Not my Thomases either. An interesting coincidence tho. My Grandfather was William H. Thomas and his wife was Bessie V. Thomas (Maiden name Christian) and they lived in White Cloud, Kansas. Bob Thomas In a message dated 12/13/2007 9:43:29 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, willapa@willapabay.org writes: Great story, thanks. Not my Thomases, but that's OK. Kathleen VH On Dec 13, 2007, at 9:20 AM, Joanne Morgan wrote: > This story comes from an old book I just found that I thought was > interesting. I'm not related to any of these people, just being > nice. I know nothing further about these people. > > THE CLAIM THAT GREW AND GREW > > Bessie Reed Thomas arrived in Kansas in 1871, a bride of 18, with > a shotgun across her knees. Her husband, William K. Thomas, a > veteran of the Civil War, was coming west to settle on his > soldier's claim, 160 acres in Ellis County. > In their two wagons, they carried a Ben Franklin stove and > provisions to last a year: a barrel of apples, flour, sugar, dried > fruit, and smoked meat. One of their wedding gifts, a wonderful > sewing machine, one of the first to be marketed, never arrived in > Kansas; on the way the young groom had persuaded his wife to trade > it for a cow, which was to be the beginning of their Hereford herd. > By fall the family had moved from the wagon to a new dugout. > Bessie papered the dirt walls with copies of the Louisville Courier > and later, in 1879, she added a layer of the Weekly Capital, a > paper that would later be named Capper's Weekly. The newspapers not > only kept the dirt from falling into the room, but they served as a > barrier to snakes, centipedes, scorpions, and the huge spiders > common in the country. > Countless settlers had abandoned claims in Kansas. Indian > massacres, tornados, blizzards, and grasshopper plagues had taken > their toll, and an epidemic of diphtheria had wiped out entire > families. To bring more settlers to the region, the government > offered a deserted claim to anyone who would sleep on it for six > months. A quarter section adjoining the Thomas's original claim was > acquired in Bessie's name; she slept in a sod house there, a house > similar to the one which now stood on her husband's claim as a > replacement for the dugout. > The government made still another bid for new settlers, offering > a timber claim to anyone planting and nurturing a thousand young > trees on the land. To qualify for this additional claim of 160 > acres, the Thomases traveled 16 miles to the Saline Rover bottoms > to obtain cottonwood saplings which they planted and tended, > hauling water from their windmill. > With this new claim they were the possessors of 480 acres of > Kansas prairie ---hardpan, buffalo grass and tumbleweed, a plant > Bessie often mistook for a crouching Indian. > The ranch continued to grow. William added 1,360 acres at a cost > which was less than the asking price for one of those acres today. > Between 1871 and 1899, he accumulated 2,200 acres. > A 10-room stone ranch house on the property was the birthplace of > their sith child, the writer of this account. > Marie Reed Thomas Titcomb - 1831 West Algonquin Road Hoffman > Estates, Ill 60195 > > You must remember that this article is nearly 40 years old. The > chances of them still living at this address are slim to none. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to THOMAS- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to THOMAS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)