Just had a GREAT day and wanted to share it. My grandparents, Joseph Granville Thomas (descendant of Johannes Thoma) and Bessie Callison married in Clark County, Ohio in 1903. They moved on to the Dakotas and ended up homesteading in Canada where Joseph joined the Canadian Army for WWI. He was injured in France and then returned to Canada where he left his family about 1922 being "shellshocked" from the war. This was all that we knew for many years. The Canadian government paid for Bessie and the kids to return to Springfield, Ohio where she lived the rest of her life. About 8 years ago, my sister and I lucked into finding his death in 1967 on the SSDI and were able to get a death and burial certificate stating that he was buried in California and the name of the man who owned the farm that he worked on. We actually talked our husbands into a trip to California (from Mississippi) to find his grave and have some sense of peace about this missing grandfather. Today my chore was to try to find any relatives of the man on whose farm he worked and I DID. The one son who had the same name was still listed by that name in the phone book but his widow told me had died last year and they had only been married 5 years. However, she was familiar with Joseph. She is legally blind so not able to help much BUT she passed my phone number along to her brother in law and he returned my call almost immediately. He was as excited as I was because Joseph was like a grandfather to him, helping raise him as his mother had died when he was young. "Not long after the depression, Joe (we called him Gardener Joe because he was always working in the garden) showed up on our doorstep looking for work. Since the family was a single dad and two small boys, he was hired -- and never left. The family ended up building him a house on their land, helped him apply for social security and took care of his burial. He was remembered as well loved, kind, generous and a fun babysitter." He has lots of pictures of Gardener Joe and the resemblance to my dad's brother is uncanny. I don't know where he was during the 20s and 30s but hope to learn that someday also. The most important thing is that he did not have his original family but that he was loved and cared for. Wasn't this a nice day? Take care. Marilyn

Hi, Marilyn; So glad you found that a California family took care of Joseph Thomas. I live in California. In what area was he living? He was probably in CA during the 1920s and 1930s. Our gen. soc. has transcribed the 1930s census for Ventura County. I was talking to our genealogy group last Wednesday and mentioned that I am descended from the Thoma/Thomas family. A "cousin" of the Winn family showed me the business card of a school friend named Thoma, who lives in Kansas. What a small world. Anita Schmidt ----- Original Message ----- From: <gneolog@aol.com> To: <germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 8:15 AM Subject: [GERMANNA] Thomas family down the line > Just had a GREAT day and wanted to share it. My grandparents, Joseph > Granville Thomas (descendant of Johannes Thoma) and Bessie Callison > married in Clark County, Ohio in 1903. They moved on to the Dakotas and > ended up homesteading in Canada where Joseph joined the Canadian Army for > WWI. He was injured in France and then returned to Canada where he left > his family about 1922 being "shellshocked" from the war. This was all that > we knew for many years. The Canadian government paid for Bessie and the > kids to return to Springfield, Ohio where she lived the rest of her life. > > > > About 8 years ago, my sister and I lucked into finding his death in 1967 > on the SSDI and were able to get a death and burial certificate stating > that he was buried in California and the name of the man who owned the > farm that he worked on. > > > > > We actually talked our husbands into a trip to California (from > Mississippi) to find his grave and have some sense of peace about this > missing grandfather. > > > > > Today my chore was to try to find any relatives of the man on whose farm > he worked and I DID. The one son who had the same name was still listed by > that name in the phone book but his widow told me had died last year and > they had only been married 5 years. However, she was familiar with Joseph. > She is legally blind so not able to help much BUT she passed my phone > number along to her brother in law and he returned my call almost > immediately. He was as excited as I was because Joseph was like a > grandfather to him, helping raise him as his mother had died when he was > young. > > > > > "Not long after the depression, Joe (we called him Gardener Joe because he > was always working in the garden) showed up on our doorstep looking for > work. Since the family was a single dad and two small boys, he was > hired -- and never left. The family ended up building him a house on their > land, helped him apply for social security and took care of his burial. He > was remembered as well loved, kind, generous and a fun babysitter." > > > > > He has lots of pictures of Gardener Joe and the resemblance to my dad's > brother is uncanny. > > > > > I don't know where he was during the 20s and 30s but hope to learn that > someday also. > > > > > The most important thing is that he did not have his original family but > that he was loved and cared for. Wasn't this a nice day? Take care. > Marilyn > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

"ANITA SCHMIDT" <schmidt.a@verizon.net> October 11, 2008 5:02 PM Subject: [GERMANNA] Thomas wrote: "A 'cousin' of the Winn family showed me the business card of a school friend named Thoma, who lives in Kansas." Is this Winn family connected to the Winn family found in Washington County, AR. Some of these migrated to California during the gold rush. Richard Nixon's grandfather[?] went out from here to the gold fields. The ancestor's brother remain back in Arkansas. Cary Anderson