Brief Life History of Orthelle M.
When Orthelle M. Thomas was born on 8 September 1913, in Malad, Oneida, Idaho, United States, her father, Edward Evans Thomas, was 29 and her mother, Stella Louella McClurg, was 19. She married Arthur Merlin Stokes on 11 December 1934, in San Mateo, San Mateo, California, United States. She lived in Salt Lake City Ward 6, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States in 1940 and Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States in 1950. She died on 21 November 1991, in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California, United States, at the age of 78, and was buried in Loma Vista Memorial Park, Fullerton, Orange, California, United States.
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Family Time Line
Sources (12)
- Orthelle Stakes, "United States Census, 1950"
- Legacy NFS Source: Orthelle Thomas - Individual or family possessions: Family genealogies: birth-name: Orthelle Thomas
- Orthelle M. Thomas Stokes, "Find A Grave Index"
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
World Events (8)
1916 · The First woman elected into the US Congress
Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman to hold a federal office position in the House of Representatives, and remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.
1916 · No-Ni-Shee Arch
The No-Ni-Shee Arch was a temporary archway near the intersection of Main Street and South Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. The archway was built in 1916 for the Wizard of the Wasatch festival. The name No-Ni-Shee was derived from a mythical American Indian Salt Princess. Her tears caused the Great Salt Lake to be salty. The arch was dedicated to her and sprayed with salt water so that salt eventually crystallized on Main Street. The Wizard’s carnivals enlivened Utah’s summers for several years. The last Wizard of the Wasatch carnival was held in 1916, on the eve of World War I.
1934 · Alcatraz Island Becomes Federal Penitentiary
Alcatraz Island officially became Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on August 11, 1934. The island is situated in the middle of frigid water and strong currents of the San Francisco Bay, which deemed it virtually inescapable. Alcatraz became known as the toughest prison in America and was seen as a “last resort prison.” Therefore, Alcatraz housed some of America’s most notorious prisoners such as Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud. Due to the exorbitant cost of running the prison, and the deterioration of the buildings due to salt spray, Alcatraz Island closed as a penitentiary on March 21, 1963.
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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