Isham (or Isum, Isom, Isam - take your pick) is thought to have been born in or around Bulloch County, Georgia about 1803. I have been able to document only one sibling (Mary, born abt. 1799) and have evidence of a second (Winifred, born abt. 1802). However, I suspect Isham is the son of William Thomas in Bulloch County on the 1820 census and his other siblings include Vicey and Nancy Thomas.
Isham is the current "brick wall" for this Thomas line and I am looking for any information regarding his family, ancestors and descendants. If you have any information, please contact me using the email link.
What I do know is as follows:
Isham B. Thomas was born about 1803 as determined from his gravestone. However, some census records show he may have been born as late as 1815. His place of birth is listed as Georgia on census records. I believe he may have been from Bulloch County, Georgia, only because of some early 1830's real estate transactions there and his sisters, Mary and Winifred, were married and lived there. Isham died in Alachua County, Florida, December 18, 1868, and is buried there in the Thomas Cemetery.
Isham married Mary Ulmer in Decatur County, Georgia, November 29, 1846. According to census records, Mary was born in South Carolina around 1820-1822. The Ulmer family is shown on the 1840 and 1850 census records as being in Decatur County, Georgia, but not there on the 1830 census. Mary is the daughter of Elender (Eleanor?) Ulmer. I do not know her father's name. Mary died September 15, 1873 in Alachua County, Florida.
In 1847 his first child, Sarah, was born in Decatur County, GA. On the 1850 Federal Census, Isham B. and Mary Thomas were living in Lowndes County, Georgia. They had the following children, all shown as born in Georgia: Sarah C., age 3; Nancy E., age 1; and Mary F., age 3 months.
In late 1850 Isham B. Thomas began purchasing land in Alachua County, Florida.
On the 1860 Federal Census, Isham B. and Mary Thomas were living near Newnansville in Alachua County with 8 children. Also in the household were two farm laborers (Isham Thomas and Ivey Thomas - not his sons1) and one family teacher (William Hagler). The agricultural census of the same year showed Isham B. Thomas as having 130 acres of improved land and 610 acres of unimproved land.
Children of Isham B. and Mary Thomas
- 1. Sarah Caroline Thomas
- Born August 21, 1847, Decatur County, GA. Married William H. Griffen about 1867 (he died Aug. 18, 1868) in Alachua County, Florida. Then married Rafael M. Fugate August 27, 1869 (aka Reuben Montgomery Fugate). Lived in Levy County, Florida, and died there November 18, 1915.
- 2. Nancy E. Thomas
- Born in Georgia November 29, 1848. Married William Marion Campbell, in Alachua County, Florida, probably about 1867. The Campbell family is buried in the Thomas Cemetery and a Nancy J. Campbell is shown there being born November 29, 1848 and dying April 7, 1926. William M. Campbell was involved in the administration of Isham B. Thomas' estate. I have not located the Campbell-Thomas marriage record.
- 3. Mary Frances Thomas
- The 1850 census lists her as Mary F. Thomas and the 1860 census shows her as Frances Thomas. She was born April 3, 1850 in Lowndes County, Georgia, and married Jesse M. Shaw on December 10, 1868, in Alachua County, Florida. Isham B. Thomas died 8 days after the marriage and Jesse M. Shaw was the Administrator of the estate. Mary died September 15, 1906. Both Jesse and Mary Shaw are buried in the Thomas Cemetery in Alachua County.
- 4. Franklin Pearce Thomas
- Born October 20, 1852, in Alachua County Florida, and died October 25, 1923 according to the gravestone. Franklin Thomas married Fannie P. Hague in 1869 and Nancy E. Hollingsworth in 1893. He had 6 children by his first wife.
- 5. George Bulloch Thomas
- Born December 1854 in Alachua County, Florida. Married Emma Dudley October 18, 1893 in Alachua County. Died in 1941 in Pinellas County, Florida.
- 6. Joseph Murray Thomas
- My G-Grandfather. Born April 13, 1856, in Alachua County, Florida. Married Louisa Pike in Orange County, Florida Feb. 15, 1880. Died June 2, 1945, Pittman, Lake County, Florida.
- 7. America A. Thomas
- Born May 15, 1858, in Alachua County, Florida. Married Tamerlane H. Cato January 28, 1874 in Alachua County, Florida. Died in Orange County, Florida, on December 12, 1946, and is buried in Alachua County.
- 8. William M. Thomas
- Born May 19, 1860, in Alachua County, Florida. Married Fernandina Hawkins, sister of Edward Hawkins (below), on December 14, 1886 in Alachua County. He died October 3, 1930 in Alachua County.
- 9. Henrietta V. Thomas
- Born about January 1863 in Alachua County, Florida. Married Edward A. Hawkins on November 1, 1883, in Alachua County, Florida. She died in 1941 in Alachua County.
Complete information on the descendants of Isham B. Thomas is contained in his family tree.
Many of the Thomas family members are buried in the Thomas Cemetery and the Hague Cemetery, both in Alachua County. Joseph Murray Thomas and several of his descendants are buried in the Umatilla Cemetery in Umatilla, Florida.
Footnotes: (click number to return to text)
1 It should be noted that some researchers mistakenly show Isham B. Thomas as being married in 1838, prior to his 1846 marriage to Mary Ulmer, and that Isham J. Thomas and/or Ivey A. Thomas were children from this first marriage. This is a convenient explanation since Isham J. and Ivey were in Isham B. Thomas' Alachua County, Florida household for the 1860 census but too old to be from his 1846 marriage. This 1838 marriage claim is likely based on erronous online marriage indexes showing a July 10, 1838, marriage between Isham Thomas and Emeline Wiggins in Randolph County, Georgia. Examination of the original Randolph County marriage record shows that groom was Isham "Thompson," not "Thomas." Also, Isham and Emeline Thompson are found on the 1850 and 1860 U. S. censuses continuing to live in Randolph and Terrell Counties whereas Isham B. Thomas was in Lowndes County, Georgia, and Alachua County, Florida, on those censuses.