Woman of the Century/Mary Ann Thomas

THOMAS, Mrs. Mary Ann, journalist, born near Lavergne, Tenn., 10th January, 1841. Her maiden name was Mary Ann Lane, and her father's family, the Lanes, were of English extraction. MARY ANN THOMAS. Her grandfather went from North Carolina to Tennessee in 1812 and settled in Davidson county. Her mother was descended from old Dutch and Irish stock, and was a native of New Jersey. Her father was nineteen and her mother sixteen years old which they were married in Nashville, Tenn., in August, 1839. Mary is the oldest of their family of seven children. During her youth the family lived in various places in Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. She was an intelligent child and was carefully educated. After leaving school, she became a teacher and taught until her marriage, 31st July, 1872, to Archie Thomas, part proprietor of the Springfield, Tenn., "Record." In 1883 Mr. Thomas sold that journal and moved to Sumter, Fla. They returned to Tennessee in 1884, and he repurchased the "Record," which he edited until his death, 10th October, 1888. After his death, Mrs. Thomas bought the "Record" and became both editor and publisher. She entered the journalistic field with diffidence, but she has made her journal very successful. She wrote for the press from youth, and was made an honorary member of the Tennessee Press Association in 1870. In 1873 she read a poem in the fall meeting of that body in Pulaski. She has written both poems and stories. Since her marriage she has done but little purely literary work, as her time was employed in the care of her daughter and several children of her husband by a former marriage. She has reared her family while working as proprietor, publisher, editor, clerk and proof-reader.