William Henry Thomas
As told by his daughter
Martha Jane Thomas Holling
Compiled by Patricia Holling
William
Henry Thomas was born 22 April 1860 Neyland, Pembroke, South Wales the son of William Nash Thomas and Elizabeth Lallis the 2nd of 13 children. In May 1862 his family left their home land
and boarded the ship 'William Tapscott.' Which began their journey arriving in New York. The family consisted of William Nash
Thomas age 27, Elizabeth (Lallis) Thomas age
23, John Thomas age 3 and William Henry Thomas
age 2?? a child, Heber Charles
Thomas was born 24 Feb 1862 and died 17 March
1862. The family traveled with
the Horton D Haight Company which departed Florence, Nebraska early August 1862
and arrive in Salt Lake City
19 October 1862.
William Henry Thomas'
grandfather, David Thomas made the same journey in 1866 on the ship John
Bright. And his aunt, Ann Thomas and her husband William White made the
journey in 1876 on the ship Idaho.
William Henry Thomas married Rosarah Obray, 3 April 1882 .
Rosarah Obray was
the daughter of Thomas L. Obray and Ruth Nuttal Bradshaw.
William and Rosarah had 11 children;
Elizabeth Thomas b. 31 December 1884 Paradise, Cache Co.,
UT married George Washington Lemon 12 Oct 1903
Logan, Cache Co., UT;
William Thomas b. 19 April 1886 Paradise,
Cache Co., UT married 1. Ethel Southland , 2. Bertha
Canaday
Lorenzo Obray Thomas b. 9 April 1888 Paradise, Cache Co., UT married Goldie Emma Morby
13 May 1911 Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregon.
Harold Obray Thomas b. 20 Jan 1890 Paradise, Cache Co., UT married Mabelle
Harriet Moe 17 Feb 1917 Seattle,
King Co., WA.
Caroline Obray Thomas b. 29 Feb 1892 Paradise, Cache Co., UT married Albert Vergil
Compton 3 Nov 1912
Portland, Multnomah Co., OR.
Martha Jane
Thomas b. 20 March 1894 Paradise, Cache Co., UT married Marcus William Holling 3 Sept 1917 Seattle,
King Co., WA.
Ada Thomas b. 6 April 1896 Paradise, Cache Co. UT married Waren
LaVon Wright
10 Sept. 1919 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake
Co., UT.
Louise Thomas b.
1 April 1898
Paradise, Cache Co., UT
married Ralph Erwin Ranck 6 June 1928
Portland, Multnomah Co., OR.
Evelyn Thomas b. 1 Jul 1902 Paradise, Cache Co., UT married
1. Joseph Allen Ford , 2. Robert
Bonner Petty.
Rose Larue
Thomas b. 16 may 1905 Paradise, Cache Co., UT
married Paul Wagner 21 April 1934
Portland, Multnomah Co., OR.
Still Born 3 May 1900 Paradise, Cache Co., UT
William's daughter, Martha Jane,
tells the following story about her father:
"We had plenty
of everything as my father owned a little sawmill. That was until the time I was approximately 9
years of age (abt 1904/1903). Our lives changed after this time. My father was asked to take a message to the
Applets mines, way up in the hills and mountains to a man whose son had
died. They needed to get word to the boys father. Dad was
the only one who agreed to go. He took
his horse and big Newfoundland
dog with him. It was the dead of
winter. About 3 a.m. my brother, Harold Thomas (abt age 9) came in to my mothers
bedroom and told mother that he just knew that father was in terrible trouble
and that father was lost in the snow storm.
He said "I saw it, I can find it, it was in my
dream." Mother tried to tell Harold that
all was well and not to worry. She could
not convince Harold, so she told him that if he still felt the same way in the
morning they would see what they could do.
In the morning Harold got up bright and early and went to the little
store where all the men of the town would gather for town talk and to receive
their mail. He found my Uncle Johnnie
Miles (husband of Rosarah's sister Hannah Obray) and there he told the men that he had seen snow in
his dream and that he knew Dad was in serious trouble and needed help. The men just laughed and tried to assure
Harold all was well. NO one would offer
to go with Harold to see if Dad needed help.
Harold went home, got his little pony ready and started off to find
Dad. As he passed the store where all
the men were gathered, Uncle Johnnie saw him and asked where he was going. Harold told him he was going to help his
father. Seeing how determined Harold was
and the urgency Harold felt, Uncle Johnnie went home, got his sleigh, two big
horses and his snowshoes. Uncle Johnnie
took Harold and 10 men with them. Harold
said, "I can tell you right where you will find Dad," he said he had been shown in his
dream. The snow became deeper and deeper
as they traveled higher and higher. Soon
Harold said "Here, this is the place."
They came to a little stall where Dad had tied up his horse to a
post. Dad could not see where he was
going as he was caught in a "Whiteout" and he had been walking around and
around in circles and going nowhere all night.
