F. A. ThomasA native son of Tulare, County, one of comparatively few elder ones who are leaders there now. F.A.Thomas, was born October 6, 1859. A son of William Washington Thomas and Mary Ann Wolford, Thomas (M) 28, July 1858 Yokhol Valley, Tulare, County, California.William Washington died in Visalia, California in l860. All his life, F.A. Thomas farmed and raised live stock. That he has prospered may be inferred to the fact that he owned one hundred and ten city lots in Tulare, eighty acres of timberland, twenty-eight acres of orange grove, an interest in the Courtner sawmills in the mountains and he has recently sold twenty-two hundred acres of land in Drum Valley. He freights lumber from his mill, fifty-eight miles to Tulare. His experiences in this part of the state encompass the entire period of its modern development. He remembers well the killing by Digger Indians of Pioneer Woods and was well acquainted with as well as related to Evans of Evans and Sontag and other celebrated characters whose names are identified with the early history of central California and has been on the spot where the two desperadoes mentioned were captured. He often hunted the plains and in the woods and was one time treed by wild hogs. Among others he knew in the early days was Mr. Breckenridge who was killed by Indians in Eshom Valley and it was since he came that the Dalton brothers had their short but eventful career in this part of the country. Politically he was early affiliated with the Democratic Party. He was a charter member of a local organization, the Woodsman of the World of Visalia. He has been very prominent in many movements for the benefit of the community in which he was well known. The following is a resignation written by F.A. Thomas for himself and donated by Grandson, James Eli Thomas
REPORT OF
Superintendent of County Hospital, Tulare County, California
To the Hon. The Board of Supervisors, Tulare Co. Calif
Sirs:
My term of office extends over a period of four years and ten months, beginning January 1st 1893 and ending November 1st 1897. The members constituting the Board of Supervisors at the time of my appointment were, T.E. Henderson, Chairman, James Barton, J. H. Woody, J. H. Fox and S.L.H. Ellis.
Page 2 My salary was fixed at $75.00 per month and no nurse was furnished me. The Hospital was located on a tract of 42 acres, four and a half miles south of Visalia on the line of the Visalia and Tulare, Railroad. My duties required me to nurse the sick, do the cooking and laundering, purchase provisions and supplies and haul the same to the Hospital. In addition I was required to cultivate 25 acres of land to hay the first year and to level, ditch and cultivate the same to alfalfa the second year. With few exceptions I supplied all the vegetables and potatoes for the Hospital from the farm. I hauled the entire wood supply for the Court House, Court House engine and County Jail; cared for 3 head of horses and 15 head of cattle; milked 5 cows from which I supplied the Hospital with milk; built half mile of lumber fence, and kept in repair 1 1/2 miles of ditch and half mile of sewer. On assuming charge there were 19 inmates in the Hospital, many of them very unruly, violent, and disobedient and it required a great deal of patience, diligence, industry and hearty cooperation of the County Physician to bring about better discipline. The average daily attendance was from 12 to 22. The Hospital building was in bad order. I repaired the entire building and painted the interior, including floors and doors, without any expense to the County save for paint and lumber. The Hospital was supplied with water from the elevated tank, which must be filled by horsepower. Only on some occasions was I allowed to hire a lady to assist in repairing the Hospital bedding. At the time the Hospital was burned, Sept. lst 1894, the building was in very good repair and the farm in good condition. For a period of 13 1/2 months, and until the completion of and removal to the new building about Oct. 15th 1895, the Hospital occupied a small dilapidated building in the Southern part of Visalia, where insufficient room and no drainage rendered its management most trying and difficult. Insufficient funds made it impossible to thoroughly paint and equip the new building; the floors were left unpainted and smeared with paint spots and quantities of mortar which thorough scrubbing with hot water, sand and soap failed to remove. Without any expense to the County save for material, I painted all the interior floors, both upstairs and down, twice, and some of them three times; I also painted the back porch, both side entrances, the kitchen shelving and the base boards and banistering of the building. The foundation of the Hospital is insecure and the uneven settling of the same has badly cracked the walls and knocked of f the plastering in many of the upper and lower rooms; most of these places I have repaired. I find that the Hospital Superintendent should be a "Jack of All Trades, -- Painter, cook, carpenter, nurse and physician. In the absence of the attending Physician, the responsibilities devolving upon the Superintendent of the Hospital are often severely trying and appalling. I have at all times
Page 3 exercised the utmost of my endeavors to promote the comfort of the aged, sick and maimed, whom misfortune placed in my care, and to restore them to health and vigor; and I have at all times given my personal attention to the inmates, realizing fully the danger of placing the health and lives of the unfortunate in the care of those unacquainted with drugs and inexperienced with disease. I am proud to say that during my term in office five different Grand Juries visited the Hospital and highly commended its management, and on retiring from the Superintendency I invite the Board of Supervisors, and also the taxpayers of the County, to visit in institution and bear witness to the fact that it is in far better condition that when I received it.
