William Sherman THOMAS (1.John1) was born 21 Aug 1867 in Pleasant Hill, Pike, IL. Centennial History of Missouri WILLIAM SHERMAN THOMAS Starting out to provide for his own support in the position of Assistant Postmaster in the little town of Pleasant Hill. William Sherman Thomas is today the Vice President and Treasurer of the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, which has four thousand employes. Not by leaps and bounds has he reached his present dominant position in commercial circles, but by a steady progression that has followed the prompt and efficient discharge of every duty that has devolved upon him, resulting in the constant development and increase of his powers. He was born at Pleasant Hill, Pike County, Illinois, August 21, 1867, and is a son of Dr. John A. and Sophia (Blair) Thomas. Mr. Thomas' eldest brother, Albert J., died in 1918, and his youngest brother, Clarence C., born in 1876, is Cashier of the Citizens State Bank at Pleasant Hill, Illinois The Thomas family, of Welsh origin, was founded in Virginia in 1690. The great-grandfather of Mr. Thomas of this review was with the Virginia troops and fought throughout the Revolutionary War, being with the forces under General Washington at the time of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Dr. John A. Thomas, father of William S. Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1818 and in 1836 removed to Missouri, where he taught school and studied medicine, being graduated from the McDowell Medical College of St. Louis. In 1845 he removed to Pleasant Hill, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of his profession to the time of his death which occurred February 25, 1888. His wife was born in 1836, was graduated from the Illinois Women's College at Jacksonville in 1858 and in January, 1863, became the wife of Dr. John A . Thomas. Following the demise of her husband, she became a resident of St. Louis where she passed away November 9, 1909, her remains being taken back for interment by the side of her husband at Pleasant Hill. In the public schools of his native town, William S. Thomas pursued his early education, which was supplemented by study in the Illinois State Normal University at the town of Normal. After filling the position of Assistant Postmaster at Pleasant Hill, for a time he went south to San Antonio, Texas, and became a Teller in the Maverick Bank. Watching for an opportunity to conduct business on his own account, he eventually became a partner in the firm of Thomas & Shultz, grain dealers, and also entered into partnership with his brother in the conduct of a general merchandise store, both of these interests being conducted at Pleasant Hill, Illinois. His identification with St. Louis dates from 1894, at which time he organized the Aroma Coffee & Spice Company, becoming its first President. For a number of years he successfully conducted the business and in 1901 became the General Manager of the D. G. Evans Company, importers of coffees and teas. In 1907 he was elected Treasurer of the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company and later to the duties of that office were added those of the vice presidency and he has since served in a dual position. Something of the volume of the business conducted by the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company is indicated in the fact that its employes number four thousand. Its plant is most thoroughly equipped with the latest improved machinery and the work has been carefully systematized. At its head are men of splendid executive ability whose constructive efforts and administrative direction have led to the constant development and enlargement of the business, until it is today not only one of the chief productive industries of St. Louis but of the Mississippi Valley as well. The Company maintains branch offices, selling force and warehouses in all the leading cities of the United States and Canada, and is rapidly organizing sales agencies in the leading foreign countries. The Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company is the originator of the single-phase motor business; and the pioneer in the development of large power transformers, being the first company to build these transformers and install them at Niagara Falls. In the automobile field the Company is one of the leading distributors of starting and lighting devices, and was one of the first in St. Louis to establish a mutual aid society to care for sick and injured employes, and also the first to furnish free group life insurance for its employes. On the 20th of October, 1892, in St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to Miss Frances R. Moore, a daughter of William R. and Margaret Moore, both of whom have now passed away. Her father, who was born in Missouri, November 20, 1841, died in St. Louis, July 5, 1916, and the mother, whose birth occurred in 1842, departed this life September 23, 1873. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were born four sons. The eldest, Maurice L. Thomas, was born at Pleasant Hill, Illinois, in 1893, and was graduated from the University of Illinois in the class of June, 1915, having completed a course in electrical engineering. During his college days he became a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Returning to his home, he entered the works of the Wagner Electric Manufacturing Company, and his rapidly developing efficiency brought him to the position of Production Superintendent in the Large Motor Department. He was thus serving when death called him on the 4th of August, 1919, the news of his demise bringing a sense of deep personal bereavement to all who knew him, for he was most popular with his associates in social and business circles. One writing of him at the time of his death said: "He was always active in athletics, and was ever a tower of strength in every field to which he turned his energies. Ever faithful, modest, earnest and dependable, he fully earned the sincere respect and admiration of all. We may truly say of him -- "This was a man; I shall not look upon his likes again." Maurice is buried in the family lot in Bellefontaine Cemetery. The second son, Ralph R. Thomas, born at Pleasant Hill, Illinois, December 26, 1894, was graduated from the University of Illinois with the class of June, 1916, having completed an electrical engineering course, the degree of B. S. being then conferred upon him. In his college days he was editor of the Technograph, an engineering magazine, was a Major in the Student Brigade and won preliminary honors. He also became a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Later he pursued a special course at the University of Oxford, England. He attended the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1917, and was made a First Lieutenant with the Eighty-ninth Division, A. E. F., and spent fourteen months with the American Army in France, being with the Eighty-ninth Division in their important engagements on the eastern battlefields in France. Since his retirement from the army, he has been employed as a salesman by the William R. Compton Investment Company. The third son, Nelson R. Thomas, born February 14, 1898, in St. Louis, was graduated from the School of Commerce of the University of Illinois with the degree of B. S. in June, 1915, and is a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He was Chairman of the Students Union and a Captain in the Student Brigade, as well as leader of the Mandolin Club during his college days. He enlisted in the Navy in 1918 and attended the Ensign School at the Great Lakes Naval Station. He is now in the St. Louis office of Goldman, Sachs & Co. of New York, bonds and investments. The fourth son, Dwight D. Thomas, born August 18, 1902, in St. Louis, is a student at the University of Illinois and a member of the Phi Delta Theda Fraternity. In his political views, Mr. Thomas is a Republican, but not an active party worker. He and his family have membership in the Second Baptist Church and he belongs to Tuscan Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. M., and Missouri Consistory, No. 1, A. A. S. R. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen and belongs to the Noonday, Bellerive, Country, and City Clubs. Few men are more prominent or more widely known in the business circles of St. Louis than Mr. Thomas, and his prosperity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabating energy and industry that never flags. He is also public spirited, giving his cooperation to every movement which tends to promote the material, intellectual and moral welfare of the community.