Alfred A. Thomas

As printed in 1909

ALFRED A. THOMAS.

Alfred A. Thomas, a well known member of the bar of Dayton, was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1845. He is a son of Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Thomas, who was born in England in 1812: graduated at Miami University in 1834; removed to Dayton in 1858; and who died when professor in Lane Seminary in 1875. Dr. Thomas was a useful and revered pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Dayton and brought about and completed its fine, stone church edifice, at the corner of Second and Ludlow streets.

Alfred A. Thomas passed through the Dayton district and high schools; attended Miami University two years; and was graduated at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in 1867. He then taught two years in the Central high school here, studied law with Judge J. A. Jordan, and was admitted to the Dayton bar in 1869.

During the next twenty years, he practiced his profession in this city, was two terms a member of the board of education; three times elected city solicitor, which position he is said to have filled “with distinction was for ten years active in politics as a member of the local and state democratic committees; was one of the owners who installed the district telegraph, and the telephone service in this city; was president of the southern Ohio Coal & Iron Company, which was the main reliance of John H. and Frank J. Patterson in their large coal mining enterprises; and was general solicitor of the Toledo, Delphos & Burlington Railroad Company, now in large part The Toledo, St. Louis & Western. Under Mr. Thomas’ legal direction the railroad right of way was procured from Dayton to Lebanon, Ohio, from Wellston to Ironton, Ohio, and from central Indiana through Illinois to East St. Louis, which in some cases involved condemnation by legal proceedings of twenty miles of right of way.

In connection with Colonel D. B. Corwin, Mr. Thomas organized the Fifth Street Railroad Company and built its lines, also including the National Avenue to the Soldiers Home, and the electric railroad thereon, which was the first electric railroad built and operated in Dayton. Mr. Thomas was president of the Fifth Street Railroad Company for eight years and until his removal to Chicago in 1887. He was active and influential also in bringing about its advantageous consolidation with the Third Street Railroad Company into the present City Railway Company.

At Chicago, for ten years, Alfred A. Thomas was general solicitor and legal counsel for The Bell Telephone interests of that city; and as an avocation devoted some time and money to developing and operating a large farm in Brown county, Minnesota, and rental residence property on the Chicago north shore, all of which he still owns.

In 1898, Mr. Thomas returned to Dayton and became general counsel and secretary of the National Cash Register Company. During the next seven years he was active in the management of its legal affairs and organizations, both in this country and in Europe. Resigning his connection with this corporation in 1906, he has since been a member of the law firm of Thomas & Bronson.

In 1880, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Jennie L. Head. Their children are: Thomas H., who was graduated at Harvard and then a tutor there; Miss Gertrude; and Felix, who is a senior at Cornell.

As printed in History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.