Gilmer T. Thomas, a leading and prominent lawyer at Troy, president of the Miami county Bar Association, and ex-mayor of his city, was born at Troy, in 1851, a son of William I. and Lucinda (Neal) Thomas. William I. Thomas was born at Philadelphia, Pa., where he attended public school and as a youth came with his parents to Lancaster, Ohio, where he worked in his father's pottery. A desire for further education led him to attend school at Lancaster, where he subsequently read law in the office of Gen. Thomas Ewing and was admitted to the bar. Coming to Troy in 1819, he was later appointed postmaster, an office in which he served with ability, and in 1821 was elected one of the first prosecuting attorneys of his district and served in that office until 1833. He rapidly rose to become one of the distinguished members of the Miami county bar and also was sent to the state senate by the voters of his senatorial district, being one of the able and forceful members of that body. His death occurred at Lawrence, Kans., in 1869, during a buffalo-hunting expedition. Lucinda (Neal) Thomas was born in West Virginia in 1810, a daughter of Richard Neal, an uncle of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, the noted Confederate leader. She came to Troy as a young, lady with her mother and step-father, the celebrated Micajah Fairfield, and met and subsequently married Mr. Thomas. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom the following grew to maturity: Stanley O., a man of decided ability as a military leader of distinction, who rose to a brigadier-generalship in the Confederate Army during the war between the North and the South, was subsequently appointed a representative of Mississippi at Paris, France, in the adjustracit of claims, became a leader and later president of the Cotton Exchange, was a noted cotton factor and amassed great wealth; Walter S. ; William I.; Gilmer T., of this review; Eugene B., who was a lieutenant-comnander in the United States Navy during the war between the states and died at Baltimore, Md., and L. A., who was a soldier of the Union Army during the Civil war. After attending the public schools of Troy and the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Gilmer T. Thomas read law in the office of his brother, Walter S. Thomas, who was considered one of the most brilliant members of the Ohio bar during his day. After being admitted to the bar, Gilmer T. Thomas entered upon the practice of his profession at Troy, where he has ever since enjoyed an increasingly large and important professional business. He has interested himself in public affairs and has served his city capably as mayor and city solicitor. During the great World war he was a member of the legal advisory board and a four-minute man, and in other ways assisted the policy of the administration. His standing in his profession is indicated by his incumbency of the presidency of the Miami County Bar Association. Fraternally, Mr. Thomas is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He married Emma, daughter of Christian Ziegenfelder, and to this union there has been born one son, William I., of Pittsburgh, Pa., who married Helen Ross and has one daughter, Emeline.