Francis Marion Thomas, M.D.
Francis Marion Thomas, M. D., is a native of Adams County, born near Winchester Julv 9, 1838, a son of James Baldwin Thomas and Esther Thomas, his wife, and grandson of Abraham and Margaret Barker Thomas, who emigrated from Buckingham County, Virginia, about the close of the eighteenth century. He traces his ancestry to Reese Thomas, born in Pembroke, in the principality of Wales, June 16, 1690, and whose family Bible, printed in the Welsh language in 1717, is now in his possession.
He was educated in the common schools of Adams County at the Ohio Valley Academy, Decatur, and the North Liberty Academy, Cherry Fork. In 1859, he began the career of a teacher in the Public schools and continued this until 1862, when he enlisted in Company B. of the 60th O. V. I. That regiment was captured at Harper's Ferry, September 15, 1862, and he was paroled and sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, where he remained until the term of his enlistment expired. He re-enlisted on July 4. 1863, in Company B, Fourth O. V. I. Heavy Artillery, serving as Private, Guard, Regimental Commissary Sergeant, Second Lieutenant, Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence at the post of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, until several months after the close of the war. When discharged from the army, he resumed the profession of school teaching, taking up with it the study of medicine, the latter of which soon after took his entire attention. He attended 'lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery and was graduated from that institution in tbe class of 1869. He immediately commenced the practice of medicine at Samantha, Ohio, where he still resides. He was married March 15, 1871, to Miss Annette Holmes, daughter of Gilbert and Ann (Hussey) Holmes.
He is a member of seyeral medical associations. He has served quite a number of years as Secretary of the Ohio Medical Association and was its President in the years 1881 and 1882. He has contributed numerous articles upon medical subjects to the periodicals published for the profession. He is a Republican and takes an active part in the affairs of his county, but has never been a candidate for office. He is a member of the U. P. Presbyterian Church and has been a ruling elder for about twenty years.
Dr. Thomas is firm in all his opinions, methodical in. all his professional and social duties, and inflexible in his integrity. He is a learned physician and a great lover of books, of which he is a diligent collector. He is very fond of the society of children, and delights in entertaining them. He is very much devoted to his church. He is a good financier and has accummulated a competency. He is public-spirited, lives well and is a liberal contributor to charitable objects. He is highly esteemed by all who know him.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900