THOMAS
 
THOMAS
 
       William ap Thomas , a Welshman, came to Virginia about 1635 with his wife Elizabeth . Their children were William (1613-1665), Mary (Stone), Robert (1615-1679), John (1616-1710), and Ann (Parsons).
His Elizabeth City County will was recorded in 1679.

      The son, William Thomas, married Rebecca ________ .  He was called "William of Yeocohose" and served as Burgess of Surry County in 1652.  He received patents for land in Northumberland County and was Justice of the Peace there in 1656.

      Their son John Thomas (1648-1719) married Elizabeth ________. Their home was in Northumberland County and their children were Richard (?-1748), who married I. Pendleton; William (1700-1738) who married M. Duggar; Peter; John, who married a Mary ______; and two daughters, Elizabeth and Jane.

       Peter Thomas married Elizabeth ______. It is tempting to think her surname was Winn because her grandchildren and their descendents carried that name through the next several generations. Peter, David, and James may have been their sons.

      The next Peter Thomas (1734-1815), sometimes referred to as "Sr.", married twice: first to a daughter of the Sims family; then, in 1789, to Hannah Wall . The names of their children are not known, but probably included David Winn, Peter (who married M. Wall), Isham, Hubbard, and Mary , known as "Nanny" (who married Littleberry Pearson).

      David Winn Thomas (c. 1760 - 1841) married, in 1790, Rebecca Brooks .  In his will probated in 1842, he names his children as Allen, Bennett, Charles (deceased by that date), Stith, Jane, Robert, Leonard,  David Winn,  and John J.

            Leonard Thomas married Tinsey Winn Thomas in 1824.  Surity for the marriage was Lewis Poythress, a surname long associated with the Wynne (Winn) family. Tinsey's parents are not known, and their identity has been a source of speculation among descendents. Unfortunately, we do not know the names of tall the children of this marriage, which might have been a clue - children so often being named for grandparents.  Leonard wrote a will in 1842 which was probated in 1846, but his children are not named.  He requests that his wife inherit  his estate and that  themoney I have loaned out shall be kept out at interest and that interest to be applied to the education of my youngest children, giving them a common English education and the principle to be equally divided amongst all my children.

            A daughter was Rhoda Ann Thomas who married John Ira Pearson , the grandson of "Nanny" Thomas Pearson, in 1846. He died serving in the Confederate Army sixteen years later, leaving her a widow for half a century: she died in 1912.