elbert thomas
1930-2013
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County
Elbert Thomas was born on November 12, 1930, in Newton County, Mississippi, the son of Hunter Thomas Sr. and Lennie Howze Thomas. He was one of the younger children in the large blended family created by his mother, whose older children included daughters from her earlier relationship with Chester Wheaton.
Elbert’s early life was rooted in the rural communities of east-central Mississippi. He was baptized at an early age and became a member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Twanta, establishing a connection with the church that was also important in the lives of other members of his family.
His childhood unfolded during the Great Depression and the years of Jim Crow segregation, when his family was spread among communities in Newton and Jones counties.
Working in Mississippi’s Timber Industry
By 1950, nineteen-year-old Elbert was living in the Southwest district of Jones County, Mississippi, in the household of his older sister Eloise McCormick and her husband, Sam McCormick.
Also living in the household was Elbert’s older brother Alfred Thomas. Both young men worked in the timber industry that was an important part of the economy of southern Mississippi.
Elbert worked as a lumber stacker at a private sawmill, reporting fifty-five hours of work during the census week. Alfred worked as a pulpwood cutter for a wood dealer.
The census captures the two brothers at the beginning of adulthood, earning their living through physically demanding work in Mississippi’s pine and lumber industry. Within only a few years, both men’s lives would become connected to the United States Army.
A Career in the United States Army
Elbert entered the United States Army on July 30, 1953, during the final period of the Korean War era.
His surviving military service information documents two periods of Army service. The first extended from July 30, 1953, until February 13, 1958. He returned to Army service on November 20, 1958, beginning a second period that continued until August 31, 1974.
Together, these records document approximately twenty-one years of Army service, interrupted by a period of several months in 1958.
His military career took him far beyond the Mississippi communities of his youth. Among the places associated with his service was Fort Meade, Maryland.
By the time Elbert left active military service in 1974, the young Mississippi sawmill worker recorded in the 1950 census had spent much of his adult life in uniform.
A New Home in Erie
Following the end of his military career, Elbert moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1974.
He was not the first member of his family to establish a life there. Erie had already become an important northern destination for several of the children and descendants of Lennie Howze. Elbert’s sister Katie Ramsey lived there, as did his brothers Alfred Thomas and the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr.
Erie became Elbert’s home for nearly four decades. Over the years, records associated him with residences on East 23rd Street, Lewis Avenue, and East 43rd Street.
His move from Mississippi to Pennsylvania added another chapter to a family migration story that eventually stretched from Mississippi to Pennsylvania, Indiana, and California.
Veteran, Church Member, and Storyteller
Elbert maintained a strong connection to his military service after settling in Erie. He became a longtime member of Barney Smith American Legion Post No. 700, continuing his association with fellow veterans long after leaving the Army.
His religious life also remained important. He initially attended Friendship Baptist Church, where his brother, the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr., served as pastor. Elbert was later associated with Morning Star Baptist Church.
Family and obituary accounts remembered him as an outgoing man who enjoyed traveling, fellowship, storytelling, and sharing memories of his years in the military. After spending so much of his adult life in the Army, his experiences in uniform became part of the stories he carried into his later years.
The Family Across America
By Elbert’s later life, the siblings who had begun their lives in Mississippi had become scattered across several states.
His sisters Flora Mae Moffett, Francis Evans, and Eloise McCormick remained closely associated with Mississippi. Katie Ramsey, Alfred, Hunter, and Elbert became part of the family’s Erie branch. His sister Violene Haynes established her family in Gary, Indiana, before eventually spending her later years in California.
Elbert therefore belonged to a generation whose family ties survived considerable geographic separation. The siblings’ lives connected rural Mississippi with some of the northern cities that became home to African American families during the twentieth century.
Death and Family
Elbert Thomas died in February 2013 at Specialty Select Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, at the age of eighty-two.
The surviving information presents a discrepancy concerning the precise date. His biographical account gives Monday, February 18, 2013, while the military-related record supplied for him reports February 25, 2013. Until a death certificate or contemporary obituary resolves the difference, the conflicting dates should be preserved in the research record rather than choosing one without explanation.
