BIOGRAPHY: Clifford S. THOMAS, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 457-458.

  CLIFFORD S. THOMAS, Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa., son of Jacob V. and 
Laetitia P. (Smith) Thomas, was born at Bellefonte, Centre county, Pa.  He is a 
descendant of one of the oldest of Pennsylvania families, its progenitor, a 
Welsh member of the Society of Friends, having come to the province with William 
Penn, on his first voyage.  From that time to the present, inclusive, the line 
of descent presents seven generations.  The immigrant forefather, Richard ap 
Thomas, a native of Whitford Garden, Flintshire, in the extreme north of Wales 
purchased 5,000 acres of land in Chester and Philadelphia counties.  He was 
married July 21, 1681, and had children, among whom was Richard (2), who married 
Grace Atherton, born in England;  one of their children, Richard (3), married 
Phoebe Ashbridge;  Richard (4), one of their family, married Thomasine Downing;  
and among their children was William A. Thomas, who became the father of Jacob 
V., and grandfather of Clifford S. Thomas.  William A. Thomas assisted towards 
the building of the first Friends' meeting-house in the town of Bellefonte, and 
sat at the head of the meeting until his death.  He did much in other ways for 
the establishment and organization of the Society in that vicinity.  Of eleven 
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, only four lived to adult age.  William A. 
Thomas died at the age of seventy-two;  his wife reached that of eighty-six.
  Jacob V. Thomas was twice married.  His first wife was Deborah Downing, of 
Chester county.  The children of that marriage are:  Joseph, deceased;  Eliza;  
and Deborah (Mrs. Isaac Mitchell), of Bellefonte.  Mrs. Deborah Thomas was but 
twenty-five years old when she died.  Mr. Thomas's second wife was Miss Laetitia 
P. Smith.  Their children are:  Ann (Mrs. Dr. Shaffner), of Philadelphia, has 
two children;  Thomasine (Mrs. James B. Lane), has one child;  Richard;  
Clifford S.;  Mary;  and two deceased.  The father, who was born in 1818, died 
April 9, 1895;  his wife survives him.  Her parents were Clifford and Ann Smith, 
whose children were six in number:  Eliza;  Hannah;  Laetitia;  Mary;  Poultney;  
and Harry.  Mrs. Clifford Smith died at about sixty years of age;  her husband 
reached the age of seventy.
  The education of Clifford S. Thomas was begun in the common schools and the 
academy of Bellefonte, Pa., and finished with the scientific curriculum of the 
University of Pennsylvania, from which he received the degree of B. S., in 1879.  
In the same year, he became an apprentice in the Altoona locomotive shops of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad company, and soon giving evidence of much aptitude for 
mechanical science, and skill in its application, combined with energy and 
faithfulness, he has been rapidly promoted.  In 1883, he became second assistant 
road foreman of engineers on the Philadelphia division, Pennsylvania railroad;  
in 1884, assistant road foreman of engineers, New York division,  in 1889, first 
assistant road foreman of engineers, Philadelphia division;  and in 1893, he was 
appointed to his present post, that of master mechanic of the railroad shops, 
Lewistown division, with office at Lewistown Junction.  His residence is at the 
corner of Grand and Prospect streets, in the borough.  Mr. Thomas holds the 
political views of the high tariff Republicans or Democrats.
  Clifford S. Thomas was married, June 3, 1885, to Margaretta Diehl, daughter of 
George and Josephine (Sill) Henderson.  The children of this marriage are:  
George Henderson;  Richard;  and William.  Mr. Thomas and his family attend the 
Episcopal church.
  The grandparents of Mrs. Thomas were George and Margaretta (Diehl) Henderson.  
George came to America early in life, with two brothers and a sister;  he 
settled in Philadelphia, where he established a large and flourishing mercantile 
business.  His children are:  William;  Edward;  George, father of Mrs. Thomas;  
and Thomas.  George (2), and Josephine (Sill) Henderson had two children:  
Margaretta (Mrs. Thomas);  and Southmayd, who married Kate Shaffner, of 
Philadelphia, and has one child, Helen K.  Mr. Henderson in early life was a 
resident of Philadelphia, but now lives in New York City;  he is a large 
wholesale dry goods dealer of that place and of St. Joseph's, Mo.