Among the more prosperous young business men of Louisville, John W.
Thomason must be accorded a prominent place. Admitted to the bar in 1899 and
beginning the practice of his chosen profession in Louisville immediately
thereafter, he has in the intervening years built up a law practice worthy
of a longer period of labor, and in addition has become prominent in stock
raising circles as a breeder of fine cattle, pure Shorthorns being the breed
he is cultivating. His united efforts in the law business and as a cattle
raiser have brought him a prominence in Clay county, where he was already
well known, that being the county of his birth.
Mr. Thomason was
born on July 5, 1874, and is the son of William B. and Caroline (Kellums)
Thomason. The father was a native of Indiana and the mother of Clay county.
He was a farmer, and when his son, John W., was four years of age, he died.
His widow survived him until 1901. He was a son of Allen Thomason, born in
South Carolina, who settled in Indiana, later removing to Illinois, where he
passed the remainder of his life. He was a farmer and a veteran of the
Mexican war. The maternal grandfather of John Thomason was John W. Kellums,
born in Greene county, Indiana, who moved to Illinois shortly after his
marriage. He settled on a farm in the northern part of Clay county, and was
there known as a large stock-raiser, in which business he was especially
prosperous. He was ever a prominent Republican, and was well known
throughout the county. He has always been in the well-to-do class, owning as
much as four and five hundred of acres of farm lands. He is now retired from
the farming business, and is a resident of Flora, where he owns the
principal hotel of the town. He also still retains a goodly quantity of
valuable lands in the vicinity of Flora.
John Thomason received his
earlier education in the common schools of Clay county and later attended
Orchard City College at Flora, from which institution he was graduated in
1894. He taught school for a few terms by way of becoming accustomed to
making his own way in the world, after which he studied law in a Chicago law
school. He also studied in Mercer county, Illinois, and finished his studies
in 1899, being admitted to the bar of the state of Illinois in the same
year. He took up the active practice of his profession in Louisville, and in
the year following the initiation of his practice there he was elected to
the office of state's attorney, in which he served one term. He was elected
on the Democratic ticket, although Clay county is a stronghold of the
Republican party. In the following election he was defeated for re-election
by one vote, at a time when Theodore Roosevelt carried the county by a five
hundred majority. Mr. Thomason has been chairman of the Democratic county
committee, and has in many and various ways made himself a useful and
valuable adherent of the party. As previously mentioned, his operations in
the stock-breeding business have brought him added prosperity, and he is the
local attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
In 1901
Mr. Thomason married Margaret Downing, of Mercer county. She is a daughter
of John Downing, who is a merchant in Joy, Mercer county, and a man of
considerable note in his community. Three children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Thomason. They are Corinne, Helen and John D.
Mrs. Thomason is
a member of the Presbyterian church, in which she takes a sympathetic and
dutiful interest, and her husband is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias
and the Masonic order. In the latter connection he is a member of the Royal
Arch Chapter at Flora and has served as master in the Louisville lodge.
Extracted 09 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, published in 1912, volume 3, pages 1230-1231.
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