My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Reuben S. Thomas, farmer and horticulturist, of Benton County, Ark., is a Culpeper County Virginian, born in 1832. He is a son of James and grandson of David Thomas, who was born in Wales. James Thomas was born in Virginia, and was married there to Lodama Tuller, who was also a native of that State, and with his family moved to Ohio about 1835. They located in Franklin County, where they both eventually died, the father’s death occurring in 1853, at the age of fifty-seven years, and the mother’s in 1884, at the age of eighty-four years. Reuben S. is the sixth of their seven children, and resided in Ohio until he attained his eighteenth year, when he determined to seek his fortune in the far West. He lived in the Rocky Mountains, where he was engaged in mining, until 1880, when he came to Arkansas and settled down on a farm in Benton County. His mining ventures met with varying success, his last venture being in Pima County, Arizona, where he sunk about $22,000. He afterward located in Maricopa County, and in 1877 was elected to the office of sheriff, and so efficient an officer did he make, and so fairly did he do his duty, that in 1881 he was elected to the State Legislature from that county, serving two years. On coming to Arkansas he purchased property, and is now a member of the Northwestern Real Estate Association, and is also agent for the Little Rock Fire Insurance Company and the California Fire Insurance Company of San Francisco. He was married in Arkansas to Miss Sarah A. Dalton, who was born in Cobb County, Ga. They have one child, Lola. Mr. Thomas is a warm Democrat, and is a Chapter Mason.