William F. Thomas, son of D. J. and Mary Jane (Paxton) Thomas, was born in Hancock county, Indiana, in 1861. His father was a native of North Carolina and came with his parents to Indiana in early life. The grandfather located with his family in Vernon township, Hancock county, where he entered forty acres of land, and soon after entered another eighty, and engaged in farming. Here they had their home, and here the elder Thomas and his wife both died.

D. J. Thomas lived and labored on this farm in his early years, and did his full share of the arduous work of clearing the land of the heavy growth of timber and getting the land in condition for cultivation. His education was limited, not only because of the limited school advantages of those early times but chiefly because of the necessity of work on the farm. He lived on the farm his entire life, except about two years when he was a resident of Fortville. He had at one time two hundred acres of land, one hundred and twenty acres of this was the original entry made by his father. His wife was a Dunkard and they had eight children.

William F. Thomas was educated in the schools of Vernon township and has always followed the vocation of a farmer. He owns forty acres on which he built his residence and other buildings, and farms this and another forty acres which he rents from his mother. He was married in February, 1886, to Callie Sewell. To this union the following children were born: Avery C., Millie Elsie, Bertha Bell, Roy Albert, Carl and Ora B.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Page 1073-1074.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI November 12, 2001.

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