News: David H. Thomas, Lone Tree, 7 Oct 1948

THOMAS, OWENS, BEMISTER

Posted By: Stephen D. Williams (email)
Date: 12/4/2007 at 22:11:35

Iowa City Press-Citizen
Iowa City, Johnson county, Iowa
Thursday, October 7, 1948
page 6 of 20, column 4-5

A Fact A Day About Iowa City
GUARD CAPTAIN

Among the pioneers of Johnson county, many of whom served in one war or another from the Mexican and Civil wars down to the modern struggles with Spain and other European countries, and a few others who served as far back in "ancient history" as the War of 1812, there were a few with noteworthy tenure of office.

One may wonder how large or how small a number equaled the record of David H. Thomas, an old-time resident of Lone Tree. Mr. Thomas, an honest, industrious carpenter, hod no hunger and thirst for fame or fortune, but he was a good citizen and a loyal one, although he was not called to war. The military service to which reference has just been made was not, therefore, given on the gory battlefield, but it covered a period of almost 30 years.

Three decades of his life he passed in New York before he removed to Johnson county. It was in that state, at Utica, that he enlisted in the New York National Guard. He leaped from a private's post promptly to that of a lieutenant, and duly to a captaincy. Thus he gave of his time and labor for the protracted period in question. After he came to the Hawkeye state and to this county, he was a member of the Lone Tree lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and he was elected, among other offices, to the chancellor commandership, the highest post in the gift of the Fremonters.

As coincidence ruled, he was "mustered out" by the supreme Commandeer of all armies--state or national--on Independence Day. That was Saturday, July 4, 1903. He was on the verge of his 70th birthday when the end came, as he was born in August, 1833[?], in Oneida county, New York.

Like many another Johnson county old settler of his day, he was a descendant of a sturdy Welsh line. His grandperents [sic] emigrated from Wales when David's father was but a babe, one year of age. They settled in Rhode Island, where E. D. Thomas, as the years brought manhood, wed Sarah Owens of "Little Rhody". That was her native commonwealth.

The elder Thomases later removed to Marcy, N. Y., David's birthplace, and passed the remainder of their lives in that bailiwick. Five days after Christmas in 1856, David Thomas married Miss E. Bemister. That was the year of the birth of Republicanism in Iowa, and it may be that Mr. Thomas joined the party the very year these two lives were joined.

Mrs. Thomas was a native of England, and her parents came to the United States when she was 11 years of age. Like the Thomases, the elder Bemisters lived and died at Marcy, N. Y. Eight children were born to the Lone Tree couple. Five lived to manhood and womanhood, and three passed away in infancy, or when mere children.--J.E.R.

The initials J.E.R. were used by Jacob E Reizenstein who was a long-time reporter and columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He wrote a column entitled "A Fact a Day About Iowa City."