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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
~ January 5, 1960
By H. W. Strawbridge

Hezekiah Thomas

Hezekiah Thomas, a son of Samuel & Elizabeth Rote Thomas, was born in Pike Township, Clearfield County, Pa., on Aug. 17, 1833. He was the fifth of a total of ten children. When Hezekiah was about eight years old, his father, mother and family moved to a farm of 150 acres in Oakland Township, Venango County. It was situated a mile and a half northwest of Dempseytown. Here Hezekiah lived his youthful years and attended the common school of Oakland Township.

On Jan. 27, 1853, he was married to Miss Alexina Evaline Eddy of near Diamond. The wedding was performed by Rev. Edwin Hull, pastor of the Wallaceville Methodist Church. Witnesses to the wedding were William P. DeLong and W.T. Roup. Alexina was a daughter of Abiel A. & Millicent Tripp Eddy, and was born in Turin, Lewis County, N.Y., on Aug. 29, 1829. Her family arrived in Plum township when she was around 12 years old. Her mother died March 5, 1848, on the old place that formerly stood one-half mile west of the Fairview Methodist Church. She was buried in the now long abandoned Alcorn Cemetery on the Stone Springhouse Road.

Hezekiah and Alexina lived in a log house in Wallaceville where all their children were born. Hezekiah's lifelong occupation was that of a blacksmith and he had one of the first blacksmith ships in that once busy town.

Some descendants of Hezekiah Thomas can still recall hearing him giving a historic quote - as far as the town of Wallaceville is concerned. He said he could remember when Wallaceville did more business than Oil City!

Hezekiah and Alexina were longtime members of the Methodist Church in Wallaceville. In fact Alexina was a charter member, dating back to 1851. Hezekiah probably joined after their marriage. He was one of the earliest class leaders of that church. He was succeeded about the mid-1860s by Robert Grove. In 1877 Hezekiah became a steward in the church. Record indicates that he witnessed many baptismal services in the early years.

The couple had eight children, who with their dates of births were: Millicent Alida Thomas, Feb. 16, 1854; David Francisco Thomas, July 31, 1855; Onissa Jane Thomas, Dec. 25, 1856; Valorus Eddy Thomas, June 29, 1858; Elizabeth Capitola Thomas, Jan. 30, 1860; John Miller Thomas, March 16, 1862; Adelbert Meade Thomas, Sept. 24, 1863; and Willie Vernon Thomas, July 19, 1865.

Alida, the oldest, was married to George W. Fagundus of Franklin in June 1874. He later died and she married a second time to Jerome Kightlinger of Diamond. To the first marriage was born a daughter, Mrs. Addie Spratt of Almond, N.Y. The second marriage saw the adoption of a daughter, Mrs. Lulu Kimes of Reidsburg, Clarion County. Both daughters are now deceased. Hezekiah and Alexina mainly reared Addie after her father’s death. Mrs. Alida Kightlinger died in Oil City on Jan. 6, 1923.

Francisco, or "Frank" as he was always know, was married to Miss Emeline Shriver of Diamond on March 6, 1884. Frank first taught school in Ohio, then farmed at Diamond. He also carried mail at Diamond for a few years. They had three children: Mrs. Ida Hill of Diamond then Dempseytown at last. Mrs. Laura August of Titusville and Herbert C. Thomas of Diamond. All are deceased. However the spouses of two, Floyd B. August of Titusville and Mrs. Florence Thomas of Meadville, gave a considerable amount of information towards this sketch. Mrs. Frank Thomas died in 1909 and he later married Miss Katherine Mark of Dempseytown. He died near Dempseytown on Sept. 25, 1925 following a few weeks’ illness.

Onissa was married to P.W. McClelland of Plum Township on June 22, 1876. They mainly farmed. They had lived at Wallaceville, Greenville and Franklin. They had the following nine children: Miller McClelland (deceased) of Wallaceville, Mrs. Lena Warner (deceased) of Oil City, Vernon McClelland (deceased) of Youngstown, Ohio, Bert McClelland (deceased) of Franklin, Mrs. Daisy Wells, Lloyd McClelland, William McClelland, George McClelland and Mrs. Gladys VanNess, all of Youngstown, Ohio. Fred Warner, a son of the late Mrs. Lena Warner, lives in Titusville today. P.W. McClelland died in 1908. Onissa died of a stroke in Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 6, 1923 and was buried at Sunville.

Valorus, commonly called "Lole" Thomas, was married to Miss Hettie Tipton on Jan. 11, 1883. Lole was a laborer, and they lived in northeastern Plum Township. They had four children who were: Mrs. Pearl Noel (deceased) of Reno, Pa., Mrs. Edna Walz of Oil City, Mrs. Lela Fralick (deceased) of Oil City and Oscar Thomas of Franklin. Lole Thomas died of paralysis on Dec. 11, 1898, having been the first of the eight children to pass away. His widow died in 1916.

Capitola was married to John R. Thomas of Sunville on Feb. 10, 1898. They lived a year west of Diamond, then spent the remainder of their married life at Sunville. Mr. Thomas was engaged in farming and carpentering. They had one son, Ira E. Thomas of Sunville, but presently living in Titusville. John R. Thomas died in 1917 and Mrs. Thomas died Sept. 27, 1948, having been the last survivor of her brothers and sisters.

