EDGAR THOMAS, president of the First National Bank of Milroy, this county, and for years recognized as one of the leading business men of that part of the county, has been a resident of Rush county all his life and has ever had a hearty interest in the development of the commercial and industrial activities of his home community. He was born on a farm in Anderson township on August 28,1866, son of William and Ann E. (Wood) Thomas, both of whom also were born in Rush county, members of old families here, and who spent all their lives here, the latter dying in May, 1893, and the former in June, 1899. William Thomas was born on a pioneer farm in Anderson township, the son of Amos Thomas, who had come up into Indiana with his father, a "local" Methodist minister, from Bourbon county, Kentucky, about the year 1821, the year in which Rush county was organized as a separate unit among the counties of the Hoosier state, the family settling on a farm of "Congress land" in Anderson township. On that pioneer farm Amos Thomas grew to manhood and in time established his home in the same neighborhood, and in his turn William Thomas also established his home there after his marriage to Ann E. Wood, who was born in Orange township and whose parents also were of pioneer stock. William Thomas remained on the farm until about 1894, when he moved into Milroy, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring as noted, above, in 1899. He and his wife were the parents of four children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Nettie, wife of John H. Parker; Elgie, of Rushville, and Bertha, wife of Morton E. Richey. Reared on the home farm in Anderson township, Edgar Thomas supplemented the schooling he received in the local schools by a course in a business college at Danville, this state, and was then engaged, until he was twenty-six years of age, in carrying on the operations of the home farm. On his father's removal to Milroy he accompanied him and was there engaged in the buggy business and later for a couple of years in the general hardware business, after which he resumed farming; that is, overseeing farms in which he was interested, and is still the owner of a fine little farm of forty acres in Anderson township. From the time he was eighteen years of age Mr. Thomas has made a specialty of acting as clerk at local public farm sales and there is probably no one in the county who has thus acted at more sales hereabout than he, this service giving him a wide and popular acquaintance throughout the whole countryside. Mr. Thomas was one of the active spirits in the organization of the First National Bank of Milroy and was elected president of the same upon its organization, a position he still retains, his service in that connection having done much in the popularizing of the institution in the early days of its establishment and in the stabilizing of it since. The bank was opened for business on August 30, 1920, and has become recognized as one of the sound financial institutions of the county. In 1900 Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Zena Miller, daughter of James M. and Melissa Miller, also of this county, and he and his wife have a very pleasant home at Milroy and are ever helpful in promoting the social activities of their home community. Mr. Thomas is a Republican and has ever taken an interested part in local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after office.

Gary, A.L. and E.B. Thomas, Centennial History of Rush County, Indiana. Indianapolis: Historical Publishing Co., 1921, vol. 2, pp. 11-12.
Submitted by Eugene F. Gray

ERNEST B. THOMAS, secretary of the Peoples Loan and Trust Company of Rushville and former recorder of Rush county, is a native son of Rush county and has lived here all his life save for a brief period spent in the West, during the days of his young manhood. Mr. Thomas was born at Milroy on November 25, 1867, and is a son of the late Dr. Samuel C. and Emily (Clements) Thomas, the latter of whom was born in Franklin county, Indiana, daughter of Isaac and Nancy (Birt) Clements, natives of Maryland. Dr. Samuel C. Thomas, who was for many years engaged in the practice of medicine at Milroy, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, March 5, 1832, first born of the eleven children born to John and Abigail (Carter) Thomas, the latter of whom was born in New Jersey in 1814, her parents afterward becoming residents of Darke county, Ohio. John Thomas was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1806, a son of Daniel Thomas, a member of one of the real pioneer families of the old Blue Grass state. John Thomas moved with his family from Hamilton county to Darke county (Ohio) and for more than twenty-five years served as a justice of the peace in and for his home township in the latter county. He died there in 1879, and his widow's last days were spent in Rush county, her death occurring at Milroy in 1887. Doctor Thomas's boyhood was spent at Carthage, Ohio, and he was eleven years of age when he went to live with the family of his Grandfather Carter in Darke county, where he remained until 1850, when, he then being eighteen years of age, he came over into Indiana and became engaged as a schoolteacher at Milroy. He continued thus engaged for three years, in the meantime taking preparatory studies in medicine, and in 1853 entered old Asbury (DePauw) University at Greencastle. After two years at the university he matriculated at the Eclectic College of Medicine, Cincinnati, and in 1858 was graduated from that institution. Thus qualified for the practice of the profession to which he had devoted his life, Doctor Thomas returned to Milroy and there entered upon his long and useful career as a physician. In the fall of that same year he married and established his home at Milroy, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on April 7, 1914. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly fifteen years, her death having occurred on April 12, l899. It was on October 14, 1858, that Dr. Samuel C. Thomas was united in marriage to Emily Clements, who had been engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county, and to that union were born six children, Abigail F., Kate A, Ernest B. and Perlee W. (twins), Clifford C. and Claude B. Perlee W. Thomas died on May 20, 1885, and Clifford C. died in April of the same year Doctor Thomas was a Republican and a Freemason. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. Ernest B. Thomas was reared at Milroy, where he received his early schooling. He supplemented this by a course in Moores Hill College and then in the winter of 1886-87 was engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county, in the following spring going to Cimarron, Kan., where he became engaged as a bookkeeper in the local offices of the St. John & Marsh Lumber Co. A year later he returned to Indiana and entered DePauw University, but before completing the course there his health declined and he returned west, resuming his connection with the lumber company with which he formerly had been connected, this time in that company's Topeka offices. In 1891 Mr. Thomas returned to Milroy and was for four years thereafter engaged in the hardware business at that place, in association with W. L. McKee. In 1894 he received the Republican nomination for recorder of Rush county and in the November election of that year was elected. He was re-elected in 1898 and thus served for more than eight years, his term of service beginning on August 25, 1895 and terminating on January 1, 1904. Upon the completion of his term of public service Mr. Thomas engaged in the abstract business at Rushville, and has since maintained that line. When the Peoples Loan and Trust Company was organized at Rushville in 1909 he was made assistant secretary and was presently advanced to the position of secretary of the trust company, which position he now occupies. During the time of America's participation in the World war Mr. Thomas served as chairman of the Rush county chapter of the American Red Cross and is still serving on the executive board of this chapter. In June, 1921, he was called on by the Federal Loan Board to make a trip to Porto Rico and investigate the advisability of establishing a Federal farm loan bank there, on which mission he sailed on June 29. Mr. Thomas is a Freemason, also a member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On March 4, 1891, Ernest B. Thomas was united in marriage to Glen Wheeler, of Dearborn county, this state, and to this union two children have been born, Ruth and Dorothy, the former of whom died in infancy. Dorothy Thomas was married on November 10, 1918, to Glen R. Tucker, of Greencastle, Ind., and has a son, William Thomas, born on January 26, 1920.

Gary, A.L. and E.B. Thomas, Centennial History of Rush County, Indiana. Indianapolis: Historical Publishing Co., 1921, pp. 432-34.
Submitted by Eugene F. Gray

HON. WILLIAM THOMAS, the pioneer whose name introduces this sketch, is a native of Bourbon County, Ky., born April 20, 1804, son of Daniel and Sarah Thomas, whose maiden name was Amos and who was a native of Bourbon County, Ky., and emigrated to Rush County in the primitive days of this State, and, here died. The father of Mr. Thomas was a native of Delaware, but in early life emigrated to Kentucky, where he was married and in 1822, came to Rush County. He was among the first to make settlement here and his death occurred here. The subject of this biography came to Rush County in 1827, and in 1835 settled where he resides. At that early date, the country was one unending wilderness. Then neighbor helped neighbor, and in 1830, Mr. Thomas spent twenty-eight days assisting his neighbors, either raising log cabins or rolling logs. Politically, Mr. Thomas was formerly a Whig, but since the birth of the Republican party he has always been an ardent supporter of its principles. In 1846, he was elected to represent Rush County in the General Assembly of Indiana, and served in that body during the session of 1846 and 1847, and discharged the duties with a discreetness and judgment satisfactory to his constituents. Prior to his election to the legislature, he was elected as one of the Associate Judges of Rush County, but on account of the law being repealed he only served a short time. The marriage of Mr. Thomas occurred in 1825, to Miss Margaret Hannah, of Kentucky. By that union are these children, viz.: Wesley, Daniel, Sarah A., Martha and William. Mrs. Thomas died in 1849, and in 1850, the subject of this memoir was united in marriage to Mrs. Sarah Green, whose maiden name was Houston, and whose death occurred in 1875. By occupation Mr. Thomas is a farmer, though in early life he worked at the carpenter trade for some time. He has 250 acres of good land, and for fifty-two years has been a resident of this township. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Methodist Church, and his life has always been above reproach, and the respect for him is co-ex-tensive with his acquaintance.

History of Rush County, Indiana. Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1888, pp. 364-67.
Submitted by Eugene F. Gray