Respectfully Retiring Superintendent Visalia, Cal. Nov. 1, 1897
F. A. Thomas was married three times as follows 1 Sarah Cortner, Moore (M) Jan 2, 1883 (D) Nov.15, 1957 1. Myrtle Thomas (B) 1884 ? 2. William Amzi Thomas (B) July 1, 1885 (D) Sept 7, 1932 3. Freeman Eli Thomas (B) April 26, 1887 (D) May 14, 1965 Sarah and F.A. Divorced when Eli was about 4 or 5 years. 2. Sarah A. Spies, Boyd (Sally0 (M) Sept 24, 1891 (D) July 30, 1897 1. James Fredrick Thomas ( (B) April 15, 1895 (D) July 6, 1897 Sarah died 29 year of age. Baby was 2 years of age. Both died same year and same month. 3. Eda M. Hall (M) Feb 15, 1898 (D) June 19, 1958 1. Adilla Thomas (B July 22, 1899 (D) Oct 25, 1966
The marriages and families of Mary Ann Jordan, Wolford, Thomas, Cortner. 1. Daniel Wolford (M) 1850 (D) 1856 Killed by a bear. 1. Caroline Amanda Wolford (B) July 6, 1851 (D) age 8 2. William Wilder Wolford (B) June 18, 1853 (D) age6 3. John Wolford (B) Feb. 13, 1855 Lived to a young man. 4. Rose Ann Wolford (B) Feb. 25, 1857 (D) 1882 2. William Washington Thomas (M) July 13, 1858 (D) 1860 In Visalia 1. Freeman Allen Thomas (B) Oct 6, 1859 (D) 1931 3. William Coleman Cortner (M) Mar 28. 1861 (D) Mar 3, 1894 1. Thomas Ely Cortner (B) Jan 20, 1862 2. Eliza Jane (Jenny) Cortner (B) Sept 13, 1863 3. Robert H. Lee Cortner (B) Feb 7, 1865 4. Adula Melica Cortner (B) Nov 10, 1866 5. Mary Elizabeth Cortner (B) 1869 6. James Fredrick Cortner (B) Dec 23, 1870 7. Elias Talbert Cortner (B) Feb 23, 1872 8. Preston Bullard Cortner (B) Dec 18, 1874 9. Melica Cortner (B) Dec 23, 1875
"The forgoing resignation letter was written by F. A. Thomas to the Hospital Board of Directors ca. 1903. The Hospital was located on the North side of present day Moneys' Grove, Tulare County, California". "My Grand-dad was drawing a salary of $80.00 per month and when he asked for a $5.00 per raise he was refused". - James Eli Thomas. - Contributed by the grandsons of F. A. Thomas, George Edward Thomas and James Eli Thomas, April 13, 1999. Edited by Frank Kirkman 4/13/1999.
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