John M. Thomas was married to Miss Corena Guild of Cherrytree Township on Sept. 9, 1886 at Franklin. John's lifelong occupation was blacksmithing. They lived in Chapmanville where he blacksmithed, then moved to Oil City where he continued in that trade and spent the rest of his life. John and Corena had one daughter, Mrs. Kitty Payne, who presently lives in Washington, D.C. Corena died in 1903 and John died of a kidney ailment in Oil City on Nov. 25, 1924.

Delbert was married to Miss Loretta August of Diamond on July 3, 1886, at Diamond. They lived west of Diamond until 1910, when they moved to New York state. Delbert was a farmer and a laborer. They had six children: Mrs. Electa Thal of Buffalo, N.Y., Victor L. Thomas of Grand Valley, Mrs. Millie Miller, Floyd Thomas, Mrs. Leona Peebles and Mrs. Elva Thal, all of Buffalo. All are deceased except Victor, who also maintains a home at Westfield, N.Y. Delbert Thomas died at Portland, N.Y., on July 18, 1911 as a result of sunstroke.

Will was married to Miss Jeannetta Sheets on Nov. 19, 1893. They lived in Oil City during their married life. Will worked in the shops for years, and was last employed by the National Transit Company. He was a Spanish American War Veteran. They had five children, all of whom are living and are: Mrs. Evaline York of Watkins Glen, Mrs. Roberta Nestark of Buffalo, N.Y., Mrs. Adelaide Gates and Henry M. Thomas of Oil City and Mrs. Marle Groger of Franklin. Mrs. Groger has a complete Family Bible record of the names and dates. Will Thomas died in Oil City on Jan. 26, 1942, after an illness of several weeks. Mrs. Thomas died about a year later, on Jan. 9, 1943.

It was probably about 1880 that the Hezekiah Thomas family moved from Wallaceville to Diamond, in the Homan Tracy house north of the community. They stayed here awhile then moved into Diamond proper, in the house now owned by Mrs. Olive Thompson. While here, Hezekiah blacksmithed in Gresham too. While living there his wife, Alexina, died of paralysis. She was buried in the Wallaceville cemetery. Alexina was a busy housewife and a good neighbor lady. She used to go to homes of neighbor ladies to help piece quilts and such like. She was known to stay at the home of Mrs. Ellen Strawbridge, east of Diamond for two or three days and help wit the work. Alexina also raised a nice garden every year.

Hezekiah was well liked and had a spotless reputation. He was commonly call "Ki" Thomas by his numerous fiends and relatives. He probably weighed 190 pounds and was a rather large and stout man. He was jovial, even tempered and a good visitor. A peculiarity about him was that he liked to eat his dessert first at meals. His ability at blacksmithing was superb. His home was always hospitable to ministers, friends and relatives.

The entire Hezekiah Thomas family members were great lovers of music. Hezekiah, himself, was a find singer and he directed the old Wallaceville Church choir for years. He also played the violin and bass viol. After he moved to Diamond he attended the Diamond U.B. Church. He used to sing in that church with Mrs. Almira Proper. Their harmony sounded beautiful. This happened prior to 1882, because that's when Mrs. Proper died.

The one granddaughter, Mrs. Daisey Wells of Youngstown, O., recalls that when her Grandfather Thomas visited the McClelland home she would immediately put a violin in his hands. He would say, "Oh Daisy, these old fingers won’t work anymore." That was years after he had quit playing. Mrs. Wells would hum the tunes, he would warm the violin up, and soon everything would come back to him. They would play for hours. Each one of Hezekiah’s sons could play a musical instrument and sing. Frank, John and Will played violins, Lole played a horn and Delbert played the cello. Will played the violin left-handed. The men of the family used to play for the large harvest home picnics. The daughters also sang and played the organ.

After Hezekiah's wife died he moved into the home of his son, Frank, just west of Diamond. This is presently the home of the Merle Reynolds family. Here Hezekiah lived the remainder of his life and ran a blacksmith shop for years. In his shope there were several stringers overhead, and in these many spikes were driven. Hanging on the spikes were quantities of horseshoes of different sizes. Hezekiah had a long wire handle with which he would reach up and take off the correct size of shoe that he wanted. Quite often teamsters had trouble getting up the hill east of Diamond on slippery days due to their horses not having been shod. They would turn around and drive back to "Ki's" shop and get their horses shod. At times there would be three teams waiting in line while another team was being shod.

Hezekiah made an occasional piece of furniture too. He made a little rocker for his grandson, the late Herbert C. Thomas. A great-grandson, Arthur Thomas of Greenville, now has this rocker.

After his last removal to Diamond Hezekiah transferred his church membership to the Chapmanville Methodist Church. Hezekiah died in an upstairs bedroom in Frank's home early Thursday morning, June 12, 1913. He had been afflicted with a year's illness of dropsy. Services for him were held on Saturday afternoon in the Wallaceville Methodist Church. Rev. W. B. Allison was in charge, assisted by Rev.W.D. Fullom of Diamond. Burial was beside his wife. Thus passed one of Plum Townships most highly respected men.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.