Jerome B. Thomas

As printed in 1897

JEROME B. THOMAS, who at present occupies the distinguished position of governor of the central branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dayton, Ohio, was born in Luzerne county, Pa., March 26, 1835, and is a son of Isaac and Lydia A. (Beers) Thomas, the former of whom was born in Vermont in January, 1809, and the latter in Washington county, N. Y., in 1816. * These parents, after a married life of over sixty years, died in Wyoming, Stark county, Ill., in 1895, having removed there from the Keystone state in 1844.

Isaac Thomas was of Welsh extraction and descended from a family who established a colony in New England in the early colonial days. His early life was passed on a farm, but his mature years were devoted to merchandizing. To his marriage were born five sons and four daughters, the eldest of whom is our subject; Charles C. and Lewis W. were gallant soldiers in the late Civil war, and now reside in Illinois and Colorado, respectively;

William D. is a resident of Missouri; Allen E. is president of the Ohio Rake company, with his home in Dayton, Ohio; Mary W. is the wife of Dr. A. M. Pierce, an ex-surgeon of the late war and a practicing physician of Wyoming, Ill.; Fanny W. is married to Rev. W. W. Woolley, of the Methodist Episcopal church, Rock Island, Ill., district; Olive E. resides in Boston, Mass., and Kate A. lives in Wyoming, Ill. — the last two named being unmarried.

Col. Jerome B. Thomas is an educated physician, having first studied medicine in the office of Dr. William Chamberlain, of Toulon, Ill.; he afterward graduated from the Jefferson Medical college, of Philadelphia, Pa., and in the same year, 1858, entered upon the active practice of his profession in Wyoming, Ill., where success attended him until, at the opening of the Civil war, he was, on the 3d of March, 1862, appointed assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth regiment, Illinois volunteer infantry, and served in the army of the Ohio and the army of the Cumberland throughout the war. After the first year he was detached from his regiment to serve in the responsible position of surgeon in charge of government hospitals in Bowling Green, Ky., and in Gallatin, Tenn., where he also served as acting medical director on the staff of Gen. Paine; later, he was appointed chief executive officer of the Cumberland United States army general hospital, at Nashville, Tenn. At the close of hostilities he engaged in the practice of his profession in Wyandotte, Kas., until the fall of 1867, when he was appointed treasurer of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, at Dayton, Ohio, which position he held until the death of Gen. M. R. Patrick, governor, in July, 1888, when he succeeded to his present important office of governor of that institution.

Col. Thomas was most happily married, in

Illinois, in 1860, to Miss Harriet N. R. Tasker, a native of New Bedford, Mass., and this union has been blessed with three children, viz: Jerome B., Jr., a physician of New York city; Alice and Carlotta W., both at home and both liberally educated. The son received his literary education in the university of Michigan, from which famous institution of learning he graduated with the degree of A. B.; his professional education was acquired at Long Island (N. Y.) College hospital, where he became so proficient that he is still retained as an instructor therein.

Col. Thomas stands high in the Masonic fraternity, having attained the thirty-second degree, beyond which very few Masons advance; he is also a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion, of the United

States, and a charter member of post No. 5, Grand Army of the Republic, at the home. In this connection it may not be improper to add a brief historical sketch of this noble institution. The central branch national home for D. V. S. was first located at Columbus, Ohio, in March, 1867, and in the fall of the same year was removed to the present location near Dayton. It was the second home established under the provisions of the revised statutes, section 4830, approved March 21, 1866. Previous to its becoming a national home, it was operated for a short time at Columbus under the jurisdiction of the state of Ohio, as a state soldiers’ home. We believe the only officer now connected with the home who assisted in the original organization and who was transferred to Dayton with it, is Mrs. E. L. Miller, the matron, who has spent the greater part of her life in ministering to the wants of the disabled soldiers, having been during the entire war, 1861-5, connected with hospital and sanitary commission work.

In 1867 the home grounds comprised 35 5. 25 acres — costing $45,700. In 1869, 30 acres were added, at a cost of $3,600; in 1873, 101.07 acres were added at a cost of $19,190; in 1879, 44.45 acres were added, at a cost of $8,000; in 1880, 31.94 acres were added at a cost of $4,791; in 1881, 13.41 acres were added at a cost of $3,084. 30; and in 1886, 1.35 acres were added, at a cost of $1,080.

The citizens of Dayton contributed $20,000 as part payment for land, which money was applied to general purposes. The total cost to the United States, of 577.47 acres, was $85,- 445.30. The buildings are valued at $1,339,- 862.17. The average cost per capita, for maintenance in the various branches, for the year ending June 30, 1894, was $127.45.

The present official staff of the central branch is as follows: Governor, Col. J. B. Thomas; treasurer, May. Milton McCoy; quartermaster, Capt. James C. Michie; commissary of subsistence, May. Alvin S. Galbreath; assistant adjutant-general, May. Carl Berlin; inspector, Col. John W. Byron; surgeon, Dr. D. C. Huffman; matron, Mrs. E. L. Miller; Protestant chaplain, Rev. Ezekiel Light, D. D.; Catholic chaplain, Rev. C. S. Kemper, D. D.

The former governors of the central branch were as follows: May. E. E. Tracy, first governor, appointed April 12, 1867; Gen. Timothy Ingraham, Appointed December 6, 1867; Col. E. F. Brown, appointed October 8, 1868, now inspector-general of the national homes for D. V. S.; Gen. M. R. Patrick, appointed September 23, 1880, and died in office, in 1888; Col. Jerome B. Thomas now being in command as his successor.

As printed in Centennial portrait and biographical record of the city of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with the biographi (1897). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.