pad

Valentine L. Thomas

Valentine L. Thomas was born 4 June 1838, in Galveston, Texas, purported to be a nephew of Texas pioneer Sam Houston. Valentine was a member of the Texas volunteers for the Confederacy in the Civil War and served from 1862 to the end of the war. He served as a private in companies A and G, of the 13th Texas Volunteers. Enlisting 8 June 1862 at Liverpool by R. J. Frigsby, he mustered 30 June 1862 at Camp Veazy, San Bernard. He was also a private in Company H, 35th Texas Cavalry, Brown's Regiment. In January and February 1864 he was on special duty as a scout by order of Colonel Brown, and in September 1864, he was detached to hunt for horses.

V. L. Thomas was a pioneer of Utah, settling there in the late 1860s, remaining there most of his life. He married Sarah A. Smith on 20 June 1873, and they moved to Silver City, Utah, in the same years. She was born in Provo, Utah, on 4 Jan 1856, a daughter of Captain James Smith. Her father was in charge of one of the early Mormon emigrant trains and was a friend of early scouts Jim Bridger and Bill Jackson, and he built the first flour mill in Provo. The Thomases moved to Eureka, Utah, in 1882, where they lived until Sarah's death. V. L. was a miner in 1880, living with his family at Draggon Hollow, Tintic Precinct. In 1900 he was still mining in Eureka, which is in Utah's Tintic Mining District and was named in honor of the Ute Indian Chief, Tintic. The area was once one of the largest mining operations in the United States. Between 1870 and the 1950s, the mines yielded more than 600 million dollars in gold and silver plus lead and copper. The population of the district was once more than 7,000. In 1920, V. L. Thomas was listed without occupation on Leadville Row in the Eureka census.

Sarah died 16 Dec 1930 in Tintic, and her funeral was under the direction of the Christian Science Church. Interment was in Eureka Cemetery. She was always active in civic matters and was a member of the Entre Nous Literary Club. She was survived by her husband, daughter Mrs. H. L. Hayward of Eureka, grandson Clarence Tomlinson, of Salt Lake and a brother and two sisters; James Smith of Delta, Mrs. J. F. Thompson of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, and Mrs. R. T. Davis of Weiser, Idaho.

In 1932, with his daughter Mrs. Hayward, V. L. moved to Las Vegas, and in 1934 to Boulder City. He died 27 Aug 1934 at the home of his daughter in Boulder City, aged ninety-five. The Boulder City Cemetery was not established until 1941, therefore Valentine L. Thomas was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Las Vegas.

La V La "Dot" Thomas was born 18 Sep 1881 in Eureka, Utah, the daughter of V. L. Thomas. She and her husband, Judge Horace Leland "Lee" Hayward, moved to Boulder City in 1932. She was a prominent Boulder City businesswoman, the owner and operator of Hayward's Flower Shop. She was active in community affairs, president of the Library Board, and held membership in the Chamber of Commerce, the Phthian Sisters, Rebekah Lodge, LAPM order of the Rebekahs, the Business and Professional Women's club and the BPO Does. On 9 Dec 1954, she died of congestive heart failure. Christian Science funeral services were held at the Masonic Temple in Boulder City, with burial in the Boulder City Cemetery. Gravesite rites were conducted by the Pythian Sisters.

Horace Leland Hayward was born 31 Oct 1894 in Lamoille Valley, Nevada, the son of Victoria (Burke) Hayward. he received his early schooling in Elko and married La V La on 1 Sep 1920. They went to Boulder City in 1932, where he was employed by Six Companies, builders of the Boulder / Hoover Dam. Judge Hayward held the only elected office in Boulder City, serving two terms as Justice of the Peace and ex-officio coroner. He was a candidate without opposition for his third term, to be voted in the November election of 1948, but died 21 Sep 1948. He was a member of the following organizations: Elks Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Rotary Club, I. O. O. F., Masonic Lodge #37, Order of the Khorasson, Sportsmens' Association, Lake Mead Canton #2, (I. O. O. F.), Gateway Encampment #23 (Las Vegas). In observance of Judge Hayward's funeral, the stores in Boulder City were closed at 4:30 p.m. for the rest of the afternoon.

Sources:

V. L. Thomas obituary, "Las Vegas (Nevada) Evening Review-Journal, Tuesday, 28 Aug 1934, p.2:c3; Boulder City Cemetery Clerk File, Personal History for records of Boulder City Cemetery Association; Judge Hayward obituary, "Boulder City News," Boulder City, Nevada, 24 Feb 1948, p.1; "Boulder City News," 9 Dec 1954, p.1, "Mrs. Hayward in Critical Condition at Local Hospital;" LaVLa Hayward obituary, "Las Vegas Review-Journal," 14 Dec 1954; Sarah A. S. Thomas obituary, "The Deseret News," Salt Lake City, Utah, Thursday, 18 Dec 1930, p.2; 1880 U.S. census Draggon Hollow, Tintic Precinct, Juab County, Utah, ed. #26, sheet 8, line 9; 1900 U.S. census, Eureka City, Juab County, Utah, ed. #102, sheet 3, line 96; 1910 U.S. census, Eureka City, Juab County; 1920 U.S. census, Leadville Row, Eureka, Juab County, Utah, ed.13, sheet 19, line 99; Richard B. Taylor, "The Nevada Tombstone Record Book (Las Vegas, NV: Nevada Families Project, 1986), v.1, p.325; "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas," National Archives Microfilm M0323 (Washington: National Archives); Eureka, Utah. Juab County, Utah State University Extension, http://utahreach.usu.edu/juab/cities/eureka.htm.

More to come: new information about his mining activities in Goodsprings, Nevada. Plus info on his grandson, "Tommy" Tomlinson who died in 1939 in a car wreck near the Railroad Pass Casino.