(Compiled by John B.
McVey – see source citations below)
James Thomas was born in Philadelphia,
September 22, 1836, and was the youngest son of Hopkin Thomas and his wife
Catherine (Richards) Thomas. He inherited his
father's genius in mechanics, and early in youth thoroughly learned the iron
industry, in which business his attentions were engaged all his active life and
in which he was eminently successful.
James Thomas came
to Catasauqua, from Tamaqua, with his parents in
1853 at age 17. He apprenticed at the Crane
Iron Works under the tutelage of his father,
Hopkin Thomas, Master Mechanic (Chief Engineer)
where he gained extensive knowledge of the iron-making
business. During these early years, the Thomas family
lived on Church St. and among his neighbors was
William R. (Billy) Jones. James
and Billy became lifelong friends; both became
experts in the iron-making industry. At about the
age of 20, James and Bill Jones left Catasauqua
and for several months they entered the employ of
William Millens, who operated a machine shop at
Janesville, Luzerne County. In 1856, they moved
to Philadelphia, and worked as machinists in the
shops of I. P. Morris & Company, where they
worked on two large blast engines for the Lehigh
Crane Iron Works, and they were sent to Catasauqua
with the force of men to erect the same.
In 1858, at the age of 22, he went
to Parryville, Pa. to take on the superintendency
of the Carbon Iron Works. The first furnace of the
Carbon Iron Company, originally known as the Poco
Anthracite Furnace, was built by Bowman Brothers
and Company in 1855. The site was on the east side
of the Lehigh River, on the canal at Lock No. 13
and just upstream of the mouth of the Pohopoco,
Creek. The first furnace stack was 40 feet high,
with an open top and a 13 foot bosh. The original
water-powered blast machinery was replaced with
steam equipment in 1857. Two more furnaces; No.
2 stack, 52 by 16 feet, was built in 1864, and No.
3 stack, 65 by 16 feet, was completed in 1869. Both
of the newer stacks had closed tops to capture waste
gas to heat the stoves and generate steam for the
blowing engines.
The Carbon Iron Company,
ca. 1865 (Courtesy, Bartholomew & Metz)
In 1861 Thomas married Mary Ann Davies,
who was born in Wales and was the daughter of Daniel Davies, a colleague of
Hopkin Thomas. During their stay at Parryville, the ThomasÕ lived in a
comfortable home above the iron works where four children were born.
Mary Ann (nee Davies)
Thomas
Map of Parryville from
BeerÕs Atlas, 1875
In 1863 ThomasÕ career at the Carbon Iron
Works was interrupted by the campaigns of the Civil War which were threatening
the population of south-central Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania formed the34th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Emergency
Volunteers under the Command of Col Charles Albright. Companies F, A, and
G of this regiment, which served during the emergency in June and July, 1863,
were formed by the men of Carbon County. Capt. James Thomas led Company F
consisting of two officers and 76 men; his first sergeant was brother-in-law
and future business partner George Davies. The company marched to Gettysburg,
thence to Port Richmond, Philadelphia, where the men in the unit were honorably
discharged.
James Thomas continued
on at Parryville until 1871 at which time family
members, James
Harper McKee and
James W. Fuller, who had contacts, principally
Giles Edwards, a former colleague of Hopkin Thomas, in the Birmingham
Alabama area, prevailed upon Thomas to take his
family to the war-devastated, but now redeveloping
iron center. Thomas traveled to Jefferson county
Alabama, and while
there held the position of general manager
of the Irondale and Eureka Iron Companies. Among
many accomplishments, detailed in James
Thomas and the Alabama Iron Industry, 1872 - 1879,
he held the distinction of having made the first
coke-iron in Alabama.
Somewhat frustrated by the slow pace of progress
in obtaining agreement among the various railroad and iron works principals relative to
investments in the development of the rich Alabama mineral resources, he once
again responded to an inquiry from the McKee-Fuller interests. McKee and Fuller
had formed the Lehigh Car, Wheel, and Axle Works in what was to become
Fullerton, Pa. They were in need of a supplier of forgings and castings to be
used to produce rolling stock.
In 1879 James Thomas returned to Catasauqua and formed a partnership
with George Davies under the name of Davies & Thomas. (This company was the
outgrowth of a small concern which was established in 1865 by Daniel
Davies. Shortly after its
establishment a co-partnership was formed with Wm. Thomas and in 1867 the
interest of the latter was purchased by George Davies, a son of Daniel Davies.
They organized under the firm name of Daniel Davies & Son, this firm
existing until the death Daniel Davies.) James Thomas and George Davies greatly
expanded the activities of the foundry which continued in existence until the
deathof George Davies in 1894. The following year the heirs of George Davies
and the surviving member, James Thomas formed the
Davies, Thomas Company.
