fortune, here dark, there light, but in the eyes of Christian faith it is a gladsome whole. Such indeed it has proven to Amos B. Thomas and his most worthy wife, who on Thanksgiving, in 1888, having been permitted to walk hand in hand to the milestone that marks a golden wedding, celebrated that happy event in a highly fitting way at their beautiful residence at Farmington. 
    
Our subject settled in Farmington as far back as 1837, having experienced all the hardships of the pioneer days. His birth occurred March 3, 1812, at Mt. Desert Island, Me., he being the son of Abraham and Jane (Berry) Thomas, natives of the Pine Tree State. The father was a seafaring man in his early days, and was for awhile captain in the coasting trade, but finally located on a farm at Eden, Me., where he paid the highest taxes in the township. During the War of 1812 he was Captain of Militia and acted in defense of the American vessels in the adjacent harbors. He was a Representative when Maine was a district of Massachusetts. He died in 1838, having attained his fifty-third year, and his wife lived to be seventy-five years of age. They were the parents of four children - Amos B., Matilda, Isaac H. and Bloomfield. 
    
The original progenitor of the Thomas family in America was John Thomas, Jr., who came from Wales in 1667 and settled at Providence, R. I. In tracing the direct line of descent we find a John Thomas in the two succeeding generations and then a Nicholas Thomas, who was the grandfather of our subject. Nicholas Thomas was born in Nova Scotia and served in the Revolutionary War under Col. John Allen. He was captured by the British and placed in prison at Halifax, whence he made his escape by means of a sort of saw made from an old knife. He was very active in religious work, for years held the office of Deacon in the Baptist Church and was to some extent engaged in ministerial work. The Thomas family was quite prominent in England. The wife of our subject has a beautiful painting on brass that displays the Thomas coat-of-arms, beneath which is inscribed "Thomas, Seal Clerk of the Exchecquer to Queen Elizabeth. Granted 9th of July, 1599." 
    
The education of our subject was somewhat limited, owing to the times in which he lived, but he added to the knowledge obtained in school by persistent study and reading and a keen observation of what was going on around him. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to a house and ship joiner and after learning the trade, at the age of twenty-one he went to Savannah, Ga. There he worked at his trade and finished up many a stateroom and cabin in mahogany. He remained in the South a year, during which time the Seminole War took place and he was drafted into the army, serving several months. Returning to his native State Mr. Thomas engaged at his trade in Ellsworth, but in 1837 came to Illinois, during his journey hither taking his first railroad ride, from Boston to Worcester. He had an offer of a soldier's claim for one hundred and sixty acres that lay in Farmington Township, this county, and came west to look it up. He, however, did not decide to buy it, but worked energetically at his trade and after a time bought one hundred and twenty acres which he gradually improved. Several of the early stores and residences of Farmington were the work of his hands and so too was the old Presbyterian Church, now torn down, and that occupied by the Congregationalists. 
    
Owing to the fact of his being a strong and active Abolitionist, Mr. Thomas had much to encounter that was far from pleasant at the hands of his political enemies. But possessing that strength of character that believes in right at whatever cost, he nobly stood his ground, both in this and in the matter of strict temperance. He assisted hundreds of slaves to make their escape and in every way performed what he conceived to be a Christian's duty, although subjecting himself to a heavy penalty. But such was the purity of his own life and his kindness of heart that all were forced to respect him and agree that he acted only from moral convictions. In 1840 he voted for James G. Birney, the first liberty candidate, later cast a ballot for John C. Fremont and in more recent years has helped to elect Lincoln, Grant, Hays, Garfield and Harrison. 
    
Our subject, seeing a career before him, thought best to share it with a loving helpmate, and this he found in the schoolmistress of Farmington - Miss Mary Hart - whom he married on Thanksgiving Day, 1838. Their marriage ceremony was one of the social events of this neighborhood, and was attended by many of the prosperous people in the country around. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Jeremiah Porter, Farmington's first pastor, and also Chicago's first pastor, his wife being the first teacher in that city - in those days only a military trading post. Miss Hart had attended the district schools in her Eastern home and the academies at Goshen and Westfield, Conn. and had taught in that State for a time before her parents came West. She was twenty-two years old when the removal took place and in Farmington she taught a private school and also prior to her marriage was a teacher in Schuyler County. Her early life here presented a great contrast to that of her earlier years, the little log house and all the surroundings being vastly different from the roomy dwelling and more advanced civilization which she had left. She and her brothers and sisters made the best of their surroundings, however, and did not allow the change in their circumstances to interfere with their happiness. 
    
The parents of Mrs. Thomas were Henry and Ann Elizabeth (Street) Hart, natives of Connecticut and Nova Scotia respectively. The father was an agriculturist and later engaged in the manufacture of clocks. He visited this section in 1834 and bought a half section of land upon which he built a 12 x 14 house in which he took up his residence in 1835. The family came from Akron, Ohio, in wagons, sending their goods round by the water route. Although there were but eight houses between them and Peoria and wolves howled around the door at night, they looked forward with bright hopes to the future and lived to see a great change in the country. The family was twelve in number, bearing the names of Elizabeth L., William, Mary, Catherine, Minerva, Margaret, Luther, Henry H., Calvin, Rachel Louise, Edward and David F. 
    
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thomas lived in Farmington fifteen years and then moved onto the farm. Mr. Thomas was engaged in contracting and building, keeping a number of men in his employ, and consequently his household was very large. 
   
 In the spring of 1888 he retired to Farmington, taking possession of the most elegant residence in the place, where he and his faithful wife are enjoying all that heart can wish of material comfort and friendly regard. They have been the happy parents of three children, viz: Elizabeth J., Henrietta Helen and Frederick, deceased. Elizabeth if the wife of Dr. Henry McCall, has one child, and lives in Farmington; her daughter, Harriet, married Elmer Stetson, and lives in Sioux City, Iowa, and has one child - Guy. Henrietta Helen is the wife of Henry B. Greenleaf, of Farmington. 
    
Mr. Thomas is a member of the Congregational Church and has been a Deacon for a great many years. Prior to the organization of the society in Farmington he belonged to the Old Presbyterian Church and held the office of Elder. He has done much to advance the interests of Farmington and has accomplished more good than a biographical sketch, however lengthy, could possibly recount. He contributed liberally to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and also to the Illinois Central. He is one of the few men who have never used tobacco or intoxicants, or sued or been sued. Both himself and wife are very much beloved in this community where so many useful years have been spent by them.