Biographical Note

The 1860 census records only one William Thomas in Blacksburg: a 64-year-old Maryland-born farmer. According to various sources, a Blacksburg merchant named William Thomas was born in Maryland on May 25, 1796. The son of Giles T. and Nancy Ann Wheeler Thomas, William Thomas moved to the Blacksburg area while in his late teens. In 1819, he married Rachel Montgomery Hoge (1800-1828), and the couple had three children. Following Rachel's death, Thomas married Lucretia Howe (1806-1889), with whom he had five children. Thomas served as Montgomery County sheriff and operated a successful mercantile business and tanyard, as well as a farm. He also had an interest in Montgomery White Sulphur Springs and served in Virginia's General Assembly, as clerk for Blacksburg's Presbyterian Church, and as a trustee of the Blacksburg Female Academy. William Thomas died on February 14, 1863 and is buried in Blacksburg's Westview Cemetery.

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