The works were situated on the east bank of Catasauqua Creek,
adjoining the borough limits, and covered about five acres of floor space. The
plant contained every convenience for the successful prosecution of their work,
and the quality of the products was inferior to none. The firm manufactured
castings for many important enterprises including the underground electric
railway in Washlngting D. C., the Broadway Cable in New York, the East River
tunnel and the Traction and Peoples Cable lines in Baltimore. They also
manufactured car castings and were the designers of the Davies & Thomas
engine. The plant was classed with
the largest in the country conducting general foundry and machine
work. The works were enlarged from
time to time and were amongst the most extensive and best equipped of their
kind in the state.
The Davies & Thomas
Company, Catasauqua, Pa.
As an outgrowth of this success James Thomas
became prominently identified with every enterprise calculated to promote the
prosperity of Catasauqua. He was a founder and president of the Wahnetah
Silk Company as the silk fabric business flourished in the Lehigh Valley
The Wahnetah Silk
Company, Catasauqua, Pa.
As his reputation for accomplishment
grew, he became acquainted with many of the important industrialists of the
late nineteenth century era – including Andrew Carnegie (mentor of his
fellow Crane apprentice,
Capt. Billy Jones) and Thomas Edison.
By virtue of his contact with Edison, the borough secured the establishment of an electric light
plant -- established in 1890. The
plant was situated along the
public road in the southern extremity of the borough. The company (Catasauqua
Electric Light and Power Co.) was organized by George Davies, Rowland T.
Davies, James Thomas, and Rowland D. Thomas, and incorporated with a capital of
$60,000. The plant supplied the town with electric lights, under an agreement
with the borough, at designated points. The streets of Catasauqua had been
lighted by gas lamps, set on posts, from 1856 to 1890; then incandescent electric
lights were substituted, and in 1900 arc lights were added. Being an Edison
plant the power was direct current. Eventually, as the power plants in the
various Lehigh Valley boroughs and towns were consolidated, the Westinghouse
alternating current method, which was more efficient in transmitting, was
employed.
During
this period, James Thomas also became
president of the Bethlehem Electric Light and Power Company.
Consolidation of the local franchises began in 1890 when the Lehigh - Northampton Gas and Electric Co.was
organized. In Dec. 1913, the
Lehigh Valley Light and Power Co. became the lessee of all the franchises.
James Thomas was active in community
charitable affairs. He was a member or Grace M. E, Church, Porter Lodge, F.
& A M., Catasauqua Chapter,
and Allen Commandery, No. 20, Knights Templar. He was a Republican in
politics and among the honors given him by his party was an appointment as
delegate to the national convention held in Minneapolis in 1892. (His daughter
Ruth Thomas McKee recalled that he was disgusted with the back-room
negotiations conducted at the convention and never again sought to be involved
with politics.) He took a keen interest in educational affairs and served for
several years on the school board.
As
a result of his financial success he became a director of the Catasauqua National Bank. He supported several building projects
most notably the erection of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church edifice
adorning the corner of Fifth and Walnut Streets. As a
pillar of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he served it in all its offices for
many years; also was the honored superintendent of the Sunday school for many
years.
Grace M. E. Church, 5th
& Walnut Sts., Catasauqua
His
biographies state ÒMr. Thomas was one of the best informed men, reading broadly
upon all matters of general interest and carrying his investigations into the
best of literature. He was public-spirited,
which, together with his high social standing and courteous manners, made him a
very popular and honored citizen.Ó
Mr.
Thomas was married to Miss Mary Ann Davies, June 11, 1861. They were the
parents of the following children: Blanche T., wife of Charles R. Horn; Mary C.
Thomas (died at the age of twenty-eight years);
Rowland D. Thomas; Mrs. Ruth (Thomas) McKee, wife of
William Wier McKee; Helen T., wife of Dr. James L. Hornbeck; Catherine
R. Thomas (died aged eighteen year; Hopkin
Thomas.
James
Thomas died December 18, 1906 at his home following an illness with stomach
disorders.
Sources:
Bartholomew and Metz, The Anthracite Iron Industry of the
Lehigh Valley, 1988.
Lambert and Reinhard, A History of Catasauqua in Lehigh County Pennsylvania, 1914.
Matthews and Hungerford, History of the Counties of Lehigh
& Carbon, 1884.
Obituary, The Allentown
Morning Call,
December 19, 1906.
Portrait & Biographical Record, Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon
Counties, 1894.
Jordan,
Green, Moore, and Ettinger,
1905
Roberts, C. R. et al, History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania 1914.
John W. Jordan, Encyclopedia of
Pennsylvania Biography, 1914
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