Elbert was preceded in death by his parents, Hunter and Lennie Thomas; his daughter, Pamattae Reynolds; his brothers the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr. and Alfred Thomas; and his sisters Flora Mae Moffett, Francis Evans, Eloise McCormick, and Anniell Irving.
Among his surviving family were his sisters Katie Ramsey of Erie and Violene Haynes of Gary, Indiana, his sister-in-law Samantha Thomas, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and other relatives. His survivors also included his special friend, Virginia Maniece.
Funeral observances included participation by the American Legion, while Pastor Emeritus the Rev. Amos Goodwine Sr. participated in the services.
Elbert was laid to rest at Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania, the same cemetery in which other members of his extended family were buried.
Legacy
Elbert Thomas’s eighty-two years connected rural Mississippi, more than two decades of Army service, and nearly four decades of life in Erie.
In 1950, the census found him at nineteen years old working fifty-five hours a week stacking lumber in a Mississippi sawmill. Three years later, he entered the United States Army. Except for a brief interruption in 1958, military service would occupy the next two decades of his life.
When that chapter ended in 1974, Elbert began another in Erie, joining siblings who had already helped establish a branch of the family in Pennsylvania. There he remained connected to church, family, and fellow veterans through the American Legion.
His story also adds another dimension to the history of Lennie Howze’s children. They did not simply leave Mississippi for one northern destination. Their lives spread in several directions—Erie, Gary, California, and communities that remained in Mississippi.
For Elbert, that journey led from Newton County to the Mississippi lumber industry, from the sawmill into the United States Army, and finally to Erie, where he spent the last decades of a long life and where he was ultimately laid to rest.
Resting Place
Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1930 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Beat 4, Hunter Thomas household. Documents the Thomas family in Newton County during Elbert’s infancy and identifies Hunter Thomas and Linnis “Lennie” Thomas within the family household.
- 1950 U.S. Census, Jones County, Mississippi, population schedule, Southwest district, Sam McCormick household. Nineteen-year-old Elbert Thomas was living with his sister Eloise McCormick, her husband Sam, their son Sammie Lee, and Elbert’s brother Alfred Thomas. Elbert was employed as a lumber stacker at a private sawmill and reported fifty-five hours of work during the census week.
- U.S. military service record, Elbert Thomas, U.S. Army, Social Security no. 427-48-9672, p. 2. Records Elbert’s first period of Army service from July 30, 1953, to February 13, 1958, and a second period from November 20, 1958, to August 31, 1974.
- Funeral program for Flora Mae Wheaton Moffett, obituary, 1982, privately held family copy. Flora’s program identifies Elbert Thomas of Erie, Pennsylvania, among her surviving brothers and also identifies siblings Alfred Thomas and the Rev. Hunter T. Thomas as residents of Erie.
- Obituary for Elbert Thomas, Erie, Pennsylvania, February 2013. The obituary documents Elbert’s move to Erie in 1974 following his military career; his longtime membership in Barney Smith American Legion Post No. 700; his attendance at Friendship Baptist Church, where his brother the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr. served as pastor; and his later association with Morning Star Baptist Church.
- Ibid. The obituary describes Elbert as enjoying travel, fellowship, storytelling, and sharing memories of his military service, and identifies Specialty Select Hospital in Erie as his place of death.
- Ibid. Elbert was preceded in death by his daughter, Pamattae Reynolds; brothers the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr. and Alfred Thomas; and sisters Flora Mae Moffett, Frances Evans, Eloise McCormick, and Anniell Irving. Survivors included sisters Katie Ramsey of Erie and Violene Haynes of Gary, Indiana; sister-in-law Samantha Thomas; nieces, nephews, cousins, and other relatives; and his special friend, Virginia Maniece.
- Ibid. Funeral observances included participation by the American Legion and Pastor Emeritus the Rev. Amos Goodwine Sr. Elbert was buried at Lakeside Cemetery, Erie, Pennsylvania.
- U.S. military/veterans record, Elbert Thomas, Social Security no. 427-48-9672, p. 2, gives Elbert’s birth date as November 12, 1930, and death date as February 25, 2013. This conflicts with the biographical information identifying his death as February 18, 2013. A contemporary obituary, Pennsylvania death record, or cemetery record should be consulted before selecting one date as definitive.
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