|
Resource Number: 5BL853
<br />Temporary Resource Number: 157508426014
<br />"Adriatic" that had departed from Liverpool. After stops in Pennsylvania and Nebraska, they came to Louisville in
<br />1883. According to a newspaper article about the family, they did not know anyone in Louisville when they came.
<br />The deed conveying Lot 5 of Block 6 from Jefferson Place developer Charles Welch to Nicholas Thomas was
<br />recorded with Boulder County in 1884. The deed for Lot 4 to Mary Thomas and the deed for Lots 1 et al (which are
<br />believed to have consisted of Lots 1, 2, and 3) to Nicholas Thomas were recorded in 1887.
<br />The family is shown in Louisville in the 1885 Colorado State Census, and Nicholas Jr. is listed in a Louisville school
<br />census that was also taken in 1885.
<br />The property at 733 Pine was made up of Lots 1 through 5 until 1997, when a Thomas descendant who then owned
<br />the property, Phillip Decker, split it and sold Lots 3-5. These three lots now comprise 727 Pine Street.
<br />According to the 733 Pine Inventory Record completed for this property as part of the 1982 Louisville Historic Survey,
<br />which relied on an interview with Nicholas and Mary Thomas's grandson, Quentin Thomas, the family "lived in a
<br />dugout (with a frame roof) which bordered the alley west of the present house, before the house was constructed."
<br />The 1982 survey record gives the year 1890 as the year of construction for this house, which appears to be accurate
<br />(despite the fact that the County gave 1900 as the year of construction on the 1948 County Assessor card). The
<br />house is shown with the correct footprint and in the correct location on the 1893 Sanborn map, so it was clearly
<br />constructed before 1893. It also appears correctly on the 1900 and 1908 Sanborn maps and on the 1909 Drumm's
<br />Wall Map.
<br />The 1982 survey record states that the architect/builder of the house was Owen Smith, with the source for this
<br />information evidently having been Quentin Thomas. Owen Smith is known to have been the builder in 1894 of
<br />Louisville's brick school house at 801 Grant that now serves as the Louisville Center for the Arts (5BL7974).
<br />Nicholas and Mary Thomas appear to have not had an easy relationship. According to a Thomas family history, Mary
<br />Oldacre was "a blacksmith by trade in England, forging chain." This was confirmed through the research of the 1871
<br />census taken in England. Mary is shown at age 20 as living with her parents and having the occupation of
<br />"chainmaker." She was from Cradley Heath, which was known for its concentration of shops making iron chain in
<br />today's County of Staffordshire, and also known for its coal mining industry. It is not known how she and Nicholas, a
<br />native of Wales, met one another in England. By the early 1900s, they were divorced and living apart from one
<br />another in Louisville.
<br />In 1898, Mary Thomas, who was then about 47, and her only child, Nicholas Jr., who was then about 25, returned to
<br />Cradley Heath in England for three years. Nicholas Jr. married there in 1899 in Stratford Upon Avon to Elizabeth
<br />Batchelor. Elizabeth had been born in Clifford Chambers, Gloucestershire in about 1873.
<br />According to the 1901 England census, Nicholas Thomas Jr. was working in Cradley Heath as a chain maker, as
<br />was his mother, Mary Thomas, who had previously had this occupation before she married. Nicholas Jr. and
<br />Elizabeth are shown in the census as having had a baby, also named Nicholas.
<br />It is not known if Mary Thomas and her son returned to England in 1898 for reasons of work, to visit her family, or to
<br />find him a wife, but in any case, they returned to Louisville with Nicholas Jr.'s wife and child in 1901. On the
<br />passenger list, Nicholas Jr. is listed as being a miner. Upon their return to Louisville, Mary continued to live with her
<br />son's family and apparently did not again reside with her husband at 733 Pine.
<br />The Louisville directories over the decades reflect this same story of residency. The 1892, 1896, and 1898 directories
<br />show both Nicholas Thomas and his son, Nicholas Jr. as being miners in Louisville. The 1904 directory shows
<br />Nicholas Thomas Sr. as being a miner and living at La Farge & Pine (which is the location of 733 Pine), while his
<br />wife, Mary, is living elsewhere in Louisville at the home of her son, Nicholas Jr. All of the subsequent directories that
<br />specifically list Mary show her as living with Nicholas Jr. and his large family at 700 Lincoln (5BL961.4). The 1910
<br />Colorado State Business Directory also shows Nicholas Jr. as the City Clerk.
<br />The 1916 directory shows Nicholas Thomas living at 405 Pine, which would be today's 733 Pine. In 1923 and 1926,
<br />his address is 202 La Farge, which would also be 733 Pine. In 1930, this address is stated to be 401 Pine, and in
<br />1932, 1935, and 1936, it is given as 408 Pine. In 1940, it is finally given as 733 Pine.
<br />4
<br />
|