My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES H. THOMAS, McCracken County. Among the first families to settle in the Purchase District was that of Frank Thomas, among whose descendants are numbered several of the most useful citizens of western Kentucky. Frank Thomas was born in the Isle of Man, of Scotch-Irish ancestors, but came to the United States in early life. In 1830 he moved from Henry County, Ky., to a farm near Milburn, Hickman County (now Ballard County), where he spent the remainder of a useful life, and where he died in 1874 at the advanced age of ninety years. Frank Thomas was a man who was fearless in his defense of right; a man of strong will-power; open and frank in his views, but charitable and kind in his treatment to all. He was an old time Whig, and during the existence of that party was a pronounced leader, and was also a consistent member of the Masonic order. He reared a family of eight children, of whom William, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the third. William was married after his removal to Ballard County to Miss Catherine, a daughter of Richard Valandingham, of Owen County, Ky. William Thomas was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and influence. He, too, was a Whig in his political preferences, and by that party was elected to the lower house of the Kentucky Legislature. He held the position of colonel of Kentucky militia, and, though devoted to the pursuits of agriculture, was a man of no ordinary information, and possessed of broad views. He had a family of eight children, viz.: Richard, Mary, Elizabeth, Fannie, George, Charles H., Norborn and Susan Thomas. He died in 1866, as did also his wife. Charles H. Thomas was born in Ballard County, Ky., in 1847, and received his preparatory education in the Milburn and Lovelaceville Academies, and afterward entered the Kentucky University, where he completed his studies. After leaving school he read law in the office of Thomas H. Corbett and in 1869 was admitted to practice. Though a young man, Charles H. Thomas has already established a fair reputation as an able lawyer. While a resident of Ballard County he was appointed by the governor to the office of police judge of Blandville. In 1874 he was elected to the office of county attorney for Ballard, and in 1880 was elected to the very responsible position of common wealth’s attorney for the eight counties included in the First Judicial District of Kentucky. This office he now holds, the duties of which he is discharging with marked success, and to the satisfaction of the district. He is a faithful member of the Christian Church, of the Masonic order and I. O. O. F. Mr. Thomas was married in 1876 in Louisville, Ky., to Miss Bettie R. Taylor. Their children are Angie Lee, Charles Hugh and Catharine Elner Thomas.