rev. hunter thomas, jr.
1932-2006
Life Story
Early Life in Mississippi
Hunter Thomas Jr. was born on June 4, 1932, in Mississippi, the son of Hunter Thomas Sr. and Lennie Howze Thomas. Records differ concerning his precise birthplace, with both Newton and Laurel, Mississippi, appearing in later sources.
Hunter belonged to the large blended family of Lennie Howze, whose children would eventually establish homes in Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and elsewhere. His brothers and sisters included Katie Ramsey, Flora Mae Moffett, Eloise McCormick, Francis Evans, Alfred Thomas, Elbert Thomas, Violene Haynes, and Annetta Ervin.
By 1950, seventeen-year-old Hunter was living in Laurel, Jones County, Mississippi, on Palmers Avenue with his mother, Lennie, and stepfather, Walter Hawkins. He was already part of the workforce, employed as a delivery boy for a drug store and reporting thirty-three hours of work during the census week.
Within a year, his life would take him hundreds of miles from Mississippi.
From Mississippi to Erie
In 1951, Hunter moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, becoming another member of Lennie Howze’s family to establish roots there.
Erie would remain his home for the rest of his life.
Hunter continued his education after arriving in Pennsylvania, attending Tech High School in Erie. His growing commitment to Christian ministry eventually led him to further religious study. He attended Central Bible College in Cleveland, Ohio, and also earned an Elementary Diploma in Religious Studies from Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.
He was eventually ordained as a Baptist minister and became affiliated with the National Baptist Convention.
What had begun with a young Mississippi migrant settling in Erie would develop into a ministerial career spanning several decades.
Marriage and Family
Hunter married Samantha Newell, beginning a marriage that would last approximately fifty-three years.
Together, Hunter and Samantha raised two children: a daughter, Belinda Thomas Allen, and a son, Sherman Thomas.
The family established its home in Erie, with records associating the Thomases first with Chestnut Street and later with Holland Street.
Their marriage endured through Hunter’s years of ministry, business activity, and community service and remained one of the central relationships of his adult life.
Working and Building a Life in Erie
Hunter’s early years in Erie were not limited to preparation for the ministry.
By 1954, he was working in construction while living on Chestnut Street. Like many migrants establishing themselves in a new city, his working life developed alongside his other responsibilities.
Hunter later became a small-business owner, operating the Thomas Variety Store on 21st Street in Erie.
This part of his life adds an important dimension to his biography. He was not only a minister but also an entrepreneur who became part of Erie’s Black business and community life.
Called to the Ministry
Faith ultimately became the defining public work of Hunter’s life.
Known as the Reverend Hunter Thomas Jr., he devoted decades to Baptist ministry. His longest pastorate was at Union Baptist Church in Ashtabula, Ohio, where he served as senior pastor for thirty-four years.
The length of that pastorate is particularly significant. For more than three decades, Rev. Thomas occupied the pulpit of the same congregation, providing continuity of pastoral leadership across generations of church members.
He also served for five years as pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Erie.
His ministry became intertwined with his family as well. His brother Elbert Thomas attended Friendship Baptist Church during the period when Hunter served there, illustrating how the Erie branch of the family-maintained connections through both kinship and church life.
After retiring from full-time pastoral leadership, Rev. Thomas did not withdraw from religious life. He remained an active member of Morning Star Baptist Church in Erie.
Community and Civic Leadership
Rev. Thomas’s public service extended beyond the pulpit.
He participated in the Ministerial Alliances of both Ashtabula and Erie, connecting his individual pastorates with broader networks of clergy and churches in the two communities.
He was also active in the NAACP and involved with the Masonic Lodge.
These affiliations reflected the multiple roles he occupied during his years in Pennsylvania and Ohio: minister, businessman, civic participant, husband, father, brother, and community member.
The Man Beyond the Pulpit
The formal records preserve Rev. Thomas’s churches, education, business activities, and community affiliations, but family memories preserve something different—the personality of the man himself.
Hunter enjoyed gardening, hunting, traveling, and watching television. He was also remembered for giving people around him humorous and affectionate nicknames.
Those details offer a more personal portrait than titles such as “Reverend” or “Senior Pastor” can provide. Behind the decades of church leadership was a man who enjoyed his family, his hobbies, conversation, and humor.
A Family That Followed Him North
Hunter’s move to Erie was also part of a larger family story.
Over time, Erie became home to several of his siblings. Katie Ramsey, Alfred Thomas, and Elbert Thomas all became associated with the city, creating a substantial northern branch of a family whose roots remained in Mississippi.
