When John Oliver Thomas was born on 25 October 1858, in Cedar City, Iron, Utah, United States, his father, Thomas Thomas, was 38 and his mother, Martha Evans, was 25. He married Anna Avarilla Davis on 30 November 1896, in Butte, Silver Bow, Montana, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 3 daughters. He lived in Boomer Township, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States for about 15 years and Brandon Township, Madison, Montana, United States in 1900. He died on 25 December 1939, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 81, and was buried in Inglewood, Los Angeles, California, United States.
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1858–1939 Male
1877–1954 Female
1898–1898 Male
1899–1983 Female
1901–1974 Female
1903–1974 Male
1906–1974 Male
+2 More Children
1819–1877 Male
1833–1877 Female
1854–1856 Male
1855–1868 Male
1857–1917 Male
1858–1939 Male
1860–1939 Male
+7 More Children
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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