Henry Thomas (1811 - 1836)

Born 1811 in Germany

Died 6 Mar 1836 at about age 25 in the Alamo, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas

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Biography

The New Orleans Greys

Henry Thomas was born 1811 in Germany. An ocean was between Germany and that of America, where the rest of his life occurred. Henry immigrated to America, as geography would have forced him to take a ship to America.

This following record shows him to be in San Antonio de Bexar in 1836: ^[1]

Name: Henry Thomas Arrival Year: 1836 Arrival Place: San Antonio, Texas Source Publication Code: 1494 Primary Immigrant: Thomas, Henry Annotation: Date and place of mention, place of origin. Source Bibliography: DEFENDERS OF THE ALAMO. In Georgia Genealogical Magazine, vol. 37:2 & 3 (Spring/Summer 1997), pp. 84-88

Henr had to cross the ocean, disembark from a ship, then travel to San Antonio. Most of the immigrants that were immigrating to Texas took a ship to the Gulf Coast, of America, New Orleans in the 1830's.

After disembarking from the ship, Henry heard of the famous New Orleans Greys in the shops in New Orleans, while learning news of Texas and the lay of the land. He joined the New Orleans Greys in 1835. Henry Thomas joined the group and traveled westward with the Greys and Capt. Thomas H Breece in 1835. ^[2][3]

Capt Breece's company, siege of Bexar.

The Greys and Henry arrived in Bexar colony in time to fight in the Siege of Bexar, October to middle of December, 1835. ^[4] By January, 1836 after reorganization of the army, Henry was serving in the Alamo garrison in infantry commanded by Capt William Blazeby.

Feb. 23, 1836, the Mexican army arrived, surrounded the Alamo and started the siege of the Alamo.

Henry Thomas perished with the other Alamo defenders in the Alamo, March 6, 1836. A memorial is in the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, USA. ^[5]

Note: The Republic of Texas scrutinized Henry Thomas activities. It had 2 good lists backing Henry for land bounty.

1) Capt. Thomas Breece's list of 1835 members during siege of Bexar.

2) Col. Neill's signed Return of the Soldiers Left at the Alamo, February 12, 1836) lists Henry's name. It was ready to award land bounty. GLO has a memorandum from City of Austin, saying Henry was due the land bounty, but the heirs were unable to file for the claim. Mr Hornsburger filed one acting as the heir's agent. They waited for family to file a request. No land bounty award can be found to this date.^[6] One wonders if heirs were deceased.

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010
2. ↑ http://www.thealamo.org/remember/history/defenders/index.htmll
3. ↑ Bill Groneman, "THOMAS, HENRY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fth60), accessed May 05, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
4. ↑ http://www.thealamo.org/history/the-1836-battle/the-defenders/defenders/thomas-h.html
5. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVH-3ZZM : accessed 6 May 2015), Henry Thomas, 1836; Burial, San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, United States of America, The Alamo; citing record ID 8741774, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com
6. ↑ http://www.glo.texas.gov/cf/land-grant-search/LandGrantsWorklist.cfm