The Thomas Family

Abraham Thomas was a pioneer in Nebraska's Cass County, coming from Iowa after the close of the Civil War. Several of his children continued west, with several members of the family settling in Webster County.

Mervin Larue Thomas (1849–1919) arrived in Webster County in 1871 and became one of the builders of Webster County's third stockade near Cowles, north of Red Cloud. He took a homestead claim, but had returned to Cass County to marry Sarah Adaline Lewis in 1874, when he was sought out by Red Cloud attorney James S. Gilham, who asked him to return to take over as editor of the Red Cloud Chief.  Though he attended only a cumulative 22 months of school during his childhood, "Mel" Thomas ran the Chief for nearly twenty years and continued in this career across Nebraska and Colorado, eventually moving to Oklahoma, where he owned and edited the Grant County Vidette.

Mel Thomas was joined by his brother Lorenzo "Ren" Thomas (1846–1915). Ren, two years older than Mel, had volunteered for military service late in the Civil War, but he was not received into the service due to his age and a frail physical condition. He, too, assisted with the building of the stockade, and he later built the first log cabin in Elm Creek precinct. He married Mary Ann Chambers in 1873, and they raised their five children on the homestead. The 1880 Agricultural Schedule of the United States Census valued Ren Thomas's farm at $1000; he had managed to plow 75 acres of his 160 quarter section.

One of Ren Thomas's children was Elmer Alonzo Thomas (1874–1971). Elmer was born in his father's log house and became a dentist with a distinguished career; besides his practice in Red Cloud, Dr. Thomas was president of the Nebraska Dental Association, and he campaigned for dental care for state mental hospital patients across the country, a practice that was rare at the time. Owing to his family's noteworthy history in the county, Dr. Thomas began recording the details of those early days. He wrote a series of essays, collecting the reminiscences of Webster County's early settlers. Dr. Thomas created a model of his father's homestead which was installed in the Hastings Museum. Dr. Thomas created the Cowles Museum and the Webster County Hall of Fame and was instrumental in the creation of the Webster County Historical Society. He married Jessie Radley, who worked with him at the Hastings State Hospital.

The image of Silas Garber's dugout was found by Mrs. Lela Thomas Grimes, the daughter of Mel Thomas, while going through her father's things kept from his Red Cloud Chief days. She mailed it to Dr. Thomas, writing, "My Dear Cousin; I am mailing you this picture, after all, it belongs to Webster County, or at least to the State of Nebraska; when you are through with it, I hope you will have found a home for it where it will be preserved."