William C. Thomas Sr. Papers, 1936-1946

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains personal correspondence to and from William Crockett Thomas, the bulk written during World War II. Correspondence include his wife Czarina Pettit Thomas, his son, William C. Thomas Jr., brother Charles Mitchell Thomas, and nephew Benton Hickok. Correspondence is arranged chronologically in eight folders.

Biographical / historical:

William Crockett Thomas, the son of Charles Benton Thomas and Elizabeth Peirce Crockett Thomas, was born in Wytheville, Virginia on 30 March 1881. He attended King College in Bristol, Tennessee and Saddlers, Bryant & Stratton Business School in Baltimore. He graduated from the Law School of Washington & Lee University and was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1906. He practiced law in Wytheville for over fifty years. He also served as an Assistant Trial Judge and Judge of the Wythe County Court in his later years.

Thomas married Czarina Pettit, daughter of Dr. Absalom and Czarina Forbes Pettit of New Orleans, on 12 June 1912. They had three children: William Crockett Thomas Jr., Czarina Elizabeth Thomas, and Zaida Pettit Thomas . William C. Thomas Jr. served as an aviation mechanic in the Army Air Corps in England during World War II and became an engineer. His sister, Czarina, graduated from Virginia Intermont College and worked as a secretary in the Orthopedic Department at the University of Virginia Hospitals. Zaida Pettit Thomas married Dr. Marion Kemper Humphries in 1939 and resided in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Active in the community and church life, Thomas served on the Wytheville Town Council (1911-1912) and as mayor (1911-1916). He also was an active member of the Democratic Party being Wythe County Democratic Committee Chairman and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1936. He also organized the Wythe County Farm Loan Association in 1917. He served as deacon and trustee of the Wytheville Presbyterian Church.

Thomas died on 8 May 1963 and Czarina Pettit Thomas died on 3 July 1974. Both are buried in East End Cemetery, Wytheville, Virginia.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Mary B. Kegley in 2005; part of the Mary B. Kegley Collection.
Arrangement:

Collection is arranged chronologically

Physical description:
8 folders.