Frederick S. Thomas was only twelve years old when his father died, and, being the eldest son, a heavy responsibility fell upon his shoulders in the care of his widowed mother and the other members of the family. Among the latter was a brother, P..S. Thomas, who is now a physician and surgeon conducting a sanitarium in Kansas, who is married and has two children. A sister is also living - Mrs. Mary Whitney, of Roane county, W.Va., who has four chidlren. Energetic and ambitious, our subject faced his responsibilities bravely and did all that could have been expected of him in caring for the family. He also managed to attend private and select schools and finally worked his way through Marshall college at Huntington, W.Va. He taught school for a time and later read medicine under Dr. T.P. Carpenter, of Poca, W.Va. In 1878 he was graduated from the medical department of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and later, from Bellevue Hospital, New York City - this in 1887. He also had the additional benefit of a post-graduate course in the New York Medical and Baltimore Medical colleges, and for a number of years subsequently he took post graduate courses annually, both in Baltimore and New York in order to keep in close touch with the progress of medical science.

In 1878 Dr. Thomas took up his residence at Malden, W.Va., his work lying largely among the mining population of that locality. Coming to Charleston in 1884, he entered into practice here, and was for a time interested in a drug business, in partnership with Mr. Potterfield, under the style of Thomas & Potterfield, but in 1892 he sold out his interest to his partner. He then devoted his main attention to the practice of medicine and surgery and soon built up a wide reputation as one of the leading members of his profession. It was he who introduced the bath treatment for typhoid fever, since adopted by many other able physicians. But perhaps Dr. Thomas is most widely known as the proprietor of the Thomas Private Hospital at Charleston, a noble institution, in which the residents of the city take a just pride. The fine and commodious building was erected by the city during 1896-97 at a cost of $30,000 and was under lease to Dr. Thomas, who with a corps of able assistants, conducted the institution in a most efficient manner, reflecting credit upon him and his confreres and making it of great value to the southwestern part of the state. Among his assistants were able specialists upon every disease or class of diseases to which human flesh is heir. The hospital is considered on broad lines and is admirably equipped. Not only are the dangerously sick provided for, but provision was made for those who merely sought rest and restoration from the strain of either business or social life.

Dr. Thomas was regarded as the head of his profession for some years before his death, which event took place January 7, 1900. He had been influential in the establishment of other hospitals and sanitariums and belonged to the American and State Medical Associations and the County Medical Society. Aside from his profession, he was interested in several important business enterprises, being president of Charleston Ice & Coal Company, a stockholder in the Charleston National Bank, and being interested also in coal mining operations. He was a member of the First Presbyterian church and was a made of high-minded and charitable disposition, giving freely of his means to worthy causes. In politics he was a Republican.

Dr. Thomas was married, October 7, 1879, in Malden, W.Va., to Ruth Lee Putney, who was born in Malden, March 19, 1856, a daugter of Dr. James and Mary E. (Reed) Putney. Mrs. Thomas is a great-granddaughter of Ellis Putney, a native of England, who, coming to this country settled in Virginia and married Fannie Fearn. He and his wife resided in Buckingham county. Their son, Dr. Richard Ellis Putney, born in Virginia, March 13, 1774, was a physician, and about 1812 or 1814 settled in Malden, Kanawha county, where he died May 12, 1862. He was a man of considerable local prominence, both as a physician and in politics, serving as magistrate for 25 or 30 years. He was also engaged in the manufacture of salt. He married Oct. 11, 1815, Ann, the daughter of David Ruffner. She was born in 1792 and died some years before her husband, who subsequently contracted a second marriage, of which there were no issue. By his first marriage, Dr. R. Ellis Putney had several children, including Dr. James Putney, father of Mrs. Thomas. Dr. James Putney was a graduate of the Cincinnati (O.) Medical College and an active physician in Malden for some years, where he died in 1876, being then in his sixty-first year. He was married May 7, 1850, in Farmington, Iowa, to Mary E. Reed, who was born in Palmyra, Mo., April 13, 1830., and was reared and educated in Farmington. She is still living and although advanced in years, is bright and active both mentally and physically, and keeps well informed on current events. She is, indeed, one of the intellectual women of her day and her interest in the progress of humanity, the advancement of her sex, the purification of politics and other weighty subjects, is deep and keen. Her father, Samuel C. Reed, was government Indian agent in Iowa from 1836 until his death in 1848. He was also elected more than once to the Iowa state legislature. Born in Pennsylvania in 1798, he was reared in Ohio, and married in Charleston, W.Va. to Maria Slaughter. She was born in 1799, a daughter of Goodrigh and Hannah (Van Bibber) Slaughter, pioneer settlers in Kanawha county. At the time of Mrs. Mary E. Putney's residence in Iowa, there were many Mormons settled in that state with whom, owing to her father's official position, she was brought more or less into contact, thus obtaining a familiar knowledge of their religious, social and political ideas.

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas have been the parents of two children: James Putney and Ruth Mary. James Putney Thomas, born July 13, 1880, was educated in a military school and at the University of West Virginia, and is now an electician residing in Los Angeles, Calif. He married Miss Drusilla Bolin of Ohio. Ruth Mary, born 25 years ago, is a graduate of Lewisburg college (W.Va.), class of 1906. She married R.W. Edmunds, of a Farmville, Va. Family, but now residing in Charleston, W.Va. He is a graduate of Hamden-Sidney college, a civil engineer by profession, and is also engaged in the coal business.