Nathan O. Thomas, a very prominent merchant of Erin, was born August 20, 1845, near Erin. He was the second of a family of ten children of John H. And Nancy (Allen) Thomas, both natives of Houston County. Both grandfathers were among the very first settlers. The father was a farmer and one of the prominent men of the community. He died in 1855. The mother survived him for about ten years. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The immediate subject of this sketch was reared on a farm and secured a common school education. He remained with his mother till she died, and he then carried on farming for three years. In 1869 he came to Erin and engaged in general merchandising, which he continues very successfully with a full line of mercantile articles. In 1870 he was appointed postmaster at Erin and held it till 1881, when on account of political caste he was deprived of it, but has been reinstated under the present administration. From 1880 till 1885 he was engaged in the lumber trade and saw-milling. He was married in 1872 to Jennie M. McAuley, the result of this union being six children, three of whom are living, viz.: Flora, Vida and Clatie; and three have died, viz.: Helen, Clara and Willie. Mr. Thomas is a member of the F. & A. M. organization. His wife is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is a Democrat in politics and always has been. He is one the prominent men of the county and has been officially interested in town affairs. 

Transcribed by Susan Knight Gore

Source: Goodspeed, Weston A, and John Wooldridge. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham and Houston Counties. Nashville: Goodspeed Pub. Co, 1886.