Other siblings followed different paths. Violene Haynes established her family in Gary, Indiana, while other members of the family remained in Mississippi.
Hunter’s 1951 migration therefore became one part of a broader movement that transformed the geography of the family during the twentieth century.
Death and Burial
After a period of illness, the Reverend Hunter Thomas Jr. died on March 20, 2006, in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was seventy-three years old.
His death closed a life that had taken him from Mississippi to Pennsylvania and Ohio and from the work of a teenage drug-store delivery boy to more than three decades of pastoral leadership.
Rev. Thomas was laid to rest in Erie Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Legacy
The Reverend Hunter Thomas Jr.’s life illustrates how migration could become the beginning rather than the end of a person’s story.
He left Mississippi for Erie in 1951, still a young man. There he continued his education, worked in construction, established a business, married and raised a family, prepared for Christian ministry, and became involved in civic organizations.
But his most enduring public work was his ministry.
His thirty-four years as senior pastor of Union Baptist Church in Ashtabula, followed by service at Friendship Baptist Church and continued involvement at Morning Star Baptist Church, meant that much of his adult life was spent serving congregations and participating in the religious life of communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
His story also became inseparable from the story of his family. Erie eventually became home to several of Lennie Howze’s children, creating a northern family network hundreds of miles from the Mississippi communities where their lives had begun.
When Rev. Thomas died in 2006, he left behind more than half a century of life in Erie, fifty-three years of marriage to Samantha, two children, decades of pastoral leadership, a history of business ownership and civic participation, and a family whose Mississippi roots had become firmly planted in Pennsylvania.
Resting Place
Erie Cemetery in Erie, Pennsylvania
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1950 U.S. Census, Jones County, Mississippi, population schedule, Laurel, Palmers Avenue, Walter Hawkins household. Seventeen-year-old Hunter Thomas Jr. was living with his mother, Lennie Hawkins, and stepfather, Walter Hawkins. He was employed as a delivery boy for a drug store and reported thirty-three hours of work during the census week.
- Obituary for the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr., Erie, Pennsylvania, March 2006. The obituary identifies his birth date as June 4, 1932, names Hunter Thomas Sr. and Lennie Howze Thomas-Hawkins as his parents, and documents his move to Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1951.
- Ibid. Rev. Thomas attended Tech High School in Erie, studied at Central Bible College in Cleveland, Ohio, and earned an Elementary Diploma in Religious Studies from Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. He was ordained in the Baptist faith and affiliated with the National Baptist Convention.
- Erie, Pennsylvania, city directory, 1954, entry for Hunter Thomas. The directory records him as a construction worker and associates him with a residence on Chestnut Street.
- Obituary for the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr., March 2006. Rev. Thomas operated the Thomas Variety Store on 21st Street in Erie, documenting another aspect of his working and business life in the city.
- Ibid. Rev. Thomas served as senior pastor of Union Baptist Church in Ashtabula, Ohio, for thirty-four years and as pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Erie for five years. Following his retirement from full-time pastoral ministry, he remained associated with Morning Star Baptist Church in Erie.
- Ibid. His community affiliations included the NAACP, the Masonic Lodge, and the Ministerial Alliances of Ashtabula and Erie.
- Ibid. Rev. Thomas was married to Samantha Newell Thomas for fifty-three years. Their children included Belinda Thomas Allen and Sherman Thomas. Records associate the family with residences on Chestnut Street and Holland Street in Erie.
- Ibid. Family and obituary accounts remembered Rev. Thomas as enjoying gardening, hunting, traveling, watching television, and giving nicknames to family members and friends.
- Funeral program for Flora Mae Wheaton Moffett, obituary, 1982, privately held family copy. Flora’s program identifies her brother as Rev. Hunter T. Thomas of Erie, Pennsylvania, along with brothers Alfred and Elbert Thomas, providing contemporary family documentation of Hunter’s ministerial title and Erie residence.
- Obituary for Elbert Thomas, Erie, Pennsylvania, February 2013. Elbert’s obituary identifies his late brother as Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr. and notes Elbert’s attendance at Friendship Baptist Church, where Hunter had served as pastor.
- Obituary for the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr., March 2006. Rev. Thomas died March 20, 2006, in Erie, Pennsylvania, following a period of illness, at the age of seventy-three.
- Erie Cemetery, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, burial record for the Rev. Hunter Thomas Jr., documenting his final resting place.
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