John Thomas

Brief Life History of John

When John Thomas was born on 11 June 1815, in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany, his father, John Thomas Sr., was 28 and his mother, Anna Barbara Fink, was 24. He had at least 2 sons and 4 daughters with Margaretha E. Duffla. He died on 27 March 1905, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, at the age of 89.

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Family Time Line

John Thomas
1815–1905
Margaretha E. Duffla
1818–1890
William Thomas
1838–1922
Julia Thomas
1848–
Elizabeth Thomas
1850–
Louisa Thomas
1857–1914
Mary Ann Thomas
1842–1904
John Thomas Jr.
1845–

Sources (1)

  • John Thomas, "United States Census, 1860"

World Events (8)

1819 · Panic! of 1819

With the Aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the global market for trade was down. During this time, America had its first financial crisis and it lasted for only two years. 

1820 · Making States Equal

The Missouri Compromise helped provide the entrance of Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state into the United States. As part of the compromise, slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30′ parallel, excluding Missouri.

1846

U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.

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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