Name/Title
Believed to be Joshua R. Thomas [1836-1881]Entry/Object ID
2005.2.17Description
Believed to be Joshua R. Thomas [1836-1881] who served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a member of Company G, 85th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. He was a son of Eli Thomas and Sarah Knight, and a brother of Catherine (Thomas) Crouse.
This photograph has been presented with two contradicting identifications. Below are the cases for each. Please read through both as the research is on-going and family members are still being interviewed for potential evidence.
(1) The identity presented on the reproduced print shared in this collection was that of Enos Crouse [1839-1892] who served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a member of Company A, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment. He was a son of Samuel Crouse and Rebecca Fordyce. There is not yet a known record of family ownership of the original photograph, only a reproduction print. The reproduction was shared with Teresa (Crouse) Roberts by her great-aunt Louise (Crouse) Anderson - daughter of Thomas Campbell Crouse and Ella Teresa Rock, granddaughter of Layton Crouse and Catherine Thomas.
(2) The identity provided by Peggy Hunter, whose mother owns an original tintype of this photograph as of 2015, is that of Joshua R. Thomas [1836-1881] who served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a member of Company G, 85th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. He was a son of Eli Thomas and Sarah Knight, and a brother of Catherine (Thomas) Crouse which would explain the Crouses owning a copy of the image. The tintype was passed from Joshua R. Thomas and his wife, Eliza Jane Barr (whose original tintype image Peggy's mother also owns), to their son, Samuel J. Thomas, who was twice married, and passed the photograph to his eldest child by his first marriage, Dessie (Thomas) Sidell and her husband, William T. Sidell. The Sidells raised Peggy Hunter's mother from age 4 and she inherited the photograph. The family also owned a crayon enlargement made circa 1895 of the photograph, which hung in the Samuel J. Thomas house on Windy Ridge in Wetzel County, West Virginia, and is now owned by Peggy's sister. Peggy remembers the large photograph while it was still in the Samuel J. Thomas home and says that it was always identified, with pride and sadness because of what the war did to his health, as Sam's father, Joshua R. Thomas. The house and picture stayed in the family after Samuel's death in 1940, first with his widow, Molly (Sole) Thomas, until she passed away in 1968, and then with their daughter, Elizabeth (Thomas) Mincks, who stayed there until her passing in 1990. Elizabeth and Peggy's mother were very close and Peggy's mother took care of her when she could no longer care for herself. Elizabeth had been very interested in family history, so the knowledge and discussion of the family photographs was active in the household up to the time that the items were passed to Peggy's mother and sister, the current owners of the tintype and crayon enlargement, respectively.Collection
Scott and Teresa (Crouse) Roberts CollectionMade/Created
Date made
circa 1861 - circa 1865Lexicon
Search Terms
Military, Thomas family, Veterans--Civil WarOther Names and Numbers
Other Number
CROU_AN001_0017Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Thomas, Joshua R. [1836-1881]Provenance
Provenance Detail
Crouse Series - Scott and Teresa (Crouse) Roberts CollectionNotes
The Crouse Series photographs were owned and shared by Scott & Teresa (Crouse) Roberts with the Greene Connections: Greene County, Pennsylvania Archives Project in 2005.
Source Citation: Believed to be Joshua R. Thomas [1836-1881], item no. CROU_AN001_0017, Scott and Teresa (Crouse) Roberts Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project (www.GreeneConnections.com).