Brief Life History of Mary Elizabeth
When Mary Elizabeth Thomas was born on 21 February 1854, in Lone Oak Township, Bates, Missouri, United States, her father, George Washington Thomas, was 44 and her mother, Mary Elizabeth Beaver, was 37. She married William Harmon Gerkin on 1 November 1875, in Bates, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. She lived in Miami, Linn, Kansas, United States in 1865 and Missouri, United States in 1870. She died on 15 May 1936, in Trenton, Christian, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Edgewood Cemetery, Trenton, Christian, Kentucky, United States.
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Family Time Line
Sources (14)
- M E Thomas in household of James Requa, "Kansas State Census, 1865"
- Mrs. Mary E. Gerkin, "Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1965"
- Mary Eliz Thomas in entry for William Harmon Gerkin, "Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966"
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
World Events (8)
1855
Historical Boundaries: 1855: Linn, Kansas Territory, United States 1861: Linn, Kansas, United States
1861
Kentucky sided with the Union during the Civil War, even though it is a southern state.
1884
Historical Boundaries: 1884: Linn, Kansas, United States
Name Meaning
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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