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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald
By H. W. Strawbridge ~ 1950s - 60s

D. F. Thomas

David Francisco Thomas was born in Wallaceville on July 21, 1855, the second of eight children of Hezekiah and Alexina Eddy Thomas. He was always called “Frank” by his family and friends. The lifelong occupation of his father was that of a blacksmith.
Frank received his elementary education mainly in the old Wallaceville schoolhouse. It was probably about 1880 that his father’s family moved to Diamond, and Frank probably completed his elementary education in Diamond.
Frank attended high school at Fayette, Ohio, following which he taught school there a few years. Just what drew Frank out to Fayette is a lost answer now.
On March 6, 1884, he was married to Miss Harriet Emeline Shriver, a daughter of James R. and Jane Ensign Shriver of Diamond. The wedding was performed in Diamond with Rev. John Wright officiating.
Emeline, or “Em”, as she was called, was born near Tionesta on May 29,1852. Her father was a shoemaker for many years, but he mainly farmed while at Diamond. The family moved from Neilltown to Diamond in the autumn of 1876.
Frank and Em began housekeeping on a farm a short distance west of Diamond which was purchased by Em’s mother in November, 1884, from Philip Smith for $1200. The original purchase included slightly over 39 acres. Frank and Em bought an additional 26 acres in 1893 from George W. Smith. The farm is presently owned by the Jake Pringle family.
The original buildings were standing on the farm when Frank and Em bought it. The old house was rather small and it was a barn-type house batten structure. There were two separate doors in front with an apple tree in the front yard. An addition had been built on the rear of the house.
The old barn was an ordinary gable structure with an addition on the west end which was a buggy and wagon shed.
Then there was a root cellar on the place with a granary sitting over it. Apples, potatoes, etc., were kept in this cave. There was no cellar under the old house.
Old photographs showing these old buildings are possessed by Mrs. Florence Thomas of Meadville, whose father-in-law and mother-in-law were Frank and Em Thomas. One old photograph shows that Frank once had three horses and a colt. Two of the horses were greys and the other was a dark horse. It was taken about 1901.
Very close to the road there sat a blacksmith shop which was operated by Frank’s father who moved into the family home after he became a widower in 1894. The elder Mr. Thomas, a fine Christian gentleman, lived there and blacksmithed for a number of years. He died in 1923. Frank did a little blacksmithing, though not much.
Frank and Em mainly farmed. They had probably half a dozen cows, and for a time he sent milk to the old Rock Springs Cheese factory in Troy Township. Em’s nephew, Dean Shriver, hauled the milk there for several patrons. They also kept chickens. Em maintained a butter and egg route in Titusville. She drove an old grey mare called “Maude”, hitched to a crackie wagon in summer and to a sled in winter.
They also kept a few pigs. They more or less operated on a style of diversified farming, which was often the case in that day.
Frank belonged to Company K of the 16th Regiment of National Guards for a number of years. One of the occasions to which he was called to duty was the Homestead Strike in Pittsburgh in October, 1892.
In an old news item of February, 1890, appears the report that Frank had returned to Diamond from Salina where he had been several months. It does not state what type of work he did while there.
For several years he operated a threshing machine. He used a heavy old engine for power. One fall his brother, Lole Thomas, helped him thresh. While passing over the bridge over Prather Creek at the base of the Coon Sterling hill one day, the machine broke through the floor of the bridge. Lole kept hollering “Whoa!Whoa!”. They had quite a time getting the machine out.
Frank and Em were the parents of three children, who with their dates of births were as follows: Ida Jane Thomas, Sept.9, 1885; Laura Belle Thomas, Aug.24, 2887, and Herbert Clayton Thomas, Nov.20, 1891.
Ida was married to Forest Edwin Hill of Dempseytown on April 5, 1917, at Franklin. They resided on a farm just outside of Dempseytown. Prior to her marriage she was employed in homes in her home area. She died Nov. 16, 1919, at the time that their only child was born. It, too, succumbed. She was buried holding the infant, which had red hair, in her arms. They are buried at Diamond. Mr. Hill died a number of years ago.
Laura was married to Floyd B. August of Diamond on May 23, 1911, at Deckards Run. They spent their entire married life in Titusville. Laura had taught school prior to her marriage. Floyd served as an accountant and treasurer for a number of the city organizations and business firms. He also served as city treasurer for a few years. Laura died on March 15, 1956, after a lengthy period of poor health. Floyd died on April 8, 1964, two days after suffering a stroke. They are buried at Diamond. They had three sons, C. Kenneth August, deceased, F.Leroy August of Warren, and Harold M. August of North Olmstead, O.
Herbert was married to Miss Florence Stevenson of Cherrytree Township on Oct. 25, 1916, at Westfield, N.Y. In September, 1917, Herbert entered World War I service, serving as a blacksmith in the 327th Infantry Regiment. He was discharged in 1918. Herbert and Florence spent their first number of years on the Thomas farm, then moved into Diamond proper where they built a grocery and filling station in 1930. They operated this for about 20 years. Herbert died on May 7, 1949, following a crippling illness of many years. Florence sold their Diamond property in 1950, and she presently lives in Meadville. They had two sons, Arthur Thomas of Greenville, and Donald W. Thomas, deceased, of Gresham. Arthur’s son, David G. Thomas, 7, is named after his great grandfather.
It is interesting to note that Herbert had a yoke of oxen when he was a boy. He used to drive them over the countryside peddling papers and doing errands. The beasts had the nasty habit of occasionally running away with him. They were also used in the farming operations at home.
Frank Thomas was an average sized man, probably five feet, eight inches tall, and weighing 150 pounds. He was quite thin at last. He had curly hair and always wore a mustache. He liked to joke occasionally. When talking to someone he had the habit of blinking his eyes often.
He was an active member of the Diamond United Brethren Church for many years. He had served as Sunday School superintendent, alternating with J.C. August in that position for a number of years. He was one of the three trustees that sold the old parsonage lot and purchased the new parsonage lot beside the church in 1894.
Frank was a great lover of music. He sang tenor in the church choir for years. He is remembered as walking in the church door singing. He sang in quartets for a number of funerals, and one quartet in which he enjoyed singing included Eddie Miles, Ben Strawbridge, Delbert Thomas and himself. Mr. Miles is still living in California, aged about 80. Frank was initiated into the Diamond I.O.O.F. Lodge on Jan.11, 1896, and he remained a member until his death. He was an early trustee of the lodge, his name having been written in the first deed of land the lodge purchased in October, 1896.
He was elected an auditor of Plum Township in 1901, and he served one term.
Frank was the first rural mail carrier of Route No. 2 from the Diamond postoffice. This route was established on March 16, 1907. When he began carrying, this route contained 19.5 miles. When he resigned the route about Nov.1, 1915, it contained 28.3 miles. It then included the areas of Plum Center, Wallaceville, Battin’s Corners, the outer edge of Dempseytown and Hamilton’s Corners.
He often sang along the mail route. When proceeding down the long coon Sterling hill with his horse and mail wagon, the J.J.Strawbridge family across the valley could hear him singing.
One winter the snow stayed on so long that Frank used the sleigh for 90 days consecutively to carry mail. He generally carried his own dinner, but he occasionally stopped at Utto Proper’s place in Wallaceville to eat.
He had the first automobile in the Diamond community. It was a Model T Ford “Runabout”, which he purchased in 1914. He may have bought it from W.F.Whitman, an agent in Chapmanville.
Em Thomas was a highly esteemed woman, and she was noted as a very hard worker. She was a member of the Kerr Hill Presbyterian Church which she joined on June 20, 1880. She was a little fleshy, and she had iron grey hair at last. She was always present to assist in times of sickness, and often was called upon in the duties of midwife. She had a loom upstairs in the old house where she made carpet. It is said that while working in the barn in wintertime, the ends of her skirts were frozen to her knees. No other farmwife in the area worked harder than Em Thomas.
This probably aided in the cause of her death in middle age. She was sickly for about a year, suffering from a cancerous tumor. Two doctors operated on her in the living room of their new house, and she survived only a very few days. Her death occurred on Sept.28, 1909.
A large crowd attended her funeral in the Diamond Church, and it was said that there were so many members of the Thomas branch of the family in attendance that they comprised nearly the one side of the church.
Frank had hired John R. Thomas and John M. Grove of Sunville to construct the new attractive house which was located immediately east of the old house. The family moved into the new house about June, 1909, and Em died in September. It was unfortunate that she did not live to enjoy the conveniences of the new one.
About 1912 Frank had a new barn built. He hired Pete Hill of Black Ash to carpenter it. It still stands on the place.
On Oct. 8, 1913, Frank was married to Miss Kathryn Mark of Dempseytown. She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Israel Mark. They resided on the farm until the fall of 1915, when they removed to a farm northeast of Dempseytown. It was there that he spent his remaining years.
After removing there he transferred his membership to the Dempseytown Evangelical Church. He also sang in the church choir there. Nevertheless he always stopped at the Diamond Church when visiting in Diamond.
On Aug.19, 1917, he suffered a paralytic stroke on the Dempseytown Picnic grounds. He recovered enough that he got around, but he never regained his full health. Cataracts grew on his eyes, and he had an operation to remove them. He wore glasses and walked with a cane during his last years.
On Sept. 9, 1925, he was able to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Laura Shriver, held in the Diamond Church. Little did he probably realize that he would be wheeled into the same church between two and three weeks later for his own service.
He died at 8:10 p.m., Sept.24th, having been seriously ill about two weeks.
There was such a throng of people in attendance at his service in Diamond on Sunday afternoon, the 27th, that the church was inadequate to accommodate them. It was a rainy afternoon and many had to remain in their automobiles during the service. Rev. W.J.Lloyd, pastor of the Dempseytown Church, officiated. He was assisted by Rev. R.R.Eggleston, newly appointed pastor at Diamond.
The Diamond I.O.O.F. Lodge conducted a ritualistic service and sand three hymns at the grave in the Diamond Cemetery.
Mrs. Kathryn Mark Thomas died in 1936, and she is buried beside her parents in the Fairview Cemetery, Cherrytree Township.

Transcribed by Paula Harry
dharry@pa.rr.com

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