Dad was gone, the dog was gone.
Harold said "go this way," and he led them right to the
place. The dog was barking. Dad was laying under
the dog, completely covered up by the dog except for his feet. His feet were bleeding and were frozen. The only reason he was still alive was our
big dog. He was a big fur-ball and Dad
held him in his arms to keep war. Harold
said, "You don't think that my Heavenly Father didn't show me the way" In knew my father was in trouble." Then they brought my father home, put his
feet in ice and snow. The next morning
they took him to the hospital in Logan
and there he had to be until all the flesh dropped off and they could take his
toes off. The Mill was taken over by
Uncle Johnny and William had to recover from his amputation. From that point on their lives became very
difficult. They had such a hard time for
the family to make ends meet."
Life for William Henry Thomas
and his family changed dramatically after he lost his toes from frost
bite. Special shoes were purchased for
William to help him balance better with the use of canes. He was not able to do the work he had done
before so his sawmill was lost and the family had to start over. William needed to find a way to support his
family. At this time Elizabeth, the oldest, was married to George
Lemon, but the rest of the family was still together and was his
responsibility.
William discovered the
possibility of a job with the Oregon Lumber Company as a night watchman for the
Logging Fire Engines while one of the company owners was in town. The Oregon Lumber Company was owned by Utah businessmen and
they had branched out into Hood River County Oregon where the company had built
a railroad for their mills to transport their lumber. This would mean relocating the family to Dee,
Hood River County, Oregon .
William's son, William Obray Thomas, sold his horse and cart which paid for both
father and son to travel to Dee,
Oregon. They worked and soon had enough money to send
for Rosarah and the children. He wrote to Rosarah
and said I know
we can make it her. You can take in boarders and lots of washing for all the
men at the mill."
The Thomas family had a very
nice home in Paradise, Cache Co., Utah. Their home was filled with beautiful
furniture and gifts given to them when they married. Rosarah closed up
the house leaving all her things behind.
She closed the door and never looked back and never complained about the
things she had to give up. Her children
were her treasurers.
William had prepared a cabin for
his family. It wasn't the kind of home
they were used to in Paradise but it provided
shelter and the necessities for the family to be together again. He built the cabin out of boards from the
mill.." two bedrooms and one room for the kitchen
where the table and chairs also went.
William worked as the
night-watchman for the big logging engines at the mill. He had to keep them all fired up with wood to
keep up the steam.
Everyone had to help. Rosarah was busy
all day long with the washing she took in from the men at the mill and she
cooked for several of the mill workers.
The first
Sunday morning that the Thomas family lived in Dee, Oregon Martha Jane heard
Church Bells ringing. She ran to
her mother, Rosarah, and said that a church was holding
services but "of course we won't be going as it is not our church." Rosarah said, "Oh
yes we will no matter what church it is!"
The entire family got ready and attended church. Martha Jane remembers it was really funny to
her as the man prayed with his eyes open and she was unaccustomed to that.
One day Melvin Ballard came to Dee, Oregon. He had walked over the mountains just to see
this little group of Saints. He was
covered with dust when he arrived. He
could not get a man to conduct a Sunday School for our faith so he made Mrs.
Vera Littlefield President and Mrs Emmet ,
First Counselor and Mrs Rosarah
Thomas, Second Counselor.
Martha Jane remembered: We told
the preachers of the other church that we would come to their church meetings
if they would come to ours." They did this for about 2 years and after that
they joined our church. The men were put
in head positions and we all went to church together, even our old cow came one
morning and stuck her head in the window."
William and his family moved to Bull Run, Oregon for
about 3 years on Ames Road and ran an eating establishment for
the Mill there and when the mill closed down the family moved back to Dee
Oregon then on to Troutdale,
Oregon.
William became very ill and
returned to Paradise, Cache County Utah to
seek medical attention but died before he could return home. He died 25 January 1915.
Newspaper notices as follows:
William Henry Thomas
Herald Journal
23 January 1915
Logan, Utah
Mr. Will Thomas, a brother of Messrs. J. R. and D. H.
Thomas of this city is here from Oregon
in search of medical treatment. He is
said to be a very sick man.
[J. R. Thomas = James Richard
Lallis Thomas; D. H. Thomas = David Hyrum Lallis Thomas]
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OBITUARY: Herald Journal
28 January 1915
Logan, Utah
OBITUARY: Mr. William H. Thomas, whose serious illness
was mentioned a few days ago in the Journal passed
away on Saturday afternoon at Paradise. The funeral services will be held at Paradise at one
O'clock on Friday. Mr.Thomas was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales on
April 22, 1860. He came to Utah with his parents in 1862 and they located in Paradise. He was
married in 1884 to Rosarah Obray,
and nine children were born to them. All
are living. Eight years ago he had his
feet frozen and parts of them had to be amputated. Stomach trouble was the immediate cause of
his death.
