September 26

MEMORIAL TO...

Arthur Lafayette Thomas 1854-1938

Arthur was the son of Washington Lafayette Thomas and Harriet B Walker Thomas. His brother Charles was my great-grandfather.

Photo: Washington and Harriet Thomas

Arthur married Frances L. McNeal on 23 February 1888. (She was 17 years old, and he was 34.) They had one child, Flossie, born 30 December 1888, died 26 February 1889, age 1 month 27 days. I don't know the cause of death. Arthur died in 1938, and Frances died in 1955. All three of them are buried in the Thomas Cemetery in Bangor, Michigan.

In our family history my dad wrote:

Frances (Aunt Frank as we knew her) lived in Hartford and would visit us and Aunt Renue sometimes when she was out walking.

(According to her obituary, Frances at the time of her death lived in a house on Haver Street, which was across the street from the house where we lived when I was in high school.)

The Hartford Day Spring, Sept. 28, 1938 Arthur L. Thomas, 84, Dies At Toquin; Rites Today BANGOR - Funeral rites are being held at the Sherrod chapel here this Wednesday afternoon for Arthur L. Thomas, 84, who died Monday at his home near Toquin where he had lived the greater part of his life. The services are under the auspices of the Covert Masonic lodge of which the deceased was a member. The Rev. Scott McDonald is officiating and burial will be in the Thomas cemetery, named after the family of the deceased. His death followed a long illness of a heart ailment. Born in New York state on April 5, 1854, Mr. Thomas came to Van Buren county at an early age. On February 22, 1888, he was married to Frances MacNeal at Paw Paw. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last winter. Besides his wife, Mr. Thomas is survived by two brothers, Charles of Bangor and William of Watervliet.