... starts with the Thomas Family - William Alexander Thomas - UPDATED!

A Holiday postcard from William Alexander Thomas to his brother Joe Thomas & his wife Ellen Callison.
I especially love how he "hid" the gifts for them in the ends of the tobacco!

William Alexander Thomas, son of Edward G Thomas and Sarah A Lucas, was born 5 Dec 1852 and died 30 Jan 1934 at the age of 82. He was married (1) to Emma Puckett (line77) on 10 Oct 1878 in Greenbrier County and (2) to Ida Smith (have not found a marriage record for them, but according to the 1910 census they were married 5 months as of May 1910). Once again, the sources include a scrapbook of Mary McNamee, and also "Nellie & Juanita." I have updated this section considerably as I found some mistakes on this Family Group Sheet!

William and Emma had 4 known children:

1. Mamie, b 3 Jan 1882 in Dennis, Greenbrier, WV; d 15 Mar 1971 in Monroe Co, WV, married Frank Rodney Upton (d 1956) on 18 Dec 1901 in Monroe County, WV. Marriage License  Marriage Register 
2. May, b 16 Aug 1879 in Greenbrier County, WV; d 28 Mar 1980 in Peterstown, Monroe, WV; married Oscar A Still on 22 Oct 1902 in Alderson,  "Oscar (died) age 82 Upton Cem, Alderson, WVa" Marriage License, Marriage Register line 74 
3. Rev Cary Houston, b 15 Aug 1894 in Alderson, Monroe, WV (see Delayed Certificate of Birth); d 17 Apr 1976 in Denver, Denver, Colorado; married Florence Gertrude Lair on 20 Jul 1921 in Cabell County, WV (see line 8 *Clary H Thomas*); was in the Army (according to Delayed BC, he was "Honorably Discharged from the U.S. Army on 26 Jul 1918."). Cary and Florence can be found in the 1930 census in Chapman, Merrick, Nebraska and in the 1940 in Bridgeport, Morrill, Nebraska.
4. Irene, b 20 Jul 1891 in Dennis, Greenbrier, WV; d 20 Mar 1980 in the Masonic Home, Jefferson County, Kentucky; married John Robert Ray on 8 Sep 1920 in Monroe County, WV Marriage Register, Line 50 Marriage License

Wiliam and Ida had 1 known child together: 

1. Willie Watts Thomas (daughter!), b about 1912 (the WVCulture collection currently has birth information for most counties up to 1911, hopefully 1912 will be included next year), I would guess her birth location to be somewhere in the Wolf Creek, Monroe, WV vicinity as that is where William is living for the 1910, 1920, and 1930 census. Willie married Frank Benjamin Foster on 18 Dec 1929 in Lewisburg, Greenbrier, WV.

Buried at Upton Cemetery in Alderson, Monroe, WV are: W A and Emma Puckett Thomas, Frank and Mamie Thomas Upton, and some of their children (Emma Lucille, Fred Roy). As well as Mae and her husband Oscar Still. 

On the next page is the FGS of Mamie Thomas and Frank Upton. Frank is listed with a death date of 1956, buried at Upton Cemetery, Alderson. (No death record listed on WVCulture as of 26 May 2012, but I have found another researcher who lists Frank's death date as 18 May 1947 with a citation of OBIT, and quite a bit more information on this family). Here is Frank's memorial on FindAGrave.com 

Children of Frank and Mamie Thomas Upton:

• Noka Fanstine, b 17 Nov 1902 d 22 Mar 1996, married Walter Henry Schmidt 2 Jun 1930 in Alderson, Monroe, WV
• Ruth, married Harry Valma Holliday 14 Jun 1926 in Union, Monroe, WV
• Fred Roy, b 10 Sep 1905 d 10 Nov 1956, married Vivian Wikel
• Hubert Orville, b 16 Jul 1907 d Dec 1979
• Glenn R, b 30 Mar 1909 d Sep 1982
• Emma Lucille, b 10 May 1911 d 10 May 2005, OBIT - Emma Lucille Upton
• Haven Hersey, b 10 Jan 1913 d 25 Aug 1990
• Elizabeth S,  married J W Propes 16 Jul 1942 in Hinton, Summers, WV
• Frank Melvin (not listed by Letha, but his OBIT clearly puts him in this family as well) b 6 Jan 1917 in Monroe County, WV d 29 May 2003 in Gaffney, Cherokee, South Carolina.
• Charles H, b 7 Nov 1918 d 19 Mar 1992
• Rosalie (Rosa Lee), b 27 Dec 1920 d 20 May 2009, married Harold Stennett OBIT - Rosalie Upton Stennett

How strange for a single card to have survived, but no photo of William or his family for the collection? I hope that one day photos and stories can be added to the skeletons of dates...