History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 931, Vermont Township
Hiram S. Thomas, postmaster, Vermont, was born in 1814 in Adams
Co., Pa. His father, Isaac Thomas, was a farmer, in limited
circumstances, and Hiram was brought up to hard work. Although he did
not attend school after he was 14 years of age, his native good
judgment has enabled him to school himself successfully in the
practical affairs of life. In 1824 the family emigrated to Ohio, and in
1843 Mr. Hiram S., then a man of a family, emigrated to this tp. He
first was a tailor by occupation, but in 1843 he began to lecture on
temperance, and continued with great success for many years. He stumped
the State for the temperance party in 1848, and was nominated by the
party for the Legislature. In 1861 Vermont had grown to some importance
as a commercial center, and Mr. T. was appointed Postmaster, which
position he has ever since filled except for a short period, with
satisfaction to the public. While Mr. T.’s temperance principles
prevail in Vermont so that there are no saloons there, he has otherwise
done much for the business interests of the place. In Indiana, in 1843,
he married Mary Witchell, daughter of John and Bathsheba W., of Ohio.
Cordelia and Edwin are their children, the former {latter} station
agent at Vermont and the latter {former} the wife of Dr. Parker, of
Ipava.
