William Lyman Thomas – Found Amongst his Personal Effects – Part Two

By
Doug Houser
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6
254
This photograph about the size of half dollar is printed on a metal disc. It is blurry because I moved the camera.

Just in case you missed Part One here’s a link.

Found Amongst his Personal Effects

You might notice that there is no “Part One” in the title.  That’s because I’m never sure how many parts there will wind up being.  As I write these words, I have no idea how many images I’ll be able to turn up to attach below.  Those of you that follow this space know that this is the twenty somethingth post I have done from this mother lode of Sutton/Thomas memorabilia that we have been lucky enough to witness firsthand.  Well first hand for me anyhow.

WLT or Kate may have clipped this article themselves. Their home, Ellendale Home Place, was built in 1881.  31 years added to that would date this article at 1912.  Kate passed in 1917 and WLT in 1918.
This unidentified photograph, about the size of half dollar, is printed on a metal disc. It is blurry because I got too close.
Here is the flip side. Notice the images.
This explains everything.  Notice the name of the inventor.
I believe I ran this one before. Forgive me.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 22, 1878.
An auction sale bill from 1901. Arthur Avenue no longer exists. It was once located in the middle of the 7300 block of Manchester on the north side. The site is now occupied by the Schnucks supermarket.
Have a closer look.
And another.
The details are listed on the rear. I don’t know if he conducted this particular auction but Henry Sutton used that same drawing of the auctioneer on some of his advertisements. Henry, you may recall, was the son of James Sutton and also the first presiding justice of the newly formed St. Louis County.  Plus he lived right next door to this property.
This portion of an 1881 survey of James Sutton’s farm shows that the property being auctioned was bequeathed to John L. Sutton by his father’s will. You might notice the streets named Sutton and Marshall are the opposite of the way they are today.  I have no idea why or when this flipping of the names occurred. Thanks to Marty Fischer for this survey.

6 COMMENTS

  1. it is interesting to me to see that Mary Marshall had a place in Maplewood that was the size of my folks farm out in the middle of the country. Of course in 1881 this was the middle of the country.
    About the only thing I can think that can compare to that is when I first came to St Louis about 45 years ago from 270 to the Missouri River was a place of farms, you could see cattle and farmers putting up hay, raising crops. That’s all gone just like the wide open spaces of Maplewood were back then.

    • Hey Mark, I grew up near Antonia in Jefferson County. It is the same out there. Most all of the small farms have disappeared. Thanks for your recollection.

    • I thought that was pretty cool, too, Patty. Without the information in the patent we wouldn’t understand the symbols. I guess the designer felt like he/she had to put “Apple” on the piece of fruit so we wouldn’t mistake it for a tomato or whatever.

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