When James Forrest Thomas was born on 15 January 1888, in Missouri, United States, his father, David Beaver Thomas, was 39 and his mother, Terestins Cornelia Millender, was 28. He married Helen Frances Zelt on 10 February 1918, in Pierce, Washington, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons. He lived in United States in 1949 and Chino, San Bernardino, California, United States in 1950. He died on 12 July 1962, at the age of 74, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Lone Oak Township, Bates, Missouri, United States.
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1888–1962 Male
1893–1988 Female
1920– Male
1921–1998 Male
1926–2013 Male
1848–1923 Male
1859–1922 Female
1880–1964 Female
1882– Male
1883–1946 Male
1885–1957 Female
1888–1962 Male
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English, French, Walloon, Breton, German, Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Greek, West Indian (mainly Haiti and Jamaica), and African (mainly Tanzania and Nigeria): from the personal name Thomas, of Biblical (New Testament) origin, from Aramaic t’ōm’a, a byname meaning ‘twin’. It was borne by one of the disciples of Christ, known for his scepticism about Christ's resurrection (John 20:24–29). The Th- spelling is organic, the initial letter of the name in the Greek New Testament being a theta. The English pronunciation as t rather than th- is the result of French influence from an early date. In Britain, the surname is widely distributed throughout the country, but especially common in Wales and Cornwall. In North America, the English form of the surname has absorbed many cognates from other languages (e.g. Assyrian/Chaldean or Arabic Toma and Tuma , Albanian Toma and Thoma , and Slavic surnames listed in 3 below), and their patronymics and other derivatives (e.g. Polish Tomaszewski and Slovenian Tomažič; see Tomazic ). In France, this surname is most common in the Vosges and Brittany. The name Thomas is also found among Christians in southern India (compare Machan , Mammen , and Oommen ), but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames, the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US. This surname is also very common among African Americans.
Native American (e.g. Navajo): adoption of the English personal name Thomas (see 1 above) as a surname.
Germanized or Americanized form of Polish Tomas , Tomasz, and Tomaś, Sorbian Tomaš (see also 4 below), Croatian Tomaš and Tomas , Slovenian Tomaš and Tomaž, Czech and Slovak Tomáš, all meaning ‘Thomas’.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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