#52ancestors Post Forty-Five: Is This Benjamin Franklin Thomas of Northwest Lousiana?

These men appear to have the same build, hairline, nose, and mustache and beard growth pattern.
Could they both be Uncle Frank Thomas? 

When I saw the writing prompt, bearded, for week forty-five of #52ancestors, I immediately thought of these photos from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. I actually think these are photos of the same man. 

The first photo is clearly labeled Uncle Frank Thomas and was taken by a studio found in New Orleans. Knowing the photos were passed down from Sarah Wimberly Bryan, I checked the Wimberly Family History and found Benjamin Franklin Thomas. In the book, he was once referred to as Frank. Could this be B. F. Thomas? 

This photo, taken by B. & G. Moses, was taken
sometime between the Civil War and the late 1800s. 

Benjamin Franklin Thomas was born in Mississippi in 1832. He was the son of Tristram Thomas and Mary Hill Brown.  In 1855, he married Fanny Louisa Wimberly, daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson in Bienville Parish. After Fanny's death in 1903, Benjamin Franklin Thomas married Nancy Wimberly, half-sister to Fanny. 

B. F. Thomas, as he is frequently seen, and Fanny had three children. Sarah Franke Thomas, Elizabeth L. Thomas, and John T. Simmons Thomas.

Sarah Franke married Rueben S. Collier in 1879. Sarah died in 1881 and her sister, Elizabeth, married Ruben in 1882. Rueben was a Methodist minister in Louisiana and in 1899, transferred to the Texas conference where he was assigned to churches in Milam County. 

This second photo was taken by a studio found in Waco, Texas. On the back is written For Cousins Alice and Sarah Bryan. Sarah and Alice were Wimberly sisters who married Bryan brothers. They were two of  Frank's wife's older sisters actually making them Frank's sisters-in-law, not cousins. 

I did find a Frank Garrett Thomas, a distant cousin who lived in Georgia. If not B. F. Thomas, could this be Frank G. Thomas? 

Someone attempted to label his photo as ______ Hunter on the back. I was not able to find substantial information about any Hunters connected to the Bienville Parish Wimberlys. 

B. F. Thomas' only daughter lived in Texas, I could easily see him visiting his daughter - especially if there was a grandchild. Waco is in the vicinity some of Ruben Collier's churches.  However, at the time his daughter was in Texas (about 1899), he would have been about 67 years old. He doesn't look that old in this photo. 

Is Benjamin Franklin Thomas your ancestor? If so, do you have photos? Are you a Wimberly? Are you able to help with any information leading to the idenification of this photo? 


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Diana

© 2018

Sources

"A history of the expansion of Methodism in Texas, 1867-1902 [microform]; being a continuation of the history of early Methodism in Texas : Phelan, Macum, b. 1874 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive." Web. 25 Nov. 2018. <https://archive.org/details/MN5075ucmf_1/page/n453>.

Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006.

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

Langdon's List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers.  Web. 27 Nov. 2018. <https://www.langdonroad.com/>.

Wimberly, Vera. Wimberly Family History: Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana, 1837. Houston, Tex.: D. Armstrong, 